
Glass BT i/O L 
Book. ■Qr'g 



LETTERS TO A FRIEND 



EVIDENCES, DOCTRINES, AND DUTIES 



CHRISTIAN RELIGION 



JY OLINTHUS GREGORY, LL.D., P.R.A.S., 

LATE PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN THE ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMT A.' 
WOOLWICH 



Prove all things ; hold fast that which lo good.— 1 Thkbs. 5 : 21. 

Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a roaaon of the 
hope that is in you.— 1 Piter, 3 : 15. 

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables. — 2 Peter, 1 : 16. 



FROM THE FOURTH LONDON EDITION, 

REVISED AND SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 

C 



#7*' 



ol 



/fit- 



This work has been revised for the present edition ; two re- 
condite quotations in chapters 11 and 18, and a portion of the 
notes, have oeen omitted, with additional abridgments amount- 
ing to about one page. 



By Bxcha- 
Army And Navy 01q& 
Aug, 13,1929 






CONTENTS 



Preface 

LETTER 



PAGE 

5 



I. On the folly and absurdity of Deism * l3 

II. On the necessity of a revelation of the will of God . . 27 

III. On the opinions of the heathens, their legislators, poets 

and philosophers, relative to God, to moral duty, and a 
future state ... 

IV. On the probability that there should be mysteries in a re- 

vealed religion . 

* • • DO 

V. On the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures . . 74 

VI. On the evidence deducible from the prophecies . . ll8 

VII. On the evidence deduced from miracles ; and on the credi- 

bility of human testimony ... 14n 

VIII. On the resurrection of Jesus Christ . ,,, 

lov 

IX. Evidence drawn from the rapid diffusion of Christianity, and 

its triumph over persecution; also from the purity and 
excellency of the scripture morality and theology . . , 37 

X. On the inspiration of Scripture ... o™ 
XI On some of the most plausible objections urged against the 

truth and Divine authority of the Scriptures . ' oon 



4 PREFACE. 

LETTER PAGE 

XII. On tne leading doctrines of the christian religion . . 245 

XIII. On the fall of man and the depravity of human nature . 260 

XIV. On the atonement for sin, by the death of Jesus Christ . 275 

XV. On the Divinity of Jesus Christ . . . . .302 

XVI. On the nature of conversion, and its necessity . . 334 

XVII. On the influence of the Spirit 360 

XVIII. On Justification by Faith . . . . - . 382 

XIX. On Provfdence 397 

XX. On the resurrection of the Body ' . . . . . 418 

XXI. On eternal existence after death . . • . .431 

XXII. On christian duties ........ 455 



PREFACE. 



The history of the work now presented *to the public 
may be given in very few words. It originated in a 
series of conversations with a friend much younger than 
myself, who had a considerable acquaintance with almost 
all except religious subjects. He expressed much sur- 
prise that a person of my habits and pursuits in other re- 
spects should adopt the religious notions I had long en- 
tertained, or indeed be solicitous about any religious opi- 
nions whatever ; and I endeavored to assign the reasons 
which led me to embrace them, and to consider such to- 
pics as of the first importance. 

After a short time we were so far separated as to have 
much fewer opportunities of personal intercourse: and 1 
in consequence became induced to carry on the momen- 
tous inquiry we had previously commenced, by letter. 
Pursuant to this intention, the first eleven letters were 
actually written ; they were read in manuscript by my 
friend; and, as I have reason to believe, were not un- 
productive of benefit. Having proceeded thus far, a 
growing particularity of inquiry was produced on the one 
side, and a gradual extension of plan on the other ; and 
thus, after many interruptions, and in the midst of nu- 
merous avocations of a very different kind,«the work has 
bocome what it now is. 

I had not, however, proceeded half way in the execu- 
tion of my plan before it occurred to me, that what I first 
intended for private use might be beneficial to others in 
circumstances analogous to those of my frien 1 ; and I re 



6 PREFACE. 

collected that whatever I might publish on the subject of 
religion would at least have the advantage of appearing 
disinterested, as it proceeded from the pen of a layman. 
It is, I am aware, extremely ridiculous for those who 
adopt the prescriptions of their physicians, and act upon 
the advice of their lawyers, although they are profes- 
sional, to object to defences of Christianity from the 
pens of clergymen because they are professional; yet, 
absurd and uncandid as the objection is, it is often 
advanced: it is therefore proper to meet it; and at 
times to show that there are those who cannot on such 
occasions be actuated by any love of worldly applause, 
or any thirst after emolument, but who feel sufficiently 
interested about religion, and are sufficiently convinced 
of its powerful tendency to improve the conduct of indi- 
viduals and to augment the general stock of happiness, 
to step for a little while out of their more appropriate 
province to plead its cause. Such defenders of revealed 
religion there have been in all ages ; yet they have not 
been so numerous as to render it improper or indecorous 
to increase their number : especially as the old prejudice 
still continues to operate with unabated energy; and 
there are many persons from whom the claims of Christi- 
anity receive a more respectful attention when they are 
urged by one who is neither " a clergyman" nor, a " me- 
thodist." 

There hav# long existed several valuable essays on the 
Evidences of Christianity ; and we now possess, in the 
English language especially, the treatise of Dr. Paiey, 
which all christians consider as an honor to our age and 
nation. Had a luminous statement of the Historical Evi- 
dences been all that was aimed at or required, I should 



PREFACE. / 

at once kave referred my friend to Dr. Paley's as a stand- 
ard, and, I believe, unanswerable work ; and never have 
troubled either him or the public with any remarks'of mine 
on the subject of religion. But it is very possible, and in- 
deed very common, for men to be christians in name and 
theory, and infidels in practice; to profess abelief in Christ, 
and in heart to deny him ; to acknowledge him as Messiah, 
and to refuse to obey him as king ; to avow the warmest 
admiration of the New Testament, and to despise and ri- 
dicule every thing in it which is characteristic and pecu- 
liar, and which constitutes it a summary of that " truth " 
which alone " can make us free " from the dominion of 
sin and from the punishment due to it. This I consider 
as the most striking and lamentable error of the present 
times ; and it is, therefore, the more remarkable that 
such an error should not have been frequently and point- 
edly exposed. To adopt the language of an admirable 
living writer — "While the outworks of the sanctuary 
have been defended with the utmost ability, its interior 
has been too much neglected, and the fire upon the altar 
suffered to languish and decay. The truths and myste- 
ries which distinguish the christian from all other reli- 
gions have been little attended to by some, totally denied 
by others ; and while infinite efforts have been made, by 
the utmost subtlety of argumentation, to establish the truth 
and authenticity of revelation, few have been exerted in 
comparison to show what it really contains." 

Now the deficiency here adverted to is that which I 
have endeavored to supply. I have attempted to exhibit 
in small compass a view not merely of the Evidences, 
but of the distinguishing doctrines and principal binding 
duties of the christian religion. I have endeavored to 



8 PREFACE- 

show that Christianity is not so contemptible and bungling 
a fraud as some infidels have represented it to be ; and 
to point out at the same time many palpable and enor- 
mous absurdities into which infidelity precipitates its vo- 
taries. But this I reckon the least important part of my 
undertaking, though I humbly hope it may have its uses. 
The facts of Christianity are only, so far momentous 
as the doctrines are momentous which are suspended 
upon them. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ would be no 
more to us (I mention it with reverence) than the death 
of Socrates, were it not that.he suffered as a sacrifice for 
sin ; and his resurrection of no more importance to us 
than the emancipation of a butterfly from its chrysalis, 
were it not for the assurance that even as he has risen 
so shall all his faithful followers. I have, therefore, en- 
tered pretty much at large into the establishment and de- 
fence of the leading doctrines which distinguish Christi- 
anity from all other religious systems. In the choice of 
these I have kept almost entirely out of sight many of 
the questions which have long divided and still continue 
to agitate the christian world. The truth is, that I cannot 
bring myself to attach much importance to any question 
which is not obviously favorable or unfavorable in its 
moral tendencies, or which does not appear to me funda- 
mental ; that is, which does not in some way affect the 
grand doctrine of man's redemption through the cruci- 
fixion of " the Son of God." With all christians who in 
this respect "hold the head," and live conformably to 
thn doctrine they profess, however they may be separa- 
ted upon minor topics, I am anxious to maintain, and 
long to see universally prevail, " the unity of the Spirit, 
in the bond of peace." 



PREFACE. » 

Iii accomplishing the objects proposed I have not aim- 
ed at elaborate composition, or the elegancies of style ; 
believing that if my professional employments did not 
tend greatly to render success in such an attempt impro- 
bable, my real inability to dazzle by splendid imagery 
and profuse embellishment would. I have endeavored 
to reason clearly and fairly ; have availed myself of every 
argument I have met with in other authors that was ap- 
plicable to my purpose ; have endeavored to compress 
them into small space ; and have further had occasional 
recourse to some arguments which it is probable would 
not readily present themselves to any one who was not 
moderately conversant with scientific topics : these, it 
may be added, were frequently suggested by the consi- 
deration that the gentleman for whose use the letters 
were originally written had successfully engaged in sci- 
entific pursuits. 

I know not whether it may be necessary to apologize 
for the frequency and extent of my quotations from Scrip- 
ture, especially in the last eleven letters. Let it be re- 
collected that the main object of those letters is to teach 
the doctrines of Scripture ; that is, to show what they are, 
to exhibit them faithfully : and to effect this without be- 
ing allowed to cite the language of Scripture, would be, 
as Mr. Boyle long ago remarked, " to challenge a man to 
a duel, and oblige him not to make use of his best wea- 
pons ; or to compel him to prove the torrid zone habita- 
ble, and not to make use of the testimony of navigators." 
Besides, the maxim of Chillingworth, though old, has not 
yet been proved absurd; namely, "that we cannot speak 
of the things of God better than in the words of God." 

I would fain hope that my numerous references to 
1* 



1 PREFACE. 

other authors, or quotations from them, will not be as- 
cribed to a desire to make a parade of extensive reading. 
My acquaintance with the works of other writers, and es- 
pecially on the subject of religion, is, in truth, far less than 
it ought to be ; and my object in such frequent references 
and extracts has been either to direct the attention of 
young men of reading to standard works on topics which 
my plan would not allow me to treat so fully as I wished, 
or to confirm and fortify my own sentiments by the au- 
thority of many whom the world in general consider as 
learned, wise, and, therefore, highly worthy of regard. 

Lastly, I beg to remark that I hope and trust the free 
dom of my occasional animadversions upon theologians 
from whom I differ on the several topics discussed in 
these letters, has in no instance arisen from contempt of 
them or their opinions, from uncandid interpretations of 
their language, or from unworthy personal feeling. My 
business has been to attempt to refute sentiments whicl 
E deem erroneous and dangerous, as well as to estab 
lish those which to me appear true and beneficial. I. 
is possible, I am persuaded, to feel the strongest convic- 
tion of the errors certain men may hold, without cherish- 
ing a particle of ill-will against those who hold them. 
And surely it is perfectly fair and perfectly candid, when 
theologians of a certain class endeavor to divest Christi- 
anity of almost every thing which (as I conceive) is pe- 
culiar to it, pride themselves upon the skill and dexterity 
with which they effect this, and triumph over what they 
denominate the irrational and contracted tenets of others : 
to turn the tables upon them, and to show that their sys- 
tem is clogged with its full load of absurdities and con- 
tradictions, — that their mode of translation, if adopted 



PREFACE. J 

universally, would rob the New Testament of its whole 
spirit, energy, and perspicuity, — and that by stripping 
the christian system of its peculiarities, they deprive it 
of neariv all which renders it of consequence whether a 
man be a believer or an unbeliever. Under the influence 
of these sentiments, I shall conclude by adopting the lan- 
guage of Dr. Jortin on another occasion : the following 
disquisitions H are designed, slight and imperfect as they 
are, for the service of Truth, by one who would be glad 
to attend and grace her triumphs : as her soldier, if he 
has had the honor to serve successfully under her ban- 
ner : or, as her captive, tied to her chariot wheels, if he 
has, though undesignedly, committed any offence against 
her." 

Olinthus Gregory. 
October 11, 1811. 



P. S. That a new edition of this work should again be 
required, is a circumstance which calls for my most grate- 
ful acknowledgments, at the same time that it has stimu- 
lated me to give the whole a very careful revisal, that it 
may be rendered more worthy of public favor. I cannot 
but be highly gratified that my labors on the most interest- 
ing of all subjects should have been so favorably received ; 
and still more to learn that in various instances they have 
been the means of convincing persons, especially young 
men devoted to two of the learned professions, (medi- 
cine and law,) that " with the talents of an angel a man 
may be a fool," in the worst sense of the word, unless he 
be " wise unto salvation." Some have already been re- 
claimed from the regions of infidelity, and still more from 



12 PREFACE. 

Socinianism, by the blessing of God upon an attentive 
perusal of these " Letters." I had no other object in theii 
publication ; and can most sincerely declare that I wish 
them no longer to meet with encouragement, than while 
they shall be useful in instilling into the minds and hearts 
of others the essential, immutable principles which have 
always been found to work most efficaciously towards the 
renovation and salvation of mankind. 

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 
May, 1822. 



LETTERS 



ON 



THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 



LETTER I. 

On the folly and absurdity of Deism. 

My dear Friend, 

I was much gratified, on the arrival of your letter, to 
find that you had not forgotten me ; and more gratified 
still to learn that the important topic on which we so 
often conversed when we were together has frequently 
occupied your thoughts s^nce our separation. In this re- 
spect your conduct evinces your usual solicitude to in- 
quire after truth of every kind, and I trust it will be fol- 
lowed by your accustomed success. While human exist- 
ence is as much characterized by the uncertainty as by 
the shortness of its duration, and there is interposed be- 
tween us and heaven, cr hell, or annihilation, nothing but 
life, the most brittle and precarious thing imaginable ; 
while there is no cause for vanity in being involved in 
impenetrable darkness, and none for consolation when 
we are in despair of ever finding a comforter ; so long 
will it be the first and principal concern of a wise man 
to inquire into his nature, his duties and his expectations, 



14 Gregory's letters. 

to ascertain where he ought to doubt, where to be confi- 
dent, and where to submit : and these inquiries necessa- 
rily comprise the subject of religion. " Who is wise, and 
he shall understand these things; prudent, and he shall 
know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the 
just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall 
therein." Hosea, 14 : 9. 

The derision with which some of your deistical com- 
panions affect tdfcreat you is matter of regret but not of 
surprise. If their deism be the result of supposed con- 
viction, they are objects of pity; if, which is more likely 
to be the case, it be a consequence of indifference, and 
this deplorable indifference furnish them with a ground 
for boasting, they, instead of yourself, would be fit sub- 
jects for ridicule, were it proper to indulge such a pro- 
pensity on so serious an occasion. 

To a person of your extensive observation and con- 
templative turn of mind it must appear extremely ob- 
vious, that as the vicious lives of many men make it their 
interest that religion in general should be a "bugbear," 
and the christian religion especially " an artful system of 
delusion;" so they will too commonly be found not only 
ready, but eager to believe them really such. Nor can it 
be expected that fbey should sfop here ; for when once 
a certain method of treating a subject is nicely adapted 
to people's humors and situations, it would be strange in- 
deed if they did not indulge in it; particularly when 
they find, as they soon will, that the majority of almost 
every company will cordially concur with them. If you 
wish to be proof against sneers and laughter when di- 
rected against so momentous a subject, consider that the 
mirth and pleasure of the unthinking part of mankind 
(by far the greater part) is almost as blind and mechani- 
cal as the actions of an automaton. Let them be but 
struck, and they will move as mere inert matter moves, 
until the effect of the impulse ceases. They are stirred 



FOLLY AND ABSURDITY OF DEISM. 15 

and often delighted; though with what, or for what cause, 
or to what purpose, they know not : except perhaps when 
the string of religion is roughly touched by the hand of 
an enemy; for then many ignorant, and all irreligious 
hearts, like chords in unison, dance to the motion and 
yield the same sound; just as the clank of a madman' 
chain, while it thrills to the soul of a man in his senses, 
shall collect around him all the lunatics in the same ward 
of his prison, and cause them to dance with maniac de- 
light, when every spectator shudders with horror. 

I have heard of some modern free-thinkers whose 
comprehension of mind has placed them on such an emi- 
nence, that they look down with contempt not only upon 
christians, but upon the shrivelled minds of other unbe- 
lievers who have not yet taken such an adventurous flight : 
some who not merely deride those whom half the world 
calls fanatics and visionaries, but who are seated in a 
" scorner's chair " of such peculiar qualities as enchants 
them till they sneer at the narrow prejudices of Hume, 
and Gibbon, and Voltaire, and Paine, whom they fancy 
they have discovered to be "as superstitious as washer- 
women." Others have been impelled to still greater 
heights in this intellectual delirium. They contemplate 
with delight the prospect of a world without a Creator or 
a Governor; and l*)ast of their demonstrations, by which 
they can convert any sensible man into an atheist in a 
quarter of an hour; a transformation which of course 
would not be very difficult after they had explained to 
that sensible man, upon their own hypothesis, from whom 
he derived his sense. But the gentlemen into whose com- 
pany you are now so frequently thrown do not, I pre- 
sume, belong to either of these classes. It is more pro- 
bable that some of them have embraced a kind of semi- 
atheism (I cannot think of a more appropriate" term ;) 
a fine-spun theory, in conformity with which they per- 
suade themselves that the Supreme Being does not go 



16 Gregory's letters. 

vern the universe he created;, but, after having covered 
it with living, and many of them rational beings, leaves 
them to console themselves with the cheering reflection 
that they are inhabitants of a forsaken and fatherless 
world; while HE, according to this comfortable as well 
as philosophical notion, like a kind of Sardanapalus> sits 
at ease and surveys the goodly scene. 

If men who endeavor to disseminate such opinions 
ever cease to ridicule the maintainers of opposite senti- 
ments, and condescend to argumentation, you might ask 
them to explain how it is possible that a derived being 
can be independent % You might inquire of them whe 
ther that which is derived from another can exist neces* 
sarily in the first moment of its being ] Whether that 
which does not exist necessarily in the first moment of 
its existence, can exist necessarily in the second or in 
any succeeding instant 1 Or whether it must not owe its 
continued existence to the Being by whom it was at first 
produced % If they be men of any acumen, they will at 
once perceive that, by supposing the existence of the being 
to continue when that on which it depended ceases, they 
would suppose it to be without the cause of its existence ; 
and thus they would, by a kind of mental felo-de-se, sup 
port their hypothesis by destroying the superstructure on 
which it rests : so that if they, to this* acuteness which I 
aave supposed them to possess, unite only common can- 
dor and openness to conviction, you would by a very 
short process make them ashamed of their fashionable 
semi-atheism, and compel them to acknowledge that all 
the creatures of God do incessantly depend upon him for 
the continuance of their existence. Thus will your op- 
ponents be forced to take the ground of pure deism ; and 
on that ground it is that you must meet them if you have 
any wish to enter upon this momentous contest. 

The opinions of deists, from the time of Lord Herbert 
(the first and purest of the British freethinkers) to the 



FOLLY AND ABSURDITY OF DEISM. 17 

present period, have assumed such multifarious shapes 
that it is difficult to state them in such a way as to be 
free from objection.* Nominal deism is separated into 



* Inis extreme diversity of sentiments among - the pretended philoso- 
phers who reject Christianity, has not escaped the pointed notice of some 
ct their own class. The following language of Rousseau, descriptive of 
their conduct and contradictions, is highly worthy of attention : 

" I have consulted our philosophers, I have perused their books, I have 
examined their several opinions, I have found them all proud, positive and 
dogmatizing, even in their pretended scepticism, knowing every thing, 
proving nothing, and ridiculing one another; and this is the only point in 
which they concur, and in which they are right. Daring when they attack, 
they defend themselves without vigor. If you consider their arguments, 
they have none but for destruction ; if you count their number, each one 
is reduced to himself; they never unite but to dispute ; to listen to them 
was not the way to relieve myself from my doubts. I conceive that the 
insufficiency of the human understanding was the first cause of this prodi- 
gious diversity of sentiment, and that pride was the second. If our phi- 
losophers were able to discover truth, which of them w^uld interest him- 
self about it ? Each of them knows that his system is not better estab 
lished than the others ; but he supports it because it is his own : there is 
not one among them who, coming to distinguish truth from falsehood, 
would not prefer his own error to the truth that is discovered by another. 
Where is the philosopher who, for his own glory, would not willingly de- 
ceive the whole human race ? Where is he who, in the secret of his heart, 
proposes any other object than his own distinction ? provided he can buV 
raise himself above the commonalty, provided he can eclipse his competi- 
tors, he has reached the summit of his ambition. The great thing for him 
is to think differently from other people. Among believers he is an atheist, 
among atheists a believer. Shun, shun then those who, under pretence of 
explaining nature, sow in the hearts of men the most dispiriting doctrines, 
whose scepticism is far more affirmative and dogmatical than the decided 
tone of their adversaries. Under pretence of being themselves the only 
people enlightened, they imperiously subject us to their magisterial deci- 
sions, and would fain palm upon us for the true causes of things the unin- 
telligible systems they have erected in their own heads ; whilst they over- 
turn, destroy and trample under foot all that mankind reveres, snatch from 
the afflicted the only comfort left them in their misery, from the rich and 
great the only curb that can restrain their passions ; lear from the heart all 
remorse of vice, all hopes of virtue, and still beast themselves the benefac- 
tors of mankind. ' Truth,' they say, ' is never hurtful to man,' — I believe 



18 Gregory's letters. 

nearly as many climates and districts as nominal Chris- 
tianity; so that if Calvinism be placed in the torrid zone, 
and Socinianism in the polar regions of Christianity, you 
may with equal propriety imagine the sentiments of Her- 
bert to occupy the equatorial regions, and those of Hume, 
Holcroft and Godwin the frigid zone of infidelity. Mo- 
derate deists, however, and to such a candid reasoner 
would direct his arguments, profess to believe in one 
God, possessing natural and moral attributes, the formei 
of which may be comprehended under power and know- 
ledge, the latter under justice and benevolence : they be- 
lieve, I presume, that virtue is that which is consistent 
with the will of God in act and motive, and yet that God 
has never made any revelation of his will to men ; but 
that the collection of books which we receive as such, 
and consequently by way of distinction denominate Thb 
Scriptures, are in fact no such thing, but are the oldest, 
the most artful and most successful collection of forgeries 
that ever was palmed upon the world. 

And are they the apostles and disseminators of this 
heart-chilling system who wish to laugh you out of your 
religion 1 or rather, who are ridiculing you for the scru- 
pulous attention with which you are investigating the 
evidences of Christianity, and for the solicitude you ex- 
press that you may "be established in faith and holi- 
ness]" Let them enjoy the comforts of their supposed 
intellectual superiority, while you pursue your inquiry ; 
and then you will in due time enjoy " the fruits of the 
Spirit," while they may haply retain all that fine flow of 
soul which so naturally results from the consciousness 
of being lost in a labyrinth of uncertainty. Do not sup- 
pose that the exultation so commonly manifested by 

that as well as they ; and the same, in my opinion, is a proof that what 
they teach is not the truth.' 1 '' — Rousseau, as quoted by M Gandolphy in 
his Defence of the Ancient Faith 



FOLLY AND ABSURDITY OF DEISM. 19 

these men, and which seems so much to have impressed 
your mind, is always natural. Confident as they often 
profess themselves to be, that unless you are a mere 
child in intellect you will soon think as they do; be as- 
sured, that in general their sarcasms and affected con- 
tempt originate in the apprehension that your sentiments 
will soon be diametrically opposite to theirs, and in their 
consequent eagerness to deter you from inquiry. Do not 
imagine that when these your lively, and laughing, and 
witty companions leave you, their mirth and hilarity 
support them equally in solitude. Could you follow them 
into their retirements without being witnessed, or could 
you conceive the language of their souls to be formed 
into audible words, you might, without any breach uf 
candor, fancy them soliloquizing in the following lan- 
guage of Pascal : 

" I hardly know who has sent me into the world. Nor 
know I what the world is, or what I am myself. I am 
shockingly ignorant of all things. I know not what my 
body is, what my senses are, or what my soul is. This 
very part of me which thinks what I speak, which re- 
flects upon itself and upon every thing round me, is yet 
as ignorant of itself as it is of every thing else. I behold 
these frightful spaces of the universe with which I am 
encompassed, and feel myself confined to one little por- 
tion of the vast extent, without understanding why I am 
placed in this part of it rather than in any other ; or why 
the short period, of time that was allotted me to live was 
assigned to me at this particular point, rather than at 
any other of the whole eternity which was before me, 
or of tiiat which is to come after me. I see nothing but 
infinites on all sides, which swallow me up like an atom, 
or transform me to a shadow which endures but a single 
instant, and is never to return. All that I know, is, that 
1 must shortly die; but this very death, from which T 



20 Gregory's letters. 

cannot escape, is the thing of which I am the most ig- 
norant. 

" As I know not whence I came, so I know not whi- 
ther I am going : only this I know, that, at my depar- 
ture out of the world, I must either be for ever annihi- 
lated, or fall into the hands of an incensed God, without 
being able to decide which of these two conditions will 
be my everlasting portion. 

" Such is my state, so full of weakness, darkness and 
wretchedness. And from all this I conclude that I ought 
to pass all the days of my life without ever considering 
what is hereafter to befall me; and that I have nothing 
to do but to follow my inclinations without reflection or 
disquiet, doing all that which, if what is said of a misera* 
ble eternity be true, will infallibly plunge me into it. It 
is possible I might find some light to dispel my doubts ; 
but I will not take the trouble to stir one foot in search 
of it; rather, despising all those who do take pains in 
this inquiry, I am resolved to go on, without fear or fore- 
sight, and brave the grand event : I will pass as easily 
as I can out of life, and die utterly uncertain about the 
eternal state of my future existence." 

If this be a fair representation of the strange process 
of thought often pursued by the generality of modern 
deists, as I apprehend it is, you will agree with me, that 
it is an honor to religion to have such unreasonable men 
for its professed enemies, and to christians, that such, or 
such principally, are their revilers. 

Yet, as idolizers of reason, we cannot suppose that 
these gentlemen reject the christian religion, and adopt 
the notions of deism, without thinking they have^found 
sufficient reasons for the preference. Let us, my friend, 
by instituting a short comparison, see if we can discover 
them. Can a deist arrive at his convictions by any thing 
like the following gradation 1 



FOLLY AND ABSURDITY OF DEISM. 21 

Christianity re zeals a God, glorious in holiness : de- 
ism, though it acknowledges a God, yet in great mea- 
sure overlooks his moral character: therefore I prefer 
deism. Christianity contains a professed revelation of 
the will of God : deism leaves me in perfect darkness as 
to his will : therefore I prefer deism. Christianity exhi- 
bits palpable, obvious, and simple criteria of the nature 
of virtue and vice : deism- envelopes the nature of virtue 
and vice in the greatest doubt and perplexity : therefore 
I prefer deism. Christianity furnishes the strongest pos- 
sible motives for virtuous conduct, and the most cogent 
reasons for abstaining from vicious conduct : deism ap- 
peals only to some vague notions relative to the fitness 
of things, or to moral beauty, or to expediency, which 
makes a man's own sentiments and feelings, however 
fluctuating, his ultimate guide : therefore I prefer deism. 
Christianity often reforms profligate and vicious men : 
deism never : therefore I prefer deism. Christianity fre- 
quently prompts men to schemes of the most exten- 
sive philanthropy, and compels them to execute those 
schemes : deism scarcely ever devises any such schemes : 
therefore I prefer deism. Christianity imparts principles 
that support men under all the trials and vicissitudes of 
life : deism can have recourse to no such principles : 
therefore I prefer deism. Christianity assures me of 
eternal existence beyond the grave ; and that, if it is not 
to me an eternal portion of felicity, it will be my own 
fault : deism leaves me perfectly ignorant, let my con- 
duct here be what it may, whether I shall live beyond 
the grave or not ; whether such existence, if there be any, 
will be limited or infinite, happy or miserable : therefore 
I prefer deism. Christianity will support me under the 
languishments of a sick-bed, and in the prospect of death, 
with the " sure and certain hope," that death is only a 
short though dark passage into an "inheritance incor- 
ruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away, reserved 



22 Gregory's letters. 

in heaven for God's people :" deism will then leave me, 
sinking in an ocean of gloomy apprehension, without one 
support — in trembling expectation that the icy hand of 
the king of terrors is about to seize me ; but whether to 
convey me to heaven, to hell, or to a state of annihila- 
tion, I know not : therefore I prefer : no, my friend, 

it is impossible that any man capable of correct reflec- 
tion can, after tracing this contrast, say, deliberately and 
sincerely, therefore I 'prefer deism. 

The reasons, then, which weigh with a deist, must be 
different from the above. Perhaps you may be told that 
the difficulties attending the belief of Christianity are 
very numerous and great, while the mere reception of 
the principles of deism is in a considerable degree free 
from difficulty, or at least presents no difficulties against 
which one's mind can strenuously revolt. To ascertain 
the force of this assertion, let us endeavor to collect into 
one point of view the chief propositions which must ne- 
cessarily be included in the creed of a deist : and I am 
much mistaken if they will not furnish us with some co- 
gent motives for wishing Christianity may be true, inde- 
pendent of all those that result from its own intrinsic 
beauty, value, and excellency. 

Here, again, we will suppose a deist speaking; deli- 
vering, if I may so call it, " A confession of his faith" in 
his own person. And after you have attended to his de- 
claration, I think you will coincide with me in opinion 
that the credulity of unbelievers is the most marvellous thing 
imaginable — that the rejecters of the Gospel are the most 
resolute believers in the world ; or with Soame Jenyns, 
that they " must be possessed of much more faith than is 
necessary to make them declared christians, and remain 
unbelievers from mere credulity." The creed of a deist, 
so far as I am able to comprehend his principles, would 
run thus : 



FOLLY AND ABSURDITY OF DEISM. 2'6 

1. I believe that God is a being of matchless holiness, 
wisdom, power and benevolence ; that in consequence of 
his holiness he " cannot look upon iniquity with satisfac- 
tion;'' that his wisdom would enabW him to contrive, his 
power to execute, and his benevolence stimulate him to 
accomplish, the most effectual plans for the establishment 
of virtue and the suppression of vice ; for the extinction 
of mental and moral darkness, and the diffusion of mental 
and moral light : and yet, that God has suffered mankind 
in every age, and in almost every country, to remain in 
the grossest ignorance and darkness for nearly 6000 years; 
to struggle with prejudices, to immerse themselves in the 
blackest and most dismal crimes, to perform the most 
horrid and murderous rites, and fancy them religious ser- 
vices ; — that he makes the being who possesses the finest 
faculties to be the greatest enemy to his species, — and 
thus to plunge himself and others into the deepest mise- 
ries : and all this in consequence of his never affording 
them the remotest aid, — never supplying them with any 
invariable principles as preservatives against error, or any 
specific rules by which they should shape their conduct. 
That is, I believe this palpable contradiction, that the 
goodness of God has allowed this horridly miserable state 
of mankind to continue for so many centuries, and has all 
along prompted him to refuse them any effectual aid or 
direction. 

2. I believe that what is called the Mosaic account of 
the Creation of the World, and the Fall of Man, is a 
mere fable; and therefore I believe that God, the wisest 
and the best of beings, created man with the most noble, 
refined, and extraordinary faculties of body and mind, fa- 
culties infinitely superior to what are possessed by other 
living creatures ; that while they eat, and drink, and 
sleep, unconscious of what shall befall them, he may in- 
dulge the doubtful anticipation intermingled with frequent 
dread of future occurrences; and that while they are sup- 



^4 Gregory's letters. 

plied with all that is necessary for their subsistence, with- 
out either " toiling or spinning," man, the Lord of the 
creation, is so circumstanced, that " by the sweat of his 
brow," the labor oft his hands, and the anxiety of his 
mind, he shall earn, and " eat bread :" I also believe that 
the same infinitely wise and benevolent Being formed 
woman with delicacy of perception, sweetness of dispo- 
sition, tenderness of heart, and beauty of frame, far above 
all we could conceive, did we not witness them, in order 
that " her sorrow shall be greatly multiplied," that " she 
shall bring forth children in sorrow," and that she shall 
be formed exquisitely susceptible of all the emotions of 
love, in order that "her desire may be to her husband, 
and that he may rule over her." That is, I will not be- 
lieve that these are the effects of just punishment ; but 
believe that they are marks of hard treatment from the 
wisest and best of Beings towards the most exalted part 
of his visible creation. I know there is no possible medi- 
um between these alternatives ; but I reject the former, 
because it is reasonable, and revealed in the Bible ; and 
adopt the latter, because it is unreasonable, and revealed 
nowhere. 

3. I believe that the book called the Bible was, every 
word of it, invented and written by men who had no help 
from God: that what are called Prophecies were not 
such ; that what are denominated Miracles were either 
tricks of art, or never occurred; and that though the 
precepts are often admirable, and the morality pure, it 
proceeded from impostors, and not from God. The whole 
book being a collection of delusions and deceptions ; 
which God nevertheless suffered to be accompanied by 
such evidence to gain it belief, as is not possessed by any 
other book. 

4. I believe that bad men are often made better 
through the influence of this strange system of lies, de- 
lusions, and impostures ; and that those who were good 



FOLLY AND ABSURDITY OF DEISM. 2b 

men often become bad, as soon as they are wise enough 
to free themselves from such influence, and to cas,t off the 
shackles with which this system encumbered them. 

5. I believe that several of the best scholars, the ablest 
disputants, the most acute lawyers, the subtlest metaphy- 
sicians, the most cautious investigators, and the most pro- 
found philosophers that ever lived, such as Sir Thomas 
More, Grotius, Hale, Bacon, Barrow, Locke, Hartley, 
Boyle, Pascal, Euler, Newton, and many others, were 
never able to detect the cheat, but lived as much under 
the influence of this system of bold and blasphemous de- 
ception, as the most vulgar and illiterate peasant could 
do ; — and were, the majority of them, very excellent men- 
notwithstanding. 

6. I believe that the different persons who employed 
themselves at various times, and in different places, to 
compose the Bible, which avows itself, by a thousand 
most solemn and explicit declarations, to be a collection 
of communications from heaven, were not madmen, (for, 
that supposition is untenable,) but all shocking liars and 
deceivers ; that these wicked men, who thus impiously 
pretended to be employed by God when they were not 
so employed, did, notwithstanding, with an amazing ener- 
gy, resolution, and perseverance, go about doing good, 
and delivering the most important moral precepts ; brav- 
ing, and often sustaining, the greatest present evils ; not 
one of tliem ever recanting or discovering the fraud ; but 
supporting themselves in the daily diffusion of their noble 
precepts and detestable impostures, and the terrible suf- 
ferings which they thereby hac^ to sustain, by the convic- 
tion that they had no hope but of experiencing further 
hardships here, and the vengeance of the God whom they 
had insulted — hereafter. 

Lastly : I believe that the Great Being of infinite per- 
fections, who sits enthroned at the head of the universe, 
has seen this horrid delusion prevail more ar.d more for 



26 

nearly two thousand years ; yet, instead of interposing to 
stay its progress, has suffered it to be accompanied with 
the most remarkable apparent sanctions, and has often 
accelerated its promulgation by surprising operations and 
occurrences. That is, I believe that the God of truth has, 
with regard to what is called the christian religion, most 
astonishingly aided imposture. All this, I acknowledge, 
is perfectly incomprehensible, and totally irreconcilable 
with the obvious attributes of Deity ; but it is consistent 
with the principles of deism, however repugnant it may 
be to common sense, and therefore I believe it. 

If these and similar absurdities, my friend, result from 
the rejection of revelation, (and, as far as I am able to 
judge, they are not merely fair, but necessary consequen- 
ces of such rejection,) your deistical acquaintances cannot 
have. so much reason as they suppose, to pride themselves 
on that noble exercise of their understanding which has 
freed them from vulgar prejudices and sordid restraints. 
Is there not, hence, too much reason to fear that, in nine- 
teen instances out of twenty, deism springs more from 
the state of the heart than from the operations of intel- 
lect ] and that it is not so much because Christianity of- 
fends the reason, as because it condemns the conduct, of 
men, that they affect to despise it ] They commence then 
progress with a carelessness respecting their future inte- 
rests : in the language of Young, they 

" Give to time eternity's regard, 

" And, dreaming, take their passage for their port." 

Gliding along thus carelessly, it is natural enough that 
thsy should sink, — first into error, — next into vice. In 
such a situation, an inquiry into the evidences of revealed 
religion is not instituted under very favorable auspices ; 
for the inquirer has his mind overgrown with the worst 
of all prejudices, those that are rooted in interest. How 



NECESSITY OF REVELATION. 27 

should a man be indifferent as to the truth of a system, 
which, if true, must condemn him 1 Though his life may 
not be grossly immoral, he knows that the tenor of his 
conduct is incompatible with the renunciations and re- 
quirements of real religion. He comes, therefore, to the 
trial, not as an impartial judge, but as a party deeply in- 
terested in the issue. He in consequence wishes that 
Christianity may not be true ; and what a man fervently 
wishes, he can easily persuade himself to believe, — though 
he should involve himself in a thousand absurdities in con- 
sequence of that persuasion. 

You, my friend, have happily entered upon this im- 
portant inquiry, free from the lamentable incumbrances 
of vice ; that it may be so pursued, as to be the means of 
preserving you from the deistical delusions to which I have 
adverted in this letter, — delusions, as derogatory to the 
intellectual as they are dangerous to the moral character 
of man ; is the most earnest wish of your sincere Friend. 



LETTER ri 

On the necessity of a revelation of the icill of God 

When you.request, my dear Friend, that I will not let 
ihe letter I recently sent you terminate the remarks I 
mean to transmit on the subject of religion, out that J 
will allow you to consider it as the first of a series which 
I shall devote to the discussion of the evidences, doc- 
trines, and duties of Christianity, you propose to me a 
task, which, however willing I may be to undertake it on 
your account, will, I am aware, be attended with some 
difficulty, and require much time and meditation. The 



28 Gregory's letters. 

difficulty does not arise from the paucity and scantiness 
of the materials that lie before me, and the consequent 
necessity of exercising original or inventive powers to 
produce such argumentative matter as may convince a 
candid inquirer; but from the extreme copiousness of 
the subject, the abundance and variety of the means by 
which it has been established, confirmed, and illustrated, 
and the judgment requisite to draw out of an immense 
mass, to which men of learning and piety in all ages of 
the church have contributed, those particulars which may 
be best calculated to impress the mind and to call forth 
both a rational and practical conviction. 

The lively interest, however, which I feel in all that 
concerns you, and my extreme solicitude that you should 
think correctly and act wisely in relation to this most mo- 
mentous of all topics, induce me to comply with your 
wishes, notwithstanding the embarrassment in" which 
such compliance may sometimes involve me. I have 
only to premise, before I pursue the inquiry you have 
suggested, that as, on the one hand, I do not expect you 
will assent to every proposition I shall advance, but wijl 
be determined by the aggregate impression resulting from 
the whole ; so, on the other, you must not expect to be 
entertained with novelties, or fascinated with beauties. 

" Nullum est jam dictum, quod non dictum prius." — Ter. 

My object will be, to select — not to invent ; to con 
vince — not to compel ; to instruct — not to delight ; to 
persuade — not to enchant : and if I shall be so fortunate 
as to effect these without occupying very much of your 
time ; — if I shall save you the fatigue of turning over ma- 
ny a ponderous volume, and the vexation of reading ma- 
ny in vain (through the want of a judicious friend at your 
elbow to direct your choice ;) — if I can compress into 
small compass the most essential arguments that are dif- 
fused through numerous works of various authors in dif- 



NECESSITY OF REVELATION. 29 

ferent ages, and the result of my labor be beneficial to 
you; I shall have the satisfaction, the purest allotted to 
man, of having exerted myself successfully in a good 
cause. 

Having premised this, 1 may venture to remark, that li 
the train of argumentation in my former letter be calcu- 
lated to make any impression, it is, that the absurdities of 
deism render a revelation of the will of God probable. 
It may also be inferred further, that what we may natu- 
rally expect from the character of God, renders such a re- 
velation more probable; and we may now observe, that 
the state of men renders it necessary. It indeed seems 
extremely unlikely, that the Divine Being would suffer 
mankind to have fallen into such great apostacy from him 
as is every where manifest, without intending to render 
them assistance through which they may be recovered. 
He has made provision in th'e natural world for the re- 
moval of bodily disorders ; can we then imagine that he 
will be altogether regardless of the much more danger- 
ous diseases of the mind % It is, for example, a most de- 
plorable degree of blindness to live utterly unconcerned 
about what we are ; and it is a far more tremendous thing 
to live wickedly, to live as " without God in the world," 
when we are surrounded with his essence and believe in 
his existence : yet the greater part of mankind are under 
one or other of these dismal infatuations ; and there can 
be no reason assigned why they should ever be otherwise, 
unless they are roused from their slumber or checked in 
their irreligious courses by the voice of Deity. 

Leave man to himself and to his own efforts, even when 
most actively inclined, and what can he accomplish 1 He 
is evidently formed for thinking : his intellectual part 
gives dignity to his character ; to think correctly consti- 
tutes a prime duty ; correct thinking is manifested in 
his contemplating himself, his author, and his end ; and 
yet, how commonly docs he neglect these inquiries to 



30 Gregory's letters. 

pursue trifling vanities and " waste his strength in that 
which profiteth not V* Or suppose he directs his unassist- 
ed intellectual energies into a more suitable channel, what 
does he effect % He has an idea, an inward perception of 
truth, not to be effaced by the sophistry of the sceptic ; 
yet, on the most important topics, he has an incapacity 
of argument scarcely to be rectified but by supernatural 
aid. He wishes for truth, and obtains nothing but uncer- 
tainty. He pants after happiness, and finds only misery 
in substance, or the vacuity of disappointment. He is in- 
capable of ceasing to wish both for truth and happiness ; 
and yet perceives that he is equally incapable of attain- 
ing either. He is also subject to a perpetual war between 
his reason and his passions. Had he reason without pas- 
sions, or passions without reason, he might enjoy some- 
thing like repose ; but actuated as he is by both, he lives 
in perpetual disquiet ; finding it impossible to yield him- 
self to the guidance of the one, without experiencing the 
consequences of rebellion to the other. Hence he is al- 
ways at variance with himself, — always under the influ- 
ence of contending principles ; and how is he to emanci- 
pate himself from this thraldom ? Suppose he seeks for 
freedom and repose by pursuing the speculations of na- 
tural religion. He endeavors to lay the foundations of 
duty, to establish rules of conduct ; he attempts to put 
them in practice, and. fails. He is compelled to acknow- 
ledge himself a wanderer, and often doubtless a wilful 
wanderer, from the path of rectitude. He reasons, 
without knowing it, upon the principles of an Apostle, 
who said, " if our hearts condemn us, God is greater 
than our hearts, and knoweth all things;" and is thus 
led to institute inquiries relative to the pardon of sin, 
the nature, duration, misery or happiness of a future 
state ; respecting all which he finds it impossible to re- 
move difficulties, or to be freed from the most trembling 
anxiety : 



NECESSITY OF REVELATION. 31 

The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before him ; 
" But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it." 

Even of those things which such an inquirer may bo 
able to clear up to his own satisfaction, there will be ma- 
ny in which it will be extremely difficult to convey a sa- 
tisfactory impression to others; considering, on the one 
hand, how abstruse many of his arguments will be ; and 
on the other, that ignorance, indolence, prejudice and se- 
cular cares will, according to their individual or com- 
bined existence and influence, prevent the generality of 
persons from inquiring into the truth of what he pro- 
poses, 93 well as from investigating these matters for 
themsel ;es. 

Could the doubts which envelope the subject of natu- 
ral religion be dispelled by any one philosopher to his 
own satisfaction, yet he might want the inclination, or 
if he possessed that, he must want the power, to make 
others adopt his views, and thus taste his enjoyments. Or 
could the great doctrines of religion and the rules of mo- 
rality be settled, and proposed, and taught ever so plainly 
or frequently, yet it would be difficult, or indeed impos- 
sible to enforce the practice of them. A system of ethics 
may be considered, by those who acquaint themselves 
with it, as extremely ingenious; but it is entirely op- 
tional whether they will or will not adopt it as a rule of 
conduct ; and the experience of all ages shows that it is 
perfectly ridiculous to expect that any such system should 
ever be considered as binding. Even were human laws 
established in aid of it, it would still be inefficacious ; for 
no secular power, however it may restrain from crimes 
can produce a single action that shall be truly and essec 
lially nrtuous.* Either, then, God himself must inter- 

* Similar to this was the reasoning of Tertullian, in his admirable Apo- 
logetic, (cap. 45.) "Your systems of virtue (says he) are but the conjec- 
tures of human philosophy, and the power which commands obedience 
nerely human: so that neither the rule nor the power ^indisputable ; an J 



32 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

pose and favor us with rules of virtue, and motives to the 
practice of it such as it is difficult to withstand, or the 
world must necessarily sink deeper and deeper into vice 
and misery. To admit the latter is to deny that the Su- 
preme Being interests himself about the welfare of those 
whom he created and governs. Since, therefore, God is 
a Being of matchless justice, mercy and bounty, it fol- 
lows irrefragably that if the deficiencies of natural rea- 
son, or the inattention of mankind to the footsteps of his 
providence, were such at any time (and such they have 
been) that all the inhabitants of the world were in dan- 
ger of being lost in ignorance, irreligion and idolatry, 
then would G-od interpose by extraordinary instruction, 
by alarming instances of judgment or of mercy, by pro- 
phetical declarations of things to come ; that is, by a su- 
pernatural revelation of his will, to make us better ac- 
quainted with his attributes and our own character, to 
point out to us the path of duty, to draw us from the va- 
nities of the world, and to lead us to himself. 



LETTER III. 

On the- opinions of the heathens, their legislators, poets, and phi 
losophers, relative to God, to moral duty, and a future state. 

It is not surprising, my dear friend, that your philoso- 
phical companions should endeavor to persuade you, in 

hence the one is too imperfect to instruct us fully, the other too weak tc 
command us effectually : but both these are abundantly provided for by a 
revelation from God. Where is the philosopher who can so clearly demon- 
strate the true good, as to fix the notion beyond dispute ? And what hu- 
man power is able to reach the conscience, and bring down that notion into 
practice 1 Human wisdom is as liable to error as human power is to con 
tempt." See also^ap. 18 of the same treatise 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 33 

opposition to the train of argument in my last letter, that 
unassisted reason not only can discover, but has discov- 
ered, all that is necessary to be known as it regards our 
duty or our expectations. The powers of the intellect, 
notwithstanding their defects and their limitations, have 
doubtless done much in every department of art, of lite- 
rature and of science : and those who are best able to 
estimate the value of intellectual productions, are proba- 
bly, for that very reason, apt to ascribe to the mind much 
more than it can really accomplish. Besides this, several 
of the philosophers who have indulged in moral specu- 
lations since the era of the christian revelation, and even 
those who have been the warmest opposers of that reve- 
lation, have derived, indirectly, from the source to which 
they would disdain to apply directly, many highly impor- 
tant truths, many valuable rules of conduct, many pow- 
erful incentives to virtue : they have thus travelled by a 
torch snatched from the temple of God, while both them 
selves and their followers idly imagine their path is illu- 
minated by light of their own creating. Thus the latei 
Plafonists, Plotinus, Porphyry, Jamblichus and Hiero 
cles, are well known to have been pupils of Ammonius ol 
Alexandria, a christian, and the tutor of Origen : whence 
it happens that the christian fathers were accused of Pla- 
tonizing ; instead of which the truth is, that the philoso- 
phers just mentioned niched from the christian repository. 
But to judge correctly in this respect, let us inquire 
what was effected in morals and religion by the intellec- 
tual energies of the great and learned men and philoso- 
phers who existed previously to the dawn of " the Sun of 
righteousness."* Such an inquiry will place the subject 

* Indeed there is great reason to believe that nothing, strictly speaking 
in morals or theology, was the genuine result of the mental efforts of the 
wisest ancient heathens. Many of them were candid enough to profess to 
have derived what knowledge they had, not merely from the exertions of 
their reason, but from a higher source, even from very ancient traditions. 

2* 



34 Gregory's letters. 

in a proper point of view ; nor can it be thought uncan- 
did towards the advocates of unassisted reason, when it 
is recollected that whatever may have been the mental 
stature of Bolingbroke, and Gibbon, and Hume, and Vo 
taire, they would appear diminutive enough when placed 
by the side of Aristotle, and Socrates, and Plato, and 
Seneca. If, then, this inquiry, conducted with as much 
regard to brevity as its nature will admit, shall evince the 
inferiority of the principal ethical and religious systems 
of the ancients to the christian scheme, or shall show 
their inefficacy to restrain from vice or to incite to virtue, 
we shall possess an additional argument for the necessity 
of revelation, as well as a cogent proof that the system 
which is so infinitely superior to all that has been pro- 
duced by the greatest of uninspired men must have ema- 
nated from Him who is " the Father of lights," physical 
and mental. 

Now as to the heathen generally, though it was com- 
monly admitted among them that the formation of the 
world was owing to chance, yet many of them ascribed 
it to a plurality of causes or authors ; and even those 
who acknowledged one Supreme Being, corrupted the 
doctrine of the unity by making him to be of the same 
nature as the other gods, though of a higher order. And 

to which they usually assigned a divine original. " What Socrates said of 
the Deity, (observes Dryden in the Preface to Religio Laid,) what Plato 
writ, and the rest of the heathen philosophers of several nations, is all no 
more than the twilight of revelation, after the sun of it was set in the race. 
of Noah." Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen and 
Eusebius*all prove that Plato especially learned much from the Hebrews 
while he was in Egypt. Hence flows an observation which operates two 
ways in favor of religion, and doubly evinces the goodness of God in his 
dispensations towards mankind ; for we may learn that he prepared a way 
in cis providence for the traditionary dissemination of the principal moral 
truths he revealed to our first parents; and it will appear farther, I trust, 
in the course of this work, that at the very period when the light origin- 
ally communicated had well nigh become extinct, he introduced the full 
blaze of "the Gospel dispensation. 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 35 

thus originated the custom of the priests, who, in all their 
sacred ceremonies and devotions, after addressing them- 
selves to the especial deities to whom it was necessary at 
each particular time to offer up prayers or sacrifices, 
were wont to invoke all the gods in general. It was, be 
sides, a universal notion among them, that the Supreme 
God did not concern himself with the affairs of this wcrld, 
but committed them wholly to inferior deities ; whence 
sprang their idolatry, and the habit of neglecting the 
worship of the Supreme God, or of confounding it with 
that of the multitude of idol-deities. They first deviated 
from the worship of one God to the worshipping heaven 
and the heavenly bodies ; then to the worship of heroes 
and deified men ; then they turned the names and attri- 
butes of God into distinct divinities, and worshipped them 
as such ; then they paid divine honors to the images and 
symbols of the gods ; and then they deified whatever was 
useful in human life, however mean, and the qualities, 
affections and dispositions of the human mind, however 
grovelling and despicable. The consequence of all this 
was, that at length the worship of evil beings became 
very prevalent. Hence many of their rites became cruel 
and contrary to humanity, and hence the licentiousness and 
impurity of their religion and worship became notorious. 
Thus, to select only one or two instances out of many, 
the rites of the goddess Cybele were no less infamous for 
lewdness than for cruelty ; and these impure customs 
spread far and wide. Strabo relates that there was a tem- 
ple .of Venus at Corinth so rich that it maintained above a 
thousand harlots, sacred to her service, hpcf-dhac traLtp*;, 
which were consecrated both by men and women to that 
goddess. And Eusebius* is compelled to use language, 



* Praepar. Evangel, lib. ii. cap. 6, p. 74. The reader may however 
find, in the Octavius of Minutius Felix, an account of heathen gods and 
worship, delivered in a fine strain of irony, with tne suppression of trie 
grosser circumstanres. m 



36 Gregory's letters. 

when describing the height of wickedness and impurity 
the worship of the heathens attained, which no virtuous 
man can read without shuddering. Well might it be said 
of the heathens by an Apostle, " God gave them up to 
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts." The 
vices and enormities in which the heathens indulged 
were not checked by any suitable restraining motive: 
for whatever might be the speculative opinions of one or 
two philosophers, who were influenced to believe the 
immortality of the soul by very fanciful reasonings,* the 
belief of a future state was totally set at naught by the 
majority of both Greeks and Romans. 

Thus, according to Plato, the doctrine taught by Socra 
tes concerning the immortality of the soul and a future 
state "met with little credit among men :" and indeed 
Socrates himself remarked that the opinion of the soul's 
being blown away, and perishing with the body, prevail- 
ed generally. Polybius also complains that in his time 
the belief of a future state was rejected both by the great 
men and the bulk of the people, and he ascribes to this 
disbelief the great corruption of manners : though even 
Polybius, while he blames the great men among the 
Greeks for encouraging the people to disbelieve and des- 
pise future punishments, represents them as only useful 
fictions. How much the disbelief of future retributions 
prevailed at Rome is evident from one of Caesar's ora- 
tions on the Cataline conspiracy ; and Cato's reply, in 
which he said, " Caesar looked upon those things to be 



* As Pythagoras, who we are informed by Diogenes Laertius (in Py 
thag.) held that the human soul is a portion of the ether, (cL7ro<T7rcto-y.<t 
ttibipoci) and therefore immortal, because the ether is so. And Pliny the 
naturalist, speaking- thus of Hipparchus, gives at the same time his own 
opinion. " The never enough commended Hipparchus, being one than whom 
no one more fully approved the relation of the stars to man, and the opin- 
ion of our souls being a part of the heaven, Animasque nostras partem 
ense ccrli." Nat. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 26. 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 3? 

Tables which are related concerning the Inferi, where 
bad men, far from the mansions of the virtuous, are con- 
fined to abodes, dreary, abominable, and full of horrors." 
Long after the time of Caesar the like contempt of an 
awful futurity was entertained : for Pliny the naturalist 
labors hard to expose the absurdity of ascribing account- 
able immortality to the soul, and says " that these are 
childish and senseless fictions of mortals, who are ambi- 
tious of a never-ending existence." " Puerilium ista de- 
liramentorum, avidaeque nunquam desinere mortalitatis 
commenta sunt." Hist. Nat. lib. vii. cap. 55. 

That a contempt and disbelief of future punishments 
weakened the fear of God is obvious : and as to the love of 
God, that noble principle which is evidently fitted to pro- 
duce the most elevated degrees of moral uprightness, and 
a happiness corresponding to our sublimest desires, the 
heathens were utter strangers to it. And with regard to 
their conduct towards one another, it must not be forgot- 
ten that none of them recognized the exalted principle 
of loving enemies. I am aware that some have affirmed 
that this principle was taught in the Grecian schools, 
and have referred to the G orgias of Plato in proof of their 
assertion. But, if we attend duly to the whole conversa- 
tion of Socrates there related, we shall find that, instead 
of teaching the forgiveness of injuries, the love of ene- 
mies, and the duty of " doing good to them that hate us," 
he inculcates the indulgence of the most refined, and, 
according to his own statement, the most baleful malice 
towards those who have injured us. The substance of 
his reasoning is this : 

" You allow that moral excellence is the greatest good. 
You allow also that the punishment of offences is one 
means of reforming the authors of them. If then our 
enemy has injured us, the greatest good we can be- 
stow upon him is to bring him to a court of justice and 
inflict the vengeance of the law. Then by no means pun- 



38 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

ish your enemy for having injured you, for so you defeat 
•your oivn purpose of revenge. Leave him to the whole, un- 
controlled, uncounteracted influence of his moral depravi- 
ty, because that is the greatest evil which can be endured." 

It appears then, that the heathen world, and especially 
Jae Greeks and Romans, of whom we know most be- 
cause they were most refined, were in a state of gross 
darkness and ignorance with respect to the knowledge 
of God, of themselves, and of those moral relations and 
obligations in which they stood to the Supreme Being, 
and to one another. Their incentives to virtue were 
few and weak : their motives to avoid vice inefficacious 
and founded on a wrong basis. Nor was this the case 
with regard to the populace merely : their Legislators, 
Poets, and Philosophers, held the most erroneous opin- 
ions ; or promulgated right sentiments, when they had 
discovered them, upon wrong principles. 

Thus, with regard to Legislators, it is well knowii 
that from political views they established and encou- 
raged the worship of those who had once been men, and 
took them into the number of their gods. Consistently 
with this, Cotta observes, that in most cities it was usual, 
in order to encourage men to hazard their lives for the 
commonwealth, to take those who had been eminent for 
their fortitude into the number of their gods. This in- 
deed is expressly prescribed by Cicero, in his second 
book of laws, cap. 8, where he requires that those should 
be worshipped whom their merits had called into hea- 
ven. It is also a general observation, which applies to 
the whole civil theology of the pagans, that of the Ro- 
mans as well as of the other heathen nations, that the 
public worship which was instituted by their more cele- 
brated legislators, and prescribed and established by the 
laws of their several cities and countries, was paid to a 
multiplicity of deities. They were therefore encouraged, 
or rather compelled, to be polytheists, by law. 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 39 

It has, I am aware, been urged by some,*that the le- 
gislators who established the pagan mysteries designed 
thereby to overthrow the vulgar polytheism. But, in op- 
position to this, it has been shown by Bishop Warburton 
that " the legislators and magistrates who first instituted 
the mysteries, and continued to have the chief direction 
of them, had the chief hand in the rise of that polythe- 
ism, and contrived it for the sake of the state, to keep 
the people in awe, and under a greater veneration for 
their laws." 

So far, indeed, was it from being the fact that heathen 
legislators discountenanced polytheism, that the whole 
tenor of ancient records goes to establish the contrary. 
Thus, Stobceus informs us, it was one of the laws of Cha- 
rondas, " Let the contempt of the gods be reckoned among 
the greatest cruizes." And at Athens every citizen was 
bound by oath to defend and conform to the religion of 
his country. This oath was in the name of the gods, and 
concluded thus : " I swear by these following deities, the 
Agrauli, Enyalius, Mars, Jupiter, the Earth, and Diana." 
Potter's Greek Antiquities, vol. i. 

Nor did the legislators inculcate erroneous notions 
with regard to the gods alone. Their laws, established 
for the express purpose of furthering the public virtue 
and happiness, had often a highly unfavorable effect upon 
both. I shall here only specify a few of those of Lycurgus, 
because the united voice of antiquity speaks of him as 
rather a god than a man ; and Plutarch produces him as 
" an undeniable proof that a perfectly wise man is not a 
mere notion and chimera." I am not inclined to deny 
that many of the laws of Lycurgus are very excellent; 
yet I must be permitted to think that some things, en- 
acted by this "perfectly wise man," counteracted the 
practice of virtue. Plato, though a great admirer of Ly- 
curgus, acknowledges that his laws were rather fitted to 
make men valiant than just. Aristotle makes the same 



40 GREGORYS LETTERS. 

observation*. And even Plutarch confesses that some per- 
sons censured the laws of Lycurgus as well contrived to 
make men good soldiers, but very defective in civil jus- 
tice and honesty. Many of his laws were contrary to hu- 
manity : and hence it happened that the conduct of the 
Lacedemonians to their slaves, the Helotes, was prover 
bially cruel. They had, besides, a custom, encouraged 
by their laws, of whipping boys to death at the altar of 
Diana Orthia. Lycurgus also enacted that deformed in- 
fants should not be suffered to live, but be cast into a ca 
vern to perish gradually ! Healthy boys, on the contrary, 
were to be treated charitably, and trained up to dexte- 
rous thieving, being whipped unmercifully if they were 
taken in the fact, not for stealing, but for being such bun 
glers as to expose themselves to detection. I will only 
add farther, under this head, that the Spartans had com- 
mon baths, in which both men and women were com- 
pelled to bathe together; and that it was ordered by Ly 
curgus that the young maidens should appear naked in 
the public exercises, as well as the young men; and that 
they should dance naked with them at the solemn festi- 
vals and sacrifices. These, you will remember, are among 
the legislative enactments of one whom we are to re- 
spect as a " perfectly wise man;" are laws which a learn 
ed, grave, and philosophic heathen, Plutarch, justifies 
and commends, seeming scarcely conscious, except in 
one instance, that it would be possible to censure them. 
Allow me next to say a word or two respecting the 
heathen Poets, whose influence upon the opinions and 
practices of the people was naturally great. They were, 
indeed, the prophets and chief instructors of the people, 
and were looked upon, even by Socrates and Plato, as 
divinely inspired. Now, how did they maintain the an- 
cient tradition of one Supreme God 1 ? Why, truly, by 
confounding him with their Jupiter, by bringing him to 
a level with this the chief of their idol-deities, of whom 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 41 

they made the most indelicate representations. Instead 
of exerting the powers of their imagination to array the 
Deity in the sublimity of grandeur, or even in pointing 
to the obscurity which invests the most incomprehensi- 
ble of all beings, and 



With the majesty of darkness round 



Circles his throne;' 



they invented ideal gods of all classes, and for all pur- 
poses, even the most base and ignoble : they deified the 
inanimate parts of the world; they ascribed to their dei- 
ties passions and propensities the most odious and abo- 
minable ; and instead of describing the gods as beings 
worthy of imitation, and giving richness and elevation 
of character to men by the contemplation of their excel- 
lence, they lowered and debased the sentiments of those 
who were already "of the earth, earthy," by calling their 
attention to monstrous and indecent stories of the in- 
trigues of heaven. The poetical theology, it is true, was 
disapproved by some of the wiser pagans; yet it was 
carefully wrought into the popular religion, and lay at 
the foundation of most of their sacred rites. Those poe- 
tical fables which Varro and Tully* censure as unworthy 
of the gods, and as imputing to them actions which none 
but the vilest of men could be guilty of, were not only 
permitted to be acted on the public theatres, but were 
regarded as things pleasing to the gods themselves, and 
were accordingly incorporated with the public and estab- 
lished religion. 

The effusions of the heathen poets have, also a deplor- 
ably mischievous tendency, on account of the manner in 
which they almost uniformly speak of the state after 
death. On some few occasions, it is true, they introduce 
the idea of rewards and punishments to make a part of 

* Fingebat hjec Homerus, et. humana ad deos transfercbat, divina inallen 
ftd nos. Tuseul. Disput. lib. i. cap. 26. 



12 Gregory's letters. 

the poetical machinery: yet, frequently they express 
themselves as though they thought death brought an ut- 
ter extinction of being. Plutarch, in his consolation to 
Apollonius, quotes this passage of an ancient poet, that 
no grief or evil touches the dead, 

"Aa^gc y*$ ovtoss tsS'h A7rTiTut vtx.pX. 

He there also quotes another passage from a poet, de- 
claring that the dead man is in the same condition that 
he was before he was born. The first- of these passages 
is ascribed by Stoboeus to iEschylus. So again, Moschus, 
Idyll, iii. lin. 107, having observed that herbs and plants, 
after seeming to die, yet revive in the succeeding year, 
subjoins, 

A/u/uic; ef' 01 (Aiy&xot, kai xAfirepoiy » <roq>oi ctvfpiCy 

'07r7roT£ Tparst &a.va>fAH> olvblkogi tv ^Qov/ xoixa. 

Evfo/xes ET MAAA MAKPON, ATEPMONA, NHrPETON v7T70V, 

But we, or great, or wise, or brave, 
Once dead, and silent in the grave, 
Senseless remain ; one rest we keep, 
One long, eternal, unawdkeri 'd sleep. 

There are passages of the same kind in Epicharmus, 
in Sophocles, Euripides, and Astydamas, referred to by 
Dr. Whitby. Com. on 2 Tim. 1 : 10. 

Both the Greek and Roman poets drew arguments 
from the consideration that life is short, and death will 
entirely terminate our existence, to urge men to lay hold 
of the present opportunity and give a full indulgence to 
their appetites; according to the libertine maxim, "let 
ns eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Several passa- 
ges of this kind may be found in Strabo, and others of 
the Greeks. Catullus has a notorious passage to the 
same purpose, which, often as it has been quoted, must 
once more be adduced : 

" Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus 



.OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 48 

"Soles occidcre et redire possunt: 
" Nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux, 
" N#c est perpetua una dormienda." 



Elegantly imitated by Baker : 

u The sun that sets again will rise, 
" And give the day, and gild the skies ; 
" But when we lose our little light, 
" We sleep in everlasting night." 

Thus also Horace : 

" Vit<e surnma brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam '. 
11 Jam nox te premet, fabulceque Manes. ,} 

Perseus, again, represents it as the language of many in 
his time. 

"Indulge genia : carpamus dulcia: nostrum est 
" Quod vivis : cinis et Manes et fabula fies." 

Quotations to this effect may be multiplied at pleasure, 
by any person who is conversant with the productions of 
the classic poets. I shall only select two more ; the first 
from Seneca the tragedian : 

" Post mortem nihil est, ipsaque mors nihil — 
" Quaeris quo jaceas post obitum loco, 
"Quo non nata jacent." 

And lastly from Virgil, iEn. x : 

" Olli dura quies oculos, et fcrreus urget, 

" Somnus, iii ccternam clauduntur lumina noctem." 

We have now seen that the sentiments of the legisla- 
tors and poets, in regard to religion and morals, differ in 
nothing essentially from those of the vulgar ; much as 
they prided themselves upon their superiority to that 
multitudinous class. 

Let us next take a rapid glance at those opinions of 
the Philosophers which are connected with our present 
inquiry, and ascertain whether the apostle Paul, who 
was well acquainted with the philosophical notions of his 
and all preceding times, was not justified in saying to 



44 Gregory's letters. 

the Colossians, " Beware, lest any man make a prey of 
you through an empty and deceitful philosophy." 

Now, that this branch of our inquiry may not be load- 
ed with any superfluous matter, I do not hesitate to ad- 
mit that some of the ancient philosophers had very sub- 
lime conceptions respecting the nature and a few of the 
attributes of God ; some of them spoke nobly of virtue 
in general, and some indulged in exalted speculation re- 
lative to the immortality of the soul. I have no wish to 
"charge the picture of their aberrations and defects with 
deeper shades than justly belong to it." Yet I must say, 
there was a strange confusion and diversity of sentiments 
among them respecting the Deity ; and that a complete 
system of morality was not to be found in the writings 
of any one philosopher, nor of all of them collectively. 
Some of them excluded a divine mind and intelligence 
from the formation of the universe : few, if any of them, 
acknowledged God in a proper sense to be the Creator 
of the world : most of them encouraged polytheism. 
Some taught that God is the soul of the world : some, that 
the world is God : some, that the world is eternal both 
in matter and form : some, that the stars are to be wor- 
shipped : the greatest and best of them spoke of a plurali- 
ty of gods, whom they recommended to the adoration of 
the people. They justified the worship of images : they 
apologised even for the Egyptian animal worship : they 
added metaphysical deities to the popular ones : they re- 
ferred the people for instruction to the priests and the ora- 
cles ; and gave it as a general rule, that all men should con- 
form to the religion of their country, that is, to polytheism. 

The best of them, amidst all their arguments, often 
spoke doubtfully of a future state, and none of them ap- 
plied the doctrine of a future state to its proper ends and 
uses : they affirmed that a short and temporary happi- 
ness is as good as an eternal one ; and few of them be- 
lieved future punishment. In regard to morals, they 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 45 

were generally wrong in that part which relates to purity, 
and continence, and the government of the sensual pas- 
sions. Many of them, as Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, JE&* 
chines, Cebes, &c. were chargeable with unnatural lusts 
and vices, which they reckoned among things of an indif- 
ferent nature.* They generally allowed of fornication, 
as having nothing in it sinful or contrary to reason. 
Many of them pleaded for suicide, as lawful and proper 
in some cases ; and most of them thought lying, lawful 
when it was profitable. Thus Plato says, " he may lie 
who knows how to do it, « tv fiovri x*ipce, in a fitting or 
needful season." In his fifth Republic he lays it down as 
a maxim, that it is " necessary for rulers to make use of 
frequent lying and deceit for the benefit of their subjects, 
"o-^vm tb -{'ivS-u ml) atVatTj) £/>a0-3-*/." In his third and fourth 
books De Republica he advises governors to make use of 
lies both towards enemies and citizens, when it is con- 
venient. In his second book De Republica he allows 
lying in words on some occasions ; but not lying in the 
soul, so as to believe a falsehood. And in this he was 
followed by the Stoics, who held that a wise man might 
make use of a lie in many ways, av«v o-uyx.ct.ra§-i<ria>s, with- 
out giving assent to it-; as in war, in prospect of some 
advantage, and for many other conveniences and manage- 
ments of life, x*t' etKKus o/jtsvo/uj'st? t£ Cia 7ro\\a.c. Consis- 
tently with this Maximus Tyrius says, " there is nothing 
venerable vS-h o-s^vcv, in truth, if it be not profitable to him 
that hears it." He adds, that " a lie is often profitable 
or advantageous to men, and truth hurtful." 

Thus it appears how apt they were to mistake in judg- 
ing of what is truly venerable, decorous, and laudable, 
which yet they made one of the principal characteristics 
of the to **xcv, or honcstum. Plato mentions it as an old 

* Incestus omnigcnus, adulterium, et etiam afnvo/uigix, veterum non-. 
nullis, sapientiae nomine claris, inter aef/stps/;*, habebantur. Canon. Chron 
ic. Secul. 9. v. 172. 



46 Gregory's letters. 

saying, and one which he approves, that that which irf 
profitable is itaxov, honorable, and that which is hurtful is 
Jpase. Since, therefore, both he and others of the philo- 
sophers held that a lie is, in many cases, profitable, they 
must hold that a lie is often *<&xov, hones turn. Some of the 
ohilosophers, again, as Laertius tells us of Theodoras, 
declared without disguise, that " a wise man might, upon 
a fit occasion, commit theft, adultery, and sacrilege ; for 
that none of those things are base in their own nature, if 
that opinion concerning them be taken away which was 
agreed upon for the sake of restraining fools." Diog. 
Laert. lib. 2. segm. 99. Besides all this, they were, as 
Diodorus Siculus testifies, continually innovating in the 
most considerable doctrines, and, by perpetually contra- 
dicting one another, made their disciples dubious; so 
that their minds were k°pt in such continual suspense 
during their whole lives, that they, could not firmly be- 
lieve any thing. 

From this induction of particulars you may perceive, 
that with regard to men of learning and strong intellect 
among the heathens, reason, so far as it related to God, 
and religion, and human happiness, was asleep : if some 
happy hints at any time awoke it and set it moving in a 
right direction, yet without the guidance of revelation it 
was ever ready to wander and go astray. As this, how- 
ever, is a very interesting topic, you will perhaps expect 
that I should specify some of the erroneous notions taught 
by the most celebrated philosophers. I will therefore 
select a few instances for your information. 

Socrates, you will, I doubt not, recollect, was the first 
among the Greeks who made morals the proper and only 
subject of his philosophy, and brought it into common 
life. Tuscul. disput. lib. v. cap. 4. Yet he represents the 
worshipping not of one God, but of the gods, as the first 
and most universal law of nature. He was in the habit 
of consulting the oracle to know the will of the gods ; 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 47 

and every one knows that his dying injunction was, 
" Crito, we owe a cock to JEsculapias : discharge this debt 
for me, and pray do not neglect it." He sometimes, it is, 
true, gives a noble account of future happiness ; but 
seems to confine it principally, as several of the modern 
deists do, to those who had made a great progress in phi- 
losophy. " The soul," says he, " which gives itself up to 
the study of wisdom and philosophy and lives abstracted 
from the body, goes at death to that which is like itself, — 
divine, immortal, wise, — to which, when it arrives, it shall 
be happy, freed from error, ignorance, foars, disorderly 
loves, and other human evils ; and lives, as is said of the 
initiated, the rest of its life with the gods." 

This philosopher, however, debased his doctrine of a 
future state with that of the transmigration of souls, 'and 
gives a mean idea of the happiness reserved for the com- 
mon sort of good and virtuous men after death : " They 
go," he says, " into the bodies of animals of a mild and 
social kind, such as bees, ants, &c. But none is admitted 
to the fellowship of the gods but a lover of knowledge." 
What an admirable incitement is this to the practice of 
virtue, that the soul of a virtuous man of moderate intel- 
lect may be indulged with the privilege of animating the 
bodies of bees and ants ! 

It must be farther remarked, that most of the argu 
raents produced by Socrates, in the Pheedo, for the im- 
mortality of the soul were weak and inconclusive ; and 
accordingly, although he expressed a hope of it in his last 
discourse when he was near death, yet he by no means 
spoke confidently. He concludes his long discussion re- 
lative to the state of souls after death by saying, " That 
these things are so as I have represented them, it does 
not become any man of understanding to affirm." In his 
apology to his judges he comforts himself with the con- 
sideration that " there is much ground to hope that death 
is good : for it must necessarily be one of these two ; 



48 Gregory's letters. 

either the dead man is nothing, and has not a sense of 
anything; or it is only a change or migration of the soul 
hence to another place, according to what we are told 
If there is no sense left, and death" is like a 'profound sleep 
and quiet rest without dreams, it is wonderful to think 
what gain it is to die ; but if the things which are told 
us are true, that death is a migration to another place, 
this is still a much greater good." And soon after, having 
said " that those who live there are both in other respects 
happier than we, and also in this, that for the rest of their 
existence thejiare immortal;" he again reiterates, "If 
the things which are told us are true." 

You cannot fail to notice, that in all this the awful idea 
of accountability does not enter ; and farther, that instead 
of the philosopher's adopting the language of sublimity 
and confidence on this momentous occasion, he deals only 
in puerility and uncertainty. Let but his hesitating lan- 
guage be contrasted with the christian assurance of an 
apostle in analogous circumstances, and you cannot help 
drawing the most cogent inferences. The language of 
the dying philosopher is, "If the things which are told us 
are true." But listen to the language of the apostolic con- 
queror, and rejoice that his confidence in the face of death 
may be yours : "I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness: which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me 
at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also 
that love his appearing." " I know in whom I have be-. 
l ! eved; and am persuaded that he is able to keep that 
which I have committed to him against that day." 

You will not be surprised, after all this, to learn that 
b'ocrates recommended divination : was, as Tertullian re- 
marks, condemned at Athens, amongst other things, for 
sodomy and the corrupting of youth ; and was addicted 
to incontinence and fornication. 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 49 

But it is time for us to direct our attention to his great 
lisciple, Plato. I have already adverted to the encou- 
ragement this philosopher gave to the habit of lying. He 
farther prescribes a community of wives in his common- 
wealth, and lays down laws for the express purpose of 
destroying all parental and filial afFection ; he gives great 
liberties to incontinency, affirming " that all things re- 
specting women, marriage and the propagation of the 
species should be entirely common among friends;" al- 
lows, and in some cases prescribes, the exposing and de- 
stroying children, namely, the children of mothers older 
than forty years, or of fathers older than fifty-five ; (De 
Rep. lib. 5 ;) allows of drunkenness at the "feast of Bac- 
chus, though not at other times ; and prescribes the wor- 
ship of the stars, which indeed are the divinities he prin- 
cipally recommends to the people. He seems- sometimes 
to have believed in one Supreme God, but never thought 
it safe or proper to proclaim him to the vulgar ; on the 
contrary, he directs them to follow the Delphian oracle, 
as the best guide in matters of religion. He held two 
principles of things, God and matter ; but according to 
him, the first and highest God was not concerned in the 
creation nor in the government of the world. Like his 
master Socrates, he often asserts the doctrine of the trans- 
migration of souls. Sometimes he argues for the immor- 
tality of the. soul on the ground of its pre-existence. He 
sometimes recommends the doctrine of future punish- 
ments as a most ancient and sacred tradition ; yet at 
ether times he expresses himself in a manner that seems 
not to admit of punishments in a future state ; and finds 
fault with such representations as tend to alarm the peo- 
ple and make them afraid of death. " All those direful 
and terrible names (says he) respecting the ghosts of the 
dead are to be regretted, which cause such as hear them 
to shudder and tremble." And in his Cratylus he intro- 
duces Socrates as blaming those who represent Hades 

Gregory, «* 



50 Gregory's letters. 

as a dark and gloomy abode, and derive the word from 
to d'afts, as if it were void of light; but is rather for deriv- 
ing it A7ro t» ttavta rat. Ka\ct ufivuiy from knowing all things 
good and beautiful. Here he manifestly excludes every 
thing from the notion of a future state that might be apt to 
create terror, and thus leaves no room for future misery. 

Aristotle, that great master of reasoning and of cri- 
ticism, whose power was such as to establish a mental 
despotism which prevailed universally ibr thousands of 
years, was childish enough in matters of religion to af- 
firm most positively that though there was one eternal 
first mover, yet the stars are also true eternal deities. 
Metaphys. lib. xiv. cap. 8. He likewise denies that pro- 
vidence extends its care to things below the moon ; ap- 
proves, nay prescribes, the exposing and destroying sick- 
]j children-; encourages revenge, and speaks of meekness 
as seeming to err by defect, " because the meek man is 
not apt to revenge himself, but rather to forgive." Ethic, 
ad Nicomach. lib. iv. cap. 11. He varies in his doctrine 
with regard to future existence, and sometimes absolutely 
denies it, as in chapter 9, book iii. of the Nicomachian 
Ethics, where he asserts that " death is the most dread- 
ful of all dreadful things, for that it is the end of our ex- 
istence : to him that is dead there seems nothing farther 
to remain, whether good or evil." 

Having dwelt thus long upon the Greek philosophers, 
I cannot dilate much upon the sentiments of those who 
wrote in the Latin language. I shall, however, select 
Cicero as a very fair specimen of those who nourished 
before the christian era. Now this great man, it is well 
known, would not allow that God created the matter out 
of which the universe was made ; and besides this, he 
commonly expressed himself after the manner of the po- 
lytheists, In arguing for the existence of God, he leads 
the people to a plurality of deities ; and he asserts ex 
pressly that the Dii majorum gentium, those that were ac 



OPINIONS OF HEATHENS. 51 

counted gods of the higher order, were taken from among 
men. Indeed he very much approves the custom of pay- 
ing divine honors to famous men and regarding them as 
gods. De Natura Deorum, lib. ii. cap. 24. He argues 
excellently for the immortality of the soul in several parts 
of his works ; yet sometimes, in his letters to his friends, 
represents death as putting an end to all sense of good 
or evil. Thus, in an epistle to L. Mescinius, he says. 
"Death ought to be despised, or even wished for, be- 
cause it will be void of all sense." " Propterea quod nul- 
lum sensum esset habitura." And again, in an epistle 
to Torquatus, he comforts himself with this thought : 
"Whilst I shall exist I shall not be troubled at any thing, 
since I have no fault with which to charge myself; and 
if I shall not exist I shall be deprived of all sense." 
" Nee enim dum ero, angar ulla re, cum omni care am 
culpa ; ct si non ero, sensu omni carebo." He makes no use 
at any time of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul 
for moral purposes, either for supporting men under their 
troubles or for stimulating them to the practice of virtue ; 
and the notion of future punishments is absolutely re- 
jected and derided by him. In his notorious oration for 
Aulus Cluentius he speaks of the punishments of the 
wicked as silly fables, and adds, "If these things are false, 
as all men understand them to be, what has death taken 
from him " (that is, from Oppianicus, a man whom Cicero 
himself represents as a monster of wickedness, guilty of 
the most atrocious murders, &c.) " but a sense of pain." 
After perusing this you will not be surprised at being 
told that Cicero often commends and justifies suicide ; 
and warmly pleads for fornication, as having nothing 
blameable in it, and as a thing universally allowed and 
practised. 

I might next proceed to speak of Pliny, who openly 
argues against a future state; (Hist. Nat. lib. vii. cap. 55;) 
of Plutarch, who treats the fear of future punishment 



52 Gregory's letters. 

as vain and childish, and wrote his book of Isis and Osi- 
ris as an apology for the pagan polytheism ; of Cato of 
Utica, who has been held up as " a perfect model of vir- 
tue," but who lent his wife to Hortensius, was an habitual 
drunkard, (Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, cap. ult.) 
and taught and practised self-murder; and of Seneca, 
who pleads for suicide, justifies Cato's drunkenness, as- 
serts that no man in his reason fears the gods, and con- 
temns future punishments as vain terrors invented by the 
poets : but a detailed account of their sentiments and 
opinions would, in all the main points, be so strictly simi- 
lar to what I have related of ^ie other wise men of anti- 
quity, that I omit it rather than render this letter tautolo- 
gous and tiresome.* 

Before I terminate the present discussion, however, I 
cannot avoid remarking that several of the heathen phi- 
losophers, instead of being puffed up with vain ideas of 
the powers of their own understanding when directed to 
religious and moral inquiries, (as most modern deists 
are,) frequently acknowledged their own impotency and 
blindness. Thus Tully exclaims, " Utinam tarn facile 
vera invenire possim, quam falsa convincere !" " O that 
I could discover truth with the same ease that I can de- 

* For a very masterly view of the opinions of the Greek and Roman 
heathens for the first four centuries after the christian era ; a most able 
sketch of their mythological and moral notions, their cruelty and profli- 
gacy, as opposed to the evei casting promises of the Gospel and the meek- 
ness and purity of its primitive foiicvers, the reader may consult Dr. Ire- 
land's Lectures, or " Paganism and Christianity comp&red." 

Tertullian, in his Apol. cap. 46, terminates a fine contrast between the 
sentiments and conduct of the philosophers and of the early christians by 
asking, " Where now is the similitude' between a philosopher and a chris- 
tian ? — between a disciple of Greece and of heaven ? — a trader in fame 
and a saver of souls ? — between a man of words and a man of deeds ? — a 
builder up of virtue and a destroyer of it ? — a dresser up'of lies and a re- 
storer of truth ? — between a plunderer and a guardian of this sacred do- 
posit ?" —See also Lactantius, lib. 2 de Origine Erroris, § 3, on the cha- 
racter of Cicero. 



OIMNIONS OF HEATHENS. 5o 

tect error!" and in another place, aware of the little that 
human creatures can do of themselves, he says expressly, 
" Nemo vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquarr 
fuit." "No man was ever truly great without some ilvine 
influence" And Plato (whether from the recollec. on of 
die traditions and truths he gathered from the Jews while 
he was in Egypt, or whether 'twas 



the Divinity that slirrd within him," 



I pretend not to determine,) concludes that we cannot 
know of ourselves what petition will be pleasing to God, 
or what worship to pay him; but that it is necessary a 
lawgiver should be sent from heaven to instruct us; and 
such a one he did expect : and " O," says he, " how 
greatly do I desire to see that man, and who he is!" 
Nay, he goes farther, and affirms that this lawgiver must 
be more than man : for since every nature is governed 
by another nature that is superior to it, as birds and 
beasts' by man, he infers that this lawgiver, who was to 
teach man what man could not know by his own nature, 
must be of a nature superior to man, that is, of a divine 
nature. Alcibiad. ii. de Precat. De Legibus, lib. 4. But 
farther still, as Rousseau remarked, in his celebrated let- 
ter to the archbishop of Paris, " when Plato described 
his imaginary good man, loaded with all the shame of 
guilt, yet meriting the highest rewards of virtue, he de- 
scribes exactly the character of Jesus Christ : the re- 
semblance was so striking that all the fathers perceived 
it." He gives, indeed, as lively a picture of the person, 
qualifications, life and death of this divine man, as if he 
had been acquainted with the 53d chapter of Isaiah : for 
he says " that this just person must be poor, and void 01 
all recommendations but that of virtue alone ; that a v 
wicked world would not bear his instructions and re- 
proof; and therefore within three or four years after he 
began to preach, he should be persecuted, imprisoned 



54 

scourged, and at last put to death." De Repub. 1 : 2. 
I have now, my dear friend, presented you with a sum- 
mary of the most striking opinions of the ancient legis- 
lators, poets, and philosophers, with regard to sup^; rior 
beings, to human conduct, and a future state : if it be 
asked, what is the tendency of the sentiments of any one 
philosopher, or of the aggregate of them, to elevate the 
conceptions in respect of Deity, to purify the affections, 
to humanise the heart, to amend the conduct; the reply is 
lamentably obvious — nothing. What principle in theo- 
logy, or what rule in morals, has any one of them, or 
have all of them, indubitably established'? How many of 
the doctrines of what is now called natural religion did 
any of them hold ] The four great propositions which 
the moderns almost universally concede to natural reli- 
gion, as integral parts of it, are, " 1. That there is one 
God. 2. That God is nothing of those things which we 
see. 3. That God takes care of all things below, and go- 
verns all the world. 4. That he alone is the great Crea- 
tor of all things out of himself." Now the facts are in- 
controvertible, which cannot be too deeply engraven upon 
the mind, that none of the greatest and wisest men among 
the Greeks and Romans held all these propositions, and 
that very few held any of them firmly; that before the 
christian era no people in the world believed these pro- 
positions but the Jews; and that they did not discover 
them, but received them, by divine revelation, on the 
basis of the first four precepts of the decalogue. Let 
also the idolizers of the powers of reason in the deve- 
lopment of religious truths have it equally impressed 
upon their minds that none of the heathen philosophers 
attempted a solution to the question, " How shall a sin- 
ner appear before the Go'd whose laws he has broken V* 
and that none of them made even a remote approxima- 
tion to that simple, comprehensive, and admirable rule 
of moral conduct, " Do unto others as you would they 



OS MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 55 

should do unto you :" and then, I trust, they will be con- 
strained to acknowledge that the apostle of the Gentiles 
was not indulging a flight of enthusiasm, but was simply 
impelled by the force of truth, when he broke out into 
the triumphant exclamation, " Where is the wise 1 where 
is the scribe ] where is the disputer of this world ] Hath 
not God made foolish the wisdom of this world 1 ? For af- 
ter that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom 
knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach 
ing to save them that believe 1" 1 Cor. 1 : 20, 21. 

P. S. You will perhaps be surprised that I have not 
in this letter taken any notice of Zoroaster, of whom 
many deists have so much to tell. I have omitted all re- 
cital of his supposed opinions for two reasons : 1st. Dr. 
Hyde has shown, in his treatise De Religione veterum 
Persarum, that Zoroaster had been a disciple of one of 
the Jewish prophets : and 2dly, all the writings that are 
ascribed to this philosopher are unquestionably spurious. 



LETTER IV. 

On the probability that there should be mysteries in a 
revealed religion* 

Your deistical friends, my dear sir, seem determined 
to contend zealously for every inch of ground before 
they yield it. But this is not to be regretted; for our fu- 
ture progress will be facilitated in proportion to the num- 
ber of obstacles that are completely removed at the out- 
set of our inquiry. When they tell you they will believe 
nothing that they cannot comprehend, and that the Scrip- 



56 Gregory's letters. 

tures are unworthy of credit because they abound in 
mysteries, they adopt the language of unbelievers in all 
ages. But these declarations prove that they have never 
correctly investigated the power and office of reason in 
matters of religion, and at the same time run counter to 
dieir whole plan of conduct in relation to all except reli- 
gious subjects : for who is there that does not believe 
numerous facts which are utterly incomprehensible ; and 
reduce principles into practice, which are beyond, though 
not repugnant to reason ! 

It is, indeed, in the neglect of the essential distinction 
between what is above reason, and what is contrary to 
it, that the objection now under consideration is founded. 
Yet surely nothing can be more obvious than that many 
things, beyond the scope of our intellectual powers, may 
nevertheless be perfectly true. When we were children 
several matters were to us entirely incomprehensible, 
which have now sunk into the simplest, and lowest, and 
plainest elements of our knowledge. "We were then 
learners; docility became us; and we were highly repre- 
hensible if we opposed our puny understandings to that 
of our tutors. Now, in the bestowal of a revelation, the 
principle is assumed that men are in a state of pupil 
age. The God of infinite wisdom condescends to be their 
teacher; and it therefore behoves them on such an oc- 
casion to employ their reason solely for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether what is presented to them be really 
the word of God, and then to resign their understand- 
ings wholly to the adoption of the truths with which they 
are favored. This is consistent with what is prescribed 
by that great philosopher Lord Bacon, who directs that 
reason be employed in studying " Holy mysteries, with 
this caution, that the mind for its module be dilated to 
the amplitude of the mysteries; and not the mysteries be 
straitened and girt into the narrow compass of the mind." 
He says again, in his Advancement of learning, " We 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. O 

ought not to -attempt to draw down, or submit the mys- 
teries of God to our reason; but, on the contrary, to raisb 
and advance our reason to the divine truth." And again, 
u As to seek divinity in philosophy is as if you would 
seek the living amongst the dead; so, on the other hand; 
to seek philosophy in divinity is all one as to seek the 
dead amongst the living." Lastly, that I may not tire you 
with quotations, " The prerogative of God comprehends 
the whole man. Whereby, as we are to obey God's law, 
though we find a reluctance in our will J so we are to 
believe his word, though we find a reluctance in our rea- 
son : for, if we believe only that which is agreeable to our 
reason, we give assent to the matter not to the author, 
which is no more than we would do towards a discre- 
dited witness." 

Mighty as is the authority of Lord Bacon, I do not 
shelter myself under it for the purpose of avoiding the 
discussion ; but merely in order to show that this great 
father of the inductive philosophy saw not only the pro- 
priety but the advantage of subjecting his gigantic intel- 
lect to divine instruction. Nor was this the consequence 
of afFected humility, but of real knowledge of the actual 
situation of man. He that is shut up in a close place, and 
can only peep through crevices, or who stands in a val 
ley and has his prospect intercepted, or who is encom- 
passed with fogs that render all surrounding objects ob- 
scure, would be overwhelmed with contempt if he set at 
nought the superior information of those who had beheld 
the same things from an eminence, and through a trans- 
lucent atmosphere : yet such is the folly of him who will 
not adopt what extends beyond his previous knowledge. 
Beneath omniscience there are innumerable forms of 
intelligence, in the lowest of which man seems to be 
placed but one step above " the beasts that perish :" 
hence his mind has a pitch beyond which it cannot soar 
without extraneous aid : and things clearly intelligible to 

3* 



68 



GREGORY S LETTERS. 



more noble creatures, moving in a higher" sphere, may 
be dark and inexplicable to him : and shall he despise 
and deny the truth of facts revealed to him by the Foun- 
tain of all Intelligence, because he cannot comprehend 
them % Is it not an established axiom, that " that which 
Tiay be comprehended is less than the hands that grasp 
t; that which may be valued is less than the senses 
which rate it V Tertul. Apol. 17. Why, then, should 
this axiom be annulled, and any thing be rejected as un- 
true, because it cannot be reduced within the narrow di- 
mensions of human intellect % 

I shall not, however, rest satisfied with this general 
mode of argumentation ; but, since the subject is one in 
which mistakes are very prevalent, shall descend into 
particulars, and demonstrate that those who withhold 
their assent from any of the propositions of revealed re- 
ligion because they are incomprehensible, act upon a 
principle which, if they adopted it in other matters, would 
lead them to the most unbounded and incurable scepti- 
cism. This will be effected if I can show that, in natural 
religion, in many branches of natural philosophy, and in 
several parts of pure and mixed mathematics, there are 
numerous incontrovertible propositions, which are, not- 
withstanding, incomprehensible. 

Many things are now classed under the indisputable 
truths of natural religion, which are still far beyond our 
utmost comprehension. Such are God's necessary sub- 
sistence, his production of things from nothing, his ever 
acting but never changing, his prescience without neces- 
sitation of events, his immensity without extension, his 
eternity without succession, his existing before all ages, 
and yet never being younger or older, his being in hea- 
ven, and yet " about our bed and about our path;" all of 
which are evidently out of our mental grasp, because 
finite minds cannot measure infinite subjects, and because 
the Supreme Being has not seen fit to communicate to us 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 59 

in our present state the faculty of knowing all things tnat 
are intelligible. 

Take God's eternity, for example. Suppose a person 
is disposed to cavil at this great truth, he may ask, 
" What maxim is less controvertible than this, that no- 
thing can take place without cause V and again, " What 
can be more staggering to reason than that a being should 
exist without a beginning, without a cause 1 If it were 
replied, that God is the cause of his own existence, it 
would be only such a multiplication of words as would 
render the subject still more obscure: for the objector 
might say, " If you mean this explanation to remove the 
difficulty, it must imply these palpable and impious ab- 
surdities ; that the Supreme Being once did not exist, 
and yet, before he existed, operated to produce his own 
existence." Here there are great and acknowledged 
difficulties : yet, commence your reasoning in another 
direction, and you establish the disputed position notwith- 
standing. Deduce from your own existence, and that of 
the universe, the necessity of the existence of a Creator, 
and you will soon perceive that the argument is direct, 
and that it necessarily leads you to conclude that a Being 
musth&ve existed for ever, without beginning, and with- 
out cause ; because, if something have not existed from 
eternity, the things which now are must have arisen from 
nothing, and without any producing cause. Yet observe, 
and this is the point to which I would particularly draw 
your attention, that though this train of argumentation 
firmly establishes the truth in question, it does not re- 
move or diminish one of the difficulties with which it was 
originally surrounded. You see that it is an irrefragable 
truth ; but you are still incapable of comprehending, 
much less of elucidating, the mode of the fact. It is ob- 
vious, however, and it was for this the example was ad- 
duced, that what our reason is incapable of comprehend- 
ing, and what one train of argument may induce us to re- 



60 Gregory's letters. 

ject, another process of reasoning may establish as an in- 
disputable and necessary truth, even while the original 
difficulties remain undiminished and untouched. 

Thus, with regard to the being of God, the general in- 
ference is of this kind : — There is, avowedly, something 
perfectly incomprehensible to us in the attributes of 
Deity, when contemplated in relation to time ; there is 
also something utterly incomprehensible when we con- 
template them in reference to space ; there may, then, be 
something as incomprehensible when we refer them to 
other metaphysical modes. Why, for example, may they 
not be as incomprehensible when contemplated in refer- 
ence to number ? And why should any matter of revela- 
tion be rejected on this latter ground, when mysterious- 
ness on the two former accounts does not lead to any 
such rejection 1 

Let us now pass from the truths of natural religion 
to the topics of natural philosophy, where vou will 
find, or where indeed you will Jcnoto, and only requirs 
to be reminded of it, that almost all our knowledge 
of the universe, its laws and its phenomena, is but a 
collection and classification of circumstances of fact with 
the consequences resulting from them ; some of which 
lie nearer, and others more remote from view; we may 
ascertain relations and dependencies, and can often pre- 
dict what will occur in particular connections ; but we know 
next to nothing of things in themselves, nor can we pene- 
trate into their real, or in many cases even into their 
proximate causes. 

Philosophers and chemists have made very extraordi- 
nary discoveries respecting the various subjects of their 
researches, have in many cases determined the laws of 
their operation, and can frequently predict with perfect 
confidence what phenomena will occur under certain cir- 
cumstances. They have demonstrated, for example, that 
the planetary motions are so regulated that the squares 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 6J 

of the times in which the planets revolve about the focal 
luminary are always proportional to the cubes of their 
meai: distances from that body ; — that electric and mag- 
netic attractions are inversely as the squares of the dis- 
tances ; — that, within certain limits, the expansive force 
of gaseous substances is as the force of compression to 
which they are subjected ; — that, at certain determinate 
temperatures, many solids become liquid, and liquids are 
transformed into aeriform fluids, &c. : and these points 
are so incontrovertibly established, that no man of com- 
petent understanding can possibly refuse his assent to 
them, though this conviction must be yielded previously 
to his receiving any satisfactory information as to the 
real nature of the things to which these propositions 
relate. 

Suppose a student were obstinately to suspend his as- 
sent till he received satisfactory answers to the following 
string of queries, it would inevitably follow that he must 
remain perpetually ignorant of almost every useful truth 
in these sciences. "What is the cause of the attraction of 
gravitation, of cohesion, of electricity, of magnetism, or 
the cause of congelation, of thawing % How are the con- 
stituent gases of the atmosphere intermingled % What is 
caloric 1 From what does the essential distinction be- 
tween solids and liquids, and between liquids and aeri- 
form fluids arise I In reply to these and a hundred such 
inquiries, the querist obtains nothing but words in cur- 
rent payment. Suppose, for example, with regard to 
evaporation, he inquires, " How is water taken uj: and 
retained in the atmosphere V — it cannot be in the 
state of vapor, it is said, because the pressure is too 
great : there must therefore be a true chemical solution. 
But when we consider that the surface of water is sub- 
ject to a pressure equal to that of thirty inches of mer- 
cury, and that, besides this pressure, there is a sensi- 
ble affinity between the particles of water themselves ; 



62 Gregory's letters 

how does the insensible affinity of the atmosphere for 
water overcome both these powers % How does vapor, 
which ascends with an elastic fo*rce of only half an inch 
of mercury, detach itself from water, when it has the 
weight of thirty inches of mercury to oppose its ascent ? 
This difficulty applies nearly the same to all theories of 
the solution of water in air ; and it is therefore of conse- 
quence for every one, let him adopt what opinion he 
may, to remove it. Chemical solution but very ill ex- 
plains it ; and, indeed, the best chemical philosophers 
acknowledge that they have not, as yet, any theory of 
evaporation which is even plausible : evaporation is then, 
at present, incomprehensible ; yet no man in his senses 
attempts to deny that evaporation is perpetually taking 
place. 

Suppose the querist makes a transition from common 
to animal chemistry, and wishes to trace its operation in 
the nervous system, or its connection with vital power ; 
no less a philosopher than Professor Berzelius shall re- 
ply to his inquiries. " With all the knowledge we pos- 
sess of the forms of the body, considered as an instru- 
ment, and of the mixture and mutual bearings of the ru- 
diments to one another, yet the cause of most of the phe- 
nomena within the animal body lies so deeply hidden 
from our view that it certainly never will be found. We 
call this hidden cause vital power; and like many others 
who before us have in vain directed their deluded atten- 
tion to this point, we make use of a word to which we 
can affix no idea. This power to live belongs not to the 
constituent parts of our bodies, nor does it belong to 
them as an instrument, neither is it a simple power ; but 
the result of the mutual operation of the instruments on 
one another — a result which varies as the operations vary, 
and which often, from small changes and obstructions, 
ceases altogether. When our elementary books inform 
us that the vital power in cne place produces from the 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 63 

blood the fibres of the muscle ; in another a bone ; in a 
third a medulla of the brain ; and in another again, cer- 
tain humors which are destined to be carried off; we 
know after this explanation as little as we knew before 
This unknown cause of the phenomena of life is princi- 
pally lodged in a certain part of the animal body, viz. in 
the nervous system, the very operation of which it con- 
stitutes. The brain and the nerves determine altogether 
the chemical processes within the body ; and although it 
cannot be denied that the exercise of their fulffctions tends 
to produce chemical effects ; yet we are constrained to 
confess, that the chemical operations therein are so far 
beyond our reacj^ that they entirely escape all our obser- 
vations. Our deepest chemical researches, and the finest 
discoveries of later times, give us no information on this 
subject. Nothing of what chemistry has taught us hither- 
to has the smallest analogy to the operations of the ner- 
vous system, or affords us the least hint toward a know- 
ledge of its occult nature : and the chain of our expe- 
rience must always end in something inconceivable. Un- 
fortunately, this inconceivable something acts the princi- 
pal part in animal chemistry, and enters so into every 
process, even the most minute, that the highest know- 
ledge which we can attain is the knowledge of the nature 
of the productions, whilst we are for ever excluded from 
the possibility of explaining how they are produced." 

Allow me next to proceed to a branch of knowledge 
in which opinions and theories are not daily fluctuating, 
as are those in chemistry ; I mean the mixed mathemati- 
cal science of mechanics. This science is conversant 
about force, matter, time, motion, space. Each of these 
has been the cause of the most elaborate disquisitions, 
and of the most violent disputes. Let it be asked, what 
is force ? If the answerer be candid, his reply will be, " I 
cannot tell, so as to satisfy every inquirer, or so as to en- 
ter into the essence of the thing." Again, what is matter 1 



64 Gregory's letters. 

". I cannot tell." What is time ? " I cannot tell." What is 
motion ? "I cannot tell." What is space ? "I cannot 
tell." Here, then, is a science, the professed object of 
which is to determine the mutual relations, dependencies, 
and changes of quantities, with the real nature of all of 
which we are unacquainted ; and in which the profess- 
ed object is, notwithstanding, effected. We have certain 
knowledge respecting subjects of which in themselves we 
have no knowledge : demonstrated, irrefragable proposi- 
tions, respecting the relations of things, which in them- 
selves elude the most acute investigations. The reason 
of this I shall attempt to assign by and by. 

Before I proceed farther, I must reqjyest that you will 
acquit me of any intention to depreciate the sciences : on 
the contrary, they furnish me with daily delight; I know 
their value, have labored long and actively in diffusing a 
knowledge of them, and am in some measure, I hope, 
able to appreciate their utility. I am also happy to affirm 
that in the physical sciences, and especially that to which 
our attention is now directed, very much has been ac- 
complished. Yet I may challenge the wisest philosophei 
to demonstrate, from unexceptionable principles, and by 
just argument, what will be the effect of one particle of 
matter in motion meeting with another at rest, on the 
supposition that these two particles constituted all the 
matter in the universe. The fact of the communication oi 
motion from one body to another is as inexplicable as the 
communication of divine influences. How, then, can the 
former be admitted with any face, while the latter is de- 
nied solely on the ground of its incomprehensibility] We 
know nothing oi force any more than we do of grace, ex- 
cept by its effects. There are questions, doubts, perplex- 
ities, disputes, diversities of opinion, about the one as 
well as about the other. Ought we not, therefore, by a. 
parity of reason, to conclude that there may be several 
true and highly useful propositions about the latter as 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 66 

well as about the former 1 Nay, I will venture to go far- 
ther, and affirm that the preponderance of argument is 
in favor of the propositions of the theologian. For while 
force, time, motion, &c. are avowedly constituent parts 
of a demonstrable science, and ought, therefore, to be 
presented in a full blaze of light, the obscure parts pro- 
posed for our assent in the Scriptures are avowedly mys- 
terious. They are not ei^ibited to be perfectly under- 
stood, but to be believed. They cannot be explained, 
without ceasing to be what they are : for the explanation 
of a mystery is, as Dr. Young long ago remarked, its de- 
struction. They cannot be rendered obvious without be- 
ing made mean : for a clear idea is only another name for 
a little idea. Obscurities, however, are felt. as encum- 
brances to any system of philosophy ; while mysteries are 
ornaments of the christian system, and tests of the humi- 
lity and faith of its votaries. So that, if the rejectors of in- 
comprehensibles acted consistently with their own prin- 
ciples, they should rather throw aside all philosophical 
theories in which obscurities are found, and exist as de- 
fects, than the system of revealed religion, in which they 
enter as essential parts of " that mystery of godliness " in 
which the apostles gloried.* 



* It has been asserted by a writer in the Monthly Review, in reply to all 
this, that to talk of "mysteries in revealed religion," is to frame a contra- 
diction in terms But this writer affects precision in language without a 
corresponding precision in his ideas- It seems never to have entered into 
his mind that .a fact, either past, present, or to come, might be made 
known to us by express revelation, which should nevertheless remain mys- 
terious ; the limits of our faculties, or perhaps the imperfection of lan- 
guage, rendering it inexpedient or impossible that it should be explained. 
Revelation may furnish us with clear evidence of the present existence of 
a truth, or the future occurrence of an event, though the thing itself may 
still remain incomprehensible to us. We bave a striking example of this 
kind in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. xv. where he says, " Be- 
hold, I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed 
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trum- 



66 Gregory's letters. 

But perhaps I may be told that although things which 
are incomprehensible occur in our physical and mixed 
inquiries, they have no place in "pure mathematics, 
where all is not only demonstrable, but intelligible." This, 
again, is an assertion which I cannot admit ; and for the 
denial of which I shall beg leave to produce my reasons, 
as this will, I apprehend, make still more in favor of my 
general argument. Now, he^ it is known geometricians 
can demonstrate that there are curves which approach 
continually to some fixed right-line, without the possibili- 
ty of ever meeting it. Such, for example, are hyperbolas, 
which continually approach towards their asymptotes, 
but cannot possibly meet them, unless an assignable finite 
space can become equal to nothing. Such, again, are con- 
choids, which continually approach to their directrices, 
yet can never meet them, unless a certain point can be 
both beyond and in contact with a given line at the same 
moment. Mathematicians can also demonstrate that a 
space i?ifinite in one sense may, by its rotation, generate 
a solid of finite capacity ; as is the case with the solid 
formed by the rotation of a logarithmic curve of infinite 
length upon its axis, or that formed by the rotation of an 
apollonian hyperbola upon its asymptote. They can also 
show in numerous instances that a variable space shall be 
continually augmenting, and yet never become equal to a 
certain finite quantity : and they frequently make trans- 
formations with great facility and neatness, by means of 
expressions to which no definite ideas can be attached. 

Can we, for example, obtain any clear comprehension, 
or indeed any notion at all, of the value of a power 
whose exponent is an acknowledged imaginary quantity, 



pet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed." Here he revealed a mystery: he revealed it, because it was 
till then unknown ; it is notwithstanding a mystery, for there is not a syl 
lable that explains to us how it will be effected. 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 67 

as x j — 1 1 Can we, in like manner, obtain any distinct 
idea of a series constituted of an infinite number of terms] 
In each case the answer, I am convinced, must be in the 
negative. Yet the science in which these and numerous 
other incomprehensibles occur, is called Mathesis, the 
discipline, because of its incomparable superiority to 
other studies in evidence and certainty, and, therefore, 
its singular adaptation to discipline the mind. And this, 
notwithstanding these mysteries, (for are they not such 1) 
is the science, says the eloquent and profound Dr. Bar- 
row, " which effectually exercises, not vainly deludes 
nor vexatiously torments studious minds with obscure 
subtleties, perplexed difficulties, or contentious disquisi- 
tions ; which overcomes without opposition, triumphs 
without pomp, compels without force, and rules abso- 
lutely without any loss of liberty ; which does not pri- 
vately overreach a weak faith, but openly assaults an 
armed reason, obtains a total victory, and puts on inevi- 
table chains." 

How does it happen, now, that when the investigation 
is bent towards objects which cannot be comprehended, 
the mind arrives at that in which it acquiesces as certainty, 
and rests satisfied ? It is not, manifestly, because we 
have a distinct perception of the nature of the objects of 
the inquiry, (for that is precluded by the supposition, and, 
indeed, by the preceding statement;) but because we 
have such a distinct perception of the relation those ob- 
jects bear one toward another, and can assign positively, 
without danger of error, the exact relation, as to identity 
or diversity of the quantities before us, at every step of 
the process. Mathematics is not the science which ena- 
bles us to ascertain the nature of things in themselves ; 
for that, alas ! is not a science which can be learned in 
our present imperfect condition, where we see " through 
a glass darkly;" but the science of quantity as measura- 
, ,)le, that is, as comparable; and it is obvious that we can 



68 Gregory's letters, 

compare quantities satisfactorily in some respects, while 
we know nothing of them in others. Thus we can de- 
monstrate that any two sides of a plane triangle are, 
together, greater than the third, by showing that angles, 
of whose absolute magnitude we know nothing, are 
one greater than the other ; and then inferring the truth 
of the proposition, from the previously demonstrated pro- 
position, that the greater angle in a triangle is subtended 
by the greater side. Again, we cannot possibly know all 
the terms of the infinite series 

1 c c % c 3 c 4 

— — 1 — } — , &c. in injin. 

a a 2 a? a 4 a 5 

because such knowledge implies a contradiction : n^ithei 
can we know all the terms of the infinite series 

1 a a? a? ct 
1 1 , &c. ; yet we can show 

c c* c d c* c 5 

that these series are equal. For we can demonstrate 
that the first series is an expanded function, standing 

with the quantity in the relation of equality : we 

a-\-c 

can likewise demonstrate, that the second series bears 

the relation of equality with the quantity : and al- 

though we can have but a vague idea even of the quan. 

tides ■ and , while a and c stand as general re- 

c+a a-\-c 

presentatives of any quantities ; yet those fractions must 
necessarily be equal,' and thence we infer the like equality 
between the sums of the two infinite series. In a similar 
manner we can have no clear conception of the nature 
of the quantities V — a, j — b, &c. ; yet we are as 

certain that J — a — yj — b X J-r> as that 20 + 30 = 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 



69 



50 ; since we can demonstrate that equality subsists in 
the former expression as completely as we can in the 
latter, both being referable to an intuitive truth. Every 
mathematician can demonstrate* strictly that the conclu- 
sions he obtains by means of these quantities, though he 
cannot comprehend them in themselves, must necessarily 
be true ; he therefore acts wisely when he uses them, 
since they facilitate his inquiries ; and knowing that their 
relations are real, he is satisfied, because it is only in 
those relations that he is interested. 

To you, my friend, who are so conversant with mathe- 
matical subjects, this enumeration of particulars would 
be perfectly unnecessary, were it not in order to recom 
mend that similar principles to those which I have here 
traced, be adopted, when religious topics are under in- 
vestigation. We cannot comprehend the nature of an 
infinite series, so far as that nature depends upon an ac- 
quaintance with each term; but we know the relation 
which subsists between it and the radix from which it is 
expanded : we cannot comprehend the nature of the im- 
possible quantities V — 0> V — b, &c. ; but we know 
their relation to one another, and to other algebraic quan- 
tities. In like manner (though I should scarcely presume 
to state such a comparison but for the important practi- 
cal inference which it furnishes,) we cannot, with our 
limited faculties, comprehend the infinite perfections of 
the Supreme Being, or reconcile his different attributes, 
so as to see distinctly how " mercy and peace are met 
together, righteousness and truth have embraced each 

o * o 

other;" or how the Majestic Governor of the universe 
can be every where present, yet not exclude other be- 
ings ; but we know, or at least may know, (if we do not 
despise and reject the information graciously vouchsafed 
to us by the God of truth,) his relation to us, as our Fa- 
ther, our Guide, and our Judge. 

We cannot comprehend the nature of the Messiah, as 



70 Gregory's letters. 

revealed to us in his two-fold character of " the Son of 
God," and the " Man Christ Jesus ;" but we know the re- 
lation in which he stands to us as the Mediator of the 
New Covenant, and as Jie " who was wounded for our 
transgressions, who was bruised for our iniquities, and by 
whose stripes we are healed." Again, w,e cannot compre- 
hend, perhaps, why the introduction of moral evil should 
be permitted by him " who hatcth iniquity;" but We know 
in relation to ourselves, that he hath provided a way for 
our escape from the punishment due to sin, (which way 
if we lose, the fault is entirely our own,) and therefore, 
though we cannot comprehend and explain it so as to 
silence all cavillers, yet we have abundant reason to 
" glory in the mystery of reconciliation." By pursuing 
this current of reflection farther, and running over the 
general principles of other branches of mathematical, 
chemical, and metaphysical science than I have here 
adverted to, you will still find, I am persuaded, that the 
result of the inquiry will come in aid of our religious be- 
lief, by showing that the difficulties attending Christianity 
are of the same kind (and probably should be referred 
to the same cause, the weakness of our faculties) as 
those which envelope all the fundamental principles of 
knowledge. 

Philosophers, notwithstanding all these difficulties, re- 
commend the cultivation and diffusion of the sciences, 
because of their tendency to sharpen the intellectual 
faculties of man, and to meliorate his condition in so- 
ciety. With how much greater reason and earnestness, 
then, should christians recommend the dissemination and 
adoption of " pure and undefiled religion," considering 
its direct tendency to enlarge the understanding, and yet 
fill it with the contemplation of Deity, to purify and har- 
monize the passions, to refine the moral sense, to qualify 
and strengthen for every function in life, to sustain under 
the pressure of affliction, to afford consolation in sick- 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 71 

ness, and enable us to triumph in death ! What other 
science can make even a pretension to dethrone oppres- 
sion, to exclude war, to extirpate fraud, to banish vio- 
lence, to revive the withered blossoms of Paradise 1 
Such are the pretensions and the blessings of genuine 
Christianity ; and wherever genuine Christianity prevails, 
there are they experienced. Thus it accomplishes its 
jiromises on earth, where alone it has enemies ; it will 
therefore accomplish them in heaven where its friends 
reign. Here, indeed, its advocate must be reduced to si- 
lence ; for how shall he display the meaning of its celes- 
t ial promises 1 how describe dignity so vast, Or picture 
glory so brilliant ] How shall language delineate what 
mind cannot imagine ! and where is that mind, among 
puny and ephemeral creatures, that can penetrate the 
thick obscure, that can describe the light of perfect know- 
ledge, that can feel the glow of perfect love, that can 
breathe the air of perfect happiness ] 

Let it not be forgotten that though some of the truths 
revealed in Scripture are mysterious, and the *' eternal 
weight of glory" it promises too vast for us to estimate, 
yet the tendency of the most exalted of its mysteries, 
and the most exquisite of its promises is practical. If we 
cannot explain the influence of the Spirit, for example, 
happy will it be for us, nevertheless, if we experience that 
" the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffer- 
ing, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 
If we cannot comprehend all that we read in the sacred 
pages, let us, notwithstanding, submit, adore, and profit 
by them ; recollect/'.ng that " the sublimest truths and 
the profoundest mysteries of religion are as level, per- 
haps, to the capacities of the meanest as of the highest 
human intellect. By neither are they to be fully fathomed. 
By both they may be easily believed on the sure testimony 
of Divine revelation" Edinb. Review. 

" When I behold with mine eyes (says the orofound 



72 Gregory's letters. 

and philosophic author of the. Ecclesiastical Polity] some 
small and scarce discernible grain or seed, whereof na- 
ture maketh a promise that a tree shall come ; and when 
afterwards of that tree any skilful artificer undertaketh 
to frame some exquisite and curious work, I look for the 
event, I move no question about performance, either of 
the one or of the other. Shall I simply credit nature in 
things natural ] Shall I, in things artificial, rely myself 
on ait, never offering to make doubt ] And in that which 
is above both art and nature, refuse to believe the Author 
of both, except he acquaint me with his ways, and lay 
the secret of his skill before me ? Where God himself 
doth speak those things, which either for height and sub- 
limity of matter, or else for secrecy of performance we 
are not able to reach unto, as we may be ignorant with- 
out danger, so it can be no disgrace to confess we are 
ignorant. Such as love piety will, as much as in them 
lieth, know all things that God commandeth, but especially 
the duties of service which they owe to God. As for his 
dark and hidden works, they prefer, as becometh them in 
such cases, simplicity of faith before that knowledge 
which curiously sifting what it should adore, and disput- 
i?igtoo boldly of that which the wit of man cannot search, 
chill eth for the most part all warmth of zeal, and bringeth 
soundness of belief many times into great hazard." Book 
v. § 67. 

It is right to add, in relation to this subject, that com- 
mon and even illiterate christians may often have clearer 
ideas .of what are considered mysterious things, than the 
bolder and more inquisitive ; because, as Dr. Waterland 
remarks, " they are content to rest in generals, and to 
stop at what they understand, without darkening it after- 
wards by words without knowledge." The notion of 
eternity, for example, is clear enough to a plain chris- 
tian, while, to a person that perplexes himself with nice 
and minute inquiries respecting succession, or past or in- 



ON MYSTERIES IN REVEALED RELIGION. 73 

terminable duration, that notion, which at first was cleai 
becomes obscure by his blending perplexities with it. 
So again in respect of omnipresence, the general notion 
is sufficiently distinct ; but when a man has been rami* 
ling in pursuit of curious inquiries relating to substantial 
and virtual presence, extension and non-extension, space 
and place, and so on ; he will most probably bewilder 
hinself, and lose sight of the general idea which alone 
wej necessary to render the truth under contemplation 
of practical efficacy. 

In fine, let me remark, that no man, however capacious 
his intellect or extensive his acquirements, is justified in 
affirming that a proposition (especially a religious one) is 
absolutely repugnant to reason, because it is repugnant to 
his reason. If he do not deem himself infallible, (and 
that is inconsistent with the hypothesis of his possessing 
a cultivated and enlarged mind,) he must be conscious 
that his passions, his prejudices and his conduct bias 
and distort his reasonings, and impel him to erroneous 
conclusions. If, then, he find only one or two men equal 
to himself in mental power, adopting what he rejects, he 
is bound to hesitate and examine afresh. And if, not 
merely one or two, but the great bulk of men of intel- 
lect, investigation, and unimpeached moral character, re- 
ceive as consistent with sound reason what he has regard- 
ed as repugnant to it, he is required by all the laws of 
modesty, humility, good sense and philosophy, either to 
accede to their general admission of the proposition, or 
to lament his own unfortunate insensibility to conviction, 
and remain silent. 



74 Gregory's letters. 



LETTER V. 

Dn itie genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures* 

Having endeavored in my preceding letters to point 
out the absurdity of deism, — the necessity of revelation, 
especially as manifested by the defectiveness of all the 
discoveries of the ancient philosophers in respect of mo- 
rals and theology, — and to show that mysterious and in- 
comprehensible things occur in every branch of know- 
ledge ; I shall now proceed to an examination of that 
collection of writings which the majority of christians in 
all ages have considered as coming from God, and re- 
vered as constituting that system of revealed religion by 
which our conduct should be regulated, and on which 
should be founded our hopes and fears of " future bliss 
or future wo." 

The Bible is not to be contemplated as one book, but 
as a collection of several, composed at different times, by 
different persons, and in different places. It is a collec- 
tion of writings, partly historical, partly prophetical, 
partly didactic ; composed some previously, some subse- 
quently, to an important event, adverted to in most of 
them, called "the coming of ihe Messiah;" an event 
which is generally described as having a remarkable ten- 
dency to enhance the glory of God and the happiness of 
man. Now, to believe the christian religion is to believe 
that Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles, 
weie what they are described to be in these books ; 
that is, were endued with divine authority, that they had 
a commission from God to act and teach as they did, and 
that he will verify their declarations concerning future 
things, and especially those concerning a future life, by 
the event; — it is to receive the Scriptures as our rule of 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. It 

life, as the foundation of our hopes and fears. Such a be- 
lief, that it may be operative, must have a substantial 
basis : and so varied and persuasive are the evidences of 
Christianity, that every man, whether his intellectual fa- 
culties are weak or strong, have been little or much cul- 
tivated, may obtain evidence suited to his circumstances. 
He who cannot enter into elaborate disquisitions con- 
cerning the credibility of the Scriptures, has other and 
often stronger grounds of faith. He may see the provi 
sion which the Bible makes for the restoration of man to 
happiness to be precisely such as his own necessities re- 
quire : he may see that the purity of its commands has a 
wonderful tendency to elevate the nature of man, and to 
produce universal felicity; he may experience that ac- 
tual change of heart and life which the Gospel promises 
to all sincere believers ; and then, as the apostle expresses 
it, " He that belie veth on the Son of God hath the wit- 
ness in himself" a witness that may grow and triumph 
during the decay of the mental faculties, the anguish of a 
sick-bed, and the agonies of death. But the evidence of 
which I now intend principally to speak, is that deduci- 
ble from a more critical examination of the Bible itself, 
and from collateral testimony drawn from historic and 
other indisputable sources. 

Now any candid and reflecting person, when he first 
directs his attention to this wonderful volume, and noti- 
ces the awful, authoritative, and momentous language 
which is often assumed in it, will be naturally impelled 
to inquire, is this book what it professes to be, the word 
of God 1 Were its various authors instructed by God to 
relate the histories, state the doctrines, enforce the pre- 
cepts, predict the events, which are the subjects of their 
respective books'? Were they "holy men of God, who 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," or were 
they impostors ? Or, to reduce these inquiries into a me- 
thodical form, it will be asked generally, are the books 



76 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

of the Old and New Testaments (excluding those which 
are avowedly apocryphal) genuine ? Are they authentic ? 
Are they inspired ? 

Here nothing is asked that is tautologous, nothing that 
is superfluou »i For a book may be genuine that is not 
authsntic : a book may be authentic that is not genuine 
and many are both genuine and authentic which are not 
inspired. The History of Sir Charles Grandison, for ex- 
ample, is genuine, being indeed written by Richardson, 
the author whose name it bears ; but it is not authentic, 
being a mere effort of that ingenious writer's invention 
in the production of fiction. The account of Lord An- 
son's Voyages, again, is an authentic book, the informa- 
tion being supplied by Lord Anson himself to the au- 
thor ; but it is not genuine, for the real author was Ben- 
jamin Robins the mathematician, and not Walters, whose 
name is appended to it. Hayley's Memoirs of the Life 
of Cowper are both genuine and authentic; they were 
written by Mr. Hayley, and the information they contain 
was deduced from the best authority. The same may be 
said of many other works, which, notwithstanding, lay no 
claims to the character of being inspired. These three 
characteristics of genuineness, authenticity, and inspira- 
lion, meet no where but in the books which constitute 
the Old and New Testaments. In order to establish this 
position, I shall now attend to the qualities of genuine- 
ness and authenticity, which will furnish ample scope for 
the present letter; and shall consider that of inspiration 
in a subsequent part of the series. 

Here I shall first present you with three general pio- 
positions on the genuineness of Scripture, taken princi- 
pally from an ingenious philosopher of the last century, 
(Hartley on Man, vol. 2,) and then subjoin some such par- 
ticular considerations as must, I think, in conjunction 
with those propositions, remove all doubt from every 
candid mind 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES 77 

J. The genuineness of the Scriptures proves the truth 
of the principal facts contained in them. For, 1. It is very 
rare to meet with any genuine writings professing to be 
real history, in which the principal facts are not true '■ 
unless where both the motives which engaged the authoi 
to falsify, and the circumstances which gave some plausi- 
bility to the fiction, are apparent ; neither of which can bfc 
alleged in the present case, with any color of reason. 
Where the writer of a history appears to the world as 
such, not only his moral sense, but his regard to his cha- 
racter and his interest, are strong motives not to falsify 
in notorious masters : he must, therefore, have stronger 
motives from the opposite quarter, and also a favorable 
conjuncture of circumstances, before he can attempt this. 

2. As this is rare in general, so it is much more rare 
where the writer treats of things which happened in his 
own time, and under his own cognizance and direction, 
and communicates his history to persons under the same 
circumstances. All which may be said of the writers of 
the Scripture history. 

That this and the following arguments may be applied 
with more ease and perspicuity, I shall here, in one view, 
refer the books of the Old and New Testaments to their 
proper authors. It is assumed, then, that the Penta- 
teuch consists of the writings of Moses, put together by 
Samuel, with a very few additions ; that the books of 
Joshua and Judges were, in like manner, collected by 
him ; and the book of Ruth, with the first part of the 
book of Samuel, written by him ; that the latter part of 
the first book of Samuel, and the second book, were 
written by the prophets who succeeded Samuel, probably 
Nathan and Gad; that the books of Kings and Chro- 
nicles are extracts from the records of the succeeding 
prophets concerning their own times, and from the pub 
lie genealogical tables made by Ezra ; that the books of 
Ezra and Nehemiah are collections of like records, soma 



78 Gregory's letters. 

written by Ezra and Nehemiah, and some by their pre- 
decessors ; that the book of Esther was written by some 
eminent Jew, in or near the times of the transactions 
there recorded, perhaps Mordecai, — though some con- 
jecture it was Ezra ; the book of Job by a Jew, proba- 
bly by Moses; the Psalms by David, Asaph, Moses, 
and other pious persons ; the book of Proverbs and the 
Canticles by Solomon ; the book of Ecclesiastes by 
Solomon, towards the close of his life, when distress and 
anguish had reclaimed him from idolatry ; the Prophe- 
cies by the prophets whose names they bear ; and the 
books of the New Testament by the persons to whom 
they are usually ascribed. There are many internal evi- 
dences, and, in the case of the New Testament, many 
external ones too, (which will be touched upon as we pro- 
ceed,) by which these books may be shown to belong to 
the authors here specified. Or, if there be any doubts, 
they are merely of a critical nature, and do not at all 
affect the authenticity of the books, nor materially alter 
the application of the arguments in favor of this proposi- 
tion. Thus, if the Epistle to the Hebrews be supposed 
to have been written not by the apostle Paul, but by Cle- 
ment, or Barnabas, or Luke, the evidence therein given 
to the miracles performed by Christ and his followers 
will not be at all invalidated by this circumstance. 

3. The great importance of the facts mentioned in the 
Scriptures makes it still more improbable that the s'eve- 
ral authors should either have attempted to falsify, or 
have succeeded in such an attempt. This, indeed, is an 
argument for the truth of the facts, which proves the genu- 
ineness of the books at the same time. The truth of the 
facts, however, is inferred more directly from their im- 
portance, if the genuineness of the Scriptures be previ- 
ously allowed. The same thing- may be observed of the 
great number of particular circumstances of time, place, 
persons, &c. mentioned in the Scriptures, and of the har- 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 79 

mony of the books with themselves and with each other. 
These are arguments both for the genuineness of the 
books and the truth of the facts distinctly considered, and 
also arguments for deducing the truth from the genuine- 
ness. And indeed the arguments for the general truth of 
the history of any age or nation, where regular records 
have been kept, are so interwoven, and support each 
othei in such a variety of ways, that it is extremely diffi- 
cult to keep the ideas of them distinct, so as not to anti- 
cipate, and not to prove, more than the exactness of logi 
cal method requires one to prove. Or, in other words, 
the inconsistency of the contrary supposition is so great, 
that it can scarcely stand long enough to be confuted. 
You may easily try this upon the history of England or 
France, Rome or Greece. 

1. If the books of the Qld and New Testaments were 
written by the persons to whom they are ascribed above ; 
that is, if they be genuine, the moral character of these 
writers afford the strongest assurance that the facts as- 
serted by them are true. Falsehoods and frauds of a 
common nature shock the moral sense of common men, 
and are rarely met with except in persons of abandoned 
characters : how inconsistent, then, must those of the 
most glaring arid impious nature be with the highest mo- 
ral characters ! That such characters are due to the sa- 
cred writers appears from the writings themselves, by an 
internal evidence ; but there is also strong external evi- 
dence in many cases ; and indeed this point is allowed in 
general by unbelievers. The sufferings which several of 
the writers underwent both in life and death, in attesta- 
tion of the facts delivered by them, is a particular argu- 
ment in favor of these. 

5. The arguments here alleged for proving the truth of 
the Scripture history from the genuineness of the books, 
are as conclusive in respect of the miraculous facts as of 
the common ones. But besides this, it may be observed, 



80 Gregory's letters. 

that if we allow the genuineness of tlie books to be a suf- 
ficient evidence of the common facts mentioned in them, 
the miraculous facts must be allowed also, from their close 
connexion with the common ones. It is necessary to ad- 
mit both or neither. It is not, for instance, to be conceiv- 
ed, that Moses should have delivered the Israelites from 
their bondage in Egypt, or conducted them through the 
wilderness for forty years, at all, in such manner as the 
common history represents, unless we suppose the mira- 
culous facts intermixed with it be true also. In like man- 
ner, the fame of Christ's miracles, the multitudes which 
followed him, the adherence of his disciples, the jealousy 
and hatied of the chief priests, scribes, and pharisees, 
with many other facts of a common nature, are impossi- 
ble to be accounted for, unless we allow that he did really 
work miracles. And similar observations apply in genera 1 
to the other parts of the Scripture history. 

6. There is even a particular argument in favor of the 
miraculous part of the Scripture history, to be drawn 
from the reluctance of mankind to receive miraculous 
facts. It is true that this reluctance is greater in some 
ages and nations than in others, and probable reasons 
may be assigned why this reluctance was, in general, less 
in ancient times than in the present (which, however, are 
presumptions that some real miracles were then wrought,) 
but it must always be considerable, from the very frame 
of the human mind, and would be particularly so amongst 
the Jews at the time of Christ's appearance, as they had 
then (according to their own account) been without mira- 
cles for at least four hundred years. Now this reluctance 
must make both the writers and readers very much upon 
their guard; and if it be now one of the chief prejudices 
against revealed religion, as unbelievers unanimously as- 
sert, it is but reasonable to allow also, that it would be a 
strong check upon the publication of a miraculous history 
at or near the time when the miracles were said to be 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 81 

perfcimed: that is, it will be a strong confirmation of 
such a history, if its genuineness be granted previously. 

And, upon the whole, we may conclude certainly, that 
the principal facts, both common and miraculous, men- 
tioned in the Scriptures, must be true, if their genuine- 
ness be allowed. But the particular evidences of miracu- 
lous facts, as well as the principal objections which have 
been urged against them, will be stated more fully in a 
future letter. 

The converse of this proposition is also true, namely, 
if the principal facts mentioned in the Scriptures be true, 
they must be genuine writings. This 'converse proposi- 
tion is much more important than it may appear at first 
sight ; for there are many evidences for the truth of par- 
ticular facts mentioned in the Scriptures ; such, for exam- 
ple, as those taken from natural history, from geography, 
and the contemporary profane history, which no way pre- 
suppose, but, on the contrary, prove the genuineness of 
the Scriptures ; and this genuineness, thus proved, may, 
by the arguments alleged under this proposition, be ex- 
tended to infer the authenticity of the rest of the facts. 
Nor is this to argue in a circle, and to prove the truth ot 
the Scripture history from its truth ; but to prove the 
truth of those facts, which are not attested by natural 01 
civil history, from those which are, by the medium of the 
genuineness of the Scriptures. 

II. The language, style, and manner of writing used tn 
the Books of the Old and New Testaments, are arguments 
of their genuineness. Here let it be observed, 

I. That the Hebrew language, in which the Old Testa- 
ment was written, being the language of an ancient peo- 
ple, and one that had little intercourse with their neigh- 
bors, and whose neighbors also spoke a language that had 
great affinity with their own, would not change so rapidly 
as modern languages have done, since nations have been 

4* 



82 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

variously mixed with one another, and commerce, arts 
and sciences greatly extended; "Yet some changes there 
necessarily must be in about 1054 years, elapsing between 
the time of Moses and that of Malachi. And accordingly 
critical Hebrew scholars assure us that the Biblical He- 
brew corresponds to this criterion with so much exact- 
ness, that a considerable argument may thence be dedu- 
ced in favor of the genuineness of the books of the Old 
Testament. • 

2. The books of the Old Testament have too conside- 
rable a diversity of style to be the work either of one 
Jew (for a Jew he. must be, on account of the language,) 
or of any set of contemporary Jews. If, therefore, they 
be all forgeries, there must be a succession of impostors 
in different ages, who have concurred to impose upon 
posterity, which is inconceivable. To suppose part forg- 
ed and part genuine, is very harsh ; neither would this 
supposition, if admitted, be satisfactory. 

3. The Hebrew language ceased to be spoken, as a 
living language, soon after the time of the Babylonish 
captivity ; but it would be difficult or impossible to forge 
any thing in it after it was become a dead language. 
For learned men affirm positively, that there was no 
grammar made for the Hebrew till many ages after; 
and, as it is difficult to write in a dead language with 
exactness, even by the help of a grammar, so it seems 
impossible without it. All the books of the Old Testa- 

• ment must therefore be, at least, nearly as ancient as the 
Babylonish captivity ; and since they could not all be 
written in the same age (for the reason just assigned,) 
some must be considerably more ancient : which would 
bring us again to a succession of conspiring impostors. 

4. This last remark may perhaps afford a new argu- 
ment for the genuineness of the book of Daniel, if any 
were wanting. But indeed the Septuagint translation, 
executed about 2S7 years before the christian era, shows 



UTHENTICITY % OF THE SCRIPTURES. S2 

rc»t only this, but all the other books of the Old Testa- 
ment, to hare been considered as ancient and genuine 
books soon after the times of Antiochus Epiphanes,*at 
least 

5. There is a simplicity of style and an unaffected 
manner of writing in ah the books of the Old Testament 
(excepting only those parts that are avowedly poetical 
or prophetical,) which is a very strong evidence of their 
genuineness, even exclusively of the suitableness of this 
circumstance to the times of the supposed authors. 

6. The style of the New Testament also is remarkably 
simple and unaffected, and perfectly suited to the time, 
places, and persons. There is a diversity of style and 
idiorn, such as infallibly proves them to.be the produc- 
tion of different writers. And, though a large proportion 
of the language of the New Testament is pure Greek ; 
yet it is not like the language of Isocrates, of Demosthe- 
nes, of Xenophon, or of Plutarch : then there would 
have been strong ground to suspect forgery, since such 
would ill accord with the character of Jews writing in 
a language not their own. But the use of words and 
phrases is such, as well as the ideas and method of rea- 
soning, that the books of the New Testament could be 
written by none but persons originally Jews, which brings 
the inquiry into a still narrower compass : for I believe 
it would be impossible to devise any hypothesis which 
would satisfactorily account for Jews telling such a story, 
and sacrificing their lives in attestation of it, unless the 
death and resurrection of Christ make an essential part 
of that hypothesis. 

It may also be observed that the narrations and pre 
cepts of both the Old and New Testaments are delivered 
without marks of hesitation ; the writers teach as having 
authority ; a circumstance peculiar to those whe have 
both a clear knowledge of what they deliver, and a per- 
fect integrity of heart. 



84 Gregory's letters. 

And farther, that the care used in specifying that some 
of the Psalms were composed by Asaph, others by Mo 
ses, some of the Proverbs by Lemuel, &c. furnishes 
tmother argument in favor of the genuineness of the 
books of Scripture, and leads us to infer that those books 
are the real productions of the authors to whom they are 
inscribed 

III. The very great number of ■particular circumstances 
of time, place, persons, fyc. mentioned in the Scriptures, 
come in proof of both their gcnui?ieness and authe7iticity . 

Here I shall recite some of the principal heads under 
which these circumstances may be found. Thus, there 
are mentioned in the book of Genesis, the rivers of para 
dise, the generations of the antediluvian patriarchs, the 
deluge with its circumstances, the place where the ark 
rested, the building of the tower of Babel, the confusion 
of tongues, the dispersion of mankind, or the division of 
the earth among the posterity of Shem, Ham, and Ja- 
pheth, the generations of the postdiluvian patriarchs, with 
the gradual shortening of human life after the flood; the 
sojournings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with many 
particulars of the state of Canaan and the neighboring 
countries in their times ; the destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah, the state of the land of Edom both before and 
after Esau's time, and the descent of Jacob into Egypt, 
with the state of Egypt before Moses's time. 

In the book of Exodus are mentioned the plagues of 
Egypt, the institution of the passover, the passage through 
the Red Sea, with the destruction of Pharaoh and his 
host there, the miracle of manna, the victory over the 
Amalekites, the solemn delivery of the law from Mount 
Sinai, many particular laws both moral and ceremonial, 
the worship of the golden calf, and a very minute de- 
scription of the tabernacle, priests, garments, ark, &c. 

In Leviticus there is a collection of ceremonial laws, 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. SO 

with all their particularities, and an accouu', ef the re- 
markable death of Nadab and Abihu.. 

The book of Numbers contains the first and second 
numberings of the several tribes, with their genealogies ; 
the peculiar offices of the three several families of the 
Levites, many ceremonial laws, the journeyings and en- 
campments of the people in the wilderness during forty 
years, with the relation of some remarkable events which 
happened in this period; such as the searching of the 
land, the rebellion of Korah, the victories over Arad, 
Sihon, and Og, with the division of the kingdoms of the 
two last among the Gadites, Reubenites, and Manassites ; 
the history of Balak and Balaam, and the victory over 
the Midianites ; all described with the several particu- 
larities of time, place, and persons. 

The book of Deuteronomy contains a recapitulation 
of many things contained in the last three books, with a 
second delivery of the law, chiefly the moral one, by Mo- 
ses, upon the borders of Canaan, just before his death, 
with an account of that death, and the true reason as- 
signed why he saw but did not enter the promised land. 

In the book of Joshua are related the passage over 
Jordan, the conquest of the land of Canaan in detail, and 
the division of it among the tribes ; including a minute 
geographical description. 

The book of Judges contains a recital of a great varie- 
ty of public transactions, with the private origin of some. 
In all, the names of times, places, and persons, both among 
the Israelites and the neighboring nations, are noted with 
particularity and simplicity. 

In the book of Ruth is a very particular account c£ 
the genealogy of David, with several incidental circum- 
stances. 

The books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and 
Nehemiah contain the transactions of the kings before 
the captivity, and of the governors afterwards, all deli- 



86 Gregory's letters. 

vered in the same circumstantial manner. And here the 
particular account of the regulations, sacred and civil, 
established by David, and of the building of the temple 
by Solomon, the genealogies given in the beginning of 
the first book of Chronicles, and the lists of the persons 
wh - ) returned, sealed, &c. after the captivity, in the books 
of Ezra and Nehemiah, deserve particular notice, in the 
light in which we are now considering things. 

The book of Esther contains a like account of a very 
remarkable event, with the institution of a festival in 
memory of it. 

The book of Psalms mentions many historical events, 
both common and miraculous, in an incidental way, or 
sometimes by way of celebration;* and this, as well as 
the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canti- 
cles, allude to the manners and customs of ancient times, 
in various particulars. 

In the Prophecies there are blended some historical 
•elations ; and in other parts the indirect mention of 
facts, times, places and persons, is interwoven with the 
predictions in the most copious and circumstantial 
manner. 

If we turn to the New Testament, the same observa- 
tions present themselves at first view. Here also there 
are often comprehensive syllabuses of the leading facts of 
the Old Testament-history comprised in a single chapter, 
of which Acts, 7 : 1, Cor. 10, Heb. 11, 2 Pet. 2, are strik- 
ing instances. It is also observable that Jesus Christ, in 
his various conversations with the Jews, assumes the ge- 
nuineness and authenticity of the Jewish Scriptures, that 
is, of the Old Testament books, and argues upon them. 
Thus we find him speaking of Moses as a lawgiver ; re- 

* See especially Psalms 78, 105, 106, 114, 135, 136. And for a de- 
fence of the Canticles, see Tlieodoret's Commentary thereon ; or Dupin'a 
Bibliatheca Patrum, vol. iv. p. 62. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. b n 

ferring to the decalogue, and various laws and ooservan- 
ces mentioned in different parts of the Pentateuch ; to 
Abraham, to Jacob, to the destruction of Sodom and Go- 
morrah, to the queen of Sheba (mentioned in 1 Kings, 
10,) and Solomon ; to David as a prophet, and as i?i- 
spired ; to " Moses and the prophets " generally; to Jo- 
nah as a type of himself; and to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Eze- 
kiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and Malachi, as prophets. In 
the several parts of the New Testament, too, we have 
the names of friends and enemies, the conduct of both, 
the faults of friends told without gloss, those of enemies 
without exaggeration or virulence ; the names of Jews, 
Greeks and Romans, obscure and illustrious ; the times, 
places and circumstances of facts specified directly, and 
alluded to indirectly, with various references to the cus- 
toms and manners of those times and places. And here 
again we may notice, by the by, that many of the histori- 
cal books, both of the Old and New Testaments, contain 
vrophecies which have been fulfilled; and from which 
both their truth and their divine authority may be infer- 
red; as I shall show in my next letter. 

Now, from the preceding enumeration it may be ob- 
served, 1. That in fact we never find forged or false ac- 
counts of things to superabound thus in particularities. 
There is always some truth where considerable particula- 
rities are related, and they always seem to bear some 
proportion to one another. Thus there is a great want 
of the particulars of time, place, and persons in Mane- 
tho's account of the Egyptian dynasties, Ctesias's ac- 
count of the Assyrian kings, and those which the techni- 
cal chronologers have given of the ancient kingdoms of 
Greece ; and agreeably to this obvious principle, these 
accounts have much fiction and falsehood, with some 
truth. Whereas Thucydides's History of the Peloponne- 
sian War, and. Caesar's of the War in Gaul, in both 
which the particulars of time, place, and persons are 



S8 Gregory's letters. 

mentioned, are universally esteemed authentic to a great 
degree of exactness 

2. A forger, or a relater of known falsehoods, would 
be careful not to mentio?i so great a number of particu- 
lars, since this would be to put into his reader's hands 
criteria by which he might be detected. Hence appears 
one reason of the fact mentioned in the last paragraph, 
and which, in confirming that fact, confirms the proposi- 
tion here to be established. 

3. A forger, or a relater of falsehoods, could scarcely 
furnish such lists of particulars. It is easy to conceive 
how faithful records, kept from time to time by persons 
concerned in the transactions, should contain such lists ; 
nay, it is natural to expect them, in this case, from that 
local memory which takes strong possession of the fancy 
in those who have been present at transactions : but it 
would be a work of the .highest invention, and greatest 
stretch of genius, to raise from nothing such numberless 
particularities as are almost every where to be met with 
in the Scriptures. 

There is, besides, a circumstance relating to the Gcos- 
pels which deserves particular notice in this place. Mat- 
thew and John were apostles ; and therefore, since they 
accompanied Christ, must have this local memory of his 
journeyings and miracles. Mark was a Jew of Judeo, 
and a friend of Peter ; and therefore may either have 
had this local memory himself, or have written chiefly 
from Peter, who had. But Luke, being a proselyte of 
Antioch, not converted perhaps till several years after 
Christ's resurrection, and receiving his accounts from 
different eye-witnesses, as he says himself, could have no 
regard to that order of time which a local memory would 
suggest. 

Let us try now how the Gospels answer to these po- 
sitions. Matthew's, then, appears to be in exact order of 
time, and to be a regulator to Mark's and Luke's, show- 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. *9 

ing Mark's to be nearly so, but Luke's to have little or 
no regard to the order of time in his account of Christ's 
ministry. John's Gospel is like Matthew's, in order of 
time ; but as he wrote after all the other evangelists, and 
with a view only of recording some remarkable particu- 
lars, such as Christ's actions before he left Judea to go 
to preach in Galilee, his disputes with the Jews of Jeru- 
salem, and his discourses to the apostles at his last sup- 
per, there was less opportunity for this evangelist's local 
memory to show itself. However, his recording what 
passed before Christ's going into Galilee might be in part 
from this cause ; as Matthew's omission of it was proba 
bly from his want of this local memory. For it appears, 
that Matthew resided in Galilee, and that he was not 
converted till some time after Christ's going thither to 
preach. Now this suitableness of the four Gospels to 
their reputed authors* in a circumstance of so subtle and 
recluse a nature, is quite inconsistent with the supposi- 
tion of fiction or forgery. ' This remark is originally due 
to Sir Isaac Newton. (See his chapter on the birth and 
passion of Christ, in his Comment on Daniel.) 

1. If we could suppose the persons who forged the 
books of the Old and New Testaments to have furnished 
their readers with the great variety of particulars men- 
tioned above, notwithstanding the two reasons here 
alleged against it, we cannot, however, conceive but that 
the persons of those times, when the book^were publish- 
ed, must, by the help of these criteria, have detected and 
expQsed the forgeries or falsehoods. For these criteria are 
so attested by allowed facts, as at this time, and in these 
remote parts of the world, to establish the authenticity 
and genuineness of the Scriptures ; and, by parity of rea- 
son, they would suffice even now to detect the fraud, 
were there any: whence we may conclude, a fortiori, 
that they must have enabled the persons who were upon 
( the spot when the books were first circulated to do this ; 



90 Gregory's letters. 

and the importance of many of the particulars recorded, 
many of the renunciations required, would furnish them 
with abundant motives for this purpose. So that upon 
the whole it may be safely inferred, that the very great 
number of particulars of time, place, &c. mentioned in 
the Scriptures, is a proof of their genuineness and 
truth j even independently of the consideration of the 
agreement of these particulars with history, natural and 
civil, and the agreement of the several books w:th them 
selves and with one another. 

Were I to rest the proof of the genuineness and au- 
thenticity of the Scriptures solely upon what has been 
already advanced in this letter, I might safely challenge 
the most learned men to adduce evidence of any thing 
like equal weight in proof of the genuineness of Caesar's 
Commentaries, Pliny's Letters, Ltvy's Roman History, 
Tacitus's Annals, or any other pieces preserved to us 
from antiquity, and received without hesitation by all 
except madmen. But .1 am unwilling to quit a subject 
so copious and important without going still farther than 
this, and bringing forward other evidence in favor of par- % 
ticular portioris of the Bible, from which their antiquity 
and genuineness will be placed in the most incontrover- 
tible light. Here though, that our inquiry may be circum- 
scribed within moderate limits, I must make selections ; 
and shall for the most part speak of those books the au- 
thority of which has been most disputed by unbelievers. 

Let us then, for a first example, inquire into particular 
proofs of the authenticity of the Pentateuch. And here 
the evidences are numerous, various and striking: I shall 
select the most prominent. 

1. Ancient heathen writers testify to Moses and his 
writings in some way or other. Thus Manetho, Chere- 
mon, Apollonius and Lysimachus testify that Moses was 
the leader of the Jews and the writer oi their Law. 



• AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 91 

Eupolemus, Artapanus, Strabo, Trogus Pompeius, Chal- 
cidius and Juvenal speak of Moses as the author of a vo- 
lume which was preserved with great care among the 
Jews, by which the worship of images and eating of 
swine's flesh were forbidden, and circumcision and the 
observation of the Sabbath strictly enjoined.* Longinus 
cites Moses as the lawgiver of the Jews, and a person of 
no inconsiderable character ; and adds, that he has given 
a noble specimen of the true sublime in his account of 
the creation of the world, when light was called into 
existence.! Diodorus Siculus, in his Catalogue of those 
lawgivers who affected to have received the plan of their 
laws from some deity, mentions Moses as ascribing his to 
that God whom he calls Jaoh or Jah. And he further 
speaks of Moses as a man illustrious for his courage and 
prudence, who instituted the Jewish religion and laws, 
divided the Jews into twelve tribes, established the priest- 
hood among them with a judicial power, &c.f Numenius, 
a Pythagorean, held the Jewish Scriptures, and especial- 
ly the books of Moses, in such great esteem, that his books 
•f the chief good, &c. are full of passages quoted from 
Moses and some of the prophets with great reverence. 
He says, "Plato was only Moses speaking Greek" and 
affirms that Moses by his prayers brought dreadful cala- 
mities upon Egypt.§ Justin Martyr enumerates many 
poets, historians, lawgivers and philosophers of Greece 
who mention Moses as the leader and prince of the Jew- 
ish nation. || Berosus and Abydenus mention the deluge. 

* It will be sufficient to refer to Juv. Sat. xiv. ver. 96-106. 

t Long, de Sublim. § 9, p. 50. Pearce's 8vo. ed. 1732. 

t Diod. Sic. ap. Phot. Bib. 

$ Euseb. Pnep. Ev. ix. 8, xi. 10. Orig. contra Cels. lib. iv 

H Just. Cobort. ad Gent. pp. 9-11. It may be added that Porphyry, 
one of the most acute and learned enemies of Christianity, admitted the 
genuineness* of the Pentateuch; and contended for the truths oi Sancho* 
niathan's account of the Jews, from its coincidence with the Mosaic, history. 



92 Gregory's letters. 

Artapanus, Eupolemus and Abydenus speak of the tower 
of Babel ; and the latter of the failure of that enterprise. 
Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Tacitus, Pliny and Solinus 
agree in giving an account of the destruction of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, in the main agreeable to that of Moses.* 
Berosus, Alexander Polyhister and others make express 
and honorable mention of Abraham and some of his fa- 
mily, and even speak of his interview with Melchisedec. 

2. The genuineness and authenticity of the books of 
Moses may be inferred from their being mentioned in 
other books of Scripture. Thus in the book of Joshua, in 
both the books of Kings, in the second book of Chroni- 
cles, in the books of Ezra, of Daniel, of Malachi, the 
writing of the Law is unequivocally ascribed to Moses. 
The Divine mission of Moses is attested in the first book 
of Chronicles, in the Psalms, the prophecies of Isaiah 
and Jeremiah. Several of the miraculous facts recorded 
in these books suggest to the prophets their finest images.t 
Each of the five books of Moses is referred to, or sepa- 
rately quoted, by Christ himself in the Gospels. And 
after his resurrection his apostles add their testimony noj 
only to the fact that the law was written by Moses, but that 
it was written under the superintendence of inspiration^ 

3. The fact is affirmed in the books themselves-. Thus 
in Exodus " Moses wrote all the words of the Lord; and 
he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience 
of the people." And again, in the book of Deuteronomy, 
which appears, as Bishop Watson observes, to be a kind 
of repetition or abridgment of the four preceding books, 
" When Moses had made an end of writing the words of 

* Tacit. Hist. 1. v, c. vii. Plin. Nat. Hist. Solinus. c. xxxvi. 

+ Vide Eden. Ezek. 28: 13. The Deluge, Is. 24: 18. Sodom and Go* 
morrah, Is. 34:9. The Exodus, Is. 11:15, 16; 43:16-19; 51:9, 10. 
Descent on Sinai, Micah, 1:3,4; Acts, 3:22; 7 : 35-37; 13 : 39; 26: 
22 ; 28 : 23 ; Rom. 10 : 5 ; 1 Cor 10 : 2 ; 2 Cor. 3 : 7-15 ; HA. 3:2; 7 : 
)4; 10:28; Rev. 15:3, &c. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 93 

this law in a book, until they were finished, Moses com- 
manded the Levites which bare the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law, and put 
it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord 
your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." 
In conformity with this it was testified, full 800 years af- 
ter, in the 2d book of Kings and the 2d book of Chroni- 
cles, " Hilkiah the high-priest said unto Shaphan the 
scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of 
the Lord." " Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of 
the Lord given by Moses." 

4. Moses in these books gives a detailed account of va- 
rious miracles openly wrought by himself, and of several 
miraculous interpositions of God in testimony of his Di- 
vine mission ; and practices and ceremonies among the 
Jews were founded upon those miraculous events. The 
books of Moses also contain prophecies, as that which 
declares "that the seed of the woman shall bruise the ser- 
pent's head," and the prophecies of the dying patriarch 
Jacob. Now the existence of the customs and ceremo- 
nies proves the actual occurrence of the miraculous facts, 
and these establish the fidelity of the writings and the 
Divine authority under which Moses acted. So likewise 
the accomplishment of the prophecies proves .that they 
were dictated by God. Had not the miracles taken place, 
it would be absurd to imagine the books could ever have 
been received, or the practices we advert to introduced. 
But the arguments suggested under this head will be en- 
larged upon in subsequent letters. I now proceed to re- 
mark with regard to the books of Moses. 

5. Their reception among the Jews proves that they 
were written by Moses, and that what he affirms respect- 
ing the Divine dictation of the greater part of them is 
true. Paul says, " Even unto this day, when Moses is 
read the veil is upon their heart;" that is, the Jews were 
ignorant of the true spiritual meaning of the Mosaic wri- 



94 Gregory's letters. 

tings. Whence it is evident that in his time these wri- 
tings were read regularly among the Jews, and had long 
been so. Again, Josephus, in his book against Appion, 
says, " We (the Jews) have two-and-twenty books which 
are to be believed as of Divine authority, and which com- 
prehend the history of all ages ; jive belong to Moses, 
which contain the origin of man, and the tradition of the 
succession of generations down tq his death ; which takes 
in a compass of about three thousand years." Maimonides 
also, in the eleventh century, .drew up a confession of 
faith for the Jews which all of them at this day admit. 
Two of its articles relate to Moses : they are, 1, " The 
doctrine and prophecy of 'Moses is true;" 2, " The law 
that we have was given by Moses." The Jews, then, 
from the time of Josephus down to the present, have as 
cribed the Pentateuch to Moses. Assume the hypothesis 
that these five books were forged any time between Mo- 
ses and Josephus, and mark the great absurdity thereby 
produced; you must, in consequence, believe that at 
some one period the whole Jewish nation suffered them- 
selves to be deluded, to adopt burdensome rites in re- 
membrance of events which they knew never occurred ; 
and to receive, as the law which was ever after to regu 
late their conduct, rules contrived by a vile pretender 
who endeavored to palm them upon them as laws ema- 
nating from the Supreme Being himself. This is in itself 
so extremely preposterous and improbable, that I might 
safely have rested the authority of the Pentateuch upon 
the present argument alone, were ij not that as this por- 
tion of the Bible has been more exposed than any other 
to infidel attacks, I thought it right to show that, fortified as 
it is on all points, it may fairly be reckoned impregnable.* 

* Another very strong argument in favor of the authenticity of the Pen 
lateuch is derived from the variety of minute allusions and indirect coinci 
deuces between the book of Deuteronomy and the preceding books — coin- 
cidences such as would never have been found in forged compositions 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 05 

I shall now pass to the book of Job, the authenticity 
of which has been more questioned than any of the his 

This argument has been established upon numerous instances selected by 
Dr. Graves, of Trinity College, Dublin, in his valuable " Lectures on the 
Fentateuch." The genuineness of one of the books, Exodus, may also bo 
inferred from the short and modest account of 80 years of Moses' life pre- 
ceding his divine mission, comprised in twenty-two verses. Many collateral 
proofs establishing the truth of important facts related in the books of Mo- 
ses might easily be adduced. Thus, although the history of the destruction 
of Sodom and Gomorrah is recorded in the Bible, it cannot thence be con- 
tended that the testimony of the Dead Sea and the present state of its wa- 
ters (see Dr. Marcet's analysis of them in Phil. Trans. 1807) cease3 to be 
applicable or credible. Thu3, again, the tribes of Arabs which deduct 
their descent from Tshmael, cannot be denied to be at least some authority 
for the existence of Ishmael's father. Thus, also, the pyramids of Egypt 
demonstrate at the present period the slavery of the people who built them ; 
and the last of them indicates the unfinished state in which the business 
was left by the workmen : so that even architectural antiquities, as well as 
profane history, which names the chiefs of the Hebrews as builders of these 
mountains, serve to confirm the truth of the residence of the Israelites in 
Egypt, and consequently appear in support of the authenticity of the Mosaic 
history. 

I cannot help swelling this already long note by pointing to one remarka 
blc historical fact, which proves the existence of the law of Moses at tht 
dissolution of the kingdom of Israel, when the ten tribes were carried cap 
tive to Assyria by Shalmaneser and dispersed among the provinces of tha> 
extensive empire ; that is, about 741 years before Christ. It was about 
that time the Samaritans were transported from Assyria to re-people the 
country which the ten captive tribes of Israel had formerly inhabited. 
The posterity of the Samaritans still inhabit the land of their fathers, and 
have preserved copies of the Pentateuch, two or three of which were 
brought to this country in the last century but one. The Samaritan Penta- 
teuch is written in old Hebrew characters, and therefore must have existed 
before the time of Ezra. But so violent were the animosities which sub- 
sisted between the Jews and Samaritans, that in no period of their history 
would the one nation have received any books from the other. They must 
therefore have received them 1 at their first settlement in Samaria from the 
captive priest whom the Assyrian monarch sent' to teach them how they 
should fear the Lord. 2 Kings, 17. This observation is due to M. Dupin, 
whose defence of the book* of Moses against the objections of Hobbes, Spi 
no:a and F. Simon is the most complete and decisive of any thing I have 
ever read on the subject. As it is too extensive for insertion here, I refer to 
the Preliminarv Dissertation in the first volume of hi* BibUotheca Pairum, 



96 Gregory's letters. 

torical parts of Scripture next to the Pentateuch. The 
great antiquity of this book, however, has not, as far as T 
recollect, been much disputed. But it has been made 
a question, " Is this book dramatic or narrative '?" Or, 
" Was there ever such a man as Job V* Now although 
the apostle Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, 
quotes a passage from the book of Job with his accus- 
tomed reference to a book of Divine authority, " For it is 
ivrittcn;" yet this does nOt determine the point. But the 
reality of the history, however poetical and elevated the 
style may be, may I think be fairly inferred from the pro- 
phecies of Ezekiel and the Epistle of James. In the 
former God himself, in speaking to the prophet, repeat- 
edly mentions Job, in conjunction with Noah and Daniel, 
as men of extraordinary righteousness. " Though these 
three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they should 
deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith 
the Lord God." And in the latter, James exhibits the 
patience of Job and its reward as an example and encou- 
ragement to professing christians. These passages prove 
satisfactorily, I think, that Job was a real and not an ideal 
character. It is probable this book of Job has greater 
antiquity than any other in the Old Testament ; for it con- 
tains no allusion to the children of Israel, their grievous 
afflictions in Egypt, or their happy deliverance from them ; 
though these topics would have given fine scope to Job 
and his friends in their various conferences. It should 
seem, indeed, from the age to which Job lived, (but little 
less than 200 years,) that he was a contemporary with 
the ancient Hebrew patriarchs ; and that Uz, his country, 
was in Edom. It is conjectured with no little plausibility, 
that this book was written by Moses while he was in the 
land of Midian, where he had opportunity of coming to 
the knowledge of this history; and, seeing that it might 
be very useful to comfort and direct the Israelites, wrote 
.it under Divine superintendence for their benefit. Thus 



AUTHENTICITV OF THE SCRIPTURES. 97 

much, at least, is clear ; that the book was written by a 
Hebrew, by one who had been in Arabia, and by one 
who wrote before the promulgation of the Mosaic law : 
these criteria all attach to Moses. Besides this, Hebrew 
scholars affirm that in the original the language is often 
peculiar, the expressions being such as are met with in 
the writings of Moses, and no where else. This book is 
indeed the only one from which we can derive a correct 
knowledge of the patriarchal religion, and which " gives 
completion to the Bible by adding the dispensation of the 
earliest ages to those of the law and of the Gospel, by 
which it was successively superseded."* 

As to the Prophecies, (the only other compositions in 
the Old Testament I intend to specify here,) it may be 
observed that they all were received into the Septuagint 
version of which I have already spoken, which was exe- 
cuted at least 287 years before Christ, through the means 
of Demetrius Phalereus, and by the command of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus. I know very well that Dean Prideaux af- 
firms, on the evidence of Philo, Josephus, and a few 
others, who had never seen the original version of the 
LXX, that it only contained the law. But Aristobulus, 
who was an Alexandrian Jew, tutor to an Egyptian king, 
living within 100 years after the translation was made, 
and having free access to it in the Royal library, affirms 
that " the whole Sacred Scripture was rightly trans- 
lated," by the means just mentioned. And Justin Mar- 
tyr says expressly that it contained the prophetic writ- 
ings, and indeed quotes the prophets, including Moses, 
from it, because he says " that very translation was then 
in the hands of almost every Jew all the world over."t 

* See farther J. D. Michaelis in R. Lowtli Pnelectiones, Notae, et Epi- 
mctra, p. 185. Thomas Scott's Translation of Job ; and the elegant In- 
troductory Dissertation to the recent translation of " The Book of .Toh." 
by my learned friend, Dr. John Mason Good, F. R. S. 

t Euseb. Pi-fep. Evan. 1, 1. Just. Mart. Apol. ii, sect. 38. See also Ori 

Gregory. 5 



98 Gregory's letters. 

Here, then, is strong evidence of the correctness' of the 
original Greek translation. And the general correspon- 
dence of the Hebrew Bibles now in existence, and of the 
Septuagint copies in Greek, is a proof that both have 
been handed down to us without material variation, and 
that either is therefore, in the main, genuine and authen- 
tic. Thus, then, we establish the existence of the pro- 
phetical books of the Old Testament (nearly as we now 
have them) at least 287 years before the christian era ; 
and we may further remark, that most of them are re- 
ferred to and quoted, often with high distinction, by 
Christ and his Apostles.* I shall only add, that our Sa- 
vior's emphatic language, "All things must be fulfilled 
which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the 
Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me,"t Luke, 
24 : 44, is a remarkable attestation in favor of the truth, 
in the fullest sense, of all the books of the Old Testament, 
since he here adopts the threefold distribution under 

gen's quotation from the Septuagint version of Isaiah, in the following Let- 
ter on Prophecy. 

* Isaiah, in Matt. 4 : 14 ; 8 : 17; 12 : 17 ; 13 : 14. Mark, 7 : 6. 
Luke, 3:4; 4:7. John, 12 : 39, 41. Acts, 8 : 28 ; 28 : 25. Rom. 

9 : 27; 10 : 16, 20, &c. Jeremiah, Matt. 2 : 17, 18; 16 : 14. EzeUel, 
compare Rev. 19 : 17-21 ; 20 : 8, 9, with Ezek. 38 and 39 : 1-20. 
Daniel, Ezek. 14 : 14; 28 : 3. Matt. 24 : 15. Mark, 13 : 14. Hosea, 
Matt. 2:15; 9:13; 12 : 7. Rom. 9 : 25, 26. Joel, Acts, 2 : 16. Rom. 

10 : 13. Amos, Acts, 7 : 42, 43 ; 15 : 15, 17. Jonah, Matt. 12 : 39, 41 ; 
14 : 4. Luke, 11 : 29, 30. Micah, Matt. 2 : 5, 6. John, 7 : 42. Ha- 
bakkuh, Acts, 13 : 41. Rom. 1 : 17. Gal. 3 : 2. Heb. 10 : 37, 38. 
Haggai, Heb. 2 : 26. Zechariah, Matt. 21 :4, 5; 26 : 31. Mark, 
14 ; 27. John, 12 : 15; 19 : 37. Rev. 1:7. Malachi, Matt. 11 : 10 £ 
17 : 10-12. Mark, 1:2; 9 : 12. Luke, 1 : 16, 17 ; 7 : 27; 16 : 26. 
Rom. 9 : 13. 

t In favor of the genuineness of our present text of the prophecies, the 
following very just observation has been made. " It may be inferred from 
the admission of Celsus, that the prophecies were found in the Jewish! 
Scriptures in his lime ; and since then no alteration has been made in 
them by the Jews. But if so, this is the strongest presumption that the 
Jews had never altered them before. For. if, when by the fulfilment of 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 99 

which the Jews comprehended every portion of their 
sacred volume. 

That this latter testimony, however, may beai upor. 
our inquiry with all the weight to which it is entitled, it 
is now requisite that we investigate the genuineness an.l 
authenticity of the New Testament. And here, in ad- 
dition to the general arguments advanced in the begin- 
ning of this letter, I shall adduce a few particular evi- 
dences. Now, 1. It is indisputable that the primitive 
publishers of Christianity wrote books containing an ac- 
count of the life and doctrine of their Master, several of 
which bore the names of the various books which now 
constitute the New Testament; and further, passages 
cited from these books by very early writers are found 
in the copies now existing of the respective books. 
2. The early christians had as good opportunities of 
satisfying themselves as to the genuineness of these 
books, as other ancients had with regard to the genuine 
ness of books on other subjects which they received . 
and, since the new religion required considerable renun- 
ciations, and exposed its professors to heavy perseou- 
tions, it is unreasonable to suppose they would adopt it 
without a due examination. 3. There were many books 
issued under the names of the Apostles, which were, not- 
withstanding, rejected by the primitive christians ; which 
proves that they were not very open to deception. 4. "We 
do not find that either the Jews or the heathens, with 
whom the early christian apologists were engaged, ever 
called in question the genuineness of the records to which 
their attention was called, 5. The books of the New 



the prophecies in the person of Christ, they were most tempted to erase 
predictions so hostile to their own creed, they made no change, much less 
would they do it when the temptation was diminished." See Mr. F. Cun- 
ningham's HuUoan Prize Essay on the books of Origon against Celsus. 



LOO GREGORY S LETTERS. 

Testament were, in very early times, collected into a dis - 
rinct volume. Thus Eusebius says that Quadratus and 
others, the immediate successors of the Apostles, carried 
the Gospels with them in their travels. Melito speaks 
of the Old Testament as in contradiction to the collec- 
tion called the New Testament. Tertullian divides the 
christian Scriptures into the Gospels and Apostles, and 
calls the whole volume the New Testament* 

But, further, the principal books of the New Testament 
are quoted or alluded to by a series of christian writers, 
in regular succession from the apostolic times. Ignatius, 
for example, became bishop of Antioch 37 years after 
Christ's ascension. In his Epistles "are undoubted allu- 
sions' to the Gospels of Matthew and John, though they 
are not marked as quotations. 

Polycarp, who had been taught by the Apostles, and 
conversed with many who had seen Christ, has nearly 
forty allusions to the New Testament in one short epis- 
tle, several of them quoted, without hesitation, as the 
words of Christ. He obviously quotes from Matthew, 
Acts, Romans, 1st and 2d Corinthians, Galatians, Ephe- 
sians, Philippians, 1st and 2d Thessalonians, 1st and 2d 
Timothy, 1st Peter, and 1st John. 

Justin Martyr, who died at latest about the year 163, 
has several distinct and copious extracts from the Gos- 
pels and the Acts : and by his calling Jesus Christ the 
Son of God and " Apostle" which is no where done in 
Scripture but in Hebrews, 3 : 1, it is probable he was 
acquainted with that epistle. In all his works there are 
but two instances in which he refers to any thing, as said 
or done by Christ, which is not related in the Gospels 
now extant. All his references suppose the books notori- 
ous, and that there were no other accounts of Christ re- 

* See on this, and connected subjects, Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. ii, 
cap. 23. lib. iii, cap. 3, 4, 25 39. lib. v, cap. 3, 24. lib. vi, cap. 21, 23 
lib. vii, cap 25. &c. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 101 

ceived and credited. He also says expressly that the 
" Memoirs of the Apostles (which elsewhere he calls the 
Gospels) are read in public worship." 

Hegesippus, a converted Jew, who was 30 years after 
Justin, says, that in his journey from Palestine to Rome, 
<: in every city the same doctrine was taught, which the 
law, and the prophets, and the Lord teacheth." 

Pothinus, bishop of Lyons about 170, then 90 years 
old, sent an epistle to Asia containing an account of the 
sufferings of that church. In this epistle he makes exact 
references to the Gospels of Luke and John, and to the 
A.cts of the Apostles. 

Iren^eus, successor to Pothinus, and who asserts that 
" he had seen Polycarp," gives positive testimony to most 
of the books of the New Testament. He does not, how- 
ever, quote Jude ; but from the book of Revelation makes 
frequent and large quotations. He asserts that the story 
which the Gospels exhibit is that which the Apostles told, 
and that the Gospels were written " as the foundation 
and pillar of our faith." He then describes the authors, 
traces the origin, and defends the genuineness of their 
histories. He affirms also, that in his time there were 
four, and only four Gospels, which by his references 
appear to be those we now have.* 

* Words can scarcely be framed to declare more clearly the authenticity 
of the four Gospels, than the following from the third book of Irenaeus, 
against heresies : " We have not received the knowledge of the way of 
our salvation," he says, " by any other than those by whom the Gospel 
lias been brought to us ; which Gospel they first preached, and afterwards 
by the will of God committed to writing, that it might be for time to 
come the foundation and pillar of our faith. For after our Lord rose from 
tho dead, and they (the Apostles) were endued from above with the pow- 
er of the Holy Ghost coming down upon them, they received a perfect 
knowledge of all things. They then went forth to all the ends of the 
earth, declaring to men the blessing of heavenly peace, having all of them 
and every one alike, the Gospel of God. Matthew then, amon" the Jews 
wrote a Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preach- 
ing tho Gospel at Rome, ar*l founding a church there. And after theii 



102 Gregory's letters. 

These persons, it should be remarked, though their 
testimonies concur, lived in countries remote from one 
another. Ignatius nourished at Antioch ; Polycarp at 
Smyrna; Justin Martyr in Syria; Pothinus and Irenseus 
in France. 

Athenagoras, who lived between 166 and 178, and 
before his conversion was an Athenian philosopher, 
wrote an able Apology for Christianity, which he ad- 
dressed to the emperors Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, 
and Lucius Commodus. In this, and in his discourse on 
the resurrection, he quotes Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, 
Romans, 1st and 2d Corinthians, Gralatians, and 1st 
Timothy. He seems also to refer to passages in James, 
2d Peter, and Revelation. 

Tertullian, presbyter of Carthage, flourished at the 
end of the second and beginning of the third century. In 
his works, which are numerous and still well known, he 
expressly quotes all the books of the New Testament, 

exit (death, or departure,) Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of Pe- 
ter, delivered to us in writing the things that had been preached by Peter : 
and Luke, the companion of Paul, put down in a book the Gospel preached 
by him (Paul.) Afterwards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned 
upon his breast, he likewise published a Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus, 
in Asia. And all these have delivered to us, that there is one God, the 
Maker of the heaven and the earth, declared by the law and the prophets, 
and one Christ, the Son of God." " The Word," he says again, " the for- 
mer of all things, who sits upon the cherubim and upholdeth all things, 
having appeared unto men, has given us a Gospel of a four-fold character, 
but joined in one spirit. The Gospel according to John, declares his primary 
and glorious generation from the Father, In the beginning was the Word. 
But the Gospel according to Luke being of a priestly character, begins 
with Zacharias, the priest, offering incense to God. Matthew relates his 
generation, which is according to man, The book of the generation of Je- 
sus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Mark begins from the 
prophetic spirit which came down from above to men, saying, The begin- 
ning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias the pro- 
phet." Adv. Hteres. lib. Hi. c. 11. et apud Grabe, p. 221 ; vide Lard 
ner's Credibility, vol. ii. p. 159, edit. Kippis. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 103 

except James , the second epistle of Peter, and the third 
of John. It has been remarked that there are more 
quotations from the New Testament in his writings, than 
from the various writings of Tully in all the ancient 
books in the world. This writer intimates that the actual 
autographs of the apostolic writings, or at least some of 
them, were preserved till the age in which he lived, and 
were then to be seen.* 

After Tertullian, the successive though in part cotem- 
poraneous writers, Hippolytus, Origen, Gregory, Dio- 
nysius, Cyprian, Arnobius, &c, all of whom furnish 
strong and decided testimonies, bring us to the time of 
Eusebius, who nourished about the year 315, and was 
the most accurate historian among the ancient christian 
writers. He mentions it as a fact well known, and as- 
serted by Origen and others, his predecessors, that the 
four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the 
Epistles of Paul, one of Peter, and one of John, were 
universally received by the church. He says Origen 

calls them ivxyytKia. a.va.vripp»ra. and ofAiKoyii/xtroit. as not 

being able to find that they had ever been disputed. 
And, though the Acts are not expressly mentioned by 
Origen in this catalogue, Eusebius himself declares that 
he has no scruple concerning that book : nay, Origen 
himself, in another place, mentions the Acts as written 
by Luke, and pays the same regard to it as to the other 
books of the New Testament. Origen, in fact, quotes 
from twenty-nine books of the Old Testament, and frora 
all in the New but the Epistle to Philemon, 2d John, 
and Jude ; and his quotations correspond very accurately 
with our present text. As to those seven books of the 

* Age jam, qui voles curiositatem melius exercere in negotio salutis 
luae, percurre Ecclesias Apostolicas, apud qua* ipsa? adhuc cathedra? 
Apostolorum suis locis president, apud quas ipsa? Authentica? Liters: 
eorum recitanti.r. De Prescript, adversus Hccreficos. 



104 Gregory's letters 

New Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle 
of James, the 2d of Peter, the 2d and 3d of John, Jude, 
and the Revelation, which had been .disputed, and were 
therefore called by Eusebius avriMyo/xivoi; even he as- 
serts that they were at length introduced into the Canon, 
that is, into the number of those books which christians 
regarded as the rule of their faith and practice, and 
which they 'distinguished from other books written by 
persons whom they thought less eminently under the 
divine direction, whatever their sanctity might be.* 

From the time of Eusebius the works of christian 
writers abound in references to the New Testament. 
But instead of citing more, I may next observe that the 

* Euseb. Eccles. Hist. 1. iii. c. xxv. Jerome also affirms that the 
Epistle to the Hebrews " has been received as the Apostle Paul's not only 
by the eastern churches, but by all the ancient churches." Besides this, 
let it be remarked that Peter's reference in his 2d Epistle, iii. 15, 16, is, 
evidently, to the Epistle to the Hebrews. Bishop Kidder has an obser- 
vation relative to this epistle, richly worth transcribing- : " Of all the books 
of the Ne\V Testament, I know not any where the mystical senses of the 
passages of the Old Testament, and applications of them to the Messias 
(current among the Jews,) are so frequent as in the Epistle to the He- 
brews. This is a probable argument (independent of all others) that it 
was written by St. Paul ; who, having been brought up by Gamaliel, a 
famous doctor, may be presumed to be well versed in the mystical sense 
of the places of the Old Testament. And he might use the greater liberty 
in this way, because he wrote to the Hebrews, who were much used to 
that way of interpretation, and were best able to judge of that method 
A'hich he used. I cannot but relate a passage of a late learned writer 
upon this occasion (P. Simon. Hist. Crit. N. T. c. 21.) He tells us that 
he gave this Epistle to the Hebrews to a Jew to read, who was greatly 
acquainted with their ancient authors. Upon the perusal of it the Jew 
frankly avowed that that book could be writ by none but by some great 
Mekabul (i. e. man of tradition) of his own nation. This Jew was so far 
from affirming that the writer of that Epistle had set aside the true sense 
of the Scripture by allegories according to his own fancy, that he celebra- 
ted his profound knowledge in the sublime sense of the Bible, and spake 
of this great Mekabul (as he called him) with admiration." Kidder'a 
Messias. Part ii. c 5 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 10^ 

Scriptures were spoken of, and either received, or so 
appealed to, by the various early sects among christians, 
as to prove their existence nearly in their present form. 
Thus Tertullian assures us that Dositheus (who was a 
cotemporary with the apostles) was the first who dared 
to reject the authority of the prophets, by denying theii 
inspiration : but both he and his followers allowed the 
five books of Moses to be divine. The Ebio?iites again, 
in the first century, allowed the existence of all the 
Dooks of the New Testament, but only received as di 
vine the Gospel by Matthew. The Valenlinians about 
the year 120 appealed to the evangelic and apostolic 
writings The testimony of Chrysostom (A. D. 398) is, 
that " though many heresies have arisen, yet all have 
received the Gospels, either entire or in part." 

In favor of the early existence of the principal books 
of the New Testament I must not forget to urge that 
the first heathen adversaries of Christianity speak of the 
historical books as containing the accounts upon which 
the religion was founded. Celsus, for example, in the 
second century, writing against Christianity, alludes to 
books written by the disciples of Jesus. He accuses the 
christians of altering the Gospel, but this accusation is 
not made out by any important variations existing in the 
present day. He says his arguments are drawn from 
their own writings: and he evidently quotes'. from Mat- 
thew's and John's Gospels, from the Acts of the Apos- 
tles, from the various Epistles of Paul, Peter and John. 
He makes the largest and most remarkable concessions 
about Jesus Christ ; acknowledging the truth of his na 
tivity, his journey into Egypt, his passing from place to 
place with his disciples, the fact of his miracles, his being 
betrayed, and lastly his passion and death : affirming that 
after he was betrayed, he was " bound," — " scourged," — 
"stretched upon the cross."-— that he " drank vinegar," — . 

5* 



106 

that after his death he was "said to have appeared 
twice," — but that "he did not appear to his enemies." 
He speaks, moreover, of the slaughter of the infants, of 
the descent of the Holy Ghost, of Christ's divinity, his 
worship ; and collectively of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. It is true he ridicules most of these particulars ; 
but he does not attempt to deny them, which he would 
have been ready enough to do could he have done it 
with any show of reason.* 

He states," indeed, and this most probably was the case, 
that the reading of certain passages was not exactly the 
same in all the copies ; but he never questions the truth 
of the proposition, that the G-ospels were written by the 
Apostles and Evangelists to whom the first christians 
have ascribed them. He does not even let drop a single 
hint, or attempt an argument upon the matter. And yet 
his opportunities were excellent, his inclination is not 
to be doubted, and his abilities are extolled "by the infi- 
del writers themselves. We have their own word for it, 
that he was a surprising philosopher. "We put it there- 
fore to the judgment and the candor of our adversaries, 
whether we are not sufficiently warranted in the conclu- 
sion, that Celsus did not call in question the genuineness 
of the inspired records, because ' he could not find any 
plausible reason for doing so,' because he had marked 
his ground, and was well aware that any insinuation 
which would have affected their genuineness would 
have affected that of every ancient writer, and if carried 
to its utmost length, would have unsettled the founda- 
tions of all historical belief." 



Lardner's Heath. Test. vol. iii. c. 13, Cunningham's Hulsean Essay, 
pp. 14, 20, and Gyles on the Authenticity of the New Testament, pp. 52, 
56. By the way, the remarkable testimony of Tacitus ought not to be 
omitted in this enumeration. " Auctor nominis ejus Chrislus, qui, Ti- 
berio imperante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum, supplicio anectna 
«rat." Annal. 1. xv. c. 44 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 107 

Porphyry again, in the third century, though a most 
inveterate enemy to Christianity, not only allowed that 
there was such a person as Christ, but honored him as 
a most wise and pious man, and one who was translated 
into heaven. He thought, however, that by overthrow- 
ing the Gospels and the Acts he should overthrow the 
christian religion itself. Speaking of Matthew, in wri- 
ting against the christians, he calls him their Evangelist. 
" He possessed (says Michaelis) every advantage which 
natural abilities or political situation could afford, to dis- 
cover whether the New Testament was a genuine work 
of the Apostles and Evangelists, or whether it was im- 
posed upon the world after the decease of its pretended 
authors. But no trace of this suspicion is any where to 
be found, nor did it ever occur to Porphyry to suppose 
that it was spurious."* 

Julian, in the fourth century, recites the sayings of 
Christ in the very words of the Evangelists, states the 
early dates of these records, and calls them by the names 
they now bear, without questioning their genuineness. 
He endeavors to lessen the reputation of Christ's life 
and miracles, by telling the world that he " did nothing 
worthy of note all the while he was here upon earth (not- 
withstanding all the noise that was made about him,) ex- 
cept a person will reckon it a great work to open the 
eyes of the blind, to restore limbs to the lame, and de- 
liver persons possessed from the power and enchantment 
of devils. "t His great object seems always to cause the 
Divinity of Jesus Christ to be suspected; and therefore 
he argues that neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor Paul 
himself, ever presumed in direct terms* to call him God, 
but it was John (o xparw ia>«'wns) who talked after this 
manner; that John, perceiving how the persuasion of 



* Euseb. Dem Evang. 1. iii. p. 134. Marsh's Michael's, vol. i. p. 43. 

♦ Cyril Alexander, contra Julian, 1. vi. p. 191. Y/\. Tar. 1G38. 



10$ Gregory's letters. 

Christ's being God prevailed mightily among the chiis 
tians dispersed through the cities of Greece and Italy ; 
took upon him to assert the same doctrine in his Gospel, 
with a view to honor them and obtain himself reputa- 
tion.* Now, however wrong may be the reason assigned 
here for John's conduct, the concession of Julian is im- 
portant, in so far as it proves that he took the writings 
which in his time bore the names of Matthew, Mark, 
Luke, John and Paul, to be the genuine productions of 
those authors ; and further, because it shows that John's 
Gospel bore then the same testimony respecting the di 
vinity of Jesus Christ which it now bears. 

Besides these, there are several other evidences of th« 
genuineness and truth of the various books of the Nev 
Testament, into which I cannot now enter minutely. Bu/ 
I must briefly advert to the cogent arguments so ably ad 
vanced by the late venerable Dr. Paley, drawn from the 
numerous obviously undesigned coincidences, mutually 
subsisting between the several Epistles of Paul and the 



* Cyril contra Julian, I. x. p. 327. In another place, Julian, after cer- 
tain accusations, says to the christians, " But these are your own inven- 
tions ; for Jesus has no where directed you to do such things, nor yet 
Paul : the reason is that they never expected you would arrive at such 
power : they were contented with deceiving maid-servants and slaves, and 
by them some men and women ; such as Cornelius and Sergius. If there 
were then any men of eminence brought over to you, I mean in the times 
of Tiberius and Claudius, when these things happened, let me pass for a 
liar in every thing I say." From this quotation we may conclude that. 
Christianity was first preached in the reigns of the emperors Tiberius and 
Claudius ; that "Cornelius, a Roman Centurion at Csesarea, and Sergius 
Paulus, Proconsul at Cyprus, were converted to the faith of Jesus before 
the end of the reign of Claudius (Acts, 10 and 13 ;) and that the Acts of 
the Apostles is a genuine and true history. Dr. Lardner (vol. viii. p. 404) 
states this argument very forcibly. Julian challenges the christians to pro- 
duce the names of any eminent men (except Cornelius and Sergius Pau- 
lus) converted (from the Gentiles) to Christianity in the reigns of Tibe- 
rius and Claudius. This is a proof that Julian did not and could not cop 
lest the truth of the history in the Acts of the Apostles. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 109 

History of the Acts of the Apostles : these coincidences 
are so little seen by common observers, that it is impos- 
sible to suppose them the effect of forgery; an examina- 
tion of them is sufficient to prove that neither the history 
was forged to square with the letters, nor the letters to 
accord with the history ; that they are too numerous and 
close to be accounted for by the accidental, or by the de- 
signed concurrences of fiction, or in any other way than 
by the uniformity of the tendency of truth to one point.* 
•I have already remarked, on the authority of Euse 
bius, that some of the books now admitted into the New 
Testament were for a while disputed in the early ages of 
the church. I may here add, that a few small portions 
of particular books have had their authenticity called in 
question by modern critics. Of the latter class are the 
first two chapters of Matthew's Gospel, which have been 
recently much controverted by those who impugn the 
doctrine, or rather fact, of Christ's miraculous concep- 
tion stated in those chapters, and some of whom forget 
that the same fact is asserted in Luke's Gospel. With- 
out entering at large into this question, it may suffice to 
remark that Justin Martyr, and Clement of Alexandria, 
have quoted from these two chapters, without signifying 
any doubt of their authenticity ; that Celsus quotes more 
than once from the first of these chapters, and refers to 
the second ; and that Origen, in replying to him, admits 
that they are authentic : that the massacre of the children 
£a supposed incredible event on which the objections of 
several rest) is confirmed by Macrobiust as a thing well 

* For a full developement and application of this train of argumentation, 
see Dr. Paley's admirable work entitled " Horee Paulina." This book 
was published A. D. 1790, and since that period, though many of the In- 
fidel host have M gnashed their teeth" at it in private, not one has at- 
tempted to refute it. 

t Inter pueros quos in SyriA Herodes Rex Jucltcorum intra bimatum 
russit occidi." Macrob. Saturnal. lib. ii. cap. 4. 



L10 Gregory's letters. 

Known in his time ; and, lastly, to affirm, on the authority 
of a very learned and judicious critic, Dr. Herbert Marsh, 
in his valuable notes to Michaelis, that the evidence of 
the Greek manuscripts is decidedly in favor of the authen- 
ticity of these two chapters ; and that the testimony of 
the ancient versions is equally decisive, these chapters 
being contained in them all. Besides, how can it well be 
imagined- that those two are spurious, when the begin- 
ning of the third chapter is considered 1 What writer 
would begin a history with the phrase, " In those days ?"* 
You will expect that I should produce some evidences 
in favor of the genuineness of the Apocalypse, or Reve- 
lation of St. John, especially since this book has been 

* There is a very able defence of the authenticity of the first two chap- 
ters of Matthew's Gospel in the Quarterly Review, vol. i. p. 320-330, 
from which I should have been happy to borrow some passages, were I not 
compelled by my plan to consult brevity. But Dr. Magee's Summary, be- 
ing concise and forcible, is here inserted. " How then," says he, " stands 
the evidence upon the whole 1 The Syriac Version, which is one of apos- 
tolical antiquity, and the old Italic, both contain the two chapters. Ig- 
natius, the only apostolical Father who had occasion to make reference 
to them, does so. The Sibylline Oracles do the same. Justin Martyr 
does the same. Celsus, the bitter enemy of the christian faith, does the 
same. Hegesippus, a Hebrew christian, does the same. Irenceus, and 
"all the Fathers who succeed him, it is admitted on all hands, do the same. 
And the chapters are at this day found in every manuscript and every 
version of the Gospel of St. Matthew which is extant throughout the world. 
Thus have we one continued and unbroken series of testimony from the 
days of the Apostles to the present times ; and in opposition to this, we 
find only a vague report of the state of a Hebrew copy of St. Matthew's 
Gospel, said to be received amongst an obscure and unrecognised descrip- 
tion of Hebrew christians, who are admitted, even by the very writers 
who claim the support of their authenticity, to have mutilated the copy 
which they possessed, by removing the genealogy. I should not have 
dwelt so long upon a subject which is at this day so fully ascertained, as 
the authenticity of the first two chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel, did it 
not furnish a fair opportunity of exhibiting the species of evidence which 
Unitarian critics are capable of resisting, and the sort of arguments with 
which they do not scruple to resist it." Magee on the Atonement, vol. ii 
p. 470 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 11 J 

given up as doubtful by some late writers in favor of 
the New Testament. Allow me, then, to observe on this 
subject, that Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus, allow the Apocalypse to be an an- 
cient book, and ascribe it to "John the disciple of the 
Lord :" and Justin, as well as others, asserts that " it was 
written by divine inspiration." And, if we may credit 
the testimonies of Eusebius and Jerome, who had in their 
hands the writings of many of the ancients which are now 
lost, Papias, Melito, Theophilus of Antioch, and Apol- 
lonius, all in the second century, received and quoted it. 
Indeed Melito wrote a commentary upon this book : and 
he being bishop of Sardis, one of the seven churches ad- 
dressed, could neither be ignorant of their tradition re- 
specting it, nor impose upon them as to its nature and 
contents. Consider, in addition to this, the author's own 
language. " The Revelation of Jesus Christ," &c, " sent 
and signified by his angel unto his servant John." "John 
to the seven churches." " I John, who also am your 
brother, and companion in tribulation " — " was in the Isle 
that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the 
testimony of Jesus Christ." " I was in the spirit on the 
Lord's day." This same writer, who thus positively and 
unequivocally declares himself to be John, imprisoned 
in the Isle of Patmos, writing under inspiration on the 
Lord's day, affirms that " all liars shall have their part 
in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone," and 
in another place excludes from celestial glory " whoso- 
ever loveth and maketh a lie." Adopt for a moment the 
hypothesis that this book was forged, and nothing can be 
more shocking and blasphemous than the conduct of its 
author in impiously assuming the language of " Him who 
searcheth the reins and the heart ;" admit, on the con- 
trary, the genuineness and authenticity of the book, and 
you are overpowered with the majesty and sublimity of 
its language, the purity and excellency of its precepts 



112 Gregory's letters. 

the awfulness of its denunciations, the supernatural gran- 
deur of its promises ; and, to stamp the highest possible 
authority upon the whole, bear in mind that it containe 
'prophecies, several of which have already been accom 
lished. 

Permit me to avail myself of the observations of Br 
Priestly, in reference to the subject before us. " This 
book of Revelation (says he) I have no doubt was written 
by the apostle John. Sir Isaac Newton, with great truth, ■ 
says, he does not find any other book of the New Testament 
so strongly attested or commented upon so early as this. 
Indeed I think it impossible for any intelligent and can- 
did person to peruse it without being struck, in the most 
forcible manner, with the peculiar dignity and sublimity 
of its composition, superior to that of any other writing 
whatever; so as to be convinced that, considering the age 
in which it appeared, none but a person divinely inspired 
could have written it. Also, the numerous marks of genu- 
ine piety that occur through the whole of this work will 
preclude the idea of imposition, in any person acquaint- 
ed with human nature." Notes on Scripture, vol. 4, 
p. 573. ^ 

My labors on the multifarious topics of this letter may 
now draw to a close. I shall leave you in your future me- 
ditations to appreciate the full weight of what I have ad- 
duced. In opposition to it you will have merely to place 
the reiterated, though perfectly unsupported, assertion, 
that the Scriptures are forged. But had I not wished to 
put you in possession of a condensed body of evidence, 
by referring to which you may " put to silence the igno- 
rance of foolish men," I might have refuted this assertion 
by simply referring to the great end of the sacred volume, 
and the unity of design in all its authors. I might have 
affirmed without fear of contradiction, that the coinci- 
dence of the histories, precepts, promises, threatenings, 
and prophecies of the Scriptures, in that great end, " the 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 113 

glory of God and the holiness and happiness of man," is 
an irrefragable argument not only of their genuineness 
and truth, but of their divine authority. I might have af- 
firmed, that if the several writers had been guided by 
their own spirits, and not by the illuminating and support- 
ing influences of the Spirit of truth, they could neither 
have unfolded to us the various dispensations of God 
tending to this one point, nor have pursued it themselves 
with such entire steadiness and uniformity through so 
many different ages of the world. Viewed in this light, 
the gradual opening of the design is an invincible argu- 
ment. The wisdom of man, if it could ever have formed 
such a design (though that, as I have shown in a former 
letter, was far from the case,) would have rushed forward 
to the grand conclusion precipitately. On the whole, 
then, I think every candid inquirer, after truth must be 
constrained to admit, that the various writers of the Bible 
were not deceivers, that the books they have left us are 
genuine, that the religion contained in those books is 
true, that it emanated from God. Whence, indeed, 

"but from heaven should men unskill'd in arts, 

" In different ages bom, in different parts, 

" Weave such agreeing truths ? or how ? or why ? 

" Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie ? 

" Unask'd their pains, ungrateful their advice ; 

" Starving their gains, and martyrdom their prize." 

Dryde.v. 

There remains only one other question to consider 
before I terminate this letter, namely, " Have the Scrip- 
tures descended pure to our hands, or do the copies ex- 
tant differ materially from 'those which existed in the pri- 
mitive ages." Now, in answer to this, it may be stated 
with regard to the New Testament, as the universal 
opinion of all Biblical critics of competent knowledge 
and judgment, that we have received it pure and o-enu- 
'ne. This is evinced by the accordance of tV.e early ver- 



N4 Gregory's letters. 

sions with our present Greek text; by the collations 
which have taken place of great numbers of existing 
manuscripts (being much more numerous indeed than 
the manuscripts of any other ancient writing,) some of 
them extiemely ancient; which collations, while, they 
show that mistakes, as it was to be expected, have been 
made in the individual manuscripts by the transcribers, 
prove those mistakes to be of trifling importance, such 
as never affect the relation of any important fact, or the 
statement of any important doctrine, either respecting 
faith or morals, and afford the means of correcting them : 
and by the utter impossibility that either negligence or 
design could have introduced, without detection, any ma- 
terial alteration into a book dispersed among millions in 
widely distant countries, and among many discordant 
sects ; regarded by them all as the rule of their faith and 
practice ; and in constant and regular use among them 
all in public worship, in private meditation, and in their 
vehement and unceasing controversies with each other.* 
With regard to the Bible in general, including both 
the Old Testament (or Covenant) and the New, a cogent 
proof of the general conformity of our present copies of 
the several books with those which existed in early 
times, is derived from an examination of the works of the 

* Gisborne's Familiar Survey, p. 229. Doddridge's Pneumatology, &c. 
Lect. 118, 119. " Not frighted (says that very eminent critic Dr. Bentley) 
with the 30,000 various readings, I, for my part, and, as I believe, many 
others, would not lament, if out of the old MSS. yet untouched 10,000 
more were faithfully collected : some of which, without question, would 
render the text more beautiful, just, and exact ; though of no consequence 
to the main of religion ; nay, perhaps .wholly synonymous in the view of 
common readers, and quite insensible in any modern version.'-' Philaleutb. 
Lipsiens. p. 90. 

On the subject of Various Readings, the critical reader may consult the 
Rev. T. Hartwell Home's Introduction to the Critical Study of the Holy 
Scriptures. I cannot refer to this work, without cordially recommending 
it, as constituting a most valuable accession to Biblical literature, serving, 
indeed, to supply a serious desideratum long felt by our theological students. 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 115 

Fathers of the Christian Church. If we take, for exam- 
ple, the epistle of Clemens Romanus to the Corinthians, 
written at latest about A. D. 70, we shall find at least 
thirty-four express quotations from different parts of the 
Pentateuch, four from the book of Joshua, two from 
Esther, ten from Job, thirty from the Psalms, four from 
the book of Proverbs, sixteen from the prophecies of Isai- 
ah, three from Jeremiah, one from Ezekiel, three from 
Daniel, one from Jonah, one from Habakkuk, one from 
Malachi. In the New Testament, two from Luke's 
Gospel, one from the Acts of the Apostles, fourteen from 
the Epistles of Paul, including three from that to the 
Hebrews, three from the Epistles o£ Peter, three from 
that of James, and one from that of Jude. Some of these 
are long quotations, nearly of whole chapters ; several of 
them are introduced by the notices, "Thus it is written" 
" Thm saith the Scripture," "The Holy Spirit itself bear 
cth icitness,' 1 &c. ; and all of them agree with the corres- 
ponding passages in our present copies. This I affirm, 
not upon the authority of others, but from a careful in- 
spection ; and I think it furnishes a most striking proof 
of the general integrity of the Scriptures we possess. So 
far as I have carried the comparison through the works 
of the Fathers of the first three centuries, the inference 
from it increases in force : and I have no doubt that those 
who have leisure and inclination to pursue this train of 
inquiry will find its result irresistible. 

The Bible has also unexpectedly met with strong ad- 
ditional confirmation, as to the correctness of the most 
received versions, in the discoveries of recent travellers 
in India. Dr. Buchanan especially, who in 1806 visited 
fifty-five Syrian churches in Malayala, was informed by 
the inhabitants that no European had, to their knowledge, 
visited the place before. Their liturgy is derived from 
that of the early church at Antioch. They affirm, too, 
that their version of the Scriptures was copied from that 



116 



GREGORY S LETTERS. 



used by the primitive christians at Antioch, and brought 
to India before or about the council of Nice, A. D. 325, 
at which council some ecclesiastical historians inform us 
Joannes, bishop of India, attended. These Syrian chris- 
tians allege also that their copies have ever been exact 
transcripts of that version, without known error, through 
every age down to this day. There is one volume found 
in a remote church of the mountains, which merits par- 
ticular description : — it contains the Old and New Testa- 
ments, engrossed on strong vellum in large folio, having 
three columns in the page, and is written with beautiful 
accuracy. The character is Estrangelo-Syriac, and the 
words of every bocik are numbered. This volume is il 
luminated, but not after the European manner, the ini 
tial letters having no ornament. Prefixed to each book 
there are figures of principal Scripture characters (not 
rudely drawn,) the colors of which are distinguishable ; 
and in some places the enamel of the gilding is preser- 
ved s but the volume has suffered injury from time or 
neglect, some of the leaves being almost entirely decay 
ed. In certain places the ink has been totally obliterated 
from the page, and has left the parchment in its natural 
whiteness ; but the letters can, in general, be distinctly 
traced from the impress of the pen, or from partial cor- 
rosion of the ink. 

The Syrian church assigns to this manuscript a high 
antiquity ; and alleges that it has been for some centu- 
ries in the possession of their bishops ; and that it was 
industriously concealed from the Romish inquisition in 
1599 : but its true age can only be ascertained by 
a comparison with old manuscripts in Europe of a 
similar kind : and from such a comparison its date has 
been referred to the seventh century. On the margin 
of the drawings are some old Roman and Greek letters, 
the form of which may lead to a conjecture respecting 
the age in which they were written. This copy of the 



AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPltJRES. 117 

Scriptures has admitted as canonical the epistle of Cle- 
ment, in which respect it resembles the Alexandrine 
manuscript : but it has omitted the Revelation, — that 
book having been accounted apocryphal by some church- 
es during a certain period in the early ages. The order of 
books of the Old and New Testaments differs from that 
of the European copies, — this copy adhering less to 
unity of subject in the arrangement than to chronologi- 
cal order. The very first emendation of the Hebrew 
text proposed by Dr. Kennicot (Gen. 4 : 8,) is to be 
found in this manuscript. The disputed passage, 1 John, 
5:7, is not to be found in it : in almost every other re- 
spect its several books agree with those which Euro- 
peans obtained ages ago through other channels. Til- 
loch's Philosophical Magazine, Jfo. 115. 

This most valuable and interesting manuscript is now 
in England. Mar Dionysius, the resident bishop at Ca- 
danette, presented it to Dr. Buchanan, who again has 
presented it to the University of Cambridge, in whose 
public library it is now lodged. It has been lately ex- 
amined with great care and skill by Mr. Yeates, who has 
published a ntore minute account of it than the above, in 
the Christian Observer.* These particularities, in re- 
ference and description, will prove to you the value 1 
attach to the discovery of this manuscript. Its existence 
will compel unbelievers to drop, as broken and point- 
less, their favorite weapon against the genuineness of 

* Christian Observer, for May and June, 1810. A still fuller account 
of it has been recently published by Mr. Yeates in a separate volume. 
He has also given in the Christian Observer, for October, 1812, an inter- 
esting account of. the Ethiopic christians in Abyssinia ; who amount to 
many millions ; whose origin may be safely tracod to the apostolic nge ; 
and who having the same ordinances with other christians, possessing 
likewise pure doctrine, and copies of the Holy Scriptures, which though 
they have descended to them in an independent channel, agree in all es- 
sential points with our own, — thus furnishing another powerful evidence 
of the genuineness of the sacred writings. 



118 

our Scriptures. I therefore consider its preservation aa 
another interposition of Divine Providence in favor of 
the christian religion ; another reward to European 
christians for their zeal and activity in transmitting the 
benefits of the Gospel to the he"athen nations : and I re- 
joice in this fresh instance, in which — 

" I may assert eternal Providence, 

"And justify the ways of God with men." 



LETTER VI. 

On the Evidence deducible from the Prophecies. 

It is well, my dear friend, for christians in general 
that they can arrive at a perfect conviction of the truth 
of the religion they profess, a well grounded assurance 
of " the hope that is in them," without instituting any 
such investigation as that, the results of which were laid 
before you in my last letter. Such an inquiry may serve 
to convince unbelievers that even the external evidences 
of Christianity are, in their nature, really irresistible to all 
those who do not voluntarily sheath their understandings 
against the impressions of evidence flowing from all 
quarters, and shut their eyes against the light of truth : 
but those who "are willing to derive conviction from the 
fountain of divine knowledge, have a far shorter way to 
arrive at it than that we have so recently been tracing. 
The Bible is its own witness : the predictions scattered 
through it prove its divine origin. Other evidences may 
obtain admission to the mind, but this species demands 
it : others may dispel darkness, but this comes clothed 
in light. In the present world we are in a benighted 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 119 

state ; but happily " we have a sure word of pi'ophecy, 
whereunto we do well that we take heed, as unto a light 
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the 
day-star arise in our hearts. ,? 

Prophecy, viewed in the sense in which we now wish 
to contemplate it, that is as denoting the prediction of 
future events depending on the action of free agents, 
was obviously never intended as evidence of an original 
revelation. It is plainly unfit for such a purpose, because 
it is impossible, without some extrinsic proof of its divine 
origin, to know whether any prophecy be true or false, 
till the era arrive at which it ought to be accomplished. 
Yet the frequent occurrence of prophecies may be pro- 
ductive of great religious advantages antecedently to 
their being fulfilled, since it may keep alive a sense of 
religion, and inspire with a hope of future deliverance 
from present calamity. And this seems to have been 
one great object in delivering the prophecies under the 
Old Testament dispensation, since most of them pointed 
to emancipation from either bodily or spiritual bondage. 

But whatever may be the tendency or the utility of 
prophecy previous to its completion, its tendency subse- 
quent to such a completion is, so far as it is known, de- 
cidedly and inevitably favorable to the divine appoint- 
ment of him who delivered the prediction, and, in certain 
cases, to the divine selection of the person to whom such 
prediction points. The foreknowledge of future contin- 
gent events is universally allowed to be a peculiar attri- 
bute of Deity. Future contingencies, such, for example, 
as those which relate to the rise and fall of nations and 
states not yet in existence, or tc the minute concerns of 
individuals not yet born, are secrets which it is evident 
no man or angel can penetrate ; their causes being inde- 
terminate, their relations with other things fluctuating 
and unknown : it follows, therefore, that the prediction 
of such contingent events cannot otherwise than proceed 



120 Gregory's letters. 

from God ; and farther, since God cannot, without a vh> 
lation of his perfect holiness and rectitude, visibly aid 
delusion and wickedness, the inference is equally cogent 
and necessary that the accomplishment of predictions 
delivered by those who pretend they have divine authori- 
ty, amounts to a full proof that they really possess the 
authority they assume. Other arguments may be evaded ; 
other evidence may not convince ; strange effects (though 
not miraculous ones) may be produced by other than di- 
vine power : but the plain and complete correspondence 
of events to the standing records of ancient prophecies, 
obvious and conspicuous to all who will be at the pains 
to compare them, and applying accurately to the nicest 
shades of the specified circumstances, suggests most forci- 
bly the conviction that the predictions came from God, 
and were declared to man for the wisest and most im- 
portant purposes. " This or nothing (says Justin Martyr) 
is the work of God : to declare a thing shall come to be, 
long before it is in being, and then to bring about the 
accomplishment of that very thing, according to the same 
declaration." 

This then is a kind of evidence that may be known, 
read, and appreciated by all men ; and this is the species 
of evidence with which every part of Scripture, from the 
Pentateuch to the Apocalypse, abounds. The history of 
the fall of man is immediately succeeded by the signifi- 
cant prediction of that " Seed of the woman which should 
bruise the serpent's head." Even here the Messiah was 
marked out so as not to be mistaken : the prophecy has 
never been applied to another : the " light of the world v 
shone distinctly, though it might, notwithstanding, glim- 
mer feebly, when seen through the long vista of foui 
thousand years. Previous to the general deluge the 
will of God was but seldom declared in prophecy ; but 
aJmost immediately after that remarkable event Noah 
delivered some extraordinary predictions relative to the 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 121 

descendants of his three sons; and those predictions, 
though they were divulged more than two thousand years 
before the christian era, have been fulfilling through the 
several periods of time to this day ! In like manner the 
prophecies revealed from time to time, as those concern- 
ing the Ishmaelites, those of dying Jacob, of Balaam, of 
Moses concerning the Jews, the prophecies relating to 
Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, the great empires, the 
destruction of Jerusalem, have been perfectly fulfilled to 
the minutest particular ; and that in several cases where 
attempts have actually been made to prevent their accom- 
plishment. 

Moses, for example, foretold, that when the Jews for- 
sook the true God they should be removed into all the 
kingdoms of the earth ; that " they should become an as- 
tonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all nations." 
Deut. 28 : 37. None can be so regardless of truth as 
to deny that this is fully accomplished. Concerning Baby- 
lon it was foretold that it should be shut up and besieged 
by the Medes, Elamites, and Armenians; that the river 
should be dried up ; that the city should be .taken in the 
midst of a feast; that the conqueror should be named 
Cyrus. Isaiah, 21 : 2; Jer. 51 : 11; Isaiah, 44 : 7, 28; Jer. 
51 : 36 ; Isaiah, 45 : 1. All of which, as you are well 
aware, came to pass. Concerning Egypt it was predicted, 
" -Egypt shall be a base kingdom : it shall he the basest 
of kingdoms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above 
the nations." Ezek. 29 : 14, 15; 30 : 12, 13. ! need not 
ask whether this prophecy of the fate of Egypt, so cele- 
brated for its antiquity, its power, and its wisdom, is not 
fulfilled. Concerning Tyre the prediction and its com- 
pletion are no less remarkable: "I will make thee like 
the top of a rock ; thou shalt be a place to spread nets 
upon ; thou shalt be built no more. Thou shalt be no 
more ; the merchants among the people shall hiss at thee ; 

Gngo/y. o 



122 Gregory's letters. 

thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more." 
Ezek. 26 : 14, 21 ; 27 : 36 * 

Now in all these, and a variety of other instances that 
might be adduced, it cannot with any semblance of rea- 
son be pretended that " Prophecy came in old time by 
the will of man ; the contrary assertion of the Apostle 
accords far better with a fair induction from the premi- 
ses before us, that " Holy men of God spake as they were 
r».zved by the Holy Ghost." Indeed one of the most 
acute metaphysicians and ablest reasoners Great Britain 
ever produced, the friend of Newton, and his advocate 
against Leibnitz, says, he feels no hesitation in putting 
the truth of revealed religion entirely upon the reality 
of that prophetic spirit which foretold " the man of sin," 
and the desolation of Christ's church and kingdom by 
Antichrist. " If," says he, after enumerating some of 
the predictions that relate to Bahylo?i the Great, the Moth- 
er of Harlots, " if in the days of St. Paul and St. John 
there were any footsteps of such a sort of power as this 
in the world : or, if there ever had been such power 
in the world : or, if there was then any appearance 
of probability that could make it enter into the heart of 
man to imagine that there ever could be any such kind of 
power in the world, much less in the temple or church of 

* A remarkable instance in which apparently discordant prophe- 
cies were strictly accomplished, occurs in the case of Zedekiah. 
Jeremiah predicted concerning him, that as a captive he should see 
the king of Babylon, so that " his eyes should behold his eyes," and 
that he should be carried to that city. Jer. 32 : 4, and 34 : 3. Eze- 
kiel declared that " he should not see Babylon." Ezek. 12 : 13. How 
might a contemporary doubter of. the divine illumination of those 
prophets have triumphed on account of the seeming contradiction of 
these two predictions. But Nebuchadnezzar, who was alike igno- 
rant of both, is the instrument in the divine hands to effect their ac- 
complishment: for Zedekiah was brought into the presence of Nebu- 
chadnezzar, at Riblah ; who, after having commanded his eyes to be 
put out, sent him in " fetters of brass" to Babylon. 2 Kings, 25 : G, 7. 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 323 

God : and, if there be not now such a power actually 
and conspicuously exercised in the world : and if any 
picture of this power, drawn after the event, can describe 
it more plainly and exactly than it was originally de- 
scribed in the words of the prophecy : then may it with 
some degree of plausibleness be suggested that the 
prophecies are nothing more than enthusiastic inven- 
tions." Dr. Clarke's Works, vol. ii. p. 728. 

But the weight of evidence accumulates prodigiously 
when it is drawn from those prophecies which relate to 
the Messiah. Had only a single prophet left a book of 
predictions concerning Christ, specifying the time and 
manner of his coming, and he had come agreeably to 
those predictions, it would seem next to impossible to 
evade the conclusion deducible from it. But here is a* 
series of Prophets, for thousands of years, who regular- 
ly succeed each other to foretell the same event, and to 
depict the benefits it will produce. Nay, more than this, 
a whole nation constitutes his harbingers ; they subsist 
distinct from the rest of the world more than three thou- 
sand years, to testify in a body the assurances they en- 
tertain respecting him : when he arrives they disbelieve 
him, become reluctant witnesses of the truth of the 
prophecies they have preserved, but willing instruments 
in " Mlling the Prince of Life ;" and thus in accomplisn- 
ing those predictions which, though they understood but 
in part, they constantly hoped to see realized, until their 
hopes were about to be fulfilled ! 

Nor should it be forgotten that Jesus Christ himself, 
during his personal ministry on earth, referred the Jews, 
who were then his enemies and afterwards his murder- 
ers, to their own sacred books, in order to learn who 
he was and what was his office : and that, after his cruci- 
fixion, resurrection and ascension, his disciples pointed 
them again to the prophecies which they read regularly 



124 Gregory's letters. 

in the synagogue, to convince them that he whom they 
had slain was " the Messiah who was to come." "Search 
the Scriptures (said Jesus Christ,) for in them ye think 
ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of 
me ; and ye will not come to me, that ye might have 
life," John, 5 : 39, 40. " Beginning at Moses and all 
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scrip- 
tures the things concerning himself." Luke, 24 : 27. 
Conformably with this, his Apostles make a like appeal. 
" To him," says Peter, " give all the Prophets witness 
that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall 
receive remission of sins. Thus Paul mightily convinc- 
ed the Jews, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was 
the Christ." Acts, 10 : 43 ; 13 : 27 ; 15 : 15 ; 18 : 28. 
So likewise Peter affirms, " Yea, and all the Prophets, 
from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as 
have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." 
Acts, 3 : 24. This kind of argumentation was so forci- 
ble, that many of the Jews were convinced by it, and 
were " cut to the heart " that they should " ignorantly " 
have " crucified their King." 

But the reasoning which prevailed over the prejudices 
of many Jews in the apostolic times is thought trifling 
and light by modern free-thinkers. If the prophecies 
were obscure, then that obscurity Lb an argument against 
them ; if, on the contrary, they are plain, then it is bold- 
ly affirmed, in opposition to the whole train of history, 
that they were forged after the event. It would be more 
becoming the ingenuity of these men to show from the 
Prophets that Jesus Christ was necessarily to rise from 
the dead, and then to prove from the history that in fact 
he did never rise. Then they would accomplish some- 
thing, and we must assent to the force of their reasoning 
But if they cannot disprove the fact, their cavilling about 
the mode in which it was foretold is perfectly nugatory. 
Christ claims to be the person predicted in the Law and 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 125 

the Prophets ; his Apostles assert the same claim ; and it 
is far from enough to affirm on the contrary side that 
some of the prophecies are obscure, since very good 
reasons may be assigned why such obscurity should ex- 
ist previously to the completion of prophecy. It might 
be, for instance, to make the Messiah known to the good, 
and unknown to the wicked, as was indeed p?-cdicted by 
Daniel, 12 : 10, that God caused him to be, in a certain 
sense, obscurely foretold. For, had the manner of his 
appearance been clearly described, there would not have 
been any obscurity even to bad men : and if the time had 
been obscurely predicted, even good men would have 
felt themselves in darkness. The time, therefore, was 
clearly declared ; but the manner only in figure. Hence 
it happened that the wicked, apprehending that the 
promised blessings were merely temporal, were deceiv- 
ed, notwithstanding the clear predictions of the time ; 
while the righteous were not deceived after the cruci- 
fixion of Jesus Christ. The mode of interpreting the 
promised blessings depends upon the heart, which calls 
that which it loves — good; but the interpretation of the 
promised time does not depend upon the heart. So that 
the clear prediction of the time, and the obscure pre- 
diction of the blessings, left none to be misled but the 
wicked. 

But the principal question for us to consider is this; — ■ 
are there^ prophecies enough sufficiently plain to prove 
that Christ is the person foretold in the Old Testament 
as the Messiah 1 If there be, it follows, for reasons al- 
ready assigned, that the Old Testament is the word of 
God, Jesus Christ the Savior of the world, the New 
Testament not " a cunningly-devised fable," but a struc- 
ture formed for everlasting duration, which those who 
endeavor to overthrow will fail in accomplishing, and be 
found " even to fight against God." Acts, 5 : 39. 

1. Let us then attend a little to the time and place. 



128 Gregory's letters. 

marked out by the Prophets for the appearance of the 
MessiaU. Jacob, on his dying bed, speaks of a person 
to whom the people should be gathered ; this person he 
calls Bhiloh, and declares that he shall appear before 
Judah ceases to be a tribe. Gen. 49 : 10. 

Daniel foretells a glorious kingdom, which God 
would erect on the ruins of the four grand monarchies, 
under the government of one whom he calls the Son of 
Man; and whose empire, though small in its origin, 
should be both universal and eternal. 2 : 34, 35, 44, 45; 7 : 
13, 14. He afterwards predicts that in seventy weeks (of 
years,) that is, in 490 years, after the issuing of the com- 
mandment to' rebuild Jerusalem, probably referring to 
that given in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, 
reconciliation should be made for iniquity, and an ever- 
lasting righteousness be brought in by one whom he calls 
Messiah the Prince, who, he declares, shall be cut off 
without any demerits of his own ; after which event the 
prophet predicts that the city of Jerusalem shall be de- 
stroyed, and sacrifices cease ; yet not till the Messiah had 
confirmed his covenant with many of his people, 9 : 24-27. 

Isaiah speaks of an extraordinary child, who should 
be bom of a virgin, of the house of David, whose name 
Bhould be called Immanuel, who should grow up from 
infancy to manhood, who should also bear many illustri- 
ous titles (such as " the Mighty God," "the Everlasting 
Father") which indicate him to be more than human : 
ne predicts further that this personage should be most 
eminent for wisdom and piety, and as remarkable for 
sorrow and sufferings ; and yet, finally, that he should 
establish a most successful and permanent kingdom by 
rery peaceful and gentle methods ; these important 
events commencing with the cure of the blind, the lame, 
the deaf, and the dumb ; thus laying a foundation-stone 
in Zion. 7 : 14 ; 9 : 5-7 ; 11 : 1-10 ; 42 : 1-7 ; 53 : 35 : 
3, 10 ; 28 : 16. 



EVIDENCE FROM TROPIIECY. 127 

Joel foretells an extraordinary effusion of the Spirit 
of God, and speaks of a remarkable deliverance which 
should be wrought out in mount Zion and Jerusalem 
2 : 28-32. 

Micah delivers a prophecy analogous to part of Isaiah's, 
respecting the glorious and peaceful kingdom that God 
would erect in " the last days ;" and afterwards express- 
ly mentions Bethlehem Ephratah as the place whence 
should go forth the Ruler, who should be the illustrious 
Shepherd both of the Israelites and of other distant 
people. 4 : 1-5 ; 5 : 2-4. 

Haggai prophesies that during the time in which the 
second temple was standing, a temple which was not 
entirely demolished till the captivity by the Romans 
(though in Herod's time gradually rebuilt,) God would 
"shake all nations," and the "Desire of all nations" 
should come into his temple : and that on this account 
the glory of it should be greater than that of the former 
house, though it was much inferior in external visible 
ornaments. 2 : 6-9. 

Malaciii predicts that " the Lord " should have a fore- 
runner. 3:1. 

No W these and some other prophecies, which I do not 
here quote, so accurately define the time and place in 
which the Messiah was to appear, that there was a uni- 
versal expectation of his appearance, as all the candid 
Jewish writers acknowledge, just about the time that 
Jesus Christ was upon earth. In point of time and 
place, then, he corresponds with the results of prophecy. 

2. Let us advert to predictions relative to his charac- 
ter, doctrine, rejection, and final triumph. In these re- 
spects we recognize Jesus Christ as foretold in the pro- 
phets by the following among a great number of particu- 
lar circumstances : — That as a prophet he should be like 
unto Moses. Deut. 18 : 15; Acts, 3 : 22. That he should 
blind the eyes of the wise and learned, and preach the 



128 Gregory's letters. 

Gospel to the poor and despised ; that he should restore 
health to the diseased, and give light to those who lan- 
guished in mental and moral darkness. Isa. 5 : 15 ; 35 : 5 ; 
9 : 2. That he should teach the perfect way, and be the 
instructor of the Gentiles. Isa. 42 : 6. That he would 
write his law, not on tables of stone, but on their hearts ; 
and put his fear, which till then was displayed in exter 
nal ceremonies, into their hearts likewise. Jer. 31 : 33 ; 
32 : 40. That he should sit as a refiner and purifier, to 
purge his disciples, that they might offer righteous offer- 
ings. Mai. 3 : 3. That he should be a sacrifice for the sins 
of the world, be wounded for the transgressions of his 
people, and make intercession for the transgressors. 
Isa. 53. That he should be the chief and precious cor 
ner-stone, and yet be a stone of stumbling and rock of 
offence, on which the Jews should fall. Isa. 28 : 16 : 
8 : 14, 15. That the Jews should reject him, and should 
themselves be rejected of God, the choice vine bringing 
forth only wild grapes ; and that the chosen people 
should be rebellious and gainsaying, and stumble at 
noon-day. Isa. 5:2-7; 65:2; Deut. 28 : 28, 29. That 
the stone which was rejected by the builders should be 
made the principal corner-stone, that it should grow into 
a great mountain and fill the whole earth. Psa. 118 : 22 ; 
Dan. 2 : 35. That after the rejection and murder of the 
Messiah he should rise again the third day from the dead. 
Psa. 16 : 10; Hos. 6 : 2. That he should ascend into hea- 
ven, and sit on the right hand of God, where he should 
triumph over all his enemies. Psa. 110 : 1. That the 
kings of the earth and all people should in due time wor- 
ship him. Isa. 60 : 10, 21, 22 ; 53 : 11, 12. That the Jews 
who rejected him should subsist as a distinct people ; but 
should be scattered over all nations, and wander about 
without princes, without sacrifices, without an altar, with- 
out prophets, looking for deliverance, and not finding it 
till a very distant period. Jer. 31 : 36 ; Hos. 3 : 4, 5. 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 129 

3. The amazing correspondence between the con- 
temptuous treatment and sufferings of Jesus Christ and 
the predictions scattered through the Bible, has been 
traced so clearly by several writers, that I need do 
little else than transcribe their remarks. On comparing 
the principal predictions with the historical passages, and 
thus bringing the accounts of the Prophets and of the 
Evangelists together, it will be found that the latter be- 
come, as it were, echoes of the former, and that the Mes- 
siah was to suffer nothing which Christ did not suffer 
Zechariah says, " they weighed for my price thirty 
pieces of silver ;" and Matthew records that Judas sold 
Jesus for neither more nor fewer pieces, but that the 
chief priests " covenanted with them for thirty pieces of 
silver." Zech. 11:12; Matt. 26:15*. Zechariah says, 
they " took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the 
2>otter :" Matthew tells us, "they took the thirty pieces 
of silver and gave them for the potter's field" Zech. 11 : 
13; Matt. 27:9, 10. The Psalmist under the spirit of 
prophecy says, when " trouble is near there is none to 
help," and Zechariah says, " Smite the Shepherd, and 
the sheep shall be scattered:" Matthew, in correspond- 
ence, affirms, "that the Scriptures of the prophets might 
be fulfilled, all the disciples forsook him and fled." Ps. 
22 : 11 ; Zech. 13 : 7 ; Matt. 26 : 56. Isaiah says, " he 
was wounded;" Zechariah, " they shall look upon me 
whom they have pierced;" and David still more par- 
ticularly, " they pierced my hands and my feet :" the 
Evangelists tell us how he was fastened to the cross, 
and Jesus himself shows " the print of the nails." Isa. 
53:5; Zech. 12:10; Ps. 22 : 16 ; Matt. 27 : 35 ; John, 
20 : 25. David predicts, " they shall laugh him to scorn, 
and shake their heads, saying, he trusted in the Lord 
that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing 
he delighted in him :" the historian describes the same 
action, and gives like expressions — " they that passed 

6* 



130 Gregory's letters. 

by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, he 
trusted in God, let him deliver him." Ps. 22 : 7, 8 ; 
Matt. 27 : 39, 43. David exclaims, when prophesying 
as a type of the Messiah, " My God, my God, why hast 
thou forsaken me V* he who was both " the root and tho 
offspring of David," determines in whose jperson the pro- 
phet spoke it, " Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani V Ps. 22 : 1 ; 
Matt. 27 : 46. Isaiah foretells, " He was numbered with 
the transgressors:" the Evangelists inform us, he was 
" crucified between two thieves, one on his right ha*d, 
the other on his left." Is. 53 : 12 ; Matt. 27 : 38 ; Mark, 
15 : 27. We read in the prophetic Psalms, " They gave 
me gall fpr my meat, and in my thirst they gave me 
vinegar to drink;" and in the Gospel, "they gave him 
vinegar to drink, mingled with gall." Ps. 69 : 21 ; Matt. 27 : 
34, 48. We read again in the Psalms, " They part my 
garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture :" 
and, to fulfil the prediction, the soldiers " took his gar- 
ments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and 
also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven 
from the top throughout : they said, therefore, among 
themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it whose 
it shall be." Ps. 22: 18; John, 19:23, 24. In another 
prophet "we read, " He is brought as a lamb to the 
slaughter, and is cut off out of the land of the living :'■* 
Isa. 53 : 7, 8 : conformably with this, all the Evangelists 
declare how like a lamb he suffered ; and the Jews them- 
selves acknowledge that he was " cut off." In the institu- 
tion of the paschal lamb, which typified this u Lamb cf 
God," it was ordained, " Ye shall not break any bone of it : * 
David, prophesying of the Messiah, says, " He keepeth 
all his bones; not one of them is broken :" and, in the 
event, " He that saw it bare record, and he knoweth that 
he saith true;"- and he affirms, "They brake not his 
legs " (though they brake the legs of the malefactors 
crucified with him,) " that the Scriptures should be ful 



EVIDENCE FROM TRv. PHECY. 131 

filled, a bone of him shall not be broken." Num. 9 : 12 ; 
Ex. 12:46; Ps. 34 : 20 ; John, 19:33,35,36. Isaiah, 
prophesying of his burial, says, " He made his grave 
with the wicked, and with the rich in his death :" and 
here again we may admire the exact completion of the 
prediction ; for Jesus was buried like the wicked compa- 
nions of his death, under the general leave granted to the 
Jews for taking down their bodies from the cross ; yet 
Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man and an honorable coun- 
sellor, and Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of 
the Jews, a master of Israel, conspired to make his grave 
with the rich, by " wrapping his body in linen cloths/' 
&c. and "laying it in a new sepulchre," which Joseph 
of Arimathea had caused to " be made for his own use." 
Is. 53 : 9 ; Matt. 27 : 57 ; Mark, 15 : 43 ; John, 19 : 39, 
40. When the Scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus Christ 
for a sign by which they might ascertain his Divine au- 
thority, the reply was, " As Jonas was three days and 
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man 
be in the heart of the earth :" Matt. 12 : 40 : and on 
another occasion, when the Jews requested a proof of 
his authority, he said, " speaking of the temple of his 
body," — " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up." John, 2 : 19. These sayings were taunting- 
ly thrown in his teeth during his crucifixion by the un- 
feeling multitude, who, " wagging their heads, said, Ah ! 
thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three 
days, save thyself, and come down from the cross !" 
Mark, 15 : 29, 30. Soon, however, Jesus proved that he 
had " power to lay down his life, and power to take it 
again;" John, 10 : 18 ; and to fulfil his own prophecies, 
as well as all those relating to him that were scattered 
through the Jewish Scriptures, burst the bars of the tomb, 
and rose from the dead on the third day. Luke, 24 : 7. 

The preceding instances are abundantly more than suf- 
ficient to show that, according to the prophets, thus it be- 



132 Gregory's letters. 

hoved the Messiah to suffer, to die, and to rise again ; 
and that according to the testimony of eye-witnesses, who 
could not be deceived, who had no object to accomplish 
in deceiving others, and whose testimony is confirmed by 
their enemies and persecutors, thus Jesus Christ DID 
suffer, die, and rise again. How the contemplation of 
these things may affect others I do not pretend to con- 
jecture; but surely the natural tendency of such an asto- 
nishing correspondence as that we have been tracing, is 
to *make our hearts burn within us" with the cheering 
warmth of conviction, and the pure flame of devotion, si- 
milar to what was experienced by the two disciples on 
that ever-memorable evening, when the risen Savior 
" talked with them in their way" to Emmaus, "opened 
to them the Scriptures, and, beginning at Moses and all 
the prophets, expounded unto them the things concern 
ing himself." Luke, 24 : 13, 27, 32. 

Suppose that, instead of the spirit of prophecy breath 
ing more or less in every book of Scripture, predicting 
events relative to a great variety of general topics, and 
delivering besides almost inniimerable characteristics of 
the Messiah all meeting in the person of Jesus, — -there 
had been only ten men in ancient times who pretended to 
be prophets, each of whom exhibited only Jive independ- 
ent criteria as to place, government, concomitant events, 
doctrine taught, effects of doctrine, character, sufferings, 
or death ; the meeting of all which, in one person, should 
prove the reality of their calling as prophets, and of his 
mission in the character they have assigned him : sup- 
pose, moreover, that all events were left to chance merely, 
and we were to compute, from the principles employed 
Dy mathematicians in the investigation of such subjects, 
the probability of these fifty independent* circumstances 
happening at all. Assume that there is, according to the 
technical phrase, an equal chance for the happening or 
the failure of any one of the specified particulars; then 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 133 

(Emerson on Chances, prop. 3 ; Wood's Algebra, art. 
419, Chances) the probability against the occurrence of 
all the particulars in any way, is that of the 50th power 
of 2 to unity ; that is, the probability is greater than 
1,125,000,000,000,000 to 1, or greater than eleven hun- 
dred and twenty -five millions of millions to one, that all 
these circumstances do not turn up, even at distinct pe- 
riods. This computation, however, is independent of the 
consideration of time. Let it then be recollected further, 
that if any one of the specified circumstances happen, it 
may be the day after the delivery of the prophecy, or at 
any period from that time to the end of the world ; this 
will so indefinitely augment the probability against the 
contemporaneous occurrence of merely these fifty cir- 
cumstances, that it surpasses the power of numbers to 
express correctly the immense improbability of its tak- 
ing place. 

Be it remembered, also, that in this calculation 1 have 
assumed the hypothesis most favorable to the adversaries 
of prophecy, and the most unfavorable possible to the 
well-being of the world and the happiness of its inhabi- 
tants, namely, the hypothesis that every thing is fortui- 
tous; — and it will be seen how my argument is strength- 
ened by restoring things to their proper state. If every 
thing were left to blind chance, it appears that the pro- 
bability against the fulfilment of only fifty independent 
predictions would be too great to be expressed numeri- 
cally : how much greater then must it be in fact, when 
all events are under the control of a Being of matchless 
wisdom, power, and goodness, who hates fraud and de- 
ception, who must especially hate it when attempted 
under his name and authority, who knows all that occurs 
in all places, and who can dissipate with " the .breath of 
his mouth" every deceiver, and all his delusions'? The 
more we know of the prophecies, and of history, whether 
sacred or profane, the more we are struck with the cor- 



131 Gregory's letters. 

respondence of predictions and events ; their coincidence 
in hundreds of instances is so palpably notorious that 
none can deny it : every principle of reason, every re- 
sult of correct computation, instituted with a view to this 
inquiry, is in favor of the positions maintained by chris- 
tians in all ages. Imagine these to be still doubtful, and 
A^hat is there else that is stable and certain 



If these fall. 



" The pillar 'd firmament is rottenness, 

"And earth's base built on stubble." Milton 



But a person who wished to reason in favor of the 
truth of the christian religion from prophecy, need not 
take this wide field of argument. There are many small 
portions in some of the prophetic writings, on either of 
which he may safely make his stand. He may take, for 
example, either the ninth, thirteenth and fourteenth, for- 
ty-fifth or fifty-third chapters of Isaiah, and challenge 
any one to account satisfactorily for the exact corres- 
pondence of the prediction and the history, except he ad- 
mit that the prophet was inspired by God to foretell the 
events. Suppose we fix upon the fifty-third chapter. So 
striking are its contents, and so exactly were its distinct 
particulars, amounting clearly to ten or twelve, verified 
in the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ, that there have 
not been wanting modern deists to affirm that it was ac- 
tually composed after the christian era. This calumny, 
however, needs no labored refutation. The Septuagint 
version is well known, as I remarked in a preceding let- 
ter, to have been undertaken nearly 300 years before 
Chiist; and that version, according to the testimony of 
one who saw the original, contained the prophecies of 
Isaiah. Besides, it is an incontrovertible fact, that the 
Jews in all ages, from the delivery of these prophecies 
to the present, admitted Isaiah to be taught of God. The 



EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 135 

latter Rabbins, it is true, to avoid the conclusions which 
christians deduce from Isaiah, and especially the chapter 
last specified, have invented a distinction of a double Mes- 
siah, " one who was to redeem us, and another who was 
to suffer for us ; for they say that there are two several 
persons promised under the name of the Messiah; one 
of the tribe of Ejrfiraim, the other of the tribe of Judah; 
one the son of Joseph, the other the son of David ; the 
one to precede, fight, and suffer death ; the other to fol- 
low, conquer, reign, and never die." Pearson on the 
Creed, p. 1S5. But Bishop Pearson proves that this dis- 
tinction is false and novel ; and farther, that the Rabbins 
who preceded Jesus Christ understood the chapter, of 
which we are now speaking, to be a prediction of the 
Messiah, and of him alone. 

Origen, indeed, informs us (Contra Celsum, lib. 1) that 
in his time the Jews took another way to evade the 
difficulties in which the consideration of this chapter 
placed them. They argued that the prophecy did not 
relate to one man, but to one people, the Jews, who were 
smitten of God and dispersed among the Gentiles for 
their conversion. But to show the absurdity of this inter- 
pretation, he pressed them with this sentence from the 

Septuagint, aara to>v olvz/uiuv t« \a.H /saH »%Q>t tie S-olvxtov : (for 

the transgression of my people was he stricken unto death. 
Isaiah, 53 : 8.) And the argument was so decisive they 
could not withstand it. This proves not only the truth of 
the received interpretation of this famous prophecy, but, 
farther, that the Hebrew text of that time read agreeably 
to the u: 3-atvaTcy of the Septuagint ; otherwise the Jews, 
by quoting their own text (Isaiah, 53 : S,) and showing that 
it did not mean " smitten to death," would have repro- 
bated the Greek version, and triumphed over the chris- 
tian advocate. 

It may be farther remarked that if it be the people of 
Israel of whom the prophet sreaks in this chapter, he 



136 Gregory's letters. 

makes them to descend from a very base and obscure ori- 
gin, when he compares them to " a tender plant which 
grew out of a dry and barren ground :" this cannot well 
apply to a nation which in its origin was, as Abbadie ob- 
serves, " the most glorious and magnificent that ever was 
known ; as having been separated and distinguished from 
all other nations in the person of their first parent Abra- 
ham, and which was honored with the promises of the 
covenant." So again, to seize only another feature of this 
portion of prophecy — how was God's people " stricken 
for the iniquity of his people ?" None could fairly resist the 
inference that the allusion here was not to the people of 
God, but to some one who suffered affliction for their sake. 

Nor has this remarkable portion of prophecy been suc- 
cessful merely in puzzling and silencing the Jews. It 
has, under the divine blessing, been instrumental in con 
verting unbelievers, in every age of the church. There 
has occurred a signal instance in modern times, namely 
that of the celebrated John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, 
a man, " whom the muses were fond to inspire and 
ashamed to avow," who lived the life of a libertine and 
atheist ; but who, agreeably to the testimony of Bishop 
Burnet, died the death " of a penitent christian." The 
perusal of this chapter, the meditation upon its complete 
fulfilment, and upon the beautiful summary it contains 
of the most peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, so operated on the mind of this profligate, though 
able man, as to lead (in the opinion of Bishop Burnet) to 
an unfeio-ned faith in Him " who was wounded for his 
transgressions, and by whose stripes he was healed." 

Such then, my friend, being the cogency of the evi- 
dence resulting from prophecy, let us not attempt to re- 
sist it ; such the purity and heavenly tendency of the pre* 
cepts and doctrines often blended with the predictions, let 
us yield ourselves to their influence. Let us gather food 
for meditation from the animating language of those who 



EVIDENCE FROM mOTIIECY. 137 

" th' inspiring breath 

" Ecstatic felt ; and from this world retir'd. 
11 Convers'd with angels and immortal forms 
" On gracious errands bent." Thompson. 

Let us implant the delightful anticipations of faith upon 
the triumphant declarations of prophecy, and hail that 
happy period foretold by Isaiah, when 

" Eyery valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill be brought 
low ; 

" And the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places a smooth 
plain ; 

" And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed ; 

" And all jlesk shall see together the salvation of our God." 

Infidelity, every where active, though always baffled, 
will suggest the improbability of the completion of the 
prophecies yet unfulfilled : but when it is considered that 
many of the predictions, long ago realized, were delivered 
at the same time, and by the same prophet, as those for 
whose accomplishment we are waiting, it would be the 
height of absurdity and impiety to encourage a doubt. It 
may happen naturally enough that the true meaning of 
a prediction may be disguised, in order that the wayward 
wills of men may not operate for its prevention; but this 
is no reason for its rejection. Prophecies are like wri- 
tings in cipher, which require either tutors or events to 
explain their hidden meaning, and render them natural 
and intelligible. This, with regard to the Old Testament 
predictions, " is what Jesus Christ and his apostles have 
done. They have opened the seal, they have rent the 
veil and developed the spiritual sense. They have taught 
us that our enemies are our passions, that our Redeemer 
is a spiritual Redeemer : that he is to have a first and a 
second coming, the one in humility to abase the proud, 
the other in glory to exalt the humble ; that Jesus Christ 
is*God as well as man." Pascal's Thoughts : " The Law 
figurative." 



138 Gregory's letters. 



LETTER VII. 

On the evidence deducible from miracles ; and on the credibility 
of human testimony. 

The advocates of revealed religion affirm, without any 
fear of refutation, that the argument resulting from the 
completion of prophecy is one that is continually increas- 
ing in force; while they are in general as ready to admit 
that the argument from miracles diminishes in proportion 
as we recede farther from the apostolic times. I hope, 
my friend, to be able to convince you, in the course of 
the present letter, that this is a concession which need 
not be made : but that we have as good reason to believe 
the miraculous facts of Scripture as any except eye-wit- 
nesses, or those who received their information imme 
diately from the lips of eye-witnesses. 

The evidence flowing from the performance of mira- 
cles is indeed so summary and convincing, that it may be 
stated satisfactorily in very few words : for this reason, 
however, as it should seem, it has been selected by inge- 
nious unbelievers to exercise their dexterity and acumen 
upon ; and thus it becomes requisite to discuss this branch 
of our subject with a minuteness and comparative prolixity 
which might, otherwise, have been altogether avoided. 

By miracles I do not mean "juggling tricks," but su- 
pernatural events. This genuine* notion of miracles has 
been sometimes obscured by definition ; yet a candid in- 
quirer after truth cannot well mistake. Most of the opi- 
nions entertained by men of good sense, apart from any 
controversial views as to this topic, are correct. No man 
would think that curing lameness, by a regular surgical 
or medical process, was miraculous : every man would 
say that the instantaneous production of a limb, and " ma- 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 139 

king the maimed whole," was miraculous. And this ex* 
actly reaches the logical scientific notion of miracles : for, 
when such effects are produced as (ceteris paribus) are 
usually produced, God is said to operate according to the 
common course of nature : but when such effects are pro- 
duced as are (cmt.par.) contrary to, or different from, that 
common course, they are said to be miraculous." 

Now no man will presume to affirm that it is impossible 
a teacher should be sent from God. It may be necessary 
that one should be sent ; and I think the train of obser- 
vation and deduction of facts in my second and third let- 
ter establish that necessity. If one or more be sent, they 
must bring credentials to evince that their mission is di- 
vine ; and what can those credentials be but miracles ? In 
fact, the very idea of a revelation includes that of mira- 
cles. A revelation cannot be made but by a miraculous 
interposition of Deity : so that the probability of a reve- 
lation implies a correspondent probability of the occur- 
rence of miracles ; and the necessity of a revelation a 
like necessity of miracles. Nay, I may venture to affirm 
farther, that there is a mutual and necessary correlation 
between the two : for as, on the one hand, miracles (or 
prophecies, which are in fact miraculous, being different 
from the course of nature) are necessary to prove the di- 
vine authority of an agent ; so, on the other hand, the 
performance of uncontrolled miracles, or the delivery of 
true predictions, immediately suggests to the mind the 
conviction that they have been permitted solely for the 
purpose of proving that the person by whom they are 
performed is employed by God to do something, or re- 
veal something, which mankind would not have known in 
any other way. 

• It is, one would suppose, almost an intuitive truth, that 
when a person performs evident and uncontrolled mira- 
cles in proof of any doctrine, those who have sufficient 
evidence of the reality of such miracles ought to admit 



140 Gregory's letters. 

the doctrine to be true, or from God. At all events the. 
proposition is easily deduced from a few steps of obvious 
reasoning; limiting it, as I have done, after the manner of 
Barrow and Chandler, to uncontrolled miracles, or those 
the apparent design of which is not contradicted either 
by the absurdity of the thing they are intended to prove, 
or by some equal or greater miracles opposed to them. 
We thus exclude every thing like juggling from the idea 
of miracles ; and at the same time free ourselves from all 
consideration of pretended miracles, such as those per- 
formed by the Egyptian magicians, with the permission 
or the performance of which, as they were co?itrolled, we 
have nothing to do. The reasoning from which our pro- 
position flows is simply this : a genuine miracle cannot 
be performed without an extraordinary divine interposi- 
tion, either mediate or immediate. If the Supreme Being 
would confirm the truth of a proposition to one man by 
the testimony of another to whom it was immediately re- 
vealed, we can conceive no method by which he could do 
it so effectually as by conferring on him power to work a 
miracle in confirmation of it. When a miracle is uncon- 
trolled, we can conjecture no particular by which it can 
be distinguished from a miracle wrought to confirm a 
truth. If God were to suffer an uncontrolled miracle to 
be wrought in confirmation of a falsehood, there would 
seem to be no criterion by which his testimony could be 
distinguished. It is inconsistent with the tcisdojn and 
goodness of God to suffer an uncontrolled miracle to be 
wrought to establish a falsehood, since it would leave his 
creatures in a perpetual uncertainty, and an uncertainty 
that would be most painful to the most virtuous, who 
have always most wished for a revelation. Since, there- 
fore, God is both wise and good, it follows that a propo- 
sition attested by uncontrolled miracles is attested by him, 
and is of necessity true. 

From this reasoning it is natural to expect that in the 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 141 

Scripture history there should be recorded many mira- 
cles ; and thus, on examining the sacred volume, are our 
expectations realized. The faith of Moses was confirmed 
by the miracle of the burning .yet unconsumed, bush. 
M jses convinced the children of Israel that God employ- 
ed him to lead them out of Egypt, by performing mira- 
cles by means of his rod : he appealed to similar mira- 
cles before Pharaoh for the same purpose : the passage 
through the Red Sea, which opened to deliver the Israel- 
ites from the Egyptians, who were afterwards swallowed 
up in the collapsing waters, was miraculous : the passage 
of the river Jordan under Joshua, the standing still of the 
sun and moon at his command, and the falling of the walls 
of Jericho were miraculous : the sacrifice kindled by fire 
from heaven ; the raising of the Shunamite's and of the 
widow of Sarepta's sons; the destruction of the captains 
and their fifties by fire from heaven ; the dividing of the 
waters of Jordan by means of the mantle of Elijah, and 
the translation of that prophet, are events of the same 
class ; and so are those recorded in Daniel respecting 
the fiery furnace and the den of lions. From the nu- 
merous New Testament miracles, beginning with that 
wrought at the marriage at Cana, I cannot attempt to 
make an adequate selection. Though it may be proper 
to remark that those performed by Jesus Christ differed 
essentially from others : Moses could not work miracles 
without his rod ; the apostles performed theirs, for the 
most part expressly, and always virtually, "in the name 
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth :" the Messiah exerted mi- 
raculous power from himself, without any reference to 
another. And, farther, the miracles of Jesus Christ were 
uniformly benevolent : he cured the sick, he healed the 
lame, he made the maimed whole, he made the deaf to 
hear, the blind to see, the dumb to sieak, he raised the 
dead, and finally he raised himself. So numerous, indeed, 
and so beneficial were his miracles, that " thcmultitude? 



142 Gregory's letters. 

were astonished, saying, It was never seen so in Israel;" 
and well might their astonishment be excited, as our 
Lord wrought more benevolent miracles in one afternoon 
than had been performed by any of the prophets in all 
their lives. Matt. 9 : 18-34. 

That one great object, kept in view by Christ and his 
apostles in performing miracles, was to furnish. awaken- 
ing and convincing proofs of their divine mission, is evi- 
dent from the uniform tenor of the New Testament his- 
tories. The language of the Jewish ruler was the pure 
unadulterated language of common sense, the force of 
which all the sophistry in the world cannot weaken : 
" Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God : 
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except 
God be with him." John, 3 : 2. The chief priests and the 
pharisees had the same conviction ; for said they, after 
Lazarus- was raised from the dead, " This man doeth 
mcrny miracles ; if we let him thus alone, all will believe 
on him." John, 11 : 47, 48. Jesus Christ himself appeals to 
his miracles : " I have greater witness than that of John : 
for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, 
the works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father 
hath sent me." John, 5 : 36. And again, when the Jews 
asked him, " How long dost thou make us to doubt ] If 
thou be the Christ tell us plainly ? Jesus answered 
them, The works that I do, they bear witness of me. If 
I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But 
if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works ; 
that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me 
and I in him." " If I had not done among them the works 
which none other man did, they had not had sin." John, 
10 : 24, 25, 37, 38 ; 15: 24. And on another occasion, 
when John sent his disciples to Christ to ask, " Art thou 
He that should come, or do we look for another ] Jesus 
answered and said unto them, Go and show John again 
those things which ye do hear and see : the blind receive 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 113 

their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed 
and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor 
have the Gospel preached to them." Matt. 11 : 3, 4, 5. In 
like manner, with regard to the apostles, " God also bare 
them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with 
divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to 
his own will." Heb. 2 : 4. See also Acts, 14:9; 10: 
3S, 39, &c. 

Consistently with this, the early christian writers and 
apologists, in all those cases where they do not assume 
the history as true, and thence argue that Jesus ought to 
be received as the Messiah, appeal in very express terms 
to his miracles. Thus Quadratus appeals very strong- 
ly to those miracles. Justin Martyr asserts the perfor- 
mance of miracles by Jesus in as forcible words as lan- 
guage will admit, and assigns the reason why he rather 
had recourse to the argument from prophecy than that 
from miracles; viz. that his opponents would ascribe the 
latter to magic. Irenjeus, Lactantius, Tertullian, 
OrigexV, Augustin and Jerome speak of Christ's mira- 
cles (and often, indeed, of those wrought subsequently to 
Apostolic times,) and notice the same evasion on the 
part of the adversaries to Christianity. 

It is highly worthy of remark, too, that none of the 
early opposers of the religion of Jesus pretended to dis- 
pute that he performed miracles. Lucian, Julian, Por- 
phyry, Hierocles, Celsus, &c. admit that miracles were 
wrought. Julian, it is true, endeavors to make light of 
them, and wonders that so much stir should be made 
about a person who merely " opened the eyes of the 
Mind, restored limbs to the lame, and delivered persons 
possessed." Celsus, again, ridicules the miracles, but. 
never disputes that they occurred. Now who can im- 
agine, for a moment, that so violent an opposer of Chris- 
tianity would have admitted the miracles of Christ as 
real facts, had he not been compelled to it by the univer 



14 4 Gregory's letters. 

sal consent of all inquiring men of the age in which he 
lived % Hence it may be asked (with Mr. F. Cunning- 
ham,) " whether modern infidels who have ventured to 
contradict the miracles of Christ, a weapon Celsus was 
afraid to take up, have estimated the rashness of their 
enterprise % Are they competent to deny what a specta- 
tor no less malevolent than themselves was compelled to 
admit! Has the lapse of eighteen hundred years enabled 
them to ascertain a fact of daily occurrence with more 
accuracy than a bystander 1 ? Are objects best seen at 
the greatest distance V 

Thus it appears that we have the most marked and 
direct testimony of the friends of Revealed Religion 
(those, too, who had been converted from heathenism by 
the weight of its evidence,) and the concessions of its 
enemies, both Gentiles and Jews, in favor of those mira- 
cles which were performed in order to prove that the 
religion came from G-od ; and this testimony and these 
concessions were delivered so near the period in which the 
miracles were supposed to have been wrought, that they 
cannot be accounted for in any other way than by admit- 
ting that both christians and unbelievers, in the early 
ages, were convinced that something which required 
more than human energy had occurred. Why, then, 
should this be disputed in these remote ages % 

Voltaire and Mr. Hume will answer this question, by 
telling us in effect, though not in express words, " that 
since miracles are not wrought now, they never were 
wrought at all." 

The substance of Mr. Hume's argument (which I de- 
scribe, because almost all later deists have echoed his 
sentiments) is this, " Experience, which in some things is 
variable, in others is uniform, is our only guide in rea- 
soning concerning matters of fact. Variable experience 
gives rise to probability only ; an uniform experience 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 145 

amounts to proof. Our belief of any fact, from the testi- 
mony of eye-witnesses, is derived from no other princi- 
ple than our experience of the veracity of human testi- 
mony. If the fact attested be miraculous, there arises a 
contest of two opposite experiences, or proof against 
proof. Now, a miracle is a violation of the laws of na- 
ture ; and as a firm and unalterable experience has es- 
tablished these laws, the proof against a miracle, from 
the very nature of the facj. is as complete as any argu- 
ment from experience can possibly be imagined ; and if 
so, it is an undeniable consequence that it cannot be 
surmounted by any proof whatever derived from human 
testimony." 

Now, to this reasoning, or the most prominent and 
essential parts of it, several decisive answers have been 
or may be given. A few of these may properly find a 
place here. 

I. Doctor Campbell, in his celebrated " Dissertation 
on Miracles," shows the fallacy of Mr. Hume's argument, 
thus : " The evidence arising from human testimony is 
not solely derived from experience : on the contrary, 
testimony has a natural influence on belief antecedent to 
experience. The early and unlimited assent given to 
testimony by children gradually contracts as they ad- 
vance in life : it is therefore more consonant to truth to 
say, that our diffidence in testimony is the result of ex- 
perience, than that our faith in it has this foundation. 
Besides, the uniformity of exjoerience in favor of any 
fact is not a proof against its being reversed in a par- 
ticular instance. The evidence arising from the single 
testimony of a man of known veracity will go farther to 
establish a belief of its being actually reversed. If his 
testimony be confirmed by a few others of the same cha- 
racter, we ennnot withhold our assent to the truth of it. 
Now, though the operations of nature are governed \>y 
uniform laws, and though we have not the testimon) of 

Gregory. • 



146 Gregory's letters. 

our senses in favor of any violation of them ; still if, in 
particular instances, we have the testimony of thousands 
of our fellow-creatureSj and those, too, men of strict in- 
tegrity, swayed by no motives of ambition or interest, 
and governed by the principles of common sense, that 
they were actually witnesses of these violations, the con- 
stitution of our nature obliges us to believe them." 

II. Mr. Hume's reasoning is founded upon too limited 
a view of the laws and course. of nature. If we consider 
things duly, we shall find that lifeless matter is utterly in- 
capable of obeying any laws or of being endued with any 
powers : and, therefore, what is usually called the course 
of nature can be nothing else than the arbitrary will and 
pleasure of God acting continually upon matter accord- 
ing to certain rules of uniformity, still bearing a relation 
to contingencies. So that it is as easy for the supreme 
Being to alter what men think the course of nature, as 
to preserve it. Those effects which are produced in the 
world regularly and indesinmtly, and which are usually 
termed the works of nature, prove the constant provi- 
dence of Deity ; those, on the contrary, which, upon any 
extraordinary occasion, are produced in such a manner as 
it is manifest could not have been either by human power 
or by what is called chance, prove undeniably the imme- 
diate interposition of the Deity on that especial occasion. 

God, it must be recollected, is the Governor of the 
moral as well as of the physical world ; and since the 
moral well-being of the universe is of more consequence 
than its physical order and regularity, it follows, obvious- 
ly, that the laws conformable with which the material 
world seems generally to be regulated, are subservient, 
and may occasionally yield to the laws by which the mo- 
ral world is governed. Although, therefore, a miracle 
is contrary to the usual course of nature, (and would in- 
deed lose its beneficial effect if it were not so,) it cannot 
thence be inferred that it is "a violation of the laivs of 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 147 

nature," allowing the term to include a regarc^ to moral 
tendencies. The laws by which a wise and holy God 
governs the world cannot, unless he is pleased to reveal 
them, be learned in any other way than from testimoyiy ; 
since on this supposition nothing but testimony car 
bring us acquainted with the whole series of his dispen- 
sations, and this kind of knowledge is absolutely neces- 
sary previously to our correctly inferring those laws. 
Testimony, therefore, must be admitted as constituting 
the principal means of discovering the real laws by which 
the universe has been regulated ; that testimony assures 
us that the apparent course of nature has often been in- 
terrupted to produce important moral effects : and we 
must not at random disregard such testimony, because, 
in estimating its credibility, we ought to look almost in- 
finitely more at the moral than at the physical circum- 
stances connected with any particular event. 

III. But the defence of miracles against the objections 
of infidels need not be thrown wholly upon these gene- 
ral and abstract reasonings, satisfactory and cogent as 
they are. The miracles recorded in Scripture, and es- 
pecially those performed by Moses, by Jesus Christ, and 
his Apostles, are accompanied by evidence such as you 
will find it difficult to adduce in support of any other his- 
loricfact, and such as cannot possibly be brought in sup- 
port of any pretended fact whatever; evidence,. such as 
the pretended miracles of Mohammedism and those of 
the Romish church are totally destitute of. 

The truth of a matter of fact may be positively infer- 
red and known, if it be attended by certain criteria, such 
as no pretended fact can possibly have. These criteria 
are at least four. It is required, first, that the fact be a 
ensible fact, such as men's outward senses can judge of; 
secondly, that it be notorious, performed publicly in the 
presence of witnesses : thirdly, that there be memorials 
of it, ™- monuments, actions and customs, kept up in 



148 Gregory's letters. 

commemoration of it : fourthly, that such monuments 
and actions commence with the fact.* There may be 
facts in favor of which these four marks cannot be pro- 
duced; but the argument of Leslie and St. Real is, that 
whatever has all these four marks cannot be false.t 

For example, could Moses have persuaded six hun- 
dred thousand men that he had led them through the 
Red Sea in the manner related in Exodus, or Tiave in- 
stituted the passover in commemoration of the destruc- 
tion of the Egyptian first-born, if these circumstances 
had never occurred 1 Could he make the Israelitesyarce?/ 
that they were fed miraculously with manna forty years 
in the wilderness, or that, during all that period, their " rai- 
ment waxed not old, neither did their feet swell," Deut. 
8:4; 29 : 5, unless those things, however extraordinary, 
were facts 1 Here our four criteria apply. The first 
two secure from any cheat or imposture at the time the 
facts occurred, and the last two preserve equally against 
any imposition in after ages ; because the authors of the 
book in which these facts are related speak of it as 

* These criteria were first proposed as decisive in favor of the Scrip- 
tare miracles about 1697, by Mr. Charles Leslie, in his admirable and un- 
inswerable book, " A short and Easy Method with the Deists," (from 
which I select the instances given in this section,) and by the Abbe St. 
Real. It is of no consequence to the argument to determine whether these 
authors invented it independently of each other, or borrowed it one from 
the other ; but it is important to remark, on the authority of the late very 
able Mr. Jones, of Nayland, that Dr. Conyers Middlelon, feeling how ne- 
cessary it was to his principles that he should find some way of getting 
over Mr. Leslie's arguments, looked out assiduously, for twenty years to- 
gether, to find some pretended fact to which these four criteria could be 
applied, but toithout success. Dr. Middleton died a Deist notwithstanding 
Alas ! is this the conduct of one who professed to yield to nothing but 
reason? or of one, who, through some strange fatality, "loved darkness 
rather than light?" 

t The miracles of Scripture have two additional tests, upon which, how- 
ever, no stress is laid in this argumentation. They have an important 
end, worthy of their Author : and they are independent of second causes 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 149 

written at that time by the actors or eye-witnesses, and 
as commanded by God to be carefully kept and pre- 
served to all generations, and read publicly to all the 
people at stated times. Deut. 31:10, 11, 12; Jcsh. 
8 : 34, 35 ; Neh. 8. And farther, the institutions ap- 
pointed in this book were to be perpetually observed, 
from the day of each institution, for ever among these 
people, in memory of the miraculous facts. Now sup- 
pose this book to have been forged a hundred or a thou- 
sand years after the time of Moses ; would not every 
one say, when it first appeared, " We never heard of 
this book before ; we know of no such institutions as of 
a passover, or circumcision, or sabbaths, and the many 
feasts and fasts therein appointed ; we know nothing of 
a tribe of Levi, or of a tabernacle in which they were to 
serve in such an order of priesthood : this book must be an 
arrant forgery, for it is destitute of all those marks which 
it gives of itself as to its own continuance, and of those 
institutions which it relates." .No instance can be shown, 
since the world began, of any book so substantiated that 
was a forgery, and yet was passed off, as exhibiting 
truth, upon any people. 

Mr. Leslie, however, does not stop here, but adds a 
fifth mark as peculiar to our Bible, distinguishing it from 
all other histories, relating facts that formerly occurred : 
this is, that the book in which the facts are related con- 
tains likewise the law of that people to whom it belongs, 
and is their statute-book by which their causes are de- 
termined. This will render it impossible for any one to 
coin or forge such a book, so as to make it pass as au- 
thentic among any people. If, for example, a person 
should forge a statute-book for England, and publish it 
next term, could he make all the judges, lawyers and 
people believe that this was their genuine and only sta- 
tute-book by which their causes had been' determined for 
centuries past? They must fo v get their old statute-book 



150 Gregory's letters. 

and believe that this new book, which they never saw or 
heard of before, was the very book which had been re- 
ferred to in the pleadings in Westminster-Hall for so 
many ages, which had been so often printed, and of which 
the originals are now kept in the Tower to be consulted 
as there is occasion. Thus it is that the books of Moses 
contain not only the history of the Jews, but also their 
municipal law, as well civil as ecclesiastical ; and thus, 
also, it is with respect to the New Testament, which is 
the spiritual and ecclesiastical law to the christian church 
in all nations, and which cannot therefore be corrupted, 
unless all persons in all nations whithersoever Christiani- 
ty is spread should conspire in the corruption of the 
Gospel. 

Mr. Leslie selects some striking though familiar exam- 
ples in illustration of his general argument : among others 
he adverts to the Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, and com- 
pares it with the stones set up at Gilgal. Every one, as 
he observes, knows this Stonehenge, or has heard of it ; 
and yet none know the reason why those great stones 
were set there, or by whom, or in memory of what. Now 
suppose a person should publish a book to-morrow, and 
therein affirm that these stones were set up by Hercules, 
Polyphemus, or Garagantua, in memory of such and such 
of their actions; if he merely make the affirmation, some 
few may perhaps give him credit. But if, for farther con- 
firmation of his assertion, he should say in this book that, 
it was written at the time when such actions were per- 
formed, and by the very actors themselves, or by eye- 
witnesses, and that this book had been received as true, 
and quoted by authors of the greatest reputation in all 
ages since ; moreover, that this book was Well known iD 
England, and enjoined by act of parliament to be taught 
our children ; and that in consequence we did teach it 
our children, and had been taught it ourselves when we 
were children ; it would seem impertinent to ask any deist 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 151 

whether he thinks such a delusion could be palmed upon 
the people of England. 

Let us now compare this with the Stonehenge, as we 
may call it, or twelve great stones set up at Gilgal, and 
erected in order that when the children of the Israelites 
in after ages should inquire their meaning it should be 
told them Josh. 4 : 6, 7. The occurrence, in commemo- 
ration of v\ nich these stones at Gilgal were set up, is as 
wonderful and miraculous as the passage of the Israelites 
•hrough the Red Sea, and free from the puerile carpings 
which have been raised by unbelievers against that re- 
markable event. Notice of this miraculous passage over 
the Jordan at Gilgal was given to the people on the pre- 
ceding day. Josh. 3:5. It took place at ?won-day, before 
the whole ?iation. And when the waters of Jordan, were 
divided, it was not at any low ebb, but at the time when 
that river overflowed its banks. Josh. 3 : 15. It was 
effected too, not by winds or the length of time which 
winds would require to accomplish it ; but all on a sud- 
den, as soon as the " feet of the priests that bare the 
ark were dipped in the brim of the water, then the wa- 
ters which came from above stood, and rose up upon 
an heap : and they that came down toward the sea of 
the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off; and 
the people passed over, right against Jericho. And the 
priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood 
firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan until all the peo- 
ple were passed clean over Jordan. And it came to pass 
when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the 
soles of the priests' feet were lift up unto the dry land, 
that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and 
flowed over all his banks, as they did before. And the 
people came out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first 
month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Je- 
richo And those twelve stones, which the twelve men 



152 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

(from every tribe a man) took out of the midst of Joi 
dan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the 
children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask 
their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these 
stones 1 then ye shall let your children know, saymg, 
Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord 
your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, 
until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to 
the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us until we 
were gone over : that all the people of the earth might 
know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty : that ye 
might fear the Lord your God for ever." Josh. 3 : 15- 
17 ; 4 : 18-24. 

Now, to frame our argument, let it be supposed that 
there never was any such occurrence as that passage over 
Jordan ; that these stones at Gilgal were set up on some 
other occasion, in some after age : and then that some 
designing man invented this book of Joshua, and pretend- 
ed that it was written by Joshua at this time ; adducing 
this erection of stones at Gilgal as a testimony of the 
truth of it. Would not the Israelites say to him, " We 
know the stonage at Gilgal, but we never before heard 
this reason assigned for it : nor of this book of Joshua. 
Where has it been all this while 1 and where, and how 
came you, after so many ages, to find it 1 Besides, we are 
told in this book that this same passage over Jordan was 
ordained to be taught our children from age to age ; and 
therefore that they were always to be instructed in the 
meaning of that stonage at Gilgal, as a memorial of it. 
But we were never taught it when we were children ; 
nor did we ever teach our children any such thing. And 
it is not at all likely that could have been forgotten while 
so remarkable a stonage continued, which was set up for 
that and no other purpose." 

If then, for the reasons before assigned, no such impo- 
sition could be practised successfully upon us as to the 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 153 

Stonehenge upon Salisbury Plain, how much less could 
it be with regard to the erection at Gilgal 1 

And farther, if when we know not the reason of an in- 
sulated monument, such a delusive reason cannot be im- 
posed ; how much more impossible is it to impose on 
us in actions and observances which we celebrate in 
memory of particular miraculous events 1 How impos- 
sible to make us forget those passages which we daily 
commemorate ; and to persuade us that we had always 
observed such institutions or ceremonies in memory of 
what we never before heard of; that is, that we knew it 
before we knew it ! And if it be found thus impossible 
to practise an imposition upon us, even in some things 
which have not all the four criteria before-mentioned ; 
how much more impossible is it that there should be any 
deceit with regard to particulars in which all those crite- 
ria actually meet. 

Similar reasoning is applied with equal success by this 
acute writer to the principal facts, including the miracu- 
lous ones recorded in the Evangelical history. The 
works and the miracles of Jesus Christ are said, by the 
Evangelists, to be done publicly, in the face of the world ; 
and so, indeed, he himself affirmed in reasoning with his ac- 
cusers : " I spake openly to the world, and in secret have 
I said nothing." John, 18- : 20. We learn also in the 
Acts of the Apostles, that three thousand at one time> 
and about two thousand at another, Acts, 2 : 41 ; 4 : 4, 
were converted, upon conviction of what themselves had 
seen and known, what had been done publicly before 
their eyes, and in particulars respecting which it was im- 
possible to impose upon ihem. So that here we find the 
two first of Mr. Leslie's criteria. 

Then for the second two : Baptism and the Lord's sup 
per were instituted as perpetual memorials of these 
things : they were not instituted in after ages, but at the 
very time when the circumstances to which they relate 



154 Gregory's letters. 

took place ; and they have been observed without intei 
ruption, through the whole christian world, in all ages 
down from that time to the present. Besides, — Christ 
himself ordained apostles, and other ministers of his Gos- 
pel, to preach and administer the ordinances; and that 
always " even unto the end of the world." Matt, 28 : 20, 
Accordingly they have continued by regular succession 
to this day. So that the christian ministry is, and always 
has been, as notorious in point of fact as the tribe of Le 
vi among the Jews. The Gospel also is as much a law, 
a rule of conduct to the christians, as the books of Moses 
to the Jews : and it being part of the matters of fact or 
truths related in the Gospel, that "pastors and teachers," 
Ephes. 4 : 11, -were appointed by Christ, and to continue 
until the end of the world ; consequently, if the Gospel 
history and doctrines were invented (as they must be, if 
forged at all) in some ages after Christ ; then, at the time 
of the invention there could be no such order of clergy 
or ministers as derived themselves from the institution ot 
Christ ; a circumstance which must give the lie to the 
Gospel, and demonstrate the whole to be false. The mi- 
raculous actions of Christ and his Apostles being affirm- 
ed to be true, no otherwise than as there were at that 
identical time, (whenever the Deist will suppose the Gos- 
pel history to be forged,) not only sacraments or ordinan- 
ces of Christ's institution, but an order of christian pas- 
tors, &c. to administer them ; and it being impossible 
there could be any such things before they were invent- 
ed, it is as impossible they should be received and accre- 
dited when invented. Hence it follows that it was as 
impossible to have imposed these miraculous relations 
upon mankind in after ages, as it would have been to 
make persons believe they saw the miracles, or were 
parties concerned in the beneficial effects resulting from 
them, if they were not. 

IV. Notwithstanding all that has been said, however, 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 155 

by Leslie and others, since there is no making a fence 
high enough to keep out extravagant conjectures and sur- 
mises, we find unbelievers exclaiming after all, that still 
men's senses might be imposed upon. To reasoning we may 
always oppose reasoning ; and it is often perfectly legiti- 
mate to oppose conjecture to conjecture ; yet, with re- 
gard to the New Testament miracles, we cannot have so 
ill an opinion of the intellects of infidels as to conjecture 
that they really believe — 

" That persons afflicted with the most excruciating 
maladies and diseases should be juggled into perfect ease 
and health, and cured (as Celsus pretended) by leger- 
demain : 

" That blind men should see, the lame walk, the deaf 
hear, the dumb speak, lepers be cleansed, and dead men 
come to life, merely by the play of fancy and force of 
imagination : 

" That the senses of whole multitudes should be im- 
posed upon to such a degree that they should all fancy 
together, they saw, heard, spake, ate and drank, re- 
peated these actions many times over, and that in differ- 
ent places and circumstances too, and yet, after all, did 
nothing of all this ; but were either asleep, or in ecstasy, 
or under the influence of some strange charm all the 
while : 

" That five thousand men, for example, at one time, 
and four thousand at another, (besides women and chil- 
dren,) should persuade themselves they fed only upon a 
few loaves and fishes ; should publish it to all the country 
that they did so ; refer to time, place, and persons pre- 
sent ; and yet, instead of this, having been in fact at a 
splendid and magnificent feast, where plenty and variety 
of all provisions fit to entertain such multitudes were 
set before them." 

If these things may be, of what utility are our sen- 
ses 1 What dependance can be placed upon them ; or 



156 Gregory's letters. 

what credit can be due to a Deist who attests nothing 
but upon experience, and yet admits that thousands to- 
gether may be deceived in reference to some of the 
most common and frequent actions and functions in hu- 
man life 1 

In truth there are but four hypotheses that can be as- 
sumed with respect to the miracles of Jesus Christ, one 
or other of which a reasonable being must adopt. 

Either, first, the recorded accounts of those miracles 
Were absolute fictions wickedly invented by some who 
had a wish to impose upon mankind : 

Or, secondly, Jesus Christ did not work any true mi- 
racles ; but the senses of the people were in some waj 
or other deluded, so that they believed he really did per- 
form miracles when in fact he did not : 

Or, thirdly, that the spectators were not in any way 
deluded, but knew very well he wrought no miracles : 
yet were all (both enemies and friends, the Jews them- 
selves not excepted, though they daily " sought occasions 
against him ") united in a close confederacy to persuade 
the world that he performed the most surprising things. 
So that while some actively circulated reports of these 
amazing occurrences, the rest kept their counsel, never 
offering to unmask the fraud, but managing the matter 
with so much cunning and dexterity, and such an exact 
mutual harmony and correspondence, that the story of 
Jesus Christ's performing miracles should become cur- 
rent, should obtain almost, universal credit, and not a 
single person be able to disprove it : 

Or, fourthly, that he did actually perform these as- 
tonishing works, and that the accounts given of them 
by the christian writers in the New Testament are au- 
thentic and correct. 

He that does not adopt the last of these conclusions 
will find it a matter of very small consequence which of 
tr.e three others he chooses. For that the stories cannot 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 157 

he fictions is evident from the reasoning of Leslie already 
adduced : and it will be seen farther, from a few mo- 
ments consideration, that the denial of the miracles of 
Jesus Christ, in any way, leads necessarily to the admis 
sion of a series of real miracles of another kind. 

The progress of the human mind, as may be seen by 
all the inquiries into it, is a thing of a determinate na- 
ture : a man's thoughts, words and actions, are all gene- 
rated by something previous ; there is an established 
course for these things, (as well as for the physical part 
of the universe,) an analogy of which every man is a 
judge "from what he feels in himself and observes in 
others : and to suppose any number of men in deter- 
minate circumstances to vary from this general tenor of 
human nature in like circumstances, is a miracle, and 
may, as Dr. Hartley remarks, be made a miracle of any 
magnitude, i. c. incredible to any degree, by augmenting 
the number and magnitude of the deviations. It is there- 
fore a miracle in the human mind as great as any that 
can possibly be conceived to take place with regard to 
the body, to suppose that multitudes of Christians, Jews 
and Heathens, in the- primitive times, should have borne 
such unquestionable testimony, some expressly, others 
by indirect circumstances, as we learn from histoiy they 
did, to the miracles said to be performed by Christ upon 
the human body, unless they were really performed. 

In like manner the reception which the miracles re 
corded in the Old Testament met with is a miracle, un- 
less those miracles were true. These are not however 
the only miracles which unbelievers in the Scripture mi- 
racles must admit. The very determination of the apos- 
tles to propagate the belief of false miracles (independent 
of the additional difficulty arising from the silent concur- 
rence of Jews and Gentiles in the story, according to the 
tliird hypothesis suggested above,) in support of such a 
religion as that taught in the New Testament, is as great 



158 Gregory's letters. 

a miracle as human imagination can conceive. For when 
they formed this design, whether they hoped to succeed 
or conjectured that they should fail in their undertaking, 
they chose what they knew to be moral evil, with the 
contingency of experiencing natural evil ; nay, so desi- 
rous were they to obtain nothing but misery, that they 
made their own persecution a test of the truth, of their 
doctrines ; — thus violating the strongest possible of all 
laws of human nature, namely, that " no man can choose 
evil for its own sake." 

Here, then, an unbeliever must either deny all ana- 
logy, association, uniformity of action, operation t)f mo- 
tives, selection of good in preference to evil, &c. and be- 
come an absolute sceptic in the most extensive accepta- 
tion of the term, or acknowledge that very strong phy 
sical analogies may sometimes be violated ; that is, he 
must have recourse to something miraculous in order 
that he may get quit of something miraculous. Let him 
next inquire which of the two opposite classes of mira- 
cles will agree best with his other notions : whether it 
be more analogous to the nature of God, the course of 
providence, the history of the world, the known progress 
of man in this life, &c. to allow that God imparted to cer- 
tain select persons of eminent piety the power of working 
miracles ; or to suppose that he confounded the under- 
standing, affections, and whole train of associations of 
thousands of persons, nay, of entire nations, in such a 
manner that men, who in all other things seemed to have 
acted like other men, should, in respect to the history of 
Jesus Christ, the Prophets, or the Apostles, abandon all 
established rules of thinking and acting, and conduct 
themselves in a way miraculously repugnant to all oui 
ideas and all our experience. In order to determine this 
inquiry, let it not be forgotten that the object of the 
class of miracles against which the Deists contend, is 
worthy of a God of infinite wisdom, power and good- 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 159 

* 

ness ; while the object of the latter is decidedly and ab- 
solutely inconsistent with wisdom and goodness, attri- 
butes which all Theists ascribe to that Great Being by 
whom alone miracles can be performed, allowing that 
they can be wrought at all. 

V. Much of the preceding reasoning is entirely inde- 
pendant of any minute investigation of the nature of con- 
current or successive testimony ; and the whole discus- 
sion might safely be terminated without any reference to 
these abstruser inquiries, were it not that Hume and his 
disciples have frequently adverted to them, and that si- 
lence might be construed into inability to break through 
their web of sophistry. The argument of Dr. Campbell 
has already been briefly, sketched; I shall here add a 
few distinct considerations. And, first, with regard to 
concurrent testimony, it has been demonstrated upon gen- 
uine mathematical principles, that where the credibility 
uf each witness is great, a very few witnesses will be 
sufficient to overcome any contrary probability derived 
from the nature of the fact ; that the evidence resulting 
from, testimony can not only approach indefinitely near 
to ceitainty, but can at length exceed the evidence of 
any inference, however cogent, which can possibly be 
deduced from personal experience, or from personal and 
derived experience conjointly ; that is, that the evidence 
of testimony can overcome any degree of improbability, 
however gioat, which can arise from the nature of the 
fact. The reason is, that the evidence of testimony ad- 
mitting of an unlimited increase on two different accounts 
(namely, that of the veracity of the witnesses, and that of 
the number of concurrent witnesses,) while the probabili- 
ty of the happening of any specific event admits only one 
of them, the formei is capable of indefinitely surpassing 
the latter. 

But indeed the foi le of the evidence resulting from 
concurrent testimony is avowedly so great upon the 



160 Gregory's letters. 

minds of all who have not been biassed by the perusal of 
deistical speculations, or an indulgence in them, that the 
matter scarcely needs the support of mathematical inves- 
tigation. Let it be supposed that twelve men of probity 
and good sense were circumstantially and seriously to tell 
"a round unvarnished tale " of a miracle performed be- 
fore their eyes, and respecting which it was impossible 
(as they affirm) for them to be deceived, I believe few 
persons would wait to receive a thirteenth concurrent 
testimony before they yielded their assent to the truth of 
the relation, however extraordinary. Let it be supposed, 
farther, that the twelve evidences, on being suspected 
of " bearing false witness," subjected themselves to be 
scourged, tortured, nay, strangled, rather than deny the 
truth of their attestation ; could any reasonable or rea- 
soning man refuse to believe their testimony] According 
to Mr. Hume's argumentation, we are not to believe 
them were we to witness such a story and such suffer- 
ings ; but I am so persuaded no person in his senses 
would disbelieve them, that 1 will venture to say even 
Mr. Hume, under such circumstances, could not have 
withheld his assent to the truth of their story. 

"But," say his disciples, "whatever might be done or 
conceded in such a case, those who live a thousand 
years after the event can have no reason to believe it : 
if we admit that concurrent testimony may augment; still 
successive testimony diminishes, and that so rapidly as to 
command no assent after a few centuries at most." This 
is specious, but, as I remarked at the commencement of 
this letter, far fron: correct. I do not deny that there 
may be cases in which credibility diminishes with time ; 
but no testimony is really, in the nature of things, rendei- 
ed less credible by any other cause, than the loss or want 
of some of those conditions which first made it rational- 
ly credible. A testimony continues equally credible so 
long as it is transmitted with all those circumstances and 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 1G1 

conditions which first procured it a certain degree of cre- 
dit amongst men proportionate to the intrinsic value of 
those conditions. Let it be supposed that the persons 
who transmit the testimony are able, honest, and diligent 
in all the requisite inquiries as to what they transmit, and 
how should the credibility due to their testimony be weak- 
ened, but by the omission of circumstances ] which omis- 
sion is contrary to the hypothesis. No calculation of the 
decrease of the credibility of testimony, in which a man 
bears witness respecting realities, and not the fictions of 
his own brain, can ever proceed upon any other prin- 
ciple than that of the characters and qualifications of the 
witnesses : and therefore, so far as the credibility of any 
matter of fact depends upon pure testimony, those who 
live at the remotest distances of time may have the same 
evidence of the truth of it as those persons who lived 
nearest to the time in which the thing was said to be 
done ; chat identical time being, of course, excluded. 

In what possible manner, for example, can the evi- 
dence on which we believe the facts related in the Gos- 
pels, be less than that on which those facts were accre- 
dited by christians in the second or third centuries 1 
They possessed the standard writings of the Evangelists ; 
so do we : what those books then contained, they nr;w 
contain ; and the invention of printing seems likely, undt- 
the care of Providence, to preserve them genuine to the 
end of time. This admirable invention has so far secured 
all considerable monuments of antiquity, that no ordinary 
calamities of war, dissolutions of governments, &c. can 
destroy any material evidence now in existence, or ren- 
der it less probable to those who shall live a thousand 
years hence, than it is to us. With regard to the facts of 
the christian religion, indeed, it is notorious that our evi- 
dence in favor of them has increased rather than dimin- 
ished since the era of printing, the reformation of reli- 
gion, and the restoration of letters : and as even the re- 



162 Gregory's letters. 

cent inquiries of learned men (see the close of Letter 5) 
have produced fresh evidence, there is every reason to 
hope it will continue to increase. 

Indeed it is only with regard to the facts related in the 
Bible that men ever talk of the daily diminution of credi- 
bility. Who complains of a decay of evidence in relation 
to the actions of Alexander, Hannibal, Pompey, or Cae- 
sar 1 How many less of the events recorded by Plu- 
tarch, or Polybius, or Livy, are believed now (on ac 
count of a diminution of evidence) than were believed 
by Mr. Addison, or Lord Clarendon, or Geoffrey Chau- 
cer ] It might be contended with some show of proba- 
bility, that we know more of those ancients than the per- 
sons now mentioned : but that is widely different from 
accrediting less. We never hear persons wishing they 
had lived ages earlier, that they might have had better 
proofs that Cyrus was the conqueror of Babylon, that 
Darius was beaten in several battles by Alexander, that 
Titus destroyed Jerusalem, that Hannibal was entirely 
routed by Scipio, or Pompey by Julius Caesar; though 
we sometimes find men of ardent and enterprising minds 
exclaiming — " O that I had lived and been present when 
such and such splendid events occurred : how lively 
an interest should I have taken in such scenes, how 
much concern in their termination !" And indeed it is 
the frequent hearing of like exclamations that causes 
men to confound weight of testimony with warmth or 
depth of feeling ; and to lose sight of the essential differ- 
ence between real evidence, or the true basis for belief 
of history, and the sensible impression or influence which 
such history may make upon the mind. The fate of Car- 
thage, or the result of the contest between Antony and 
Octavius respecting the empire of the world, would 
doubtless be much more deeply felt, and much more 
warmly conversed . about, within two centuries of the 
circumstances, than they ever are now : yet those who 



EVIDENCE FROxM MIRACLES. 163 

then conversed about them had just as mucii reason to 
doubt their occurrence as we have ; that is, just none 
at all Similar reasoning will apply to al' the circum- 
stances recorded in authentic history. So that, having 
established the genuineness and authenticity of the books 
of Scripture on evidence far superior to that on which 
other historic books are received, it is the most idle and. 
ridiculous thing imaginable to affect to disbelieve any of 
the facts therein recorded, on account of the remoteness 
of the times in which they occurred. 

Let me now attempt to collect the scattered arguments 
in this letter, with a few additional suggestions, to one 
point, and conclude. If then we have found, upon care- 
fiK examination, that the miraculous facts proposed for 
oar belief, and on the credit of which the divine authori- 
ty of a particular system of doctrines and precepts de- 
pends, are, 

1. Such as do not imply a self-contradiction in them. 

2. If they appear to have been performed publicly, in 
the view of several people, and with a professed inten- 
tion to establish the divine authority of the person or 
persons who wrought them. 

3. If they were many in number, frequently repeated, 
and continued for a series of years together. 

4. If they were of an interesting nature in themselves, 
likely to have made strong impressions upon the minds 
of all who saw and heard them ; and for that reason, pro- 
bably, much attended to, talked of, and examir.ed at the 
time of their performance. 

5. If the effects produced by them were not transient, 
hut lasting, such as must have existed for many years, 
and were capable all the while of being disproved if they 
were not real. 

6. If the relations were committed to writing at or 
very near the time when the facts are said to have occur- 
red, and by persons of unimpeachable integrity, who tell 



164 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

us that " that which they have seen and heard, the same 
declare they unto us ;" by persons who, having sufficient 
opportunity of knowing the whole truth of what they 
testify, could not possibly be deceived themselves ; and 
who, having no conceivable motive or temptation to falsi- 
fy their evidence, cannot, with the least shadow of proba- 
bility, be suspected of an intention to deceive other people. 

7. If there be no proof, or even well-founded suspicion 
of proof, that the testimony of those who bear witness to 
these extraordinary facts was ever contradicted, even by 
such as professed themselves open enemies to their per- 
sons, character and views, though the accounts of the 
facts were first published upon the spot where they were 
affirmed to have been originally performed, and amongst 
persons who were engaged by private interest, and fur- 
nished with full authority, inclination and opportunity to 
have manifested the falsity of them, and to have detected 
the imposture, had they been able. 

8. If, on the contrary, the existence of these facts be 
expressly allowed by the persons who thought them- 
selves most concerned to prevent the genuine consequen- 
ces which might be deduced from them; and there were 
originally no other disputes about them than to what 
sufficient cause th'ey were to be imputed. 

9. If, again, the witnesses from whom we have these 
facts were many in number, all of them unanimous in the 
substance of their evidence, and all, as may be collected 
from their whole conduct, men of such unquestionable good 
sense as secured them against all delusion in themselves : 
if they were men who evinced the sincerity of their own 
conviction, by acting under the uniform influence of the 
extraordinary works to which they bore witness, in di- 
rect contradiction to all their former prejudices and most 
favored notions, — in direct contradiction, also, to every 
flattering prospect of worldly honor, profit, or advantage, 
(as was remarkably exemplified in the case of the apostle 



EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 165 

Paul ;) and when they could not but be previously assur- 
ed that "bonds and afflictions awaited them ;" that igno- 
miny, persecution, misery, and even death itself, most 
probably, would attend the constant and invariable perse- 
verance in their testimony. 

10. If these witnesses, in order that their evidence 
might have the greater weight with a doubting world, 
(each nation having already its own religion,) were them- 
selves enabled to perform such extraordinary works as 
testified the clear and indisputable interposition of a di- 
vine power in favor of their veracity ; and, after having 
experienced the severest afflictions, vexations and tor- 
ments, at length laid down their lives in confirmation of 
the truth of the facts asserted by them. 

11. If great multitudes of the contemporaries of thes& 
witnesses, men of almost all nations, tempers, profes- 
sions, and scales of intellect, were persuaded by them 
that these facts were really performed in the manner re- 
lated, and gave the strongest testimony which it was in 
their power to give of the firmness and active tendency 
of their belief, by immediately breaking through all their 
previous attachments and connexions of interest or friend- 
ship, and acting in express contradiction to them. 

12. If concurring testimony, carried to a sufficient ex- 
tent, and especially of this kind, be in its nature really 
irresistible ; and if successive testimony, under the cir- 
cumstances of the case before us, rather increase than 
diminish in credibility. 

13. If ceremonies and institutions were grounded up 
on the miraculous facts, and have been uninterruptedly 
observed in all the successive periods of time, from the 
date of the facts in commemoration of which they were 
established. 

14. If we have all the proof which the severest rules 
of criticism can require, that no alterations have been 
made in the original writings and records left us by these 



166 Gregory's letters. 

witnesses in any material article of their evidence since 
their first publication, either through accident or de- 
sign; but that they have been transmitted to us in all 
their genuine purity, as they were left by their authors. 
In such a situation of things, where so great a variety 
of circumstances, where indeed all imaginable circum- 
stances, mutually concur to confirm, strengthen, and 
support each other's evidence ; without a single argu- 
ment on the other side but what arises merely from the 
extraordinary nature of the facts, and the admission of 
which inevitably leads to consequences at least as extra- 
ordinary as those the opponents are inclined to reject ; — 
may not they be justly accused of an unreasonable incre- 
dulity who refuse their assent to them % And will not 
such incredulity be as dangerous as it is ridiculous % If 
facts, attested in so clear, decisive, and unexceptionable 
a manner, and delivered down to posterity with so many 
conspiring signs and monuments of truth, are, neverthe- 
less, not to be believed ; it is, I think, impossible for the 
united wisdom of mankind to point out any evidence of 
historical events which will justify a wise and cautious 
man in accrediting them. Where there is the strongest 
assurance of the occurrence of any particular series of 
miraculous facts, which we are capable of acquiring, ac- 
cording to the present frame of our nature, and the state 
of things in the world ; to reject these miracles after all, 
and the religion in attestation of which they were wrought, 
and to pretend to excuse ourselves from believing them, 
upon the bare suspicion of a possibility that they may be 
false, is, instead of being an indication of freedom from 
shackles, and erectness and greatness of* mind, a highly 
absurd contradiction to the principles of common' sense 
and the universal practice of mankind. That you and I, 
my friend, may be preserved from such a preposterous 
and dangerous absurdity, is the fervent wish of, 

Yours sincerely 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 167 

LETTER VIII. 

On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Several of the facts recorded in the Christian Scrip- 
tures have this to distinguish them from others, that they 
are intimately connected with doctrines ; so intimately 
indeed, that the doctrine grows out of the fact, and that, 
consequently, the denial of the fact causes the annihila- 
tion of the doctrine, and prevents the springing forth of 
those happy effects which the doctrine is calculated to 
produce. Thus the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a 
fact; ou r resurrection is a doctrine founded upon that 
fact. The denial of one requires the renunciation of the 
other. " If," says Paul, " there be no resurrection of the 
dead, then is Christ not risen : and if Christ be not risen, 
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.' 
And again, " If we believe that Jesus Christ died, and 
rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will 
God bring with him." 1 Cor. 15 : 13, 14 ; l'Thes. 4 : 14. 
Thus, also, the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven is a 
fact ; his return from thence to judge the world is a de- 
pendent doctrine. Thus spake the angels to the disci- 
ples at the ascension of our Lord : " Why stand ye gaz- 
ing up into heaven 1 This same Jesus which is taken 
up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like mannei 
as ye have seen him go into heaven." Acts, 1:11. " Shall 
come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in 
all them that believe." 2 Thes. 1 : 10. 

Hence, since the most exalted hopes of a christian, 
the most animating doctrines of his religion, have foi 
their basis the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; 
it is requisite that his faith in that fact be firmly " rooted 
and grounded." And happily the general evidences in 
confirmation of so important an event flow from various 



168 Gregory's letters. 

and satisfactory sources. As from the predictions of J e- 
sus Christ, that at a certain time he should raise himself 
from the dead. From the fact that, at this precise time 
his body was not to be found in the sepulchre, although 
the most effectual precautions had been taken to prevent 
its removal. From the positive testimony of many, that 
after this time they saw him, conversed with him, the 
most incredulous touched and felt him to remove their 
doubts, and all received from him those instructions on 
which they acted in promulgating his Gospel. From the 
clumsy and self-destructive story invented by the Jews 
in contradiction of this fact. Matt. 28 : 13, 14. And from 
the success which attended the preaching and declaring 
that he was " crucified and raised from the dead." 

It is not my intention to enlarge upon these various 
sources of evidence; but merely, assuming (as I may 
now, I trust, fairly do) the genuineness of the first four 
books of the New Testament, to describe, briefly, the 
leading circumstances of Christ's resurrection, and seve- 
ral appearances previous to his ascension ; and then to 
adduce a few general, though, I hope, unanswerable ar- 
guments in favor of this extraordinary event. 

The circumstances of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
and the subsequent appearances, as they may be collect- 
ed from the accounts of the several Evangelists, have 
been related with slight variations by different authors. 
The order I shall adopt appears to me as free -from ob- 
jection and as little exposed to the cavils of unbelievers 
as any I have met with. To render this history the 
more perspicuous, it may be proper to begin with re- 
minding you, that, when Jesus Christ was led to be cru- 
cified, a great company of his friends and acquaintance 
followed, bewailing and lamenting him. Luke, 23 : 27. 
Among the rest was his own mother, who, with two more 
of her name, and the Apostle John, stood so near him 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 1C9 

that he could speak to them. While he was nailed to the 
cross he consigned his mother to John's care, it appear- 
ing that she was then a widow. This beloved disciple, 
probably, took her immediately to his own home, be- 
fore the three hours' supernatural darkness, John, 19 i 
25-27, that she might not be there to see him expiring. 
But the other two women continued there still, as well as 
many more who stood afar off. When the darkness was 
over, and our Lord had yielded up his spirit, they were 
there still ; and all of them attended till he was buried. 
Matt. 27 : 55, 56 ; Mark, 15 : 40, 41; Luke, 23 : 49, 55. 
It should seem, also, that the two Marys, Mary Magda- 
lene, and Mary the wife of Cleopas, and mother of Mat- 
thew, James, Simon, and Jude, waited later than the 
rest, till all was over, and he was laid in the sepulchre. 
Matt. 27 : 61 ; Mark, 15 : 47. A considerable company 
of the women seem to have agreed to embalm their 
Lord's body early on the third day ; they therefore pre- 
pared that evening what time and circumstances would 
admit, and rested on the Sabbath, conformably to the 
commandment. Luke, 23 : 56. 

Not so the priests and pharisees. With all their pre- 
tended zeal for the Sabbath, they were very busy on 
that day, consulting, agreeing, preparing an address, 
waiting with it on Pilate, obtaining a guard, sealing the 
stone, and setting all safe. This was their Sabbath-em- 
ployment. Matt. 27 : 62-66. By the end of the day all 
was as safe as they could make it. But very early on the 
following morning, the first day of the week, about the 
break of day, or a little earlier, an angel descended from 
heaven, came and rolled back the stone from the entrance 
of the grave, and sat upon it, regardless of either seal 
or guard. The keepers or guards were terrified at his 
appearance, and became as dead men. Matt. 28 : 2-4. 
Recovering themselves a little, however, some of them 
went to the chief priests and related what had happened: 

Gre-orv 8 



170 Gregory's letters. 

ihe chief priests and elders " gave large money to the 
soldiers," saying, " Say ye, His disciples came by night 
and stole him away while we slept." Matt. 28 : 11-13- 
About the time of the earthquake which occurred on 
the descent of the angel, the two Marys were preparing' 
to go very early to see whether all about the sepulchre 
was safe, before the rest of the company could go. Matt. 
28 : 1. Either they called on Salome, or met her in 
their way ; Mark, 16 : 1 ; and as all three passed on to 
wards the sepulchre, being desirous, probably, to begin 
to embalm the body before their friends arrived, " they 
said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone 
from the door of the sepulchre V All this time they knew 
nothing of the guard or of the opening of the grave; but 
as they came near the sepulchre " at the rising of the 
sun," they looked forward and saw that the stone "was 
rolled away; "for it was very great." Mark, 16:2-4. 
This, as was natural, caused a multiplicity of varying 
emotions in their minds. Mary Magdalene, being at once 
warm in her affection and anxious in her disposition, 
concluded that the body was stolen ; and would therefore 
go no farther, but hastily ran back to tell Peter and John 
what she had seen and what she thought : those two zea- 
lous disciples therefore hastened thither to ascertain the 
truth of her relation. John, 29 : 1-4. But while she ran 
back, the other Mary and Salome approached nearer to 
the sepulchre. The ange\ who formerly sat on the stone 
to terrify the guard, had by this time moved into the se- 
pulchre; for Christ rose and went out as soon as the 
stone was rolled away ; and though the women were 
near enough to see the stone, they could see no angel up- 
on it before Mary Magdalene ran back. Mary and Sa- 
lome thus advancing, they found no obstruction, and re- 
solved to ascertain whether the body was taken away or 
not. Just entering, therefore, into the sepulchre, they 
saw the ana-el, who invited them farther in, to "behold 



ON THE RESURRECTIOIM. 171 

the place where the Lord had lain." But they were 
affrighted: so the angel told them "the Lord was ris- 
en," directed them to go and inform his disciples, and 
Peter, and to tell them, moreover, that they should see 
him in Galilee ; as he had assured them previous to his 
crucifixion. Matt. 28 : 5-7 ; Mark, 16 : 5-7 j Matt. 
26 : 32. The women, under the joint influence of fear, 
joy, and amazement, ran away, saying nothing to any 
one, but fled trembling. Mark, 16 : 8. 

They were just gone when Mary Magdalene arrived 
the second time, with Peter and John, though it was yet 
early. The two disciples, before they reached the sepul- 
chre, ran quicker than Mary : the angel having now dis- 
appeared, the two men went into the sepulchre, found 
the body was not there, but saw the grave-clothes lying 
folded up, indicating that there had been no indecent 
haste. John believed " the Lord was risen :" but they 
both soon went away home without seeing him. Mary 
Magdalene now tarried behind to weep alone, appearing 
in much doubt as to what had become of the body of Je- 
sus. While in this mournful anxious state of mind she 
stooped down and looked earnestly into the sepulchre, 
where she saw two angels, one at the head, the other at 
the feet, where the body had lain. They asked why she 
wept : she leplied it was because she had lost her Lord; 
and as she made the answer, she in haste looked another 
way and saw Jesus ; but not knowing him, being half 
blinded by her apprehensions and her tears, she supposed 
it was the gardener who cultivated the garden in which 
the sepulchre was, and therefore said to him, " Sir, if 
thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid 
him, and 1 will take him away." Then Jesus made him 
self known unto her. This therefore was his^r** appear 
ance, after his resurrection, to any of his people : and il 
was early. John, 20 : 3-18; Mark, 16 : 9, 10. Mary Mag 
dalene departed immediately, " and told the disciples tho,' 



172 Gregory's letters. 

she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to her.' 
Thus, as some of our old divines have remarked, woman, 
who was first in the original transgression, was first in 
proclaiming the fact of the resurrection, and laying the 
grand corner-stone in the christian edifice. 

The other Mary and Salome, full of fear and amaze- 
ment, had turned aside into some retired place ; and 
needed time to recover themselves before they could 
carry any tidings. But while they were in this conster- 
nation their compassionate Lord met them, and said, 
" All hail : be not afraid," proceed cheerfully on, and de- 
liver to my disciples the message you have received from 
the angel, " that they go into Galilee." Matt. 28 : 9, 10. 
This was the second appearance of Christ ; and it was 
to two women. 

These three women and two of the apostles having 
been at the sepulchre, and Mary, the last of them, having 
departed, it being yet early; Mark, 16 : 9 ; just as she 
was gone Joanna came, and a considerable company with 
her, bringing the spices, &c. in order to embalm the 
body of Jesus, as they had agreed before the Sabbath. 
They spent no time in reasoning about the removal of 
the stone, as the others had done ; being a sufficient num- 
ber to effect it, and expecting to meet the other three 
women at the place : for they knew nothing of what had 
passed at the sepulchre in the earlier part of the morn 
ing before they arrived When they got .there they 
found the stone rolled away : so they went into the se- 
pulchre, and immediately perceived that the body was 
not there : but when they went in they saw no angel, as 
Mary and Salome had seen, sitting at the right side; 
Ma_*k, 16 : 5 ; nor did the two angels who spake to 
Mary Magdalene now appear. Joanna and her compan- 
ions, like the other women, were full of amazement : and 
while they were in this perplexity, behold, two angels 
stood by them and said, "Why seek ye the living among 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 173 

the dead ? He is not here, but is risen," &c. Luke, 24 : 
1-9. Then the women returned from the sepulchre 
and told all these things to the eleven, and to others, who, 
it seems, were now gathered together by reason of the 
report Peter and John had made on their return from 
(he sepulchre an hour or two before. When Peter and 
John were at the sepulchre they had seen no angels, 
nor had they heard any report that Jesus was actually 
risen : but on Joanna's relating what she had seen and 
heard, Peter, manifesting the ardent disposition which 
marked all his actions, ran a second time to the sepul- 
chre, and some others, either along with him or soon af- 
ter him : Luke, 24 : 12-24 : they all found that the bo- 
dy was not in the grave ; but they saw not Jesus. 

Soon after this, two of them went a journey as far as 
Emraaus, about seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. 
We have no account of any more persons going to the 
sepulchre. But Peter, soon after the departure of the 
two disciples for Emmaus, retired to a place alone to 
meditate upon what had occurred, where his Lord ap- 
peared to him. This was the third appearance of Christ ; 
but the first, 1 Cor. 15 : 5, to any of his apostles. Jesus, 
having conversed a little with Peter, left him; and soon 
coming up with the two disciples who were journeying 
to Emmaus, conversed with them a good while, and af- 
terwards revealed himself unto them. Luke, 24 : 13-31. 
This was the fourth appearance. 

While these two disciples were from Jerusalem, those 
who continued at that city were in great concern ; for 
though Joanna had told them from the angels that Jesus 
was risen, yet her " words were as idle tales." Some 
time after, Mary Magdalene brought them the tidings 
that she had "seen the Lord ;" she found them mourning 
and incredulous, notwithstanding the cheering tenor of 
the news she communicated. Mark, 1G : 10, 11; John,*20: 
17, IS. The other Mary and Salome likewise conveyed 



174 Gregory's letters. 

their tidings, as they were directed, first by the angels, 
and then by Christ himself. Matt. 28 : 7-10. Late the 
same evening Peter came and informed them that he 
had seen Jesus. And as the disciples were discussing 
the evidences of his resurrection, some believing, others 
doubting, the two returned from Emraaus; and while 
they received, on the one hand, the joyful intelligence 
"the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon," 
they in their turn confirmed the account, telling " what 
things were done in the way, and how he was known 
of them in breaking of bread ;" Mark, 16 : 13 ; Luke, 24 : 
34, 35; by this significant act reminding them of his 
last supper with them, and of the • important institution 
he then established. Still, however, " some of them be- 
lieved not," though Jesus had now appeared four times ; 
first to one woman, then to two ; after that to one man, 
and then to two. 

Our Lord's fiftli appearance after his resurrection was 
much more public than any of the preceding; for while they 
were earnestly conversing upon this most interesting to- 
pic, still on the evening of the first day of the week, just 
after the return of the two from Emraaus, "Jesus him- 
self stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace 
be unto you." Luke, '24 : 36. Though Thomas was at 
this time absent, yet there was a considerable number of 
the disciples gathered together, besides ten of the apos- 
tles, Luke, 24 : 33, in order to inquire and learn more 
about Jesus Christ. Besides this, the guard having said 
that they had seen an angel at the sepulchre, the Jews 
were enraged that their precautions to detain the body 
were defeated, circulated the ridiculous story that it was 
stolen by the disciples of Jesus while the guards slept, 
and began to threaten the disciples ; they, therefore, be- 
ing " afraid of the Jews," dare not sleep in their own 
lodgings, but had assembled together, and shut the door 
previously to this appearance of Jesus. John, 20 : 19, 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 175 

His sudden and unexpected appearance and address to 
them terrified them, so that they thought "it was a spirit," 
and not their Lord in the same identical body that was cru- 
cified and buried. But the Redeemer, to remove their dis- 
tressing unbelieving thoughts, directed them to behold him 
steadfastly, to feel and touch him, and observe his lately 
wounded and pierced hands and feet. Then he ate before 
them, still farther to confirm their faith ; and " opened the 
Scriptures to them," showing them that "thus it behoved 
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." 
Luke, 24 : 37-48 ; John, 20 : 20. After that, conversing 
still farther with them, he gave them another sign of his 
real existence and life, by breathing upon them ; of his 
divine power, by conferring upon them the Holy Spirit ; 
and then departed. John, 20 : 22. Presently after, Thomas 
came in ; but when the disciples told him they had "seen 
the Lord," he refused his assent, and replied, " Except 
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my 
linger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into 
his side, I xoill not believe" John, 20 : 25. Such was the 
incredulity of this apostle, although Jesus had then been 
seen at five distinct times in the course of that one day. 

At the close of the feast of unleavened bread, that is, 
on the succeeding first day of the week, Jesus again ap- 
peared unto the eleven, Thomas being with them : he 
upbraided him for his unbelief, allowed him the tests he 
wished for, and extorted from him the confession, " My 
Lord and my God !" John, 20 : 26-29 ; Mark, 16 : 14. 
On this occasion, which was the sixth time of Jesus 
Christ's appearing, there does not seem to have been 
much conversation. The appearance was probably for 
the especial purpose of convincing Thomas. 

After this, the feast being now over, the eleven travel- 
led to Galilee, being encouraged, by promises both be- 
fore and after the resurrection, to expect the sight of 
their Lord there. Matt. 28 : 16. The distance was more 



J 76 Gregory's letters. 

than eighty miles from Jerusalem to Tiberias, and more 
still to Bethsaida and Capernaum. Thither, however, 
they went, inspired by these hopes; and shortly after 
their arrival there, Jesus appeared again at the sea of 
Tiberias, or, as it was sometimes called, the sea of Gali 
lee. John, 6:1; 21:1. Here were seven of the disci 
pies, probably of the eleven, following their occupation 
of fishers ; they had been " toiling all night, and caught 
nothing," when Jesus appeared, whom they knew not at 
first. In consequence of following his advice they had a 
large and miraculous draught of fishes in their net ; 
which was followed by a long, familiar, and interesting 
conversation, related pretty fully by the apostle John 
John, 21 : 12-23, who was one of the disciples present. 
This was, as John terms it, the third time he had appear- 
ed to the body of the apostles ; but it was his seventh ap- 
pearance since his resurrection. 

Probably it was at this familiar interview by the sea ol 
Tiberias that Jesus told these seven disciples when and 
where they might expect to see him in a very public 
manner, agreeably to the promise made them before his 
death. Mat. 28 : 7-10 ; Mark, 16 : 7. And thus it might 
be that they gave notice of it in a private manner to as 
many disciples as might be thought proper; for even 
then, though he was to appear openly, yet it was not to a 
great number, but "to chosen witnesses, who ate and 
drank with him after he rose from the dead." Acts, 10 : 
40, 41. Pursuant to this previous notice, as it should 
seem, there was a most numerous and public meeting 
upon a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus made his eighth 
appearance. Matthew says expressly, Matt. 28 : 16, 17, Je- 
sus had appointed the mountain. The number assembled 
there was between five and six hundred, called emphati- 
cally brethren, 1 Cor. 15 : 6, denoting that they were all 
chosen witnesses, as Peter observed in the house of Cor- 
nelius. Here, as he found " some " still " doubted," he 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 177 

gave infallible proofs of his resurrection, and " spake 
much of the things concerning the kingdom of God ;'\ 
Acts, 1:3: beinof now about to take his final farewell 
of the greatest part of them on earth. It is worthy of 
observation, that the majority of the witnesses of this ap- 
pearance were living, and appealed to as such, twenty 
years afterwards, when Paul wrote his first Epistle to 
the Corinthians. 

The ninth appearance of Christ recorded in the Scrip- 
tures was to James. This, Paul informs us, was after 
that to the five hundred. 1 Cor. 15 : 7. Probably it took 
place in Galilee, as well as the two last mentioned ; but 
the evangelists give us no particular information about it. 
Paul, however, mentions it as a fact well knoivn ; other- 
wise he would not have adduced it in proof of the resur- 
rection, denied as it was by some, and little understood 
by many who believed in the fact. 

The tenth and last appearance of the risen Savior was 
at Jerusalem, " to all the apostles," 1" Cor. 15 : 7, that 
is, to the eleven remaining ones, Judas being " gone to 
his own place." It was about six weeks after the pass- 
over, and about forty days after the resurrection, when 
several of the disciples from Galilee repaired again to 
Jerusalem, in order to keep the approaching feast oi 
weeks, called the Pentecost by the Grecian Jews. Being 
assembled together with the disciples at Jerusalem in 
one house, probably the same as that where Jesus had 
kept the passover and instituted his supper; and the 
same in which they met on the day of the resurrection, 
and on that day week, and where they worshipped till 
the day of Pentecost ; Acts, 1 : 13 ; 2:1; there they 
had the conversation with their Lord recorded in the first 
chapter of the Acts. Acts, 1 : 6-S. There he gave them 
commandments, and spake more " of the things pertain- 
ing to the kingdom of God." Acts, 1 : 3. There he de- 
livered to them the commission to go forth into all the 

8* 



178 Gregory's letters. 

world to preach and baptize, (for baptism, it should be 
•remembered, was not instituted as a christian ordi- 
nance till after the resurrection,) and gave them anima- 
ting promises of his presence with them while their life 
continued, and with their successors in the ministry " to 
the end of the world." Matt. 28 : 18-20 ; Mark, 16 : 15 
-IS. There he commanded them not to depart into Ga- 
lilee again, .but to tarry at Jerusalem till they should "be 
baptized with the Holy G-host," which he assured them 
would be in the course of a few days. Luke, 24 : 49 ; 
Acts, 1 : 4, 5, 8. This last interview would doubtless be 
very endearing, affecting, and instructive. And, as if to 
impress the circumstance with all its important lessons, 
and all its solemn tendencies, more deeply on their 
minds, he led them out towards Bethany or Mount Olivet, 
conversing as they went, according to his wonted man- 
ner. Often had he retired with his dear ami beloved dis- 
ciples to that secluded spot ; and thither he now for the 
last time conducted them. There, — near the place whence 
he commenced his triumphant ride into Jerusalem, — 
where he had frequently conversed, expounded parables, 
and prayed with his disciples, — where, in so much ago- 
ny he had recently prayed, and sweat as it were " drops 
of blood," — where he was betrayed with a kiss, taken by 
his enemies, and forsaken by his disciples, there he once 
more assembled them, " lifted up his hands and blessed 
them j" and " while he blessed them " he was taken up gra- 
dually from them into heaven, " a cloud receiving him out of 
their sight." Mark, 16 : 19 ; Luke, 24 : 50-52 ; Acts,l : 9-12. 
Thus then it appears, from apostolic testimony, that 
Jesus Christ not only rose from the dead, but rendered 
himself manifest to many after his resurrection, .removing 
the doubts of the incredulous by " the most infallible 
proofs," and confirming the faith of the weak by the most 
consoling and cheering promises: promises which speed- 
ily after were amply fulfilled. Acts, 2. 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 179 

" Twice twenty days he sojourn'd here on earth, 

" And show'd himself alive to chosen witnesses 

" By proofs so strong-, that the most slow-assenting 

" Had not a scruple left. This having done, 

" He mounted up to heaven." Blair. 

Such, in few words, is the history of our Lord's resur- 
rection from the dead, and of his various appearances 
after that important event. I have drawn this account 
not from the writings of any one evangelist, but from a 
collation and comparison of their separate narratives : 
for the relations of these four historians, though not dis- 
cordant, do not each comprise all the circumstances. 
This, however, is by no means to be regretted. Such a 
complete coincidence between four narratives relating to 
the same events, as should extend to every minute cir- 
cumstance, would argue collusion, or, at least, depend- 
ence ; whereas, four narratives, each exhibiting the 
grand outlines of the story, but varying as to minuter 
matters, some mentioning one, and some another, ac- 
cording to the particular object or individual feeling of 
each respective writer, naturally suggest the ideas of 
honest and independent narration, and exclude those of 
contrivance and forgery. 

Admitting, then, the genuineness and authenticity of 
the historical books of the New Testament, (both satis- 
factorily established I trust in my fifth letter,) the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ cannot be denied. Yet, as this 
extraordinary fact is of the greatest moment in the 
christian system, you will naturally expect that I shall 
not quit the subject merely with this summary argument 
in its favor. I shall, therefore, devote the remainder of 
the present letter to the consideration of two or three 
such particular evidences as in themselves force our as- 
sent ; and to a cursory view of some of the difficulties 
that spring from a denial of the fact. 

Both the Jewish and the Gentile opposers of (brie- 



180 Gregory's letters. 

tianity, in the primitive ages, admit that Jesus Christ suf- 
fered death by crucifixion, was buried, and that his t >mb 
was found empty on the third day. Either, then, the body 
must have been taken away, or he rose from the dead. If 
the body were stolen, it must have been either by the 
enemies or by the friends of Christ : of these alternatives 
the former cannot be assumed for a moment ; and I shall 
soon show that the latter, though rather more specious, 
is utterly untenable. The disciples of the Savior affirm 
that he rose from the dead, and often appeared to them, 
as I have already related. They also, immediately after 
the event, set apart a solemn periodical day, and insti- 
tuted a ceremony founded upon it, and commemorating 
it ; the returning day and the significant ceremony hav 
ing been observed regularly from that time through all 
succeeding ages to the present. 

Thus, with regard tp the day, it appears from vari- 
ous passages, Acts, 20 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 16 : 2 ,-R.ev. 1 : 10, &c. 
that the apostles, very soon after the death of their Lord, 
set apart the first day of the week, being that on which 
they affirmed he rose from the dead, as a day of religious 
worship, of christian rejoicing on account of that impor- 
tant event, calling it the Lord's day; it appears, too, that 
the christian converts in general, both at Jerusalem and 
at other places, united with them in solemnizing this day, 
and for the reason just specified. Farther, the most an- 
cient writers in the christian church, after the apostles, 
agree in assuring us that the 'observation of the first day 
of the week prevailed early and constantly. Barnabas 
tells us, that in his time " the eighth day was observed 
with gladness, being that on which Jesus rose from the 
dead." Ignatius calls it the Queen of Days, and assigns 
the same reason for its being kept holy. Melito wrotfe 
a book concerning it. Justin Martyr and Tertullian 
speak expressly, in their apologies, of stated christian 
assemblies held on that day. Clemens Alexandrine 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 181 

and many others, furnish similar evidence. Nay, Plinv a 
very few years after the death of John, speaks of it as 
the sacred day of the christians. Let the reasoning of Mr 
Leslie adduced in my letter on miracles be applied, then, 
to the case before us, and you will find it impossible to 
account rationally for the observance of the Lord's day 
without allowing the fact of the resurrection. 

Thus again, with respect to baptism : as a christian or- 
dinance it was instituted (as I have already remarked) 
after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Matt. 28 : 19 ; 
Mark, 16:16. In order to its being administered, faith 
was required : " If thou believest with all thine heart," 
said Philip to the eunuch, " thou mayest." Acts, S : 37. 
This antecedent belief included both the crucifixion and 
the resurrection of Jesus, as seems to be plainly intimated 
in the language of Paul : " Buried with him in baptism, 
wherein also you are risen with him, through the faith 
of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the 
dead." Col. 2 : 12. Now, on the day of Pentecost, when 
Peter addressed the multitude then collected together, 
he reasoned principally upon the fact of the resurrection, 
and affirmed that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was 
thus raised up in proof that he was "both Lord and 
Christ." So convincing were his arguments witl;in that 
short distance of the date assigned to the resurrection, 
that on this one day three thousand believed, and were 
baptized, that is, baptized in token of their belief that 
Jesus died, rose again, and insfituted baptism after his 
resurrection. Here, therefore, in like manner, the rea- 
soning is conclusive. It is impossible to account for the 
introduction of baptism " in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," Matt. 2S : 19, at any 
time, and much less for the circumstance of thousands 
being baptized within a few days of that on which the 
apostles declared Jesus rose, unless it be allowed that 
they were thoroughly convinced of the truth of the fact: 



182 Gregory's letters. 

and if thousands who were at Jerusalem at the precise 
period assigned to tho resurrection of Jesus Christ had 
satisfied themselves of its reality, it is the most puerile 
of all puerile things (to say nothing of its banefulness) to 
devise and urge objections at the distance of eighteen 
hundred years: such, however, is the puerility of men 
whose minds are too strong to bend to the teachings of 
infinite wisdom. 

But, as arguments in favor of this great fact flow from 
various quarters, let it be further considered, that, if the 
account of Christ's resurrection had been false, the impos- 
ture must necessarily have been detected. For the advo- 
cates for Christianity may argue, and its opponents can- 
not with any appearance of reason deny, that the apos- 
tles immediately after the resurrection declared it : that 
they made this declaration upon the very spot where it 
was alleged the thing occurred : that they did not dissemi- 
nate their story covertly, but proclaimed it in the most 
open and public manner possible : that they did not be- 
gin to circulate their report in some secret and obscure 
corner, but in one of the -most celebrated and public 
places then existing in the world : that they made choice 
of a season in which there was the greatest concourse 
and resort of all sorts of people thither, that they might 
gain the greatest number of hearers and of inquirers into 
the truth of their extraordinary narration : that the pro- 
fessed adversaries of the christian doctrine then at Jeru- 
salem had many weighty and powerful reasons to stimu- 
late them to exert their utmost efforts to prove it false : 
that they had as much time and opportunity as could 
well be desired to devote to the detection of the impos- 
ture, had there been any : and, that they had likewise 
power in their hands, by which they were enabled to ex- 
amine all persons and things that might in any way con- 
duce to throw light upon this remarkable and highly in- 
teresting subject. 



ON THE .RESURRECTION. 183 

Under circumstances so favorable to refutation there 
can be no doubt that the Jews would have refuted the 
story of the apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ, had it 
been in their power : and besides this, the Jews had an 
additional motive arising from the injury sustained by 
their moral character, unless they could prove the state- 
ments of the christians to be intentionally and wickedly 
erroneous. It will be readily granted, I suppose, that, 
when two parties of men are directly and strongly oppos- 
ed to each other, if the one asserts and publishes a state- 
ment as to matter of fact which is of the highest moment 
and absolutely destructive of the interest of the other, 
and is not so palpably false as to carry with it plain indi- 
cations of malignity and revenge, or of studied slander 
and scandal; then, if the other party, upon whom this 
charge is made, does not in as solemn and public a man- 
ner refute it, or do something in their own vindication, 
which will, in the opinion of unbiassed and unprejudiced 
persons, bear some proportion to the attack made upon 
them, — in such case, the accused party tacitly acknow- 
ledge the truth of what the accusing party have alleged 
against them, and thus, of consequence, relinquish the 
cause. Now this is exactly the state of the case between 
the early Jews and Christians. The evangelist Matthew 
publishes to the world in unequivocal terms, that the 
Jews bribed the soldiers to report that the body of Christ 
was stolen by his disciples when they (the guard) were 
asleep ; Matt. 28 : 13 ; and the early christians uniform- 
ly asserted the same thing. To record thus in the evan- 
gelical history that the Jews were guilty of this ridicu- 
lous and self-destructive, and yet horrid and abominable 
piece of forgery and bribery ; to tell the world that they 
acted so foul and sordid a part as to tamper with the sol- 
diers, and get them to circulate a story which in their 
hearts they knew to be notoriously false, as well as 
absurd, since no man can accurately ascertain what ia 



184 Gregory's letters. 

carried on near him when his senses are locked up in 
sleep ; to do this, was to depict the ruling Jews to the 
world in the very worst colors in which men could be 
drawn, and to expose the cause of these enemies 01 
Christ as desperate and forlorn to the last degree. Is i 
not natural to conclude that the Jews would in some sig 
nal manner have vindicated themselves from this charge 
if they had not known and felt that vindication was im- 
possible, the thing being notorious ? and is it not an equal- 
ly necessary inference, that the Jews at that time were 
fully persuaded that Jesus Christ was indeed risen % 
otherwise, why should they offer bribes, and invent an 
absurd story, to conceal it 1 

From this outline of arguments, for it is indeed nothing 
more than an outline, you will perceive that the evidence 
in favor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
dead is both forcible and satisfactory. To believe it, 
then, is reasonable ; and it is freed from absurdity, be- 
cause resurrection from the dead is manifestly as much 
within the power of God as creation; and every consis- 
tent theist admits the latter. But the adoption of a 
contrary opinion is pregnant with absurdities and natural 
impossibilities ; with the mention of a few of which I 
shall close this letter. 

He, who denies the resurrection of Jesus Christ, must 
believe, 

-^That twelve poor fishermen and tent-makers, with- 
out power, and (all except Paul) without human learn- 
ing, were able to deceive the wise, the learned, the 
prudent ; and to lay their plot so deep that neither their 
cotemporaries nor any succeeding generation should bo 
able to detect and expose the cheat. 

— That those very persons who but a few hours before 
were trembling with timidity and fear, whose want of 
courage (even according to their own account) overcame 
their fidelitv, and caused them to forsake their Master in 



ON THE RESURRECTION. 185 

his greatest extremity, notwithstanding their various pro- 
fessions, nay, protestations, of inviolable attachment and 
zeal ; being so terrified with apprehensions that they dare 
not acknowledge themselves to be his disciples, but se- 
creted themselves by day for fear of the Jews ; — yet that 
these timid, irresolute creatures should) all at once not only 
form the plan, but execute the bold, hazardous and useless 
undertaking of conquering the guards, forcing the sepul 
chre and carrying off the body of their crucified Lord. 

— That men thus rash and desperate, engaged in an 
enterprise of so much danger, an enterprise which there- 
fore required all possible expedition and despatch, should 
waste time in unaccountable niceties and ceremonies 
(such as divesting the body of its burial-clothes, dispo- 
sing them in separate parcels, &c.) which could be of no 
manner of use ; but evidently exposed them to the danger 
of being surprised by the guards and taken into custody. 

— That these timid, yet desperate men, who constituted 
a company of the greatest impostors that ever existed in 
the world, and who, therefore, must necessarily be the 
worst men that ever were, did, notwithstanding, furnish 
mankind with the most comprehensive and exact system 
of morality extant, teach such rules of living as were infi- 
nitely superior to any of the productions of Greek or Ro- 
man philosophers, and though their whole business was 
only to promote and disseminate falsehood and deception, 
yet denounced the severest eternal punishment upon all 
who indulged in such wicked practices. 

— That these impostors, having themselves no correct 
notions of God, should notwithstanding impart the most 
rational and becoming opinions respecting him to the 
rest of mankind, and by no other principles than those 
of delusion and irreligion kindle a flame of desire in the 
breasts of thousands to serve and worship God. 

— That they took far more pains to expose themselves 
to all the world, as the most abandoned sinners that ever 



iy6 Gregory's letters. 

came into it \^or that -they should deceive themselves so 
as to believe Jesus was seen ten distinct times after his 
resurrection, when he was not seen at all, cannot be ima- 
gined,) than they need have done to have established the 
best reputation among their cotemporaries, and have, 
procured an immortal fame in all succeeding ages. 

— That these impostors, after spending their lives in 
promulgating falsehood, died, not to testify their belief 
in a speculative doctrine respecting which they might be 
deluded by others, or self-deluded ; but in attestation of 
a pretended fact, while they knew it was no fact ; and all 
this under the strongest declarations of devotedness to 
God, and of adoration to their risen Savior, who, they 
pretended, was now sitting in heaven to receive them. 
Acts, 7 : 59. 

Hence you will perceive that, as a general denial of 
revelation leads to numerous gross absurdities, of which a 
few were detailed in my first letter, so a denial of indi- 
vidual topics of revealed truth brings each its appropri- 
ate and dependent string of difficulties. He who denies 
the truth of Scripture prophecy must admit that things 
predicted have occurred, although there was an infinitely 
great probability against their occurrence. He who dis- 
believes the miracles recorded in Scripture must believe 
in other miracles. And he who denies the particular 
miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in conse- 
quence involves himself in the particular class of absur- 
dities to which I have just adverted : besides which, he 
voluntarily excludes himself from the only strong conso- 
lation a rational being can possess at the hour of death, 
that flowingfrom a full persuasion of the resurrection to 
eternal life. " I am the Resurrection and the Life," said 
Jesus Christ : " whosoever believeth in me shall not die 
eternally;" John, 11 : 25, 26; and his own resurrection 
fully establishes the truth of this consolatory declaration. 
But the proud philosopher who rejects this doctrine, so 



DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 187 

suited to the wishes and the wants of man, not only 
places himself below the christian, but below the Indian, 
in point of prospects of futurity. The poor untutored, 
despised Indian, 

" Thinks, that admitted to that equal sky, 
" His faithful dog shall bear him company." 

While many of those who pity the stupidity of the In- 
dian, and sneer at the credulity of the christian, live and 
die under the debasing conviction that at death them- 
selves and their dogs will be alike extinct, alike free from 
responsibility, alike unconscious of all around them, alike 
excluded from pleasure, alike liberated from pain !* 



LETTER IX. 

Eiidence drawn from the rapid diffusion of Christianity, and its 
triumph over persecution ; also, from the purity and excellency 
of the Scripture morality and theology. 

The two topics I have selected for discussion in this 
letter might each furnish matter for a volume ; and the 
argument, if judiciously handled, would rather gain 
strength than become weakened by such dilation. I 
mean, however, in either case, to present you with a 
mere outline of the argument, and leave you to give co- 
lor and force to the former by your acquaintance with the 
history of the first four centuries of the church, and to 
the latter by a careful perusal of the holy Scriptures. 

Our reasoning is simple, and rests upon the principles 

* It was a common assertion of Diderot, tl at between him and his dos; 
" il n i/ avoit dc difference que habit " 



188 Gregory's letters. 

of natural religion. God will aid that which is good, and 
check that which is bad, in so far that each shall be ren- 
dered subservient to a higher good : hence it is agreeable 
to Divine Providence to give the most rapid and exten- 
sive diffusion to that which is, in itself and its tendencies, 
best : and hence it will follow, since God has regard to 
human affairs, and since the christian religion cannot be 
good if it be not true, and could not gain ground as it did 
in opposition to earthly power and unassisted by hea- 
venly power, that it is what it professes to be, and is 
therefore divine. 

It is, I believe, an undeniable fact, that before the end 
of the second century Christianity had been more widely 
disseminated over the face of the earth than any one 
religion, true or false. Heathenism, in all its varieties of 
dismal shades, had been thickening for thousands of 
years, until " darkness covered the earth, and gross dark- 
ness the people." But as the natural sun chases away 
darkness from whole regions, with analogous rapidity 
did the " Sun of righteousness " dispel the moral gloom 
which every where prevailed. Thus Iren,eus affirms 
that, in his time, not only those who dwelt near Pales- 
tine, but the Egyptians, the Libyans, the Celts, the Ger- 
mans, &c. had one belief; nay, says he, " the preaching 
of the truth shines every where, and enlightens all men 
who are willing to come to the knowledge of the truth." 
Lib. 1, c. 3. Clemens again affirms that, in his time, 
" Christ was known in all nations." Strom. 5. And, that 
I may not needlessly multiply quotations, let me, once 
for all, cite Tertullian.* " In whom else have all na- 

* Cont. Jud lib. 1. The following is the reluctant testimony of Gibbon, 
Hist. Rom. Empire, ix, 244. " The progress of Christianity was 120 at 
the Ascension, (Acts, 1 : 15,) soon 'after 3000, (c. 2 : 41,) then 5000, and 
in little less than two years after the Ascension to great multitudes at Je- 
rusalem only. Mahomet was three years silently occupied in making four- 



DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 189 

dons believed, but in Christ who lately came ] In whom 
have all these nations believed'? that is, Parthians, Medes, 
Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Armenia, 
Phrygia, Cappadocia; the inhabitants of Pontus, and 
Asia, and Pamphylia; they that dwell in Egypt, and 
they who live in Africa, beyond Cyrene ; Romans, and 
strangers ; Jews, and of other nations in Jerusalem ; the 
various sorts of people in Getulea ; the many countries 
of the Moors; all the borders of Spain; the different na- 
tions of Gaul; and those parts of Britain which the Ro- 
mans could not reach, even they are subject to Christ; 
the Sarmatoe also, and Daci, the Germans and Scythians; 
and many other obscure nations, with many provinces 
and islands scarcely known to us : in all these the name 
of Christ, lately as he came, reigns." Presently after, 
this distinguished apologist shows how much larger the 
kingdom of Christ was, even in his time (the second cen- 
tury,) than any of the great monarchies, as they are usu- 
ally called, and then proceeds thus : " The kingdom of 
Christ is every where extended, every where received ; 
in all the above-mentioned nations is estemed. He reigns 
every where, is adored in all places, is divided equally 
amongst all known countries." From this wonderful suc- 
cess attending the promulgation of Christianity in all na- 
tions, it soon obtained the name of » */>*<ra<r* «T^st^», or the 
prevailing doctrine; as Porphyry and Julian both ac- 
knowledge. 

Now what religion was there that could compare with 
this for the extent of its possession % The only plausible 
answer is — heathenism. But heathenism, it should be re- 
collected, though it be one name, is not one religion. 
Heathens do not all worship the same thing, as I have 

teen converts, and they of his own family ; and proceeded so slow at 
Mecca, that in the seventh year only eighty-three men and eighteen women 
retired to Ethiopia, and he had no established religion at Mecca to con- 
tend with." 



190 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

abundantly shown in a former letter; nor are they go 
verned by the same law, nor do thej bow to one com- 
mon master in religious matters. The only religions 
which even now can bear any comparison in point of 
number of votaries with the Christian, are the Jewish and 
the Mahomedan ; and both of them are decidedly inferi- 
or in this respect. The Jews indeed, though very much 
scattered over the face of the earth, are but one nation, 
and profess one religion, namely, that which in the Di- 
vine dispensations prepared the way for Christianity. 
But their religion, it is well known, has received no re- 
markable increase since the time of Christ; and even 
their own law is made more known through the efforts 
of the christians than their own. As to Mahomedanism, 
it is settled and established in many countries ; but not 
alone: for Christianity is esteemed in some of those coun- 
tries ; nay, in some, indeed, by a greater proportion of 
the inhabitants : whereas, on the contrary, there are ma- 
ny parts of Christendom where there is not a single Ma- 
homedan to be found, except as a sojourner or a visitor. 
How, then, was this rapid promulgation and perma- 
nent preponderancy of the christian religion occasioned ] 
Was it primarily by courting the aid of the great, the 
learned, the powerful; by enlisting states and govern- 
ments in the cause of Christ ? Certainly not. Most men, 
we observe, are prepared to follow the example and 
comply with the wishes of kings and rulers ; especially 
if they are enforced with retributive or compulsive laws. 
To these the religion of the Jews, of the Pagans, and of 
the Mahomedans, owed much of their increase. But 
Christianity, during the time it spread most rapidly, was 
not incorporated with the state, as were Judaism, and 
many systems of paganism ; nor was it propagated by 
the sword of its advocates, as was Mahomedanism. They 
who first taught the christian religion were not only men 
without any secular authority, but of low fortune, such as 



DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. L\) 1 

fishermen and tent-makers ; and yet, by the instrumen- 
tality of these men, that doctrine was in the course of 
thirty years disseminated, not only through all parts of 
the Roman empire, but as far as the Parthians and In- 
dians. And not only at its earliest commencement, but 
for nearly three hundred years, by the industry and zeal 
of private, obscure persons, without any threats, without 
any invitations, nay, opposed as much as possible by 
those who were in authority, this religion was so widely 
promulgated that, long before Constantine professed 
Christianity, it was received in the greatest part of the 
Roman empire. " We are but of yesterday," says Ter- 
tullian, "and have filled all places belonging to you; 
your cities, islands, castles, towns, councils ; your very 
camps, wards, companies, the palace, senate, and forum : 
we have left you only your temples."* 

Nor was this effected by adventitious means. Those 
among the Greeks who delivered their imperfect pre- 
cepts of morality, at the same time rendered themselves 
acceptable by other arts : as the Platonists, by the study 
of geometry ; the Peripatetics, by the history of plants 
and of animals ; the Stoics, by logical subtlety ; the Py- 
thagoreans, by the knowledge of numbers, and their ap- 
plication to the principles of harmony. Many of them, 
as Plato, Xenophon, Theophrastus, &c. were endowed 
with the most admirable eloquence 

Xot so the Apostles and first teachers of Christianity. 
" When I came to you," says Paul to the Corinthians, 
1 Cor. 2 : 1-4, "I came not with excellency of speech 
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God : 

* Tert. Apol. ii. cap. 37. He adds, " We could make a terrible war 
upon you by simply being so passively revengeful as only to leave you. 
Should the numerous host of christians retire from the empire into some 
l-emote region, the loss of so many men of all ranks and degrees would 
leave a hideous gap, and inflict a shameful scar upon the government. 
You would stand aghast at your desolation, and be struck dumb at the 
general silence and horror of nature, as if the whole world were departed." 



L92 Gregory's letters. 

for I determined not to know any thing among you, save 
Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in 
weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling : and my 
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words 
of man's wisdom ; but in demonstration of the Spirit and 
of power." Indeed, as if in order " to mortify human 
vanity, to convince the world that religion was a plain 
simple thing, and that a little common sense, accompanied 
with an honest good heart, was sufficient to propagate it, 
without any aid derived from the cabinets of princes or 
the schools of human science, the Founder of the chris 
tian religion took twelve poor illiterate men into his 
company, admitted them to an intimacy with himself, 
and after he had kept them awhile in tuition, promised 
them the aid of his Spirit, and sent them to preach the 
good tidings of salvation to their countrymen." A while 
after he selected seventy more, giving them a simple but 
efficacious preparation ; and sent them forth to preach 
the Gospel. " As ye go," says he, "preach, saying, The 
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse 
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils : freely ye have 
received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silrer, 
nor brass in your purses : n6r scrip for your journey, 
neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves. And 
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill 
the soul." Matt. 10 : 7-10, 28. Thus equipped, the\ 
went forth to their momentous but dangerous undertak- 
ing. They delivered the history, they taught the doc 
trines, they declared the precepts, promises, and threat- 
enings, in bare words, unaccompanied by any secular 
power. Yet they were every where successful as to the 
object of their mission, and in the course of two cen- 
turies accomplished what I have already described : so 
that we must of necessity allow, either that they were 
attended by miracles, or that the secret influence of God 
favored their efforts, or both : and in either case it fol- 



DIFFUSION OF CHBIST1ANITY. 103 

lows that the cause they espoused was the cause of Go _. 
This will appear still more obviously, if we consider 
the impediments with which they had to contend, and 
the difficulties which arose even from the nature of the 
religion they professed. Considered as a system intended 
to effect proselytism by the usual means, it was funda- 
mentally erroneous. No quality could be imagined more 
directly calculated, considering the state of the world 
about the christian era, to frustrate the attempts of the pri- 
mitive -"-hristians, than the inflexibility, or, as it has been 
called, the intolerance of their zeal. It is true, the reli- 
gion they proposed was so far of -a general nature, that 
none were necessarily excluded from the benefit of it : all 
were invited to partake of its blessings. Yet, notwith- 
standing this liberality, Christianity was in its strictest 
sense, in its relation to other religions then prevailing, an 
unsocial religion. Unlike the various schemes and modifi- 
cations of polytheism, it would neither accommodate itself 
to the reigning superstitions, nor would it admit of any 
association with them. " Keep yourselves from idols," 
was an injunction incessantly ringing in the ears and 
meeting the eyes of the first disciples. 1 John, 5:21; 
1 Cor. 10 : 14 ; 2 Cor. 6 : 16, 17. " What can be the rea- 
son," said ^Emilian, prefect of Egypt, to Dionysius, 
bishop of Alexandria, " why you may not still adore that 
God of yours, supposing him to be a God, in conjunction 
with our gods V "We worship no other God," replied 
Dionysius. Vide Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. 11. 
In the ears of a Polytheist such language was unpardon- 
able ; yet it was the language uniformly suggested by 
the christian religion. Thus when Cyprian was brought 
oefore the proconsul, " Thou art Thascius Cyprian (says 
lie) who hast been a ringleader to men of a perverse 
mind : the emperor commands thee to do sacrifice; con- 
lull, then, thy welfare." To this he answered, " I am Cy- 
prian, I am too a christian, and I cannot sacrifice to your 

Gregory 9 



194 cregory's letters. 

god : do, therefore, what you are commanded; as for me, 
in so just a cause I need no time for consideration." Si- 
milarly noble and decided was the conduct of Polycarp 
and Basil ; all tending to evince that their religion was 
formed to stand alone ; and wherever it prevailed it was 
over the ruins of other systems. With such pretensions 
the heralds of the Gospel could not well hope for a favor^ 
able reception. Their apparent arrogance could only 
serve to provoke the indignation of those whom they en- 
deavored to convert; and the ardent zeal with which they 
prosecuted their cause would, "according to the natural 
course of things" have a direct tendency to defeat their ob- 
ject. See Warburton's Divine Legation, book 2, sect. 6. 
Besides this, the minds of those to whom this new re- 
ligion was proposed were pre-occupied. They were fill- 
ed with opinions, and moulded into habits, all of which 
were directly and powerfully repugnant to the spirit of 
Christianity. The Hebrews were prepared for the recep- 
tion of the law of Moses, by the previous appointment 
of circumcision, and by their knowledge of one God. But, 
from a moderate acquaintance with the state of the Jew- 
ish and Gentile world at the origin of Christianity, it must 
be evident that every thing that most strongly influences 
and tyrannizes over the mind of man, — religion, custom, 
law, policy, pride, interest, vice, and even philosophy, — 
were united against the Gospel. These enemies were, 
in their own nature, very formidable and difficult to be 
subdued, had they even suffered themselves to be attack- 
ed upon equal ground. But, not relying upon their own 
strength, when barely opposed to the obscure disciples 
of a crucified malefactor, (for prejudice and falsehood are 
always timid and fearful,) they entrenched themselve be- 
hind that power of which they were in possession, and 
rendered themselves inaccessible, as they imagined, to 
Christianity, by planting round them not only all kinds of 
civil discouragements, but even torments, chains and 



DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 105 

death : terrors which no one could despise, who had 
any views of ambition or interest, and who was not even 
contented to resign his reputation, his ease, his fortune, 
and his life ; — for the relinquishment of all these was the 
frequent consequence of the early profession of Christianity. 

"And now," said Paul, on taking leave of the elders o 
the church at Ephesus, "behold I go," urged by the Spirit, 
"to' Jerusalem, not knowing the things which shall befall 
me there : save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every 
city, saying, that bonds a?id afflictions abide me. But none 
of these things move me, neither count I my life dear 
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, 
and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Je- 
sus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." Acts, 20 : 
22-24. Similar to this in kind, if not in degree, must have 
been the expectation of all zealous christians in the pri- 
mitive ages. They were called, in consequence of their 
profession, to the greatest sufferings. For centuries they 
were excluded from all places of honor, were fined, had 
their goods confiscated, were banished ; and these were 
comparatively small things. They were condemned to 
the mines, had inflicted upon them the most cruel tor- 
ments that men could invent ; such as the rack, the wheel, 
throwing to wild beasts, tearing asunder by branches of 
trees, burning in pitched coats, boiling in oil or lead, cru- 
cifixion with the head downwards : thus the punishment 
of death became so common that, as related by the wri- 
ters of those times, no famine, pestilence or war ever 
consumed more. The persecutions to which the early 
christians were exposed followed one another with fu- 
riqus and unrelenting rapidity, leaving the church scarce- 
ly time to breathe between the several sanguinary attacks 
inder which she languished and suffered. 

No sooner had the converts to Christianity, in the lan- 
guage of Tacitus, become a vast multitude, (ingens mul- 
titudo, Hist. lib. 15, sect. 44,) than the first great pers3- 



196 Gregory's letters. 

cution began, under Nero, A. D. 65. The second was 
under Domitian, A. D. 90. The third commenced under 
Trajan, A. D. 100. The fourth under Adrian, A. D. 126, 
and continued under Antoninus Pius, to A. D. 140. The 
fifth under Marcus Aurclius, A. D. 162. The sixth under 
Severus, A. D. 203. The seventh under Maximinus, A. D. 
236. The eighth under Deems, A. D. 251. The ninth 
under Valerian, A. D. 258. The tenth under* Diocletian, 
A. D. 303. And what, you will ask, was the nature of 
these persecutions % In reply, I shall briefly describe the 
last. In the edict issued by Diocletian in 303, he com- 
manded all the churches to be demolished, and the chris- 
tians to be deprived of their sacred writings, and of all 
their civil privileges and immunities : it occasioned the 
death of very many, who refused to surrender their reli- 
gious books to the magistrates. Indeed Tertullian in- 
forms us that 20,000 christians were burned by Diocle- 
tian's orders on one Christmas Day ; of whom many were 
burned in a church where they were assembled for wor- 
ship. A second edict ordered the imprisonme?it of all bi- 
shops and ministers of the Gospel. A third commanded 
that the most exquisite tortures should be employed to 
constrain these captives to lead the way in open apos- 
tacy. In a fourth, promulgated A. D. 304, magistrates 
were enjoined to exercise these tortures upon all chris- 
tians, without distinction of" rank or sex, for the purpose 
of forcing them to renounce their religion. These edicts, 
which extended over the whole Roman empire, with the 
exception of Gaul, were executed with such active, bru- 
tal, and successful zeal, that pillars were erected in Spain 
in honor of Diocletian, for having " every where abolished 
the superstition of Christ;" and a medal of this emperor, 
still extant, was struck with the inscription, " Nomine 
Christianorum dclcto. ,> 

Besides these, there were persecutions in Africa, in 
Persia, in Arabia, Cappadocia, Mesopotamia, Nicomedia, 



DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 197 

Phrygia, and in almost every place where the christian 
name was known. Christianity had every where armed 
against it the policy of empires, the jealousy of magis- 
trates both supreme and subordinate, the interests of the 
priesthood, the virulent, systematic, and well-discipline. I 
rancor of the philosophers, and the furious passions of an 
inflamed and superstitious populace ; and thus those who 
suffered for " the cause of Christ," men, women, youths 
of both sexes, were so numerous as to be estimated only 
in the mass ; many of them falling under the weight oJ 
such excruciating torments as cannot be read or thought 
of without agony and horror. TStill, as Cyprian, when 
exhorting the martyrs of his time, tells them of those 
who had gone before, " in the hottest conflict they never 
shrunk, but maintained their ground with a free confes- 
sion, an unshaken mind, a divine courage, destitute indeed 
of external weapons, but armed with 'the shield of faith.' 
In torments they stood stronger than their tormentors ; 
their bruised and mangled limbs proved too hard for the 
instruments with which their flesh was racked and pulled 
from them ; the blows, however often repeated, could not 
conquer their impregnable faith ; even though they not 
only sliced and tore off the flesh, but raked into their very 
bowels, and let out blood enough to extinguish the flames 
of persecution, or mitigate the heat of their hellish fire." 
Thus, though such as these were the difficulties with 
which Christianity had to struggle for many ages, still she 
prevailed. "The blood of the martyrs became the seed 0/ 
the church^* Thai which might have been thought most 
uncongenial to the growth of the new religion was found 
most propitious to it. It prevailed notwithstanding this 
astonishing, this unprecedented, this universal opposition, 
so as to change the whole face of things, to overturn the 

* " The more you mow us down, the thicker we rise : the christian blood 
you spill is like the seed you sow ; it springs from the earth again, and fiuc 
tines the more." Tcrtullian, Apol. c. 50. 



198 - Gregory's letters 

temples and the altars of the gods, silence the oracles, 
mortify the impious pride of emperors, confound the pre- 
sumptuous wisdom of philosophers, and infuse into the 
hearts of thousands and tens of thousands a new spirit, 
and transform them into new men. 

Whence did the new religion acquire this mysterious 
and inextinguishable potency 1 Was it " from heaven, 01 
of men t" No natural cause can account for it; indeed it 
is contrary to the whole course of natural causes. Weak, 
illiterate men, of the lowest class — men who had nothing 
in this world to offer their converts but sufferings, tortures, 
and the cross — who were every where oppugned, perse- 
cuted, and ill-treated "even unto death;" these were 
they who triumphed " over flesh and blood," and converted 
the universe. They continued to suffer, century after cen- 
tury, till they had subdued the world by dying for their rc- 
' ligion. The cause is to be found alone in the omnipotence 
of truth, and especially the truth of God. " In the name 
of Jesus of Nazareth the lame walk, the lepers are cleans- 
ed, the deaf hear, the blind see, the dead are raised, the 
poor, (reckoned of no estimation in the eyes of the world,) 
the poor have the Gospel preached unto them." Matt. 
11:5. In this name the Legislator of the universe speaks, 
nations hear, and rejoice, and live ; and thus we arrive at 
the only competent and adequate solution of the difficulty 
why genuine Christianity, whose peculiar characteristic 
was non-resistance, should be every where and in all ages 
opposed ; and yet should every where and in all ages in- 
crease. Thus, in the clearest and purest manifestation of 
himself to the world, God evinced his perfect independ- 
ence of human wisdom and human power : he passed by 
the splendor of thrones and the glory of philosophy, and 
showed that he could command all nature and influence 
all hearts by means the most humble and most likely to be 
contemned. " He chose the foolish things of the world to 
confound the wise ; and the weak things of the world to 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY ANE THEOLOGY. 199 

confound those which are mighty ; and base things of the 
world, and things which are despised, did God choose, 
yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things 
that are ; that no flesh should glory in his 'presence.'" 1 Cor. 
1 : 27-29. 

Having thus exhibited the argument drawn from the 
early propagation of Christianity, let me now briefly ad- 
vert to that which flows from the purity, excellency, and 
extent of the christian morality and theology. 

The nature of these may be gathered from the testi- 
mony of the enemies to Christianity, from its effect upon 
the character and conduct of its converts in all ages, and 
from the uniform tenor of the holy Scriptures. 

Here then, first, as to the testimony of enemies to Chris- 
tianity, since I must conform to the principle of selection, 
I shall cite only two ; but they will be amply sufficient for 
my purpose. Of these, the first is Pliny the younger, 
who, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, writes thus from 
Nicomedia concerning the christians under his govern- 
ment : " The sum total of their fault, or of their error, 
consisted in assembling upon a certain stated day, be- 
fore it was light, to sing alternately among themselves 
hymns to Christ as to a God; binding themselves by oath 
not to be guilty of any wickedness ; not to steal nor to 
rob ; not to commit adultery, nor break their faith when 
plighted ; nor to deny the deposits in their hands when- 
ever called upon to restore them. These ceremonies per- 
formed, they usually departed, and came together again 
to take a repast, the meat of which was innocent and 
eaten promiscuously." The only crime this governor 
could discover in the christians was " merely an obstinate 
kind of superstition carried to great excess." He there-' 
fore asks, " Must they be punished for the na?ne, though 
otherwise innocent? Or is the name itself so flagitious as 
lo be punishable ?" Conformably with this we find that 



200 Gregory's letters. 

the early christian apologists are frequently exposing the 
cruelty and folly of the heathen magistrates, because, while 
they put others to the rack to extort confession of their 
crimes, they tormented christians that they might deny 
and renounce their name. 

My next evidence is Lucian, one of the ablest writers 
of his age, and one of the chief magistrates of a great 
province of the empire. " The legislator of the christians 
persuades them that they are all brethren. They secede 
from us : they abjure the gods of the Grecians. They 
adore their crucified teacher, and conform their lives to his 
laws. They despise riches ; every thing amongst them is 
in common, and they are constant in their faith. To this 
day they adore their great man crucified in Palestine."* 

Such, then, according to the testimony of Pliny and 
Lucian, was the effect of Christianity upon the minds and 
conduct of those who embraced it, that they engaged not 
to commit any crime, that they adhered strictly to their 
promises, that they could have no crime imputed to them 
but obstinate attachment to their religion ; that they de- 
spised riches, and that they loved one another as brethren. 
If any person were seeking for criteria of a false religion, 
of a religion founded upon wickedness and cemented by 
deceit, (and such must the christian religion be, if it did 
not emanate from God,) would he be satisfied with such 
as these ] 

But let us notice the effect of Christianity upon one 
who was long a hater of it, and became, notwithstanding, 
its illustrious defender — I mean the apostle Paul. What 
was his character before his conversion to Christianity 1 
That of a furious bigot, an .unrelenting persecutor of 

I " Lucian de Morte Peregrini. For other testimonies from Antonius Pius, 
Trypho, &c. see Cave's Primitive Christianity, part. i. ch. 4. And for 
Tertullian's powerful raillery on Trajan's celebrated letter to Pliny, deli 
neating the conduct which he was to pursue with respect to the chrisliars, 
see Apologet, cap. 2, or the Pantalogia, art. Trajan. 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY AND THEOLOGY. 20\ 

thjse whose religious opinions were different from his 
own; a man who " breathed threatenings and slaughter" 
against others whose only crime was sublime virtue ; a 
man who delighted in sanguinary scenes ; who held the 
clothes of those who stoned martyrs, probably gnashing 
his teeth for vexation all the while that he was too young 
to be more actively engaged in the brutal scene ; a man 
whose principal delight was in " making havoc of the 
church," disturbing domestic privacy, " entering into 
houses and haling men and women to prison ;" who 
" punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled 
them to blaspheme ; and being exceedingly mad against 
them, persecuted them even unto strange cities." Acts, 
7:58; 8:1-3; 9:1; 26 : 10, 11, 19. 

How different were his actions and his sentiments aftei 
he had been converted on his way to Damascus, and be- 
came " obedient unto the heavenly vision !" Observe how 
pure, how elevated, how benevolent, how peculiarly fitted 
to the wants of universal society are the ethics become 
of the man who just before found his greatest pleasure 
and glory in persecuting and torturing his fellow-crea- 
tures. " Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that 
which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly- 
affectioned one to another with brotherly love ; in honor 
preferring one another ; not slothful in business ; fervent 
in spirit ; serving the Lord ; rejoicing in hope ; patient 
in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing 
to the necessity of saints ; given to hospitality. Bless 
them which persecute you; bless, and curse not. Rejoice 
with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 
Mind not high things. Be not wise in your own conceits, 
Live peaceably with all men. Avenge not yourselves, but 
rather give place unto wrath. If thine enemy hunger, feed 
him ; if he thirst, give him drink. Be not overcome of 
evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans, 12-: 9-21. 
Where, except in the Bible, or in books which inculcate 

9* 



202 GREGORY'S LETTERS. 

the sentiments of the Bible, will you find such a group 
of admirable, peace-inspiring precepts 1 Observe, again, 
how this apostle depicts the sublime importance of chari- 
ty, or love. " Though I speak with the tongues of men 
and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sound- 
ing brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the 
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could 
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 
And though I give my body to be burned, and have not 
charity, it profiteth me nothing." 1 Cor. 13 : 1-3. Surely 
this was not always the language of the fanatical perse- 
cutor Saul ! Whence, then, did he derive these elevated 
sentiments, this preference of universal benevolence to 
the most splendid and miraculous endowments 1 Are 
these the notions of a vile impostor, or of a poor deluded 
enthusiast, or of one whom " much learning has made 
mad V. No ; they are the genuine productions of the re- 
ligion of Jesus, invariably manifested in a greater or less 
degree wherever that religion is efficacious ; and proving 
clearly that that religion proceeds from Him who wills 
the harmony and the happiness of the physical and ra- 
tional world. 

Look again at the language of the Divine Founder of 
the christian religion. Read some of his discourses. Take 
those, for example, which are recorded in the 5th, 6th, 
7th, 10th, and 25th chapters of Matthew's Gospel; and. 
those in the 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters of 
John's Gospel. I know your soul is susceptible of ex- 
quisite feelings, and that you can readily discern and dis- 
tinguish the good, the beautiful, the pathetic, the sublime, 
the sincere : and I therefore may ask you again with con- 
fidence, could these admirable and astonishing discourses 
proceed from the mouth of an impostor 1 Could they be 
the workings of a heated imagination 1 Could they pro- 
ceed from any mere mortal ? It is impossible for any man 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY AND THEOLOGY. ^03 

of correct understanding and unbiassed mind to answer 
these questions in the affirmative. 

But we need not stop at an examination of a few dis- 
courses of our Lord anl his apostles; we may go much 
farther, and take in the whole scope, object, and tenden- 
cy of Scripture ; and may boldly affirm, in the language 
of the poet, that 

" if we trace the globe around, 

" And search from Britain to Japan, 
" There shall be no religion found 

" So just to God, so safe for man." 

A religion that comes from heaven may naturally be 
expected to furnish the most elevated, impressive, and 
glorious conceptions of the attributes and operations of 
the Deity. So does the religion of the Bible. 

A religion that comes from heaven should furnish in- 
centives to the most sublime virtue, and the strongest 
motives -to avoid sin ; its promises and threatenings should 
be respectively of the most inviting and alarming kind. 
Such are the promises and threatenings of the Bible. 

A religion that comes from heaven should teach man 
his true character, should tell him what he is, ahd what 
he may become ; should give him correct estimates of all 
around him, especially as they relate to morals and hap- 
piness. So does the religion of the Bible. 

A religion that comes from heaven would naturally 
condemn selfishness, pride, a secular spirit, discontent, 
and sensuality; and inculcate the principles of self-denial, 
resignation, universal harmony, love, and peace. So does 
the religion of the Bible. 

A religion that comes from heaven should teach the 
art of " keeping the heart " and regulating the affections. 
So does the religion of the Bible. 

A religion that comes from heaven, and that is formed 
for universality, should develope the great principles of 
social union, should explain and enforce all the relative 



201 Gregory's letters. 

duties, should soften and civilize the human character 
should perfect and ennoble every natural sentiment which 
tends to make man co-operate with his fellow-creatures 
for good. So does the religion of the Bible. 

A religion that comes from, heaven may naturally be 
expected to contain new precepts, such as obviously cor 
respond with the object of it. So does the religion of the 
Bible, and especially that of the perfective dispensation in 
the New Testament, where the precepts tend in an espe- 
cial manner to "prepare us for tlie kingdom of heaven." 
• Here the new precepts point to poorness of spirit, humi 
lity, self-abasement, detachment from the world, repent 
ance, faith, forgiveness of injuries, charity. All these 
were unknown to the pagan moralists. 

A religion that comes from heaven may be expected 
to rest upon some such scheme or plan as would never 
have entered the mind of man. So does the christian re- 
ligion. Its Founder made his own sufferings and death a 
requisite part of his original plan, essential to his mis- 
sion, and necessary to the salvation of his followers. This 
certainly surpassed all human conceptions or expec- 
tations. ' 

A religion that comes from heaven should teach the 
purest and most rational worship. So does the christian 
religion. It teaches us that " God is a Spirit, and that 
they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in 
truth" These two words exclude formality, hypocrisy, 
and deadness in devotion; and teach us that God requires 
of us the sincere homage of the heart. 

A religion that comes from heaven will incessantly in- 
vite men thither. So does the christian religion. 

A religion that comes from heaven, and that is consti- 
tuted to be universal, should meet man in all directions, 
and come into contact with him at every point. So does 
the religion of the Gospel. Its precepts and doctriraes 
are adapted to our advantage in all circumstances of life 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY AND IHEOLOGY. 205 

and conduct. Like the stars " in the glorious firmament 
of the sky," the precepts and promises applicable to hu- 
man life are universally scattered over the face of the 
Scriptures ; though, like the stars, they are more thickly 
grouped, and shine with more beauty and refulgence in 
some places than in others. Still the one and the other 
oxist for our good, and both may be contemplated as 

" For ever singing as they shine, 
" The hand that mads us is divine." 

Examining the various portions of the word of God un- 
der these impressions, and with this view, we shall find 
that there is a mutual connexion and harmony between 
them. Thus, every precept will be found to have its ex- 
emplification ; every command its corresponding benefit; 
every want its corresponding prayer ; and the aids of the 
Spirit uniformly offered. Thus, also, every duty is urged 
by an appropriate motive ; every blessing has its depen- 
dant duty; every trial its adequate support; every temp- 
tation its peculiar " way of escape " from it; every afflic- 
tion its commensurate consolation ; every situation has 
suggested its suitable religious employments ; every pe« 
riod in life and every relation in society brings with i, 
vocations and difficulties peculiar to itself, all of which 
are provided for in the richness and exuberance of Scrip- 
ture. Nay, even in the last great and solemn change, 
when the friends of a dying christian show, by their 
aching hearts and streaming eyes, that earthly hopes are 
at an end ; when a human creature most needs the con- 
solations and supports of religion, then does the christian 
religion often most manifest, its power, — enabling the 
weeping relatives to feel the acuteness without the bit 
temess of grief, and " sorrow not as those who are with 
out hope," — and at the same time plucking away the 
sting of death, and giving the departing saint to feel that 
when "flesh and heart fail, God is the strength of his 
heart and 7iis portion for cvcrT Psalm 73 : 26. 



206 Gregory's letters. 

Such are the benefits, the blessings, and the aids of the 
christian religion. It fills the minds of its genuine dis- 
ciples with true light, it reforms their hearts, it rightly 
disposes them towards God and their fellow-creatures : 
it teaches them how to bear prosperity without high- 
mindedness, adversity without murmuring; how humility 
may exist without meanness, and dignity without pride : 
it makes them more reasonable in all their actions ; and 
inspires them with fortitude, contentment, devotion and 
contempt of the world : it communicates correct notions 
of its own supreme value, of the sanctity of morality, the 
vanity of earthly passions, the misery and corruption of 
our nature, the littleness of every thing but God : it de- 
livers its disciples from the greatest, that is from moral 
evils ; teaches them the proper use of temporal mercies : 
and provides for them an inexhaustible and eternal store 
of intellectual and moral good. If the religion which ac- 
complishes all this be false, where can we seek for truth'? 
If the inestimable advantages it promises are to be de- 
spised and rejected, what is there upon or under the 
earth (and on this hypothesis there is nothing above it) 
that is worth retaining % 

Be it recollected, however, and with this remark I 
shall conclude the present letter, that the enjoyments of 
the christian religion are confined exclusively to sincere 
christians. " To these enjoyments, therefore, you will 
necessarily continue a stranger, unless you resign your- 
self wlwlly to its power : for the consolations of religion 
are reserved to reward, to sweeten and to stimulate obe- 
dience. Many, without renouncing the profession of 
Christianity, without formally rejecting its distinguish- 
ing doctrines, live in such an habitual violation of its 
laws, and contradiction to its spirit, that, conscious they 
have more to fear than to hope from its truth, they are 
never able to contemplate it without terror. It haunts 
their imagination instead of tranquillizing their hearts, and 



CHRISTIAN MORALITY AND THEOLOGY. 20? 

hangs with depressing weight on all their enjoyments 
and pursuits. Their religion, instead of comforting them 
under their troubles, is itself their greatest trouble, from 
which they seek refuge in the dissipation and vanity of 
the world, until the throbs and tumults of conscience 
force them back upon religion. Thus suspended between 
opposite powers, the sport of contradictory influences, 
they are disqualified for the happiness of both worlds, 
and neither enjoy the pleasures of sin nor the peace of 
piety. Is it surprising to find a mind thus bewildered in 
uncertainty and dissatisfied with itself, court deception, 
and embrace with eagerness every pretext to mutilate 
the claims and enervate the authority of Christianity ; 
forgetting that it is of the very essence of the religious 
principle to preside and control, and that it is impossible 
to serve God* and mammon ? It is this class of persons 
who are chiefly in danger of being entangled in the 
snares of infidelity. Yet the champions of infidelity have 
much more reason to be ashamed than to boast of such 
converts."* 

* See a very profound and eloquent discourse entitled, " Modern Infi 
delity considered with respect to its Influence on Society," by my most 
highly esteemed friend, Robert Hall, A. M. This author, in the preface 
to the valuable publication just quoted, pledged himself " to enter into a 
fuller and more particular examination of the Infidel Philosophy, both 
with respect to its speculative principles and its practical effects ; its in- 
fluence on society and the individual :" and every one who has resigned 
himself to the splendor, and magic, and force of his eloquence, an elo- 
quence which, like the solar light, warms while it illuminates, and is alike 
calculate/! to delight the imagination, to enrich the understanding, and 
\o amend the heart, — must lament that he has not long before now re- 
deemed this pledge. 



208 Gregory's letters. 

LETTER X. 

On the Inspiration of Scripture. 

The various trains of argument and observation I have 
laid open to you in my former letters have, I hope, fully 
convinced you that the several books of Scripture de- 
serve credence as genuine and authentic : but, in order 
that the truths and doctrines they contain may press up- 
on your mind with their full weight, it is necessary you 
should have a conviction of their Divine authority. A 
firm and cordial belief of the Inspiration of the Bible is, 
indeed, of the highest moment ; for unless you are per- 
suaded that those who were employed in the composi 
tion of the respective books were entirely preserved from 
error, a conviction of their honesty and integrity will be 
but of little avail. Honest men may err, may point out. 
the wrong track, however unwilling they may be to de- 
ceive ; and if those who have penned what we receive 
as revelation are thus open to mistakes, we are still left 
to make the voyage of life in the midst of rocks, and 
shelves, and quick-sands, with a compass vacillating and 
useless, and our pole-star enveloped in mists and ob- 
scurity. 

But some of these writers assure* us that " all Scrip- 
ture is given by inspiration of God;" 2 Tim. 3 : 16 ; 
meaning, at least, the Jewish Scriptures; a declaration 
which deserves attention on the score of the general vera- 
city by which we have already shown their assertions are 
always marked. Still, as a like claim is made by writers 
who, it has been ascertained, were wicked and designing, 
let us inquire on what grounds and to what extent the 
divine inspiration of the Bible ought to be admitted. 

Theologians have enumerated several kinds of Inspira- 
tion ; such as an inspiration of swpcrinlendency , in which 



INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 209 

God so influences and directs the mind of any person as 
to keep him more secure from error in some complex 
discourse, than he would have been merely by the use 
of his natural faculties ; plenary superintendent inspiration, 
which excludes any mixture of error whatever from the 
performance so superintended ; inspiration of elevation, 
where the faculties act in a regular, and, as it should 
seem, in a common manner, yet are raised to an extra- 
ordinary degree, so that the composition shall, upon the 
whole, have more of the true sublime, or pathetic, than 
natural genius could have given : — and inspiration of sug 
gestion, in which the use of the faculties is superseded 
and God does, as it were, speak directly to the mind, 
making such discoveries to it as it could not otherwise 
have obtained, and dictating the very words in which 
such discoveries are to be communicated, if they are de- 
signed as a message to others. 

It is not my purpose to enter into any inquiry how far 
different portions of Scripture were composed under one 
or other of these kinds of inspiration. I have enumerated 
them merely to show y©u that those who contend that 
Scripture is inspired, have not arrived at their decision 
by a gross and careless process, but by sedulous, critical, 
and discriminating investigation. I mean, however, to af- 
firm, and I trust the references I have thrown at the foot 
of the page, together with a few particular arguments I 
shall advance, will prove to you the reasonableness of ad- 
mitting, that, while the authors employed in the composi- 
tion of the Bible exercised generally their own reason 
and judgment,* the Spirit of God effectually stirred them 
up to write ;t appointed to each his proper portion and 
topic, corresponding with his natural talents and the ne- 
cessities of the church in his time ;f enlightened their 



Psalm 45 : 1 ; Mark, 12 : 36 ; Luke, 1:3; Acts, 1 : 1 ; 1 Pet. 1:1: 
-t2 Pet. 1 : 21. \ 2 Pet. 1 : 21 ; Matt. 25 : 15. 



'210 Gregory's letters. 

minds and gave them a distinct view of the truths they 
were to deliver ;* strengthened and refreshed their me- 
mories to recollect whatever they had seen cf heard, the 
insertion of which in their writings would be beneficial;! 
directed them to select from a multitude of facts what 
was proper for the edification of the church, and neither 
more nor less ;| excited afresh in their minds such ima 
ges and ideas as had been laid up in their me'mories, and 
directed them to other ends and purposes than them- 
selves would ever have done of their own accord ;|| sug- 
gested and imprinted upon their minds such matters as 
could not have been discovered or known by reason, ob- 
servation, or information, but were subjects of pure re- 
velation ;§ superintended every particular writer so as to 
render him infallible in his matter, words, and order, es- 
pecially whenever they related to facts, discourses, or 
doctrines, the communication of which is the great ob- 
ject of Scripture ; thus rendering the whole canon, at any 
given period, an infallible guide to true holiness and ever- 
Tasting happiness.fi 

Now, that the Scriptures were actually dictated by an 
inspiration of this kind may, I think, be inferred both from 
the reasonableness and from the necessity of the thing. 
It is reasonable that the sentiments and doctrines de- 
veloped in the Scriptures should be suggested to the 
minds of the writers by the Supreme Being himself. 
They relate principally to matters concerning which the 



* Jer. 1 : 1 1-16 ; 13 : 9-14 ; Ezek. 4:4-8; Dan. 8 : 15-19 ; 9 : 22-27 ; 
10 : 1, 8; Amos, 7 : 7, 3 ; 8 : 2 ; Zech. 1 : 19-21 ; 4 : 11-14; 5 : 6. 
John, 16 : 13 ; Eph. 3 : 3, 4; 1 Pet. 1 : 10, 11. 1 Luke, 1:3; John, 

14 : 26 : Jer. 31 : 3. % John, 20 : 30, 31 ; 21 : 25 ; Rom. 4 : 23, 24 ; 

15 : 4; 1 Cor. 10 : 6-11. 1| Amos, 1 and 9; Acts, 17 : 28 : 1 Cor. 

15 : 33; Tit. 1 : 12. § Gen. 1, 2, 3; Lev. 26; Isaiah, 41 : 22, 23; 

45 : 21 i 46 : 9, 10; 1 Tim. 3 : 16. H Deut. 8:1-4; Psalm 19 : 7-11; 

119; Matt. 22 : 29; Luke, 14 : 25-31; John, 5 : 39 ; Rom. 15 : 4; 
2 Tim. 3 : 15-17 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 19. 



INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 211 

communicating of information to men is worthy of God: 
and the more important the information communicated, 
the more it is calculated to impress mankind, to preserve 
from moral error, to stimulate to holiness, to guide to 
happiness, the more reasonable is it to expect that God 
should make the communication in a manner free from 
every admixture or risk of error. Indeed the notion of 
inspiration enters essentially into our ideas of a revela- 
tion from God : so that to deny inspiration is tantamount 
to affirming there is no revelation. And why should it 
be denied % Is man out of the reach of Him who created 
him ] Has he, who gave man his intellect, no means of 
enlarging or illuminating that intellect'? And is it be- 
yond his power to illuminate and inform in an especial 
manner tfie intellects of some chosen individuals, — or con- 
trary to his wisdom to preserve them from error when 
they communicate to others, either orally or by writing, 
the knowledge he imparted to them, not merely for their 
own benefit, but for that of the world at large, in all 
generations 1 

But farther, inspiration is necessary. The necessity 
of revelation I have shown in a former letter ; and the 
same reasoning, in connexion with what I have just re- 
marked, establishes the necessity of inspiration. Besides 
this, the subjects of Scripture render inspiration necessary. 
Some past facts recorded in the Bible could not possibly 
have been known had not God -revealed them. Many 
things are recorded there as future, that is, are predicted, 
which God alone could foreknow and foretell, which not- 
withstanding came to pass, aVid which, therefore, were 
foretold under divine inspiration. Others, again, are far 
above human capacity, and never could have been dis- 
covered by men : these, therefore, must have been deliv- 
ered by divine inspiration. The authoritative language 
of Scripture, too, argues the necessity of inspiration, ad- 
mitting the veracity of the writers. They propose things 



212 Gregory's letters. 

not as matters for consideration, but for adoption : the} 
do not leave us the alternative of receiving or rejecting ; 
do not present us with their own thoughts ; but exclaim, 
" Thus saith the Lord" and on that ground demand our 
assent. They must, of necessity, therefore, speak and 
write as they " were inspired by the Holy Ghost," or be 
impostors : and the last supposition is precluded by rea- 
sonings which I have repeatedly brought forward in 
these letters. 

Very striking proofs of the inspiration of the Scrip- 
tures might be deduced from a consideration of their 
sublimity, their union of perspicuity with profundity, 
their piety, their pure and holy tendency, their efficacy, 
their harmony, and their miraculous preservation. But I 
shall leave you to reflect upon these at your leisure, and 
proceed to lay before you the testimony of those who lived 
nearest the apostolic times on this point. They may natu- 
rally be expected, so far I mean as is independent of the 
written word, to know more of the sentiments of those 
who, in regard to religious topics, had " the mind of 
Christ," than any christians in subsequent ages. Consid- 
er in this view the weight of the following quotations : 

1. Clemens Romanus says that " the apostles preach- 
ed the Gospel, being filled with the Holy Spirit: that the 
Scriptures are the true word of the Spirit ; and that Paul 
wrote to the Corinthians things that were true, by the 
aid of the Spirit;" aiui that the Pentateuch, as well as 
all that the Jews received as Holy Scripture, " were in- 
deed the oracles of God." 

2. Justin Martyr say^" that the Gospels were writ- 
ten by men full of the Holy Ghost, and that the sacred wri- 
ters were moved by inspiration :" and in his argumen- 
tations he generally, if not always, assumes as incontro- 
vertible the inspiration of the Old Testament. 

3. Iren^us says that " all the apostles as well as Paul 
received the Gospel by divine revelation; and that by 



INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURF 213 

the will of God they delivered it to us as the foundation 
and pillar of our faith ; that the Scriptures were dictated 
by the Spirit of God, and therefore it is wickedness to 
contradict them, and sacrilege to make any the least al- 
teration in them." 

4. Clemens Alexandrinus says, " We that have the 
Scriptures are taught of God, that the Scriptures are es 
tablished by the authority of God ; that the whole Scrip- 
ture is the law of God ; and that they are all divine." 

5. Origen says that " the Scriptures proceeded from 
the Holy Spirit ; that there is not one tittle in them but 
what expresses a divine wisdom ; that there is nothing in 
the Law, or the Prophets, or the Gospels, or the Epistles, 
which did not proceed from the fulness of the Spirit ; 
that we ought with all the faithful to say that the Scrip- 
tures are divinely inspired ; that the Gospels were ad- 
mitted as divine in all the churches of God ; that the 
Scriptures are no other than the oracles of God ; that, if 
a man would not confess himself to be an infidel, he must 
admit the inspiration of the Scriptures." 

6. Tertullian lays it down as a fundamental princi- 
ple in disputing with heretics, "that the truth of doctrines 
is to be determined by Scripture ;" and affirms most posi- 
tively "that Scripture is the basis of faith; that all chris- 
tians prove their doctrines out of the Old and New Tes- 
taments ; and that the majesty of God dictated what 
Paul wrote." 

7. Eusebius quotes with approbation a writer more 
ancient than himself, who says, " they who corrupt the 
sacred Scriptures abolish the standard of the ancient 
faith, neglecting the words of the divine writings out of 
regard to their own reasonings;" and afterwards, "that 
they either do not believe that the Holy Spirit uttered 
the divine Scriptures, and then they are infidels; or 
think themselves wiser than the Spirit, and in that case 
3eem to be possessed." 



214 Gregory's letters. 

8. Theophilus Antiochenus says, "the evangelists 
and apostles wrote by the same Spirit that inspired the 
prophets." 

9. Nearly all the other christian writers in the firsf 
three centuries, whose performances have wholly or part 
ly reached us, speak of the Scriptures as divine, call then 
the holy Scriptures, the sacred fountain, the divine foun 
tains of salvation, &c. evidently implying their inspira 
tion, And in those early ages the whole church agreed 
in sentiment, that no books should be received into the 
canon of Scripture of whose inspiration there was any 
doubt.* 

Thus, then, we see that in the primitive ages the uni- 
versal opinion was in favor of the inspiration of the Scrip- 
tures. Let us next inquire how far this opinion grows 
naturally out of an examination of the Scriptures themselves. 
Considered in relation to the present subject, the books of 
Scripture fall under three classes : the prophetical books ; 
the historical books of the Old Testament; and the New 
Testament, being in part historical, in part doctrinal. 

Now, as to the prophetical books, their divine authori- 
ty and their inspiration follow at once from the comple- 
tion of several of the predictions they contain : the entire 
fulfilment of the whole is not essential to the argument. 

The inspiration of the New Testament may be infer- 
red from the language of our Lord, and that of the apos- 
tles. Thus, Jesus Christ promised extraordinary assist- 
ance to his apostles. He prorjiw3d them " the Comfort- 
er," " the Holy Spirit," "tkifl Spirit of Truth," who 
should " testify of him," should " teach them all things, 
bring all things to their remembrance whatsoever Christ 
had said unto them, should guide them into all truth. 

* The curious reader may consult farther the testimonies collected by 
Dr. Whitby, vol. i. pref., by Dr. Lardner, in the second part of his Credi- 
bility. Dr. Doddridge in his Lectures on Divinity, and in his Family Kx- 
oositor, vol. iii 



INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 215 

should abide with* them for ever, and show them things 
to come." Again he says, " When the Comforter is 
come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even 
the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, 
he shall testify of me : and ye also [being so assisted] 
shall bear witness." John, 14 : 16-26 ; 16 : 13 ; 15 : 26, 
27. From these passages it is but fair and reasonable 
to conclude that the aid of this Heavenly Guide was to 
be vouchsafed them on all suitable occasions, and surely 
no occasions could render it more expedient than when 
they were engaged in delivering written instructions, 
whether in the form of Gospels or of Epistles, which 
were intended for the edification of the christian church 
till "time should be no longer." In fact, the Spirit could 
not abide with them for ever, in relation to the church, in 
any other way than by preserving the word they deliver- 
ed from such human or diabolical depreciation and cor- 
ruption as might render it injurious instead of being 
salutary. 

It will also be worth our while to notice the remark- 
able language in which Jesus Christ promises his apos- 
tles the extraordinary assistance of the Spirit while they 
are defending his cause before magistrates. " Settle it 
therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye 
shall answer • for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, 
which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or 
resist. Take no thought how or what ye shall speak ; 
for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall 
speak ; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
Father that speaketh in you." Luke, 21 : 14, 15 ; Matt. 
10 : 19, 20 ; Mark, 13 : 11. If this were to be the case 
when they pleaded before magistrates, how much more 
reason is there to conclude, that when they were writing 
for the use of all future generations, it was not so much 
they who wrote, as the Sjririt of the Father who dictated 
to them, and thus wrote by them. For the occasion is 



216 Gregory's letters. 

evidently much more important in tlie latter instance 
than in the former : an error in their writings would 
have a much more extensive, permanent, and injurious 
influence than any error that could occur in a pleading 
or argument, necessarily of transient impression, before a 
magistrate. In truth, it is quite incredible that they who 
were assisted by the Holy Spirit in their pleadings 
and when they preached, should be deserted Dy that 
Spirit when they committed what they had preached to 
writing. It is equally incredible that they who possessed 
the gift of discerning spirits should be endowed with no 
gift of discerning the truth of facts. We have an in 
stance on record in which Peter detected a falsehood by 
the light of inspiration ; and surely it was not of less im- 
portance to the church that the apostles and evangelists 
should be enabled to detect falsehoods in the history of 
our Savior's life, than that Peter should be enabled to 
detect Ananias' lie about the sale of an estate. The apos- 
tles were led by the Spirit into " all truth ;" would they 
be permitted to lead the whole church for ages into er- 
ror ] Would they be permitted to leave behind them as 
authentic memoirs of their Master's life and discourses, 
and of the doctrines which he appointed them to teach, 
narratives compiled without judgment or selection, and 
without the guidance of the Spirit he promised to con- 
fer upon them 1 

In estimating the authority claimed by the eight writers 
of the New Testament, we must not only consider their 
unbroken, unimpeachable integrity, but that Jive of them 
were of the number of the apostles to whom the promises 
just cited were made. Of the other three, one, namely 
Luke, is generally admitted to have been of the seventy 
disciples sent ou£ by Christ, and who received the pro- 
mise of divine superintendence and inspiration recorded 
in his Gospel. Luke, 12 : 11, 12 ; see also Luke, 10 : 16. 
With regard to Mark, if his own immediate inspiration 



INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 217 

cannot be established, that of his Gospel can, since it has 
never been questioned that he wrote under the superin- 
tendence of Peter, an inspired apostle. There then re- 
mains only Paul, who repeatedly and solemnly asserts 
his own inspiration, and his equality in every respect 
with all the other apostles ; who even taught before ho 
conversed with them, who records words of our Lord 
referred to by none of the Evangelists, and appeals to mi- 
racles publicly wrought by himself in proof of his divine 
commission. 

That the apostles themselves had a full persuasion that 
they wrote under Divine inspiration is evident from a 
great variety of texts ; to some of the most important of 
which I refer you,* that you may consult them carefully, 
and allow them their full impression upon your mind. 
They professed themselves to be inspired by God, in 
books whose genuineness and authenticity we have es- 
tablished ; and God has attested their commission by 
miracles ; therefore we are bound to believe them. You 
will find, too, that the apostles considered themselves as 
communicating to the world a jwrpetual rule of faith and 
practice, which would be comprehended by all except 
the finally impenitent. If, say they, our Gospel be under 
a veil, it is veiled to those that are perishing. 2 Cor. 4 : 3. 
See the original. On these accounts, as it should seem, 
they preferred themselves before the Projjhets not mere- 
ly of their own but of preceding times, saying, 1 Cor. 
12 : 28 ; Eph. 2 : 20, " God hath set in the church, first, 
Apostles; secondarily, Prophets; thirdly, Teachers:" 
language which could not properly have been employed, 
had the apostles been inspired only to preach and not to 
wiite ; for in that case they would manifessly be inferior 

* 1 Cor. 2 : 10-16; 3 : 21-23; 11 : 23 ; 14 : 37 ; 2 Cor. 2 : 10; 3 : 5, 
6 ; 4:7; 11 : 5 ; 13:3; Gal. 1 : 11, 12 ; Eph. 3:3-5; 10 : 4 ; 11 : 12 ; 
1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Pet. 1 : 12, 21 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 2, 15, 16 ; John, 10 : 35 ; 1 
John, 2 : 20 ; 4:0; R«v. 1 : 1, &c ; 1 Thes. 1:5; 2:13. 
Greuorv. 10 



21S Gregory's letters. 

to the Prophets, who, in their writings as well as their 
oral denunciations, " spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost." 

The preceding are arguments for the general inspira- 
tion of the writers of the New Testament : but it also 
behoves me farther to remark, that the care with which 
the most voluminous writer among the apostles distin- 
guishes between those instances in which he delivers the 
dictates of the Spirit, and those in which he presents 
merely his own private judgment, leads us naturally to 
infer that wherever he has not made such distinction he 
ought to be understood as teaching with Divine authority 
Thus when he treats of the relative advantages and dis- 
advantages of the single and the married state in the pe- 
rilous times in which he lived, he says, " I speak this by 
'permission, not by commandment." Again, a little farther 
on, " Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the 
Lord." And soon afterwards, " To the rest speak 7, not 
the Lord." Again, 1 Cor. 7 : 6, 10, 12, 25, 40, " Concern- 
ing virgins, 1 have no commandment of the Lord ; yet I 
give 772?/ judgment." And once more, at the conclusion 
of the same chapter, "She is happier if she so abide, 
after my judgment; and I think also, that (in this particu- 
lar) I have the Spirit of God." Is it not absurd to ima- 
gine that an apostle who guards his readers five times in 
one chapter against making his private judgment of equal 
authority with commandments dictated to him by God, 
would on all other occasions assume the authority of a 
divine and inspired teacher, without a full and perfect 
consciousness that he had a just claim to it 1 ? See also 
2 Cor. 8 : 8. 

These observations will, I trust, convince you that the 
historical and doctrinal parts of the New Testament, and 
the prophetical portions of both the Old and New Tes- 
taments, contain, in the complete sense of the phrase, 
"the word of God." It remains that I state to you at least 



INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 219 

one cogent argument for admitting that the ivhole of the 
received Jewish Scriptures is entitled to the same charac- 
ter, and of course to the same submission of intellect and 
of heart. This I shall lay before you in the language of 
Dr. Doddridge in his valuable Dissertation on the Inspi- 
ration of the Scriptures : " The inspiration, and conse- 
quently the genuineness and credibility, of the Old Tes- 
tament may be certainly inferred from that of the New, 
because our Lord and his apostles were so far from charg- 
ing the Scribes and Pharisees (who on all proper occa- 
sions are censured so freely) with having introduced into 
the sacred volume any merely human compositions; that, 
on the contrary, they not only recommend a diligent and 
constant perusal of these Scriptures as of the greatest 
importance to men's eternal happiness, but speak of them 
as Divine oracles, and as written by the extraordinary in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of the authors. 
" I desire that the following list of Scriptures may be 
attentively consulted and reflected on in this view. I 
might have added a great many more, indeed several hun- 
dreds, in which the sacred writers of the New Testament 
argue from those of the Old in such a manner as nothing 
could have justified but a firm persuasion that they were 
divinely inspired. Now as the Jews always allowed that 
' the testimony of an approved prophet was sufficient to 
confirm the mission of one who was supported by it/ so I 
think every reasonable man will readily conclude that no 
inspired 2>erson can erroneously attest another to be in- 
spired; and indeed the very definition of plenary inspi- 
ration absolutely excludes any room for cavilling on so 
plain a head. I throw the particular passages which I 
choose to mention into the margin below ;* and he must 



* John, 5 : 39 ; Matt. 4 : 4, 7, 10 ; Mark, 12 : 24 ; Luke, 10 : 26, 27 ; 
Matt. 5:17, 18; 21:42; 22:29,31, 43; 24:15; 26:54, 56; Luke, 
1 : 67, 69, 70 ; 16:31; 24 : 25, 27 ; John, 6:31; 10 : 35 ; Acts, 2 : 16 



220 Gregory's letters. 

be a very indolent inquirer intc a question of so much 
importance who does not think it worth his while to turn 
carefully to them, unless he have already such a convic- 
tion of the argument that it should need no farther to be 
illustrated or confirmed." 

Here then may safely terminate our inquiry into the 
inspiration of Scripture. We have ascertained that it is 
the Word of God : and, if we read it attentively, we 
shall soon find it profitable " for doctrine, for instruction, 
for reproof." Let us therefore, my friend, believe and 
rejoice " that the grace of God which bringeth salvation 
hath thus appeared to all men ; to the end that, denying 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righ- 
teously, and godly, in this present world ; looking for that 
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great 
God, and our Savior Jesus Christ." Titus, 2 : 11-13. 



LETTER XI. 



On some of the most plausible objections urged against the tru.% 
and divine authority of the Scriptures. 

It has been my object, in the preceding letters, to con- 
vince you that the collection of writings received by 
christians as sacred and authoritative, are indeed genuine, 
authentic, and inspired. I shall be happy if this great ob- 

25; 3:22, 24; 4:25; 17:11; 18:24,23; 28:25; Rom. 3:2, 10; 
9:17,25,27,29; 10:5,11,16; 15:4; 16:26; 1 Cor. 10: 11; 2 Cor. 
4 : 13 ; 6 : lfi, 17 ; Gal. 3:8; 1 Tim. 5 : 18 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 15, 16, 17 ; Heb. 
1 : 1, 5-13 ; 3:7; James, 2:8; 4 : 5, 6 ; 1 Peter, 1 : 10-12 ; 2 Peter, 
1 : 19-21. 



OBJECTIONS TO THE SCRIPTURES. 221 

ject be attained. At all events, I trust I have shown that 
the christian religion has the strongest probability in its 
favor; and, if that be the case, you will at once see that 
the rejection of it is the height of folly. In the economy 
of human life we act almost entirely upon probabilities ; 
and in most instances I believe it will be found that the 
more important the tendency or the result of a particular 
action or series of actions may be, the slighter need be 
the preponderance of probability to determine our adopt- 
ing it. It is probable, for example, that we may be lieirs 
at law to a valuable estate, therefore we examine into the 
legal instruments which ascertain our title to such estate. 
It is probable a particular line of conduct will be success- 
ful, therefore we pursue it. It is probable a certain com 
raercial speculation will be productive, therefore we put 
it in practice. It is probable a certain regimen will be 
highly injurious to our health, therefore we abandon it. 
It is probable a particular medicine will be beneficial to 
the constitution, therefore we have recourse to it. It is 
probable the house we inhabit will fall, therefore we quit 
it. And thus it might be shown in a variety of other in- 
stances, that where there appears a presumption how- 
ever low on one side of an inquiry, and none on the other, 
or where there appears a preponderancy however slight 
in favor of one side, this determines the point even in 
matters of speculation, and usually impels to action in 
matters of practice. But alas ! this wise and prudential 
rule of conduct is only applied generally in regard to the 
things of the present world ; for although it is probable, 
nay, infinitely probable, that the christian religion is true, 
that the evils against which we are warned in the Bible 
will be our portion unless we "flee from the wrath to 
come," that the ineffable and interminable happiness it 
promises believers may be ours, unless we thoughtlessly 
or contemptuously spurn it from us ; yet, in direct op- 
position to the conduct which wise persons adopt in 



222 Gregory's letters. 

every other concern, men disbelieve the evidence, de- 
spise the warnings, laugh at the threatenings, reject the 
blessings held out to them in the Scriptures, go through 
life wrapped in an impenetrable insensibility to eternal 
things ; and at death " rush upon the thick bosses of God's 
buckler," and plunge naked into " blackness of dark- 
ness," instead of bathing in those perennial " rivers of 
pleasure " which flow from the throne of God, and to 
which the condescending Deity had invited them ! 

AVe do not deny that the scheme of revelation has its 
difficulties : for if the things of nature are often difficult 
to comprehend, it would be strange indeed if supernatural 
matters were so simple, and obvious, and suited to finite 
capacities, as never to startle or puzzle us at all. Origen 
remarked, with his usual sagacity, that " he who believes 
the Scriptures to have proceeded from Him who is the 
Author of nature, may well expect to find the same sort 
of difficulties in it as are found in the constitution of na- 
ture :" and this obviously suggests the reflection, that he 
who denies the Bible to have come from God on account 
of these difficulties, may, for exactly the same reason, deny 
that the world was formed by him. Indeed the Bible 
could not have been, as many declarations included in it 
show it to be, a touchstone by which to try men's honest dis- 
positions, were it so free from difficulties that every man's 
faith would be inevitably excited on the first perusal. 

To reject Christianity, therefore, on account of its diffi- 
culties, is unreasonable : because it is to reject it for pos- 
sessing what its own writings declare to be essential to 
its nature and purpose : and to proceed by way of objec- 
tions drawn from these difficulties is tinfair ; because it is 
walking in a path in which a man can never be stopped 
unless he please, and in which, though he travel for ever, 
it is impossible he can arrive at truth and certainty. Let 
him propose a thousand objections in succession, and sup- 
pose nine hundred and ninety-nine of them to be answer- 



OBJECTIONS TO THE SCRIPTURES. 223 

ed satisfactorily ; still the one which he retains, and which 
he supposes to be unanswerable, because he has not re- 
ceived an answer to it, will be deemed a sufficient plea 
to justify his continuing incredulous. He will boast of th : s 
single objection, though probably the point to which it 
relates may be one which it is impossible for us to place 
in a proper light, unless we could see and know as God 
does. " Many and painful are the researches usually ne- 
cessary to be made for settling points of this kind. Pert- 
ness and ignorance may ask a question in three lines, 
which it will cost learning and ingenuity thirty pages to 
answer. When this is done, the same question shall be 
triumphantly asked again the next year, as if nothing had 
ever been written upon the subject. And as people in 
general, for one reason or another, like short objections 
better than long answers, in this mode of disputation (if it 
can be styled such) the odds must ever be against us ; and 
we must be content with those for our friends, who have 
honesty and erudition, candor and patience to study both 
sides of the question." Home's Letters on Infidelity, p. 82. 

You must not, however, infer from these observations 
that I wish to avoid all discussion of the objections urged 
against Scripture. They are, it is true, too multifarious 
in their nature to render it possible we should meet them 
all; and many of them would lead us into too wide a field 
of inquiry, to admit of their being considered in the com- 
pass of a letter. Still it may be proper to select a few 
which you have probably heard advanced, and to present 
you with such answers as have been given, or may be 
given to them ; that you may judge how trifling some of 
them are, and how satisfactory solutions may be furnished 
to others, the most specious and plausible that have been 
orought forward. 

Obj. I. It has been thought strange that God should 
select, as the prkicipal recipients of his favors, so ob- 
scure a people as the ancient Jews were ; a nation de- 



224 Gregory's letters. 

scribed by Voltaire as " wretched, ever ignorant and 
vulgar, and strangers to the arts." 

The following reply was made to Voltaire : and it is 
unnecessary we should seek for any other, until the 
disciples of Voltaire and Hume shall have shown us that 
this is weak and unsatisfactory. " Does it become you, a 
writer of the eighteenth century, to charge the ancient 
Hebrews with ignorance 1 A people who, while your 
barbarous ancestors, whilst even the Greeks and Latins, 
wandering in the woods, could scarcely procure for 
themselves clothing and a settled subsistence, already pos- 
sessed all arts of necessity, and some of mere pleasure ; 
who not only knew how to feed and to rear cattle, till 
the earth, work up wood, stone, and metals, weave 
cloth, dye wool, embroider stuffs, polish and engrave on 
precious stones ; but who even then, adding to manual 
arts those of taste and refinement, surveyed land, appoint- 
ed their festivals. according to the motions of the heaven- 
ly bodies, and ennobled their solemnities by the pomp 
of ceremonies, by the sound of instruments, music and 
dancing ; who even then committed to writing the histo- 
ry of the origin of the world, that of their own nation 
and their ancestors ; who had poets and writers skilled 
in all the sciences then known, great and brave com- 
manders, a pure worship, just laws, a wise form of gov- 
ernment : in short, this was the only one of all ancient na- 
tions that has left us authentic monuments of genius and of 
literature. Can this nation be justly charged with igno- 
rance " and inurbanity ?" 

Obj. II. The books of Moses are scarcely mentioned 
by any ancient pagan writers ; a circumstance which 
6eems irreconcileable with the extreme antiquity assign- 
ed to them by Jewish and christian authors. 

They are, however, noticed by some writers of celebri- 
ty, as I showed in the letter on the genuineness of Scrip- 
ture ; so that this objection is overthrown. But, even 



DESTRUCTION OF THE CANAANITES. 225 

though reference could not be made to a single heathen 
author who speaks of Moses, it would be unfair to infer 
from thence that Moses never existed, and that the books 
distinguished by his name are spurious. Neither Hero- 
dotus nor Thucydides ever mention Rome, though the 
conquests of the Roman people were in the times of 
those historians extended far and wide : would it not be 
thought extremely unreasonable to affirm, on this ac- 
count, that the received histories of Rome are fabulous 1 

Obj. III. The massacres and desolations which mark- 
ed the expulsion of the Canaanites from their land, and 
led to the establishment of the Israelites in it, could 
never be authorized by the good and merciful Governor 
of the universe ; and, of consequence, those parts of the 
Old Testament history which relate these horrid stories 
must be rejected. 

So have argued Morgan, Tindal, Bolingbroke, Paine, 
and many others ; yet it may be shown that these trans- 
actions were calculated for a beneficial purpose, even 
for the general advantage of mankind ; and were there- 
fore neither inconsistent with the justice of God, nor 
with the usual proceedings of Divine Providence. Let 
the objectors to this portion of the Old Testament histo- 
ry consider, 

1. That God, as the offended Creator of the Canaan- 
ites, had a right to their forfeited lives, and therefore 
might as well destroy Xhem and their posterity by the 
sword of the Israelites, as by famine, pestilence, fire and 
brimstone rained from heaven, or any other calamity ap- 
pearing more obviously to come from himself. 

2. The unparalleled wickedness of this people, espe- 
cially as aggravated by the destruction of Sodom, was 
such as made the execution inflicted upon them a useful 
lesson to neighboring nations. Compare Gen. 15 : 16 ; 
Lev. IS : 3, 20-28 ; Jade, 4-7 : Wisd. 12 : 3-7 ; Acts, 13 : 
ID; Judges. 2 : 1-5, 19-23. 

10* " 



226 Gregory's letters. 

3. The people of those ages were affected by no proof 
of the power of the gods which they worshipped so 
deeply as by their giving them victory in war. Hence 
the destruction of the Canaanites by the Israelites tended 
to convince surrounding nations, and all who were ob- 
servers and spectators of what passed ; 1, That the God 
of Israel was a real God ; 2, That the gods which other 
nations worshipped were either no gods, or had no pow- 
er against the God of Israel ; 3, That it was he, and he 
alone, who had both the power and the will to exterminate 
from before his face both nations and individuals who 
gave themselves up to the crimes and abominations for 
which the Canaanites could not but be notorious. De 
struction from an earthquake or a plague might not have 
been attributed to Divine agency at all, or not to the in- 
terposition of the God of Israel. 

4. Had not the extermination been complete, those 
old inhabitants which were left might have seduced 
the new comers by degrees into the same crimes and 
corruptions. Vice, and especially that of the licentious 
kind, is astonishingly infectious ; of which striking proofs 
are furnished in the last of the chapters just quoted. 

5. That the punishment was preceded by mercy ; the 
forbearance of God had long been manifested towards 
their " abominable customs," and the Divine judgments 
were not executed till their " wickedness wasjfoZ/." 

6. This signal exercise of Divide punishment is accom- 
panied by evidence tending to show that God's abhor- 
rence and treatment of crimes is impartial, without dis- 
tinction, and without respect of nations or persons. It 
served likewise as an awful lesson even to the "Jews, the 
people of God," themselves; they being over and over 
again reminded, that, notwithstanding they were the ap- 
pointed instruments of extermination, if they followed si- 
milar practices they must expect a like fate. " Ye shall 
not walk in the manner of the nations which I cast out be 



DESTRUCTION OF THE CANAANITES. 227 

fore you : for they committed all these things, and there- 
fore I abhorred them : as the nations which the Lord 
destroyed before your face, so shall ye perish, because ye 
were not obedient to the voice of the Lord your God." 
The Israelites would thus be more strongly impressed 
with an abhorrence of the abominations of idolatry, ar;d 
this impression would subserve the design of keeping 
them a distinct people, adhering to the worship of the 
true God, so beneficial to them in particular, and ulti- 
mately so gracious to mankind in general. 

7. The miracles wrought in favor of the Israelites, not 
only at their coming out of Egypt but at their entrance 
on Canaan, proved that they were indeed commissioned 
as God's executioners ; and consequently that their con- 
duct was not to be a model for conquerors in ordinary 
cases. 

8. We may remark, farther, that had any among the 
Canaanites surrendered themselves at discretion to the 
God of Israel, a new case would have arisen not ex- 
pressly provided for in the law, in which, it is probable, 
God, upon being consulted by Urim and Thummim, 
would have spared the lives of such penitents ; and ei- 
ther have incorporated them with the Israelites by cir- 
cumcision, or have ordered them a settlement in some 
neighboring country, as the family of Rahab seems to 
have had. 

But it may be objected, after all, that these arguments 
do not show that it is not repugnant to God's moral jus- 
tice " to doom to destruction the crying or smiling in- 
f:?Us of the Canaanites." To this we reply, 

9. Why is it not maintained repugnant to his moral 
justice, that he should suffer crying or smiling infants to 
be swallowed up by an earthquake, drowned by an inun- 
dation, consumed by a fire, starved by famine, or de- 
stroyed by pestilence 1 The earth, at the command of 
God, opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and 



228 Gregory's letters. 

Abiram, with their wives, their sons, and their little ones 
" Two she-bears" destroyed "forty-two children" who had 
just before been " mocking " Elisha. These, as well as the 
destruction of the Canaanites, are deemed so repugnant 
to God's moral justice, that infidels spurn, as spurious, 
the books in which the circumstances are related. When 
Catania, Lima and Lisbon were severally destroyed by 
earthquakes, men, with their wives, their sons and their 
little ones, were swallowed up alive : why do not these 
inquirers spurn, as spurious, the book of nature in which 
these facts are written % The latter circumstances are as 
apparent infringements upon the moral justice of God as 
the former; and a person would just as forcibly, upon this 
ground, argue against the latter being facts as against the 
former. Besides it should be recollected, with respect 
to " crying and smiling infants," that their early death, so 
far from being a punishment, as these objectors represent, 
it, might be an act of the greatest mercy, since it might 
save them from the dreaded future punishment due to 
the actual guilt they would probably have incurred had 
they reached maturity. 

Obj. IV. The story of Abraham's offering up his only 
son Isaac is so highly unnatural, that neither it nor the 
book which advances it as true can possibly be reckoned 
credible. 

There is nothing so very unreasonable in this story as 
the objectors seem to imagine. Abraham had himself re- 
ceived so many divine communications, and had been ac- 
quainted with so many which had been made to his ances- 
tors, that he could easily ascertain whether the command 
eally came from God; and God could manifestly accom- 
pany it by such marks of his power and will as would leave 
Abraham no room to entertain a single doubt about it. 
Abraham could as little doubt of God's right to Isaac's 
life, nay, the youth himself could as little doubt it as of 
his care of him in another state. These were essential 



ABRAHAM OFFERIiNG UP ISAAC. 22'J 

parts of the patriarchal religion. Still it must be acknow- 
ledged that great faith was required in Abraham before 
he could overcome his natural affection and tenderness 
for Isaac by a principle of obedience to God, and trust 
God for the accomplishment of his promise when he 
commanded him to destroy the only apparent means of 
accomplishing it. Had not Abraham been highly ad- 
vanced in faith and obedience he could not have sus- 
tained so severe a trial ; but such a trial would greatly 
confirm both. And thus this history is so far from being 
liable to objection, that it is peculiarly conformable to 
those methods which mere reason and experience dic- 
tate as well suited for advancing and perfecting true reli- 
gion in the soul. When the typical nature of the whole 
is also considered, it seems very difficult indeed to ques- 
tion the divine authority of the appointment. And in the 
previous steps over which Abraham passed in order to 
obtain the blessings conferred upon him, we have a strik 
ing adumbration and example of that faith, patience, and 
gradual advancement in the spiritual life, which are es- 
sential to all those who hope to be " blessed with faithful 
Abraham." 

As to the particular cavil drawn from the supposed de- 
lusive declaration of Abraham to his servants, " I and the 
lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you;" 
it receives an obvious reply in the language of the apos- 
tle Paul. Abraham knew and most probably believed that 
" God was able to raise his son up, even from the dead ;" 
Gen. 22:5; Heb. 11 : 19 ; and therefore that he should 
return to his servants with his sacrificed though living son. 

Obj. V. The Mosaic chronology is unworthy of credit, 
since it makes the era of the creation only about 4000 
years earlier than the christian era j while the established 
chronology of the Chinese carries us back to a point of 
time earlier by many thousands of years than that as 
signed by Moses to the creation. 



230 GREGORY'S LETTERS. 

That this objection may be of any weight we must 
give greater credit to monstrous chronologies, containing 
nothing but names without actions, than to regular me- 
thodical histories, which relate in succession all the most 
important events occurring amongst a particular people 
for thousands of years ; — we must forget that the Chi- 
nese pretensions are inconsistent with themselves ; — we 
must forget that it has been proved that the earliest Chi- 
nese observations, are those of two fixed stars, one in the 
winter solstice the other in the vernal equinox, in the 
♦reign of their king Yao, who lived after the Mosaic date 
of the general deluge, that is, two thousand three hun- 
dred and fifty-seven years before Christ ; (Bianchini His- 
tor. Univers. cap. 17 ;) we must forget that Cassini as- 
signed the date of another of their most early observa- 
tions to be only two thousand and twelve years before 
Christ, (Burn's Officer's Complete Armor, page 32,) as- 
suming the correctness of the Chinese accounts of those 
observations. To give force to this objection, we must, 
farther, disregard the testimony of M. de Guignes, who 
has very recently shown most satisfactorily that the exist- 
ence of the Chinese empire cannot be traced farther back 
than five hundred and twenty-nine years before Christ ; 
(Voyages a Peking, &c. torn, i.) and we must equally 
disregard the similarly decisive evidence of President 
Goguet in the following passage : 

" What dependence can we place upon the certainty 
of Chinese chronology for the early times, when we see 
these people unanimously avow that one *of her greatest 
monarchs, interested in the destruction of their ancient 
traditions and of those who preserved them, caused all 
the books which did not treat of agriculture, or of medi- 
cine, or of divination, to be burned ; and applied himself 
for many years to destroy whatever could recall the know- 
ledge of the times anterior to his reign ] About forty 
years after his death they wanted to re-establish f:he his- 



CHINESE CHRONOLOGY. 2o[ 

torical documents. For that purpose they gathered to- 
gether, say they, the hearsays of old men. They disco- 
vered, it is added, some fragments of books which had 
escaped the general conflagration. They joined these 
various scraps together as they could, and vainly endea- 
vored to compose of them a regular history. It was not, 
however, till more than 150 years after the destruction of 
all the monuments, that is to say, till the year 37 before 
Christ, that a complete body of the ancient history ap- 
peared. The author himself who composed it, Sse-Ma- 
tsicne, had the candor to own that he had not found it 
possible to ascend with certainty eight hundred years be- 
yond the times in which he wrote. Such is the unanimous 
confession of the Chinese." — Origin of Laws, vol. iii. 

It is not a little curious, however, to mark the different 
ways in which unbelievers attack the authority of Scrip- 
ture, in respect of the age it gives to the world. Voltaire 
<s fiery, and even furious, in contending for the superior 
antiquity given by the Chinese ; while La Place insinu- 
ates, as if almost unconscious he was making any such 
insinuation, that the world cannot be above half as old as 
Moses makes it, and hunts about very philosophically for 
reasons to explain "la nouveaute du monde moral, dont les 
monumens ne remontent gu&re au-dela de trois mille ans."* 

Obj. VI. The Scriptures contain so many inconsisten- 
cies, contradictions and absurdities, that it is difficult to 
think them authentic, much less inspired. 

This objection presents itself with a very formidable 
aspect, and will therefore require something more than a 

* Expos, du Systeme du Monde, liv. iv. chap. 4. Attempts have also 
been made to destroy the credibility of the Mosaic chronology, from the 
phenomena of volcanic lava and the great length of time requisite to form 
a scanty surface of soil upon them ; but these objections cany their own 
refutation with them ; as has been shown by Mr. Gisborne, in his " Fami- 
liar Survey," note p. 515, and by the "Contemplative Philosophy," in vol. 
ii. No. 55 



232 Gregory's letters. 

mere glance at it. Let me remark then, first, as to those 
few and small apparent inconsistencies which are sup- 
posed to run counter to the notion of inspiration, or at 
least to restrict the inspiration of the Scriptures to its 
lowest, sense, that they decrease daily in proportion as 
the inquiries of learned men are extended farther ; and 
that even if in the originals the Scriptures were perfectly 
exact and accordant in every particular, there would not- 
withstanding be some apparent difficulties arising merely 
from our ignorance of ancient languages, customs, dis- 
tant places, &c. ; and consequently that if difficulties aris- 
ing from this source are not more numerous than may 
fairly be ascribed to our ignorance, they constitute in fact 
no objection at all. Besides, it must not be forgotten that 
in other cases apparent inconsistencies to a certain extent 
exclude the supposition of forgery, because they who 
bear testimony to that which is false, take care so to make 
their stories correspond that there shall not be any ap- 
parent difference. It may be observed, moreover, that 
the principle of the objection goes much farther than the 
objectors themselves wish to carry it ; for if on account 
of some small irreconcileable differences we may imme- 
diately disbelieve and reject whole books, then no book 
of history can possibly be believed. Yet Polybius, Livy, 
Plutarch and others, in whom much greater contradic- 
tions are to be found, preserve their authority and credi- 
bility amongst us as to most points : how much more rea- 
sonable then is it that no such thing should destroy the 
credibility of those who prove by their own writings that 
they had constantly a high regard to piety and truth. 

With respect to these discrepancies between the four 
G ospels, which are so often and triumphantly urged in 
this connection, it should be recollected that most of them 
arise from omission, which is always an uncertain .ground 
of objection. Suetonius, Tacitus and Dio Cassius have 
all written of the reign of Tiberius, and each has omittel 



DISCORDANT GENEALOGIES. 233 

many things mentioned by the rest. These discrepances 
will also of course be more numerous when men write 
rather memoirs than histories ; when they do not under 
take to deliver in the order of time a regular account of 
all things of importance which the subject of the history 
did and said; but only such passages as were suggested 
by their 'particular design at the time of writing. 

It has been often affirmed that the ge?iealogies given by 
Matthew and Luke are irreconcileable ; but Dr. Hartley 
has struck out an hypothesis which in my estimation re- 
moves all reasonable ground of hesitation. He supposes 
that Matthew mentions the real progenitors of Josejrff, 
while Luke gives the series of those who were heirs to 
David by birthright; and that both transcribed princi- 
pally from genealogical tables well known to the Jews 
of those times. Matthew after David takes Solomon, from 
whom Joseph lineally descended. Luke takes Nathan, 
upon whom, though he was younger than some others, 
and even than Solomon, it may be supposed the birth- 
right was conferred, as in the instances of Jacob and Jo- 
seph. Matthew proceeds by real descent to Salathiel at 
the time of the captivity; Luke proceeds by the heirs 
according to birthright, and comes to Salathiel likewise. 
Hence Hartley supposes that Salathiel, Solomon's heir, 
was at that time David's also by the extinction of all the 
branches of Nathan's family. Matthew then takes Zoro- 
babel as Joseph's real progenitor, Luke takes him as heir 
or eldest son to Salathiel. Again, Matthew takes Abiud, 
the real progenitor ; Luke mentions Rhesa, the eldest 
son ; and thus Matthew proceeds by lineal descent to Jo- 
seph, Luke by heirs to the same Joseph ; for it is to be 
supposed that, Heli dying without heirs male, Joseph be- 
came his heir by birthright, that is, heir to Zorobabel, 
that is, heir to David. If it be farther supposed that the 
Virgin Mary was daughter to Heli, for which there ap- 
pears to be some evidence, the solution will be more 



234 Gregory's letters. 

complete and more agreeable to the Jewish customs. 
This solution is confirmed by the consideration that Mat- 
thew uses the word \fyinn<re, which restrains the genealo- 
gy to lineal descent ; whereas Luke uses the article tov, 
which is very general. Matt. 1:2; Luke, 3 : 34. It is 
farther confirmed, also, by the fact that Luke's descents, 
reckoning from David to Salathiel, are but about twenty- 
two years each; which is much too short for descents 
from father to son, but agrees very well to descents by 
birthright. 

With regard to several passages apparently contra- 
dictory, the contradiction may be removed by a slight and 
justifiable change in the translation. Thus, in the often- 
cited example of the thirteenth chapter of John's Gos- 
pel, the expression in the second verse, " And supper be- 
ing ended," is irreconcileable with the 26th verse, "He it 
is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it," ac- 
cording to the received translation. But let the phrase 
Wi7rvov ytvo/uhov be rendered supper being come, a sense 
which it will very well bear, and is consistent with the 
rendering given to the word in several other places, 
and every appearance of' difficulty vanishes. John, 21:4; 
Acts, 12 : 18 ; 16 : 35 ; 21 : 50. In the version of Dod- 
dridge this translation is given. In Dr. Haweis' trans- 
lation the passage is given verbally different, but essenti- 
ally the same as the one proposed above, i. e. supper be- 
ing served ; where again the text is reconciled with the 
other. 

So again, with respect to supposed absurdities, it may 
be most positively affirmed that they are such as for the 
most part disappear entirely whenever we have obtained 
the knowledge requisite to make us competent judges of 
any individual case before us. Thus an instance fre- 
quently urged is taken from the prophet Jeremiah's de- 
scription of the advance of Cyrus to effect the destruc- 
tion of Babylon : " He shall come up as a lion from the 



ABSURD TEXTS. 235 

swelling of Jordan." Jeremiah, 49 : 19; 50 : 44. Why, ex- 
claim the animadverters triumphantly, why should a lion 
come from the swelling of a river ? The answer is by no 
means difficult. Maundrel informs us that the river Jor- 
dan may be considered as having two banks on one side 
of it, the lowermost of which is annually overflowed in 
March. After having descended the outermost bank, the 
distance is about a furlong over the strand to the imme- 
diate bank of the river. This second bank is so covered 
with bushes and trees, such as tamarisk, willows, olean- 
ders, &c. as to make a complete thicket, in which the va- 
rious kinds of wild beasts known in those regions are 
wont to harbor themselves. These animals are driven 
from their covert by the periodical overflowings of the 
river, and of course burst from their hiding-places with 
an eagerness and fury which but too appositely repre- 
sent the passions that impel a conqueror in his approach 
to a city he has devoted to destruction.* 

Before I quit this part of our subject you will expect 
me to notice the absurd story of " Jonah in the whale's 
belly." It could not be a whale that swallowed the pro- 
phet, says every objector, for whales are not found in the 
Mediterranean, and they have not throats capable of re- 
ceiving a man. Suppose we admit that to be the case, 
(though whales are sometimes found in the Mediterranean, 
and indeed thrown on the Italian shores,) still the difficul- 

* See Wells 1 Scripture Geography, vol. ii. p. 152. And for illustra- 
tions of several other passages which have been made the subjects of 
infidel cavil, consult Harmer's Observations, Burdens Oriental Cus- 
toms, the Fragments at the end of the, new edition of Calmefs Dictionary, 
and Hot-Tie's Introduction to the Critical Study of the Bible, vol. i. In 
this latter-mentioned work there are many valuable remarks in reference 
to apparent contradictions — in circumstances, in chronology, in prophe 
cie?, in doctrine, between sacred and profane writers, and apparent con* 
. Iradictions to philosophy and the nature of things. 

A variety of other objections have originated entirely in inattention to 
ihe metaphorical language of many parts of the Bible. 



236 Gregory's letters. 

ty is not insurmountable. It might be replied, that the 
same God who preserved the prophet alive within the 
fish, could have enlarged the throat of the whale so as to. 
absorb him ; yet, on the present occasion, there is no ne- 
cessity for our infringing upon the judicious maxim of 
Horace — 

Nee Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus. 

The word *sto? in Greek, and Hebrew scholars inform 
us the analagous word tanim-, may signify any large fish. 
The learned authors of the Universal History say, " The 
word here used, Matt. 12 : 40, signifies no more a ivJiale 
than any other large jish that has fins ; and there is one 
commonly known in the Mediterranean by the name of 
the carcharias, or lamia, of the bigness of a whale, bul 
with such a large throat and belly as to be able to swab 
low the largest man whole. There was one of this kind 
caught, within these thirty years, on the coast of Portu- 
gal, in whose throat, when stretched out, a man could 
stand upright." Vol. x. p. 554. Conformably with this, 
M. Pluche, speaking of the sha?'k, says, " It has a very 
long gullet, and in the belly of it are sometimes found 
the bodies of men half eaten, sometimes whole and entire." 
Nature Displayed, vol iii. p. 140 • Bochart, vol. iii. p. 742. 
These extracts may suffice to show that the story of Jo- 
nah and the whale is not so pregnant with absurdity as 
many of those who scoff where they ought to admire will 
endeavor to persuade you. 

Obj. VII. The Scripture doctrine of redemption is 
inconsistent with the opinions now received of the mag- 
nitude of creation. 

This was a favorite objection with Mr. Paine, urged 
with his usual confidence, and thrown into a shape the 
most ludicrous he could devise. On this objection, which 
manifestly lies in a* sphere where the investigations of 
human reason can never be attended with certainty (and 



BELIEVF.RS OFTEN IMMORAL. 237 

which involves topics of revelation discussed in subse- 
quent letters,) I shall only here give the conclusion of 
an able argument on the subject by one whose accurate 
estimate of the human powers none can justly question. 

" Suffice it then," he says, " that we know we 
are created in a rational and fallible nature ; that without 
the continual support of God we must fall ; that by lean- 
ing upon our own powers and our own understanding 
we all have fallen ; that the consequences of the fall must 
be perpetual deterioration ; that we cannot be restored 
but by the grace and power of God ; that it has pleased 
God in his mercy and goodness, through his wisdom, by 
his power to decree that he will pardon and restore the 
penitent and the faithful, through the mediation of Jesus 
Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit ; and to give 
us by the incarnation, death, "resurrection and ascension, 
sensible evidence of this his merciful dispensation, and 
an example of the obedience he requires ; promising that 
he will give, by the intercession and for the merit of his 
Son Jesus Christ, his Holy Spirit to those who turn to 
him with all their hearts ; and lead them finally to peace 
and salvation, of which, by any other means, they must 
have despaired. God has been pleased to reveal to us 
fully the plan of salvation ; and this (with regard to such 
subjects) is not only all that it concerns us to know, but 
probably all that our nature is capable of comprehending." 
For a more full reply to this objection I beg to refer to 
the late Mr. Fuller's excellent work, The Gospel its own 
Witness. 

Obj. VIII. It very often happens that the christian 
religion does not produce good moral effects upon those 
who profess to believe it. 

Be it so. This is matter of lamentation, but it cer- 
tainly furnishes no real ground of objection against Chris- 
tianity ; nay, if any such objection be urged, it includes 
within itself a tacit concession in favor of the christian 



238 Gregory's letter*. 

system : since it acknowledges, that, if human conduct 
were universally consistent with this despised system, 
a correct and exalted morality would as universally pre- 
vail. The Legislator of the universe, in promulgating 
the sublime laws of Christianity, though he furnished 
men with motives calculated to elevate them to his 
throne, and to extend their hopes far beyond the grave, 
did not at the same time transform the intelligent crea- 
tures to whom he gave those laws into mere machines. 
He has given them the power either to conform to chris- 
tian precepts, or to infringe them ; and thus has con- 
nected their future well-being with their obedience. If, 
after this, a great many of them reject the good and 
choose the evil, the fault is manifestly theirs, and not his, 
who by so many the most tremendous denunciations 
warns them against the latter, and by the most alluring 
invitations solicits them to the former. The objectors 
must allow that no man is any farther a sincere christian 
than he is pure, and holy, and upright, and free from 
guile ; and this, if they would only permit their reason 
to take the lead of their prejudices, would set the great 
question between them and us at rest for ever. For if, 
notwithstanding this the acknowledged tendency of the 
doctrine, we perceive that it has not always answered its 
end, the only just conclusion to be drawn from the cir- 
cumstance is, that the prejudices, the passions and the 
constitution of man frequently weaken or destroy the 
impression which that doctrine naturally tends to pro- 
duce on the soul. We ought not to be surprised, much 
less ought we to raise an objection on this basis : for it 
is easy to conceive that a free and intelligent being can- 
not be necessarily impelled by motives and reasons ; since 
they are not causes which have certain and necessary 
effects, like weights, levers, or springs : " they influence 
(says Dr. Waring) but not compel." Besides, it ought 
not to be forgotten that all those who make an external 



BELIEVERS OFTEN IMMORAL. 239 

profession of a doctrine are not always really and effectu- 
ally convinced of its truth : in proportion to the real ex- 
cellency of Christianity is the probability of hypocrisy ; 
counterfeit christians may abound as well as counterfeit 
guineas, and that for a like reason. 

Nor should it be forgotten that the mode of aigumen- 
tation on which this objection is founded is not general. 
No one thinks of objecting against philosophy, that all 
those who profess it are not philosophers. Yet, as 
the tendency of Christianity is to make christians, so in 
its different kind and manner is it the tendency of philo- 
sophy to make philosophers. Let it then be allowed as a 
fact, that all who profess the doctrine of Christ are not 
saints ; and, as an analogous fact, that all who profess to 
be philosophers are not such ; yet, let none be so weak, 
or so unwise, as to be laughed out of his religion, or of 
his philosophy, on this account. 

Indeed, here, as in many other respects, religion has 
greatly the advantage of philosophy. No person rests 
the truth of any philosophical system upon the difficulty 
with which it is received, or upon the paucity of those 
who adopt it : while many of the declarations of Scrip- 
ture show clearly that the christian religion was for a 
long period to be the religion of the minority ; and that 
it is only in the latter times that great multitudes " of 
every nation, and kingdom, and tribe, and people " shall 
be converted unto God, and become sincere disciples of 
Christ. Matt. 7 : 14, 21 ; 20 : 16 ; 22 : 14 ; 25 : 11 ; 
Luke, 13 : 24 ; Isa. 11 : 16 ; 40 : 1-11 ; 65 : 25, &c. The 
actual state of the world, even where religion is known, 
therefore, rather proves the truth of Christianity than 
militates against it. 

I might add much more in reply to this objection, as 
well as to the kindred one that is founded upon the evils 
which have been done in the name of Christianity ; but I 
prefer substituting a quotation from an author of great 



240 Gregory's letters. 

celebrity, who has never been accused of undue partiality 
towards the system these letters are intended to support. 
" To pretend to say that religion is not a restraining mo- 
tive because it does not always restrain, is equally absurd 
as to say that the civil laws are not a restraining motive. 
It is a false way of reasoning against religion, to collect, 
in a large work, a long detail of the evils it has produced, 
if we do not give at the same time an enumeration of the 
advantages which have flowed from it. Were I to re- 
late all the evils that have arisen in the world from civil 
laws, from monarchy, and from republican government, 
I might tell of frightful things. Were it of no advantage 
for subjects to have religion, it would still be of some if 
princes had it, and if they whitened with foam the only 
rein which can restrain those who fear not human laws. 
A prince who loves and fears religion, is a lion who 
stoops to the hand that strokes, or to the voice which 
appeases him. He who fears and hates religion, is like 
the savage beast that growls and bites the chain which 
prevents his flying on the passenger. He who has no 
religion at all, is that terrible animal who perceives his 
liberty only when he tears in pieces and devours." Mon- 
tesquieu, Spirit of Laws, book xxiv. chap. 2. 

Obj. IX. The Bible is a tasteless, insipid, inelegant, 
uninteresting book, composed almost always in a dull, 
heavy style ; and therefore cannot come from Him who 
is the Author of language and sentiment. 

In replying to this we must relinquish reasoning, and 
oppose assertion to assertion. To overthrow the ob- 
jection, then, I cheerfully refer to the Bible itself, and 
ask where else can be found such wonderful and varied 
specimens of sublimity as in the fifth chapter of Judges, 
the fourth, twenty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of 
Job, the twenty-ninth, hundred and fourth, hundred and 
seventh, and hundred and thirty-ninth Psalms, several 
portions of Isaiah and Ezekiel, the first and second chap 



INSIPIDITY OF THE DIBLE. 211 

ters of Joel, and the first chapter of the Apocalypse ] 
Taking them even as they appear under the disadvan- 
tage of a translation, I will venture to affirm that no- 
thing can be found in Homer, Virgil, Shakspear, or Mil- 
ton, that will bear comparison with most of them in point 
of beauty, splendor, majesty and grandeur. Where, again, 
will you find such interesting stories, so artlessly yet 
often so pathetically told as those of Jacob and Rachel, 
of Joseph and his brethren, of the death of Jacob, of the 
widow of Sarephath's and of the Shunamite's sons, of 
Naomi and Ruth 1 Where will you find more genuine 
touches of nature, more delightful pictures of the effects 
of friendship and sympathy, than those in the eleventh 
and fourteenth chapters of John's Gospel, and the twen- 
tieth chapter of the Acts 1 

Be assured that those who lay aside the Bible under 
the notion of its being dull, dry and unentertaining, de- 
ceive themselves most miserably, and thereby deprive 
themselves of the highest intellectual delight. This most 
excellent of all books, besides being of the highest 
authority in its historical portions, and of invaluable 
utility, as furnishing the only consistent and practicable 
scheme of morality, contains very much that is superla- 
tively adapted to gratify the finest mental taste. It enters 
more sagaciously and more deeply into human nature ; 
it developes character, delineates manners, charms the 
imagination and warms the heart more effectually than 
any book extant : and if once a person would take it in- 
to his hand without the strange unreasonable idea of its 
flatness, and be only not unwilling to be pleased, I doubt 
not that he would find all his favorite authors dwindle in 
the comparison, and soon perceive that he was not mere- 
ly reading the most religious, but the most entertaining 
book in the world* 

* For numerous examples and quotations in proof of this p%^sit-ton I re 
Gregory \ \ 



242 Gregory's letters. 

The great objects, however, for which the Scriptures 
were put into our hands are vastly more important than 
the mere furnishing us with amusement. God, who is infi- 
nitely wise as well as infinitely good, knows our compound 
mature, and has regard to it, by bestowing upon us a reve 
lation which is fitted to man, who has a mind to be in- 
structed as well as entertained, a heart to be amended 
aud renewed, and a soul to be saved. By this time, 1 
hope, you feel persuaded, upon the solid ground of the 
most rational conviction, that the Bible contains the pure 
and unadulterated ivord of God ; such as comported with 
ihe majesty and mercy of the Supreme Being to bestow, 
and such as it will be highly salutary to man to receive 
ivith humility and gratitude. Study it, then, with daily 
attention, thankfulness, and reverence. Consider it as an 
inerring " light to your feet and lamp to your path." 
l iere we are strangers and pilgrims : the Bible points to 
leaven as our home. Here we are in an enemy's coun- 
try : the Bible directs us to "fight the good fight of faith," 
under the guidance of the " Captain of our salvation." 
Here we are exposed to temptations, even to all the 
" fiery darts of Satan :" the Bible furnishes us with " the 
whole armor of God," and exhorts us to put on " the 
breast-plate of righteousness and the shield of faith ; to 
take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit." 
Here we are subject to want, distress, and disappoint- 
ment: the Bible cheers us with the prospect of " a better 
and an enduring substance," in a happy region, where 
" God shall wipe away all tears from all faces." Here 
we may be poor, destitute and despised ; but, if we are 
christians indeed, the Bible assures us we are heirs of 
an invaluable and indestructible inheritance, "an inherit- 



fer those who have any doubts to Blackwall's Sacred Classics, and Me] 
moth' j Sublime and Beautiful in Scripture : also to Burke on the Sublime 
par' i soc 4 5, I 3 ; and to various parts of Blair's Rhetoric. 



DISPOSITIONS FOR READING THE SCRIPTURES. 243 

ance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
reserved in heaven for us." 

Thus numerous and inestimable are the benefits offered 
to those who believe the Scriptures, and live conform- 
ably to the precepts therein exhibited. That these bene- 
fits and blessings may be yours, my dear friend, suffer 
me to entreat you sedulously to cherish the dispositions 
essential to a profitable perusal of the sacred pages : 
those dispositions have been ably delineated by an excel- 
lent clergyman now living, in a passage with which I 
shall close this branch of our correspondence. 

11 In the first place, study them devoutly. Remember 
that they are the word of God; that they were written 
under the superintendence of his Spirit ; and that their 
great purpose was to introduce and extend over the 
whole earth the Gospel and the kingdom of his Son. Re- 
member, also, that they were written to conduct you to 
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Read them there- 
fore with reverence and holy fear ; and make it your earn- 
est and constant prayer to Him from whom alone cometh 
every good and perfect gift, that his* grace may open 
your understanding, enable you clearly to comprehend 
the import of the sacred writings, and deeply impress it 
upon your heart." 

" Secondly, study the Scriptures with humility; with 
a sincere desire to receive instruction from them, and to 
submit your own opinions to the declared will of your 
Maker and your Savior. If we may judge, by the manner 
in which some persons speak concerning the Scriptures, 
of the temper and spirit with which they read them, we 
may almost conclude that they read them for the purpose 
of cavilling, finding fault, and raising difficulties and ob- 
jections. Be not thus blind and presumptuous. If you 
take up your Bible with christian humility, you will not 
say concerning any doctrine, ' This is a strange and un- 
reasonable doctrine, and I cannot receive it.' Your Ian 



244 Gregory's letters. 

guage will be, This doctrine is clearly contained in the 
word of God, and therefore must be true.' You will not 
say concerning any rule of practice, ' This is a hard and 
grievous commandment, and I may be excused from re- 
garding it very strictly.' Your language will be, ' This 
commandment is positively enjoined by my Lord and 
Judge, and I must obey it, if I would prove my love to 
him, or escape condemnation at the last day.' 

" Finally, read the Scriptures with a full purpose of 
heart, not merely to learn what they require of you, but 
faithfully to practise it, through God's blessed assist- 
ance, every day of your life. ' Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of hea- 
ven : but he that doeth the will of my Father.' ' Not the 
hearers of the law are just before God ; but the doers of 
the law shall be justified.' Matt. 7 : 21 ; Rom. 2 : 13. If 
you read the Scriptures carelessly, or merely from cus- 
tom, or rather from a spirit of curiosity than from anxiety 
to profit by them and to grow in grace ; you do not read 
them as you ought to read the word of your Maker. You 
do not read them like a person solicitous above all things 
to obtain, through Christ, the kingdom of heaven; and 
conscious it will be bestowed by Christ on those only 
who strive according to their power to learn from the 
Scriptures the way of his commandments, and faithfully 
to walk in t\ by his help, unto death." Gisborne's Fami- 
liar Survey p 231. 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 245 

LETTER XII. 

On the leading doctrines of the christian rcligicr. 

It is much more easy for you to conjecture than for mo 
to describe the pleasure I received from learning that 
you are now fully persuaded of the truth and Divine au- 
thority of the christian religion : and I cheerfully accede 
to your renewed request that this series of letters shall 
be extended until I have furnished you with a view of 
the principal doctrines proposed in Scripture for your 
belief, and of the grand duties which we are called upon 
as christians to discharge. Had I not, however, a decid- 
ed conviction of your supreme love of truth, and of your 
steadfast determination to follow it whithersoever it may 
lead you, I should be somewhat apprehensive that in 
performing this second part of the task your friendly de- 
ference to my opinions has assigned me, my efforts will 
be attended with less success than they have been in 
what I have already attempted. The truths which lie at 
the basis of the christian system are so humiliating to hu- 
man nature, so revolting to the sentiments of those who 
have too exalted ideas of the powers of reason, and who 
cherish erroneous conceptions of the dignity of man, that 
though they are so plainly stamped in the universal cha- 
racter and conduct of mankind that "he who runs may 
read ;" yet they require to be asserted repeatedly in the 
word of God before they receive our assent ; and after 
all we yield that assent more reluctantly than to any 
other truths ever presented to the mind. 

Still, when a person admits, as you do, that the holy 
Scriptures are a collection of books whose authors were 
divinely inspired, were led into all necessary truth and 
preserved from all doctrinal error by the superinten- 
dence of God himself, he at once sees the necessity of 



246 GREGORY'S LETTERS. 

sudymg these sacred treasures with different feelings 
and intentions from those with which he turns to the oe- 
rusal of any other work. He is aware that there are iw o 
points known to God, the inspirer of the Scriptures, 
which man cannot comprehend ; that is to say, " the se- 
crets of the heart and the succession of times" He there 
fore interprets the Bible with that 'entire submission of hit 
own understanding to the divine teaching which such a 
persuasion is calculated to produce ; and proceeds to the 
study of theology with the maxim of Lord Bacon in his 
head at least, if not in his heart, that " by how much any 
divine mystery is more unpalatable and incredible, by sc 
much the more honor is given to God in believi?ig, and the 
victory of our faith is made more noble." 

Now to me it appears impossible, and I trust you will 
find it so, for any person attentively to read the Bible, 
especially the New Testament, free from any previous 
bias, without coming to the conclusion that what distin- 
guishes Christianity from all other religious systems is 
the circumstance of its being a restorative dispensation. 
The great dramatic poet, who, in one of his admirable 
descriptions of mercy, remarked that 



u All the souls that are, were forfeit once , 

" And he, that might the 'vantage best have took, 
" Found out the remedy :" 

correctly expressed, whether he intended it or not, the 
most humbling fact and most consoling doctrine the 
Bible proclaims to us. Had not " all sinned and come 
short of the glory of God," it would never have been de- 
clared that " Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the 
whole world." 1 John, 2 : 2. Nor can we imagine that 
our Lord would himself have declared, " I came not to 
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," Mark 2 : 
17, or the Apostle Paul have affirmed,-" it is worthy of 
all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to 
save sinners" 1 Tim. 1 : 15, had not the universal preva- 



' 
THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 247 

K»nce of iniquity, in all ages, called for the divine inven- 
tion of that stupendous scheme of mercy, whereby God 
should at once " be just, and yet the justifier of the un- 
godly." Rom. 3 : 26 ; 4:5. 

Christianity, it is true, is distinguishable from all other 
systeru9 by the purity, excellency and extent of the mi - 
rality U enforces ; yet this is not, I conceive, its most 
prominevjfc characteristic. It no where presents us with 
a connected scheme of ethics, but it does far better in 
advancing tlie most simple precepts relative to every 
part of mo\kd duty, and accompanying them with the 
most powerful incentives to upright and holy conduct. 
Its grand peculiarity consists in assuming the fact that 
man is in a falUn state, that he has lost the image of 
God, that he is ox himself incapable of regaining the fa- 
vor of his Creator, and in providing a remedy by which 
man may be cured of his moral disorder ; this remedy 
being no less than the gift of "the Son of God ;" who, in 
relation to mankind, ius not so frequently called their pat- 
tern, as " the Physician of souls," " The great Deliver- 
er," "the Savior of the world." 

The more intimatefy you become acquainted with 
Christianity as depicted, in the New Testament, the more 
forcibly will you be struck with the wisdom of its consti- 
tution. It does not, if I may so say, insult and triumph 
over man., by prescribing him a code of laws which he 
cannot obey, by referring him to statutes every one of 
which he has broken, and commanding him to preserve 
them entire : but it takes man as he is, provides for his 
restoration, points out the means of salvation, invites 
him to embrace those means, and then presents him with 
precepts, by the observance of which he may " adorn 
the doctrine of God his Savior in all things.'" Titus, 2 : 
10. The scheme by which all this is effected is, doubt- 
less, extraordinary; but it is not less worthy of accept- 
ance on that account. Had it not been far beyond hu- 



248 Gregory's letters. 

man capacity and human discovery, it need not have 
been revealed. God need not make supernatural com- 
munications to reveal to us what might have been found 
out by a natural process. Having ascertained that the 
Bible is the word of God, it is our duty to receive all it 
makes known to us (whether it coincide or not with our 
preconceived notions,) without appeal to any other quar- 
ter. " I cannot comprehend the reason of this,"' may an 
inquirer after scriptural truth often say, " but it is God 
who declares it ; I receive it on his authority, and I hum- 
bly rely upon his promise that what I know not now, I 
shall know hereafter." John, 13 : 7. 

It is of extreme importance to have right views of the 
christian system in general, because our eternal safety 
depends upon it. Probably there is no communion nor 
any individual whose religious notions are in every point 
correct; because human explications even of the true 
religion are likely more or less to be affected by human 
imperfection. Still, we may rest assured, because God 
has promised it, that the devout, humble, and sincere in- 
quirer shall, in every thing that is essential to salvation, 
be preserved from error. Now, among the various sects 
into which the christian world is divided, all except one 
embrace the hypothesis that Christianity is a provision of 
mercy for an apostate and sinful world, through a divine 
Mediator. To determine whether the majority or the 
minority are wrong in this respect is of the utmost con- 
sequence ; for they who adopt this hypothesis and they 
who reject it, " having different objects of worship and 
different grounds of confidence, must be allowed to be 
of religions essentially different." What then saith the 
Scriptures 1 for to them must be our ultimate appeal. 

A man of plain understanding, who has no previously 
adopted system to favor, who reads for the sake of ar 
riving at truth, and who therefore attaches to Scripture 
its most palpable and obvious meaning, being persuaded 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 219 

that it is incompatible with the character of a revelation 
from God to abound in enigmas, will soon find that the 
evangelical scheme is this : — God, foreseeing the fatal 
apostacy into which the whole human race would fall, 
did not determine to deal in a way of strict severity with 
us, so as to consign us over to universal ruin and inevita- 
ble damnation ; but, on the contrary, determined to enter 
into a treaty of peace and reconciliation, and to publish 
to all whom the Gospel should reach, the express offers 
of life and glory, in a certain method which his infinite 
wisdom judged suitable to the purity of his nature and 
the honor of his government. This method is so aston- 
ishing and peculiar, that for man to have proposed it, 
independent of divine teaching, would have approached 
to blasphemy, and to have believed it on any other than 
divine authority would have been next to impossible. 
11 God so loved the world as to give his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life." He sent into the world " the 
brightness of his glory and the express image of his 
person," John, 3 : 16, Heb. 1 : 3, partaker of his own 
divine perfections and honors, to be not merely a teacher 
of righteousness and a messenger of grace, but also a 
sacrifice for the sins of men. Accordingly, at such a time 
as infinite wisdom saw most fitted for the purpose, the 
Lord Jesus Christ when he took upon him to deliver man 
was born of a virgin, and appeared in human flesh : aftei 
he had fulfilled the whole law, gone through incessant 
fatigues, and borne all the injuries which the ingratitude 
and malice of men could inflict, he voluntarily submitted 
himself to death, even the death of the cross, and having 
been " delivered for our offences, teas raised again for our 
justification." Rom. 4 : 25. " When he had overcome the 
sharpness of death he opened the kingdom of heaven to 
all believers :" forty days after his resurrection he " as- 
cended into heaven," in sight of his disciples, where ho 

11* 



250 Gregory's letters. 

has become our Intercessor ; and agreeably to his prom- 
ise, sent down his Spirit upon his apostles, to enable 
them, in the most persuasive and authoritative manner, 
" to preach the Gospel ;" giving it in charge to them and 
their successors to publish it " to every creature ;" and 
declaring that all who repent and believe in that Gospel 
may be saved, may be released from punishment and re- 
stored to the image of God, by virtue of its abiding ener- 
gy and the immutable power and grace of its Divine 
Author. See Doddridge's Works, vol. i. p. 274. 

It is possible that a belief of these truths, striking and 
momentous as they are, may float loosely in the under- 
standing without being efficacious. But they are exqui- 
sitely formed to affect us deeply ; and whenever the se- 
cret links which connect the understanding with the heart 
are acted upon by the mysterious energy of Him " who 
knoweth our frame " and all its hidden springs, this be- 
lief leads to that saving change which is called conver- 
sion. Then he who is the subject of it becomes " a new 
creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all things 
become new." 2 Cor. 5 : 17. He has new apprehensions 
of things, new hopes, new fears, new joys, new sorrows, 
new affections, new employments, new prospects, and, it 
may be, new friends and new foes ; he is conscious of a 
renovation of character ; his greatest solicitude is to be 
" a fellow- worker with God, and a fellow-heir with the 
saints:" and impelled by the joint influence of delight 
and self-abasement, he may be ready to exclaim with 
Baxter, " O wonderful ! that heaven will be familiar with 
earth, God with*man, the Most High with a worm, and 
the Most Holy with a vile sinner ! Man refuses me, when 
God entertains me. Those I never wronged reproach 
me ; and God, whom I have unspeakably injured, invites 
and entreats me, and condescends to me, as if he were 
obliged to serve me. Men may abhor me, whom I have 
deserved well of; but God, from whom I deserve eter- 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 251 

rial torments, graciously accepts uie. I upbraid myself 
with my sins, but he now upbrairls me not : I condemn 
myself for them, but he will not condemn me. He for- 
gives me sooner than I can forgive myself. I have 
peace with him before I can have peace in- my own con- 
science." 

The christian religion, as portrayed in the Gospel, 
differs from all others in furnishing an internal principle, 
from which the purest conduct emanates. It is not a 
religion of forms and ceremonies, but the religion of 
the heart. The language of God to every christian is, 
" My Son, give me thine heart." The true christian, 
as depicted in the New Testament, is a faithful and ac- 
tive servant, who inquires what his Lord's will is, and 
performs it with cheerful alacrity. He makes it " his 
meat and his drink to do the will of his heavenly Fa- 
ther ;" and he knows that, conformably with that will, he 
must " visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction 
and keep himself unspotted from the world." James, 1 : 
27. He considers it his duty and finds it his delight to 
please God, and render as far as possible his fellow-crea- 
tures happy ; to" add to his faith, virtue ; and to virtue, 
knowledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to tem- 
perance, patience ; and to patience, godliness ; and to 
godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 
charity." 2 Pet. 1 : 5-7. Still he walks as on the confines 
of the eternal state, and is anxious therefore to be " d ^ad 
unto the world " and " alive unto God," to attain more an d 
more of the divine image, to "grow up into Christ in all 
things," to enjoy " fellowship with God," and " if he be 
risen with Christ, to seek those things which are above, 
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Gal. 6 : 
14 ; Rom. 6:11; 2 Cor. 3 : 18 ; Eph. 4 : 15 1 John, 1 : 
3 ; Col. 3 : 1. 

Such are the dispositions and the employments which 
are required to be exemplified in the sincere christian. 



2/>2 Gregory's letters. 

He is exhorted to flee from a contrary temper and con- 
duct, by the assurance that " the wrath of God abideth 
on" all those who reject the offers of the Gospel; and 
he is stimulated to persevere in the christian course by 
the assurance that heaven is the inheritance of every sin- 
cere and humble follower of Jesus. His hopes are con- 
stantly directed to that happy period when he shall be 
" ever with the Lord, to behold " and participate in " his 
glory." He lives under the persuasion that after he has 
passed through the "valley of the shadow of death," 
God will wipe away all tears from his eyes, and he will 
be no more exposed to fear or sorrow, to mourning or 
death. He believes that his spirit will be united to his 
glorified body in those delightful regions where an enemy 
shall never enter, and from whence a friend shall never 
depart ; where there will be satiety without disgust, day 
and no night, joy and no weeping, difference in degree 
and yet all full, "love without dissimulation," excellence 
without envy, multitudes without confusion, harmony 
without discord ; where the understanding shall be aston 
ishingly enriched, the affections all transformed into love 
and joy ; where " the Lamb, who is in the midst of the 
throne, shall feed him, and lead him unto living fountains 
of waters;" Rev. 7: 17; where God shall be the light 
and the glory of the place for ever and ever ! 

These, in brief, are the doctrines of the New Testa 
m -,nt, the " fruits of the Spirit," manifested in those who 
( elieve, and the glorious expectations of a future world 
which are intended at once to stimulate and to reward 
" a patient continuance in well doing." 

" But these," you will probably say, "are not recog- 
nized by many who call themselves christians ; for there 
are many that profess a belief in Christianity, who never- 
theless ridicule the idea of living under its power. If 
that system of religion which is inculcated in the New 
Testament teach, as your language clearly implies, the 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 253 

depravity of human nature, the necessity of regeneration, 
the influences of the Spirit, a particular Providence, the 
atonement and the Divinity of Jesus Christ, justification 
by faith, the resurrection of the body and the eternity of 
future punishment; it teaches what not many rich, not 
many noble, not many wise are prepared to receive, and 
what none can receive without being exposed in conse 
quence to contumely, derision, and reproach." 

While I acknowledge the justice of this observation, I 
would wish to guard you against drawing any such con- 
clusions from it as would be unfavorable to a cordial re- 
ception of the great and essential peculiarities of the 
evangelical system. That many of the rich and noble 
should reject the religion of Jesus Christ is not at all to 
be wondered at, when it is recollected that the most gen- 
uine fruits of that religion are meekness, humility, godly 
simplicity, and aversion to pomp and display — disposi- 
tions which flow in a current directly opposite to all the 
natural tendencies of opulence, and which notwithstand- 
ing (such is the irresistible energy of christian principles) 
have often been found to adorn the character of persons 
of the most exalted rank. Blessed be God, there are those 

"Who wear a coronet and pray:"' 

there are also monarchs who delight in acknowledging, 
their allegiance to the King of kings, and whose piety is 
to them a greater ornament than the richest gem which 
decks their crowns. So that God is not without witness- 
es, nor Jesus Christ without sincere disciples among 
those who surround, or those who sit upon earthly 
thrones. 

As to the frequent rejection of the peculiarities of the 
christian religion by men of learning and science, neither 
can that be a matter of surprise. It is very possible to 
know much without being wise, and especially without 
being " wise unto salvation." 



254 Gregory's letters. 

" — Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 

" Have oft-times no connexion. Knowledge dwells 

" In heads replete with thoughts of other men, 

" Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. 

" Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, 

" The mere materials with which wisdom builds, 

" Till smooth'd, and squar'd, and fitted to its place. 

" Does but encumber whom it seems t' enrich. 

" Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much i 

" Wisdom is humble that he knows no more." Cowper. 

That great literary and philosophical endowments may 
exist in minds which, notwithstanding, have the most 
low and grovelling conceptions of almost every thing 
connected with religion, is evident from the sketch of the 
notions of heathen poets, legislators and philosophers 
which I presented in an early part of these letters. From 
that sketch you would perceive that while no subject in 
art or science was too lofty or too difficult for the acqui- 
sition of those men, no object in nature was too mean, no 
conception of the basest mind too obscene to serve as 
objects of worship : there you saw that the men whose 
genius has been the admiration of all successive ages, 
whose performances as poets, orators, historians, logici- 
ans, or mathematicians, are, after the lapse of two thou- 
sand years, held up as models of excellence in their re- 
spective kinds, — were yet sunk in such deplorable igno- 
rance respecting religion, as to be not a whit superior to 
the most barbarous and uncultivated inhabitants of South 
America or New Zealand. But the reason is evident. 
The reception of religious truths depends on the state ot 
the heart, not on that of the intellect ; and hence it has 
happened that though some men of enlarged intellect have 
had hearts in which the seeds of grace could not germi- 
nate, there have been others, such as Newton and Euler, 
who, while they have extorted from nature some of her 
profoundest secrets, and have illuminated the world by 
their discoveries, have thought it their greatest honor to 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 255 

" sit at the feet of Jesus," to imbibe the pi.re spirit of the 
Gospel, and to be not merely philosophical, but practical 
and devotional believers of Christianity, including its pe- 
culiarities and mysteries. 

I am anxious, my friend, to impress it upon your mind 
that Christianity, apart from its distinguishing doctrines 
(if it be possible to conceive of so strange a disruption 
of body and soul in that which will endure for ever,) will 
have no firm hold upon the heart ; nor in those great con 
junctures where its aid is most necessary can it reasona- 
bly be expected to have any abiding influence upon the 
conduct. I wish you, farther, to believe (and trust I shall 
ere I close these letters succeed in causing you to believe) 
that there is no intermediate ground in argument which 
a fair, candid and unsophistical reasoner can render tena- 
ble between pure deism and moderate orthodoxy; that 
is, between the system exploded in my first letter and 
that which in the remainder of the series I propose to 
defend. Let me also be permitted to remark, that it is 
no new scheme of religion which I am recommending for 
your adoption. I have not argued, nor will I argue ex- 
clusively in favor of Calvinism, or Arminianism, or Me- 
thodism, or any set of opinions of human fabrication; but 
shall endeavor to attain that middle point where all that 
is good in either seems to meet, and all that is exception- 
able to be excluded; and therefore shall defend those 
sentiments and doctrines which are so clearly contained 
in the Bible that none deny them who are not in conse- 
quence compelled to give up the authority of some part 
of sacred writ, — which were held and taught by the ablest 
and best men in the first three centuries, — which warmed 
the breasts of saints and martyrs, — which have inspired 
the hopes and regulated the conduct of a great majority 
of pious men in all ages of the universal church, — which, 
through the providence of God, have been inserted in the 
formularies of most established churches, — and which, if 



256 Gregory's letters. 

language have a plain and obvious interpretation, are de- 
fined in the Articles, incorporated jn the Ritual, and en- 
forced in the Homilies of the church of England. 

After all, I do not pretend to deny that the adoption of 
these opinions, and especially the manifestation of them 
in a holy, pure and exemplary life, wiH subject you to the 
ridicule of the most thoughtless of your former associates. 
But for this you will be amply compensated by enjoying 
peace of conscience and " reconciliation with God." And 
that you may be in some measure fortified by the obser- 
vations of others against the derision to which you will 
be exposed, allow me to extract for your use three or four 
quotations from authors of the present times whom no 
person of taste and judgment (to say nothing of piety) 
will affect to despise. 

You may perhaps be called an enthusiast, or at least 
tpld that these notions lead to enthusiasm ; but you may 
repel the charge by the following quotation : " The 
preacher (or the religious writer) who neglects the 'pecu- 
liarities of the Gospel, neglects the most profound and 
the most copious — the most important and the most in- 
teresting — the most impressive and the most moral pari 
of his profession ; and above all, he affords an advantage 
to the delusions of enthusiasts, of which an opposite sys- 
tem would effectually deprive them. Enthusiasm, in the 
sense here used, is not a natural product of the Gospel, 
but an accidental perversion of its tendencies ; the origin 
of which is to be traced in every age to the neglect of the 
Gospel as a peculiar system, and to the confounding its 
authoritative sanctions with the more indefinite obliga- 
tions of natural morality. Look at the early ages of 
Christianity, when its peculiarities were first communica- 
ted and largely insisted on, as the essential parts of the 
system, in every sermon. The effect was powerful, and 
it was moral beyond all example, — producing the utmost 
efforts of heroic arid disinterested virtue,- -with very few 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 257 

and comparatively feeble examples of that wretched en- 
thusiasm or interested hypocrisy which comKues the pro- 
fession of the most important truths with the practice of 
the most contemptible and sordid vices." — Edinb, Rev. 
vol. xvii. page 470. 

Seeing that the vocabulary of reproach is indefinite, 
others may apply to you a different term and brand you 
as a mcilwdist. If so, try whether you cannot laugh at 
the unmeaning absurdity of the appellation. " The vain 
and malignant spirit (says a most acute and profound es- 
sayist) which had decried the elevated piety of the puri- 
tans, sought about, as Milton describes the wicked one in 
Paradise, for some vehicle in which it might again with 
facility come forth to hiss at zealous Christianity, and in 
another lucky moment fell on the term mcthodist. If there 
is no sense in the word as now applied, there seems, how- 
ever, to be a great deal of aptitude and execution. It 
has the advantage of being comprehensive as a general 
denomination, and yet humiliating as a special badge for 
every thing that ignorance and folly may mistake for fa- 
naticism, or that malice may wilfully assign to it. "When- 
ever a grave formalist feels it his duty to sneer at those 
operations of religion on the passions which he never felt, 
he has only to call them methodistical ; and notwithstand- 
ing that the word is both so trite and so vague, he feels 
as if he had uttered a good pungent thing. There is sa- 
tiric smartness in the word, though there be none in the 
man. In default of keen faculty in the mind, it is delight- 
ful thus to find something that will do as well ready bot- 
tled up in odd terms. It is equally convenient to a pro- 
fligate or a coxcomb, whose propriety of character is to 
be supported by laughing indiscriminately at all the symp- 
toms of religion ; the one to evince that his courage is 
not sapped by conscience, the other to make the best ad- 
vantage of his instinct of catching at impiety as a substi- 
tute for sense. Each feels that he has manfully set them 



258 Gregory's letters. 

down when he has called them methodism. Such terms 
have a pleasant facility of throwing away the matter in 
question to scorn, without any trouble of making a defi- 
nite, intelligible charge of extravagance or delusion, and 
attempting to prove it." Foster's Essays, volume ii. Let- 
ter 1. 

Others, to give vent to their contempt, may character- 
ize you as evangelical. And " such is the new meaning 
now assigned to old terms, that we doubt if the applica- 
tion of the epithet in question would not excite a sneer 
if not a suspicion in some minds against the character of 
Isaiah himself, were we to name him by his ancient de- 
nomination, the evangelical prophet. This laconic term in- 
cludes a diatribe in a word. It is established into a sweep- 
ing term of derision of all serious christians, and its com- 
pass is stretched to such an extent as to involve within it 
every shade and shape of real or fictitious piety, from the 
elevated but sound and sober christian to the wildest and 
most absurd fanatic ; its large enclosure takes in all, from 
the most honorable heights of erudition to the most con- 
temptible depths of ignorance. Every man who is se- 
rious and every man who is silly, every man who is holy 
and every man who is mad, is included in this compre- 
hensive epithet. We see perpetually that solidity, sub- 
limity and depth are not found a protection against the 
magic mischief of this portentous appellation," — Mrs. 
More's Christian Morals, vol. ii. page 81. 

The men who are so fond of employing terms of re- 
proach to designate those who think that religion is some- 
thing more than a mere matter of speculation, seem to 
have forgotten that the first and most indispensable re- 
quisite in religion is seriousness ; and that levity in con- 
versation upon religious topics, or sneering at men who 
are in earnest whenever such topics are introduced, has a 
very prejudicial effect upon those who indulge in such 
practices. Of such you may call the attention to the sen 



THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 250 

timents of a late venerable moralist and divine as exhib- 
ited in the passage below. 

" The turn which this levity usually takes is in jest and 
raillery upon the opinions, or the peculiarities, or the per- 
sons of men of particular sects, or who bear particular 
names, especially if they happen to be more serious than 
ourselves. And of late this loose, and I can hardly help 
calling it jtrofane, humor has been directed chiefly against 
the followers of methodism. But against whomsoever it 
happens to be pointed, it has all the bad effects, both up- 
on the speaker and the hearer, which we have noticed ; 
and as in other instances, so in this, give me leave to say 
that it is very much misplaced. In the first place, were 
the doctrines and sentiments of those who bear this name 
ever so foolish and extravagant, (I do not say that they 
are either,) this proposition I shall always maintain to be 
true, viz. that the wildest opinion that ever was entertained 
in matters of religion is more rational than unconcern about 
these matters. Upon this subject nothing is so absurd as 
indifference — no folly so contemptible as thoughtlessness 
and levity. In the next place, do methodists deserve this 
treatment 1 Be their particular doctrines what they may, 
the professors of these doctrines appear to be in earnest 
about them ; and a man who is in earnest about religion 
cannot be a bad man, still less a fit subject for derision. I 
am no methodist myself: but I contend that sincere men 
are not for these, or indeed any doctrines, to be made 
laughing-stocks to others. I do not bring in the case of 
the methodists for the purpose of vindicating their tenets, 
but for the purpose of observing (and I wish that the ob- 
servation may weigh with all my readers) that the custon 
of treating their characters and persons, their preachino- 
or their preachers, their meetings or worship, with scorn, 
has the pernicious consequence of destroying our own 
seriousness, together with the seriousness of those who 
hear or join in such conversation, especially if they be 



260 Gregory'* letters. 

young persons ; and I am persuaded that much mischief 
is actually done in this very way." — Dr. Paley's Posthu- 
mous Sermons, Ser. 1. 

Leaving these admirable sentiments to make their full 
impressions on your mind, or to steel you against the 
puny attacks of those who imagine burlesque and buf- 
foonery are the proper instruments to correct what they 
deem fanatical eccentricities, while others may class them 
among religious excellencies, I remain, dear sir, your 
sincere friend. 



LETTER XIII 

On the fall of man, and the depravity of human nature 

Plato, as you will doubtless recollect, defined man in 
his time a biped without feathers : and Diogenes, in or- 
der to show what he deemed the absurdity of this defini- 
tion, plucked all the feathers from a cock, and placing it 
in the midst of the academy, exclaimed, " There is one 
of Plato's men." Diogenes, it seems, was not'aware that 
Plato's definition was suggested by a tradition which had 
reached him, that man was once in a far superior state 
with regard to morals, but had been degraded by vice, 
and was now so lowered as to become, with respect to 
his former condition, what a bird would be when stripped 
of his feathers so as to be no longer able to fly. In con- 
formity with this the Platonists in general believed a pre- 
existent state, in which all souls had sinned, and thus lost 
their wings whereby they were once capable of ascesd- 
ing; and so they sunk into these bodies partly as a pun- 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 261 

ishment for former follies. This was called in their form 
of speech nrnpeffVHrts, or a moulting of their wings: 
their daily experience in themselves, and their wise ol> 
servance of others, convincing them that all mankind 
come into the world with a propensity to vice rather than 
to virtue ; and that man is not such a creature now as he 
came from his Maker's hand, but is in some way or other 
plucked of his 'feathers or degenerated from his primitive 
rectitude and glory. 

So agfain, Marcus Antoninus confessed that men were 
horn mere slaves to their appetites and passions ; and very 
many of the heathen philosophers, guided only by the 
lignt of nature, affirmed that men are of themselves des- 
titute of true knowledge, purity and reason ; while in the 
Hebrew Scriptures the word used for man as the son of 
Adam is Enosh, indicating that he is "sorry, wretched and 
incurably sick." Several modern philosophers, however, 
and some professed teachers of religion, represent this 
doctrine as absurd and contemptible in the highest de- 
gree ; on which account it will- be proper to employ a lit- 
tle time in ascertaining its correctness, and evincing its 
conformity, as well with what may be observed in the 
world as with the declarations of Scripture. 

According to every conception we can form of the wis- 
dom and goodness of the Deity, as well as according to 
the most express and unequivocal language of the Bible, 
" God formed man zipright :" he was furnished with a clear 
and sagacious mind, with reason bright and strong, and 
possessed transcendent qualifications for the most eleva- 
ted happiness. But that he might be accountable, he was 
necessarily created free; and that he might never forget 
that he was under the cognizance and dominion of a mo- 
ral governor, a test of obedience was set before him. 

" God made tlice perfect, not immutable ; 
" And good he made thee ; but to persevere 
" He loft it in thy power; ordain'd thy will 



262 Gregory's letters. 

" By nature free, not overrul'd by fate 

" Inextricable, or strict necessity : 

" Our voluntary service he requires, 

" Not our necessitated ; such with him 

" Finds no acceptance, nor can find ; for how 

n Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve 

" Willing or no, who will but what they must 

" By destiny, and can no other choose VI Milton 

In this respect God did not deal worse with man than 
with his other creatures, but man acted worse towards 
his Maker than any of them. He did not conform to the 
laws of his nature, but broke his allegiance to God by 
choosing evil instead of good. Thus he sunk from his 
original happy state, and, according to the constitution of 
things, 

" Brought death into the world, and all our wo ;" 

hib whole nature and race becoming tainted, so that he 
was viler than the brutes that perish, forfeited his native 
blessings, and with his progeny became rebels and ob- 
noxious to their Maker's^ displeasure. Without having 
regard to this original degeneracy, it is hard, nay I be- 
lieve impossible, to account satisfactorily for the poor, 
dark, stupid and wretched circumstances in which so 
great a part of mankind are brought into this world, in 
which they grow up age after age in gross ignorance and 
vice, thoughtless of their duty to the God that created 
them, and negligent of" the true happiness which flows 
from the enjoyment of his favor. 

The history of the fall of man is succinctly related, as 
you will doubtless remember, in the third chapter of the 
book of Genesis. Its effects are indelibly marked upon 
every individual, inasmuch as " in Adam all die j" and 
even upon the earth itself, which, still groaning under the 
original malediction, brings forth " thorns, and thistles, 
and briars," and thus will continue to do till "the resti- 
tution of all things." These are not, as has been often 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 263 

insinuated, the notions of men of distempered minds, 
made imbecile by infirmity or soured by disappointment, 
but of the wisest and best men in all ages. Consult the 
writings of the christian fathers and you will find Justin 
Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, saying 
" The whole race of men descending from Adam have 
become liable to death and to the deception of the ser- 
pent, each of them by reason of the same thing having 
fallen under the influence of sin." Clemens Romanus 
and others most fully express the same sentiment. At- 
tend also to the language of the Reformers, and espe- 
cially to the founders of the English church : " Foras- 
much (say they) as the true knowledge of ourselves is 
very necessary to come to the right knowledge of God, 
ye have heard how humbly all good men ought always to 
think of themselves." — " The Holy Ghost, in writing the 
holy Scriptures, is in nothing more diligent than pulling 
down man's vain-glory and pride, which of all vices is 
most universally grafted in all mankind, even from the 
first infection of our first father Adam." — " Of ourselves 
we be crab-trees that can bring forth no apples. We be 
r / ourselves of such earth as can but bring forth weeds, 
settles, brambles, briars, cockle and darnel. Our fruits 
are declared in the fifth chapter of Galatians. We h.ave 
neither faith, charity, hope, patience, chastity, nor any 
thing else that- good is, but of God ; and therefore these 
virtues be called there the fruits of the Holy Ghost, and 
not the fruits of man." — " We are of ourselves very sin- 
ful, wretched and damnable. Of ourselves and by our- 
selves we are not able either to think a good thought or 
work a good deed, so that we can find in ourselves no 
hope of salvation, but rather whatsoever maketh unto our 
destruction. O Israel, thy destruction cometh of thyself, 
but in me only is thy help and comfort." Homily on the 
Misery of all Mankind ; see also Article the 9th. 

" Our very virtues (says Richard Hooker) may be 



264 Gregory's letters. 

snares unto us. The enemy that waiteth for all occa- 
sions to work our ruin, hath found it harder to over- 
throw a humble sinner than a proud saint.. There is no 
man's case so dangerous as his whom Satan hath per- 
suaded that his own righteousness shall present him 
blameless in the sight of God. If we could say we were 
not guilty of any thing at all in our consciences (we 
know ourselves far from this innocency ; but if we could) 
should we therefore plead not guilty before the presence 
jf our Judge, who sees farther into our hearts than 
we ourselves can do 1 If our hands did never offer vio- 
lence to our brethren, a bloody thought doth prove us mur- 
derers before him : if we had never opened our mouth to 
utter any scandalous, offensive, or hurtful word, the ery 
of our secret cogitations is heard in the ears of God. If we 
did not commit the sins which, daily and hourly, either 
.in deed, word, or thoughts we do commit ; yet in the 
good things which we do how many defects are inter- 
mingled ! God in that which is done, respecteth the 
mind and intention of the doer. Cut off, then, all those 
things wherein we have regarded our own glory, those 
things which men do to please men and to satisfy our 
own liking, those things which we do for any by-respect, 
not sincerely and purely for the love of God ; and a small 
score will serve for the number of our righteous deeds. 
"Let the holiest and best things which we do be con- 
sidered : we are never better affected unto God than 
when we pray; yet when we pray how are our affections 
many times distracted ! How little reverence do we 
show to the grand majesty of God, unto whom we speak ! 
How little remorse of our own miseries ! How little 
taste of the sweet influence of his tender mercies do we 
feel ! Are we not as unwilling many times to begin, and 
as glad to make an end, as if in saying, call upon me, he 
had set us a very burthensome tcsk % It may seem some- 
what extreme which I will speak ; therefore let every 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 265 

one judge of it, even as his own heart shall tell him, and 
no otherwise ; I will but only make a demand : — If God 
should yield unto us, not as unto Abraham, if fifty, forty, 
thirty, twenty, yea, or if ten good persons could be found 
in a city, for their sakes that city should not be destroy- 
ed : but, and if he should make us an offer thus large : 
search all the generations of men since the fall of our 
father Adam, find one man that hath done one action 
which hath passed from him pure, without any stain or 
blemish at all, for that one man's only action neither man 
nor angel shall feel the torments which are prepared for 
both. Do you think that this ransom to deliver men and 
angels could be found to be among the sons of men % 
The best things which we do have somewhat in them to 
be pardoned. How then can we do any thing meritori- 
ous, or worthy to be rewarded ] Indeed, God doth libe- 
rally promise whatsoever appertaineth to a blessed life 
to as many as sincerely keep his law, though they be not 
exactly able to keep it. Wherefore we acknowledge a 
dutiful necessity of doing well ; but the meritorious digni- 
ty of doing ivell we utterly renounce. We see how far we 
are from the perfect righteousness of the law : the little 
fruit which we have in holiness, it is, God knoweth, cor- 
rupt and unsound : we put no confidence at all in it, we 
challenge nothing in the world for it, we dare not call 
God to reckoning, as if we had him in our debt-books : 



■5J 



our 



continual suit to him is, and must he to hear with our infir- 
mities, and pardon our offences." Discourse on Justifica- 
tion, § 7. 

But many will say in opposition to all this, "We admit 
the fact of the great though not universal wickedness 
ihat prevails in the world : but we cannot assent to what 
you give as the natural history of it. We do not think 
it inseparable from man's present nature, but an acciden- 
tal acquisition ; we do i ot ascribe it to the influence of 
an hereditary taint, but conceive it to be the effect of im 

Gregory 1 2 



266 Gregory's letters. 

itation and custom, of acquired habit, of corrupt example, 
of injudicious tuition." This, by the way, is only saying 
in other words, that depravity is the effect of depravity. 
Let us, however, examine the matter a little more close- 
ly. That vile passions may in some be the result of im- 
proper tuition or of imitation I have no inclination to 
deny; but they cannot always be referred to .such .an 
origin. How often do we see children in the veriest in- 
fancy exhibit strong and unquestionable indications of 
boisterous temper, of obstinacy, or impatience ! How 
often do children of the most pious parents, who are so 
brought up as during the first six or seven years of their 
lives never to witness any species of crime, any instances 
of ingratitude, of falsehood, or deception, or any indul- 
gence in irascible passions, furnish painful proofs that 
they can be deceivers, wilful liars, ungrateful, passionate, 
malignant and unforgiving ] These instances, I will ven- 
ture to say,* occur very frequently when it is impossible 
to ascribe them to imitation. 

But suppose the contrary were admitted, the opposers 
of the Scriptural doctrine would gain nothing by the con- 
cession. For of whom could a child acquire iniquity by 
imitation but of some one who was born before him ] 
And whom did that person imitate but some one born 
before him ? And where must this series terminate 1 If 
you say any where short of the first man, you have to ac- 
count for the remarkable phenomenon of sin's making 
its first inroad at the identical time, and fixing upon 
the identical person you have selected; and this will 
be found infinitely more difficult than extending the 
series to the great progenitors of the human race. Be 
d'des, does not the very circumstance of an aptitude to 
imitate evil, and rather to imitate evil than good, indi 
cate something like that hereditary taint which it is 
brought forward to contravene and supersede 1 Can an 
inherent tendency to imitate evil, an undeviating propen- 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 267 

sity to slide into vice (unless the strong hand of moral 
discipline or the suasive influence of Divine grace pre- 
vents) be fairly or rationally ascribed to any thing less 
than such a cause as that with which the Bible makes us 
acquainted 1 Pursuing this train, you will see that the 
Scriptural solution of the difficulty before us is reason- 
able; and that it has the farther advantage of showing 
that moral evil was not, as some have been presumptuous 
enough to assert, produced by the Creator, but contract- 
ed by the creature, who, though he was endowed witli 
" power to stand, was free to fall." 

Sceptical writers, who are solicitous either to destroy 
or diminish the authority of the sacred records, have 
usually selected three points at which to attack the Mo- 
saic account of the fall of man. 1. They ask, why was 
so strange an act of obedience as that of refraining- from 
eating a particular fruit exacted of Adam and Eve.] 2. 
How could eating that fruit destroy the perfection of 
their nature and entail guilt and misery upon themselves 
and their latest posterity ] 3. Why should the earth be 
cursed for the transgression of man 1 

Supposing we were not able to furnish satisfactory 
answers to these questions, that circumstance would not 
justify any person in withholding his assent to the por- 
tion of sacred history to which they relate. " Secret 
things belong unto God :" and though he has been gra- 
ciously pleased to reveal to us every thing essential to 
our well-being here, and that is calculated to invite and 
draw us to eternal felicity hereafter, we have no reason 
to expect that all the questions, doubts and speculations 
which might be started by ingenious men should be clear- 
ed up by immediate revelation. When an apostle in- 
lulged in useless inquiries, the reply of his Master was 
" What is that to thee % follow thou me ;" John, 21 : 22 
and if Jesus were speaking to many querists in our days 
he might employ similar language. 



2GS Gregory's letters. 

The difficulties, however, to which the present ques- 
tions relate are by no means insurmountable. To the 
first it may be replied, that none but God can be ab- 
solutely independent : that dependance in a creature, 
without some criterion or test of that dependance, is 
unintelligible, or, in truth, a contradiction, because it 
would in such case become with regard tc that crea- 
ture a state of independence ; that in a free and ra- 
tional creature this test of dependance should be such 
as would often remind him of his dependance, and 
lead him to acknowledge it ; that this acknowledg- 
ment could only be by obedience, that is, by some re- 
straint of natural liberty ; that the first and only man 
and woman upon earth could not be guilty of any of 
the crimes which arise from the connexion of human 
beings with society, — and since some restraint of na- 
tural liberty was necessary, and some permanent and 
visible memorial of man's dependance upon his Crea- 
tor beneficial, what could be more proper and easy 
\han a restraint of his appetite from one fruit amidst 
an infinite variety of others equally delicious 1 what 
more worthy the wisdom and goodness of the Supreme 
Being than the prohibition of a fruit which he knew 
would be injurious to man % what more kind and mer- 
ciful than placing the dangerous and prohibited object 
(expressly prohibited because it was dangerous) in so 
conspicuous a situation as to preclude the possibility of 
its being mistaken for any other ] 

The cavil about this fruit's being an object of tempta- 
tion is almost too idle to deserve specific notice ; for 
surely no being can be out of the reach of temptation 
but God alone. The same may be said respecting the 
puerile objection founded on the supposed disproportion 
between the crime and the punishment. "Were man and 
his posterity to incur death for eating an apple P 1 No. 
But who ever said this was the case ? The sin consisted 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 269 

not simply in eating the fruit, but in breaking the com- 
mandment of Goal by so doing. 

With regard to the second question, it may be simply 
necessary to remind the querist that even now there are 
fruits the eating of which will destroy the best bodily an. I 
mental constitution upon earth, will inflame the blood, 
cause frenzies, and in many cases idiotism. Might not, 
then, some such fruit as now produces these deleterious 
effects upon the human constitution operate most unfa- 
vorably upon that of our first parents 1 Might it not in 
consequence of its previously endowed properties, or- 
dained for ' specific purpose, sow the seeds of disorder 
and death in their mortal frames, weaken the energy 
of their minds, and reduce their god-like understandings 
to the present standard of ordinary men 1 Might it not 
destroy the just equilibrium of their powers, and render 
passion no longer subordinate to reason, — thus occasion- 
ing guilt, misery, disease, and (since man can, by a ne- 
cessity of his nature, only produce his like) entailing 
these upon their posterity to the latest ages 1 — If there 
be any thing unreasonable in these admissions, I confess 
I am unable to detect it. 

As to the circumstance included in the third question, 
it was clearly the effect of merey, not of relentless fury, 
as the inquiry usually implies. When man by his folly 
and disobedience had contracted a mortal disease, and 
had merely the power of communicating to his children 
that " life " which " is nothing but their death begun'' 
surely it was the height of mercy in an insulted God to 
take away some of its allurements and fascinations from 
a world which man must quit, — to make the earth tha 
scene of trouble and disquietude as soon as life becamo 
temporary, — that when this was no longer his home it 
should no longer be supremely desirable ; at the same 
time graciously assuring the offender that more than 
what he had lost by transgression might be regained by 



270 Gregory's letters. 

repentance and " turning unto God ;" that thus, though 

" blooming Eden withers in his sight, 

" Death gives him more than was in Eden lost." Young. 

Some persons, and (as I have already hinted) even 
some divines, whose minds lean towards the Socinian hy- 
pothesis, contend that the whole story of the fall of man 
is allegorical. To this it is easy to reply by many ob- 
vious arguments. The Scriptures are intended to lead us 
into all truth, to preserve us from all error. But will this 
be effected by thrusting an allegory into the midst of an 
important, interesting, and remarkably simple narration, 
and not furnishing us with the least clue by which we 
can ascertain where the allegory is interposed between 
the links of the history ] Besides, if the fall of man be al- 
legorical, does it not .follow as a necessary consequence 
that the redemption of man is allegorical also % for " asm 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
1 Cor. 15 : 22. Yet every well-regulated mind revolts 
from so strange an inference. 

Again, if the fall of man be allegorical, it follows by 
parity of reason that its effects are allegorical, and the 
effects of the curse denounced in consequence of that fall 
are allegorical likewise. How has it happened, then, 
that moral turpitude has been traced every where, and 
in all ages 1 for we have seen that the hypothesis which 
imputes it to imitation is untenable. And how can it be 
that the curse should have been always so astonishingly 
fulfilled, as I showed in the first letter I wrote to you 1 
What besides the female of the human species has " sor- 
row " during pregnancy, — has, as Aristotle long ngo re- 
marked, head-achs, vertigos, faintings, loathings, and a 
sad train of concomitants ] What animal besides man 
is compelled by nature to " labor " for necessaries, and 
even for knowledge. Quadrupeds graze the turf unfill- 
ed, drink at the flowing stream, sleep on a bed prepared 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 271 

for them by their Creator, are clothed with a garment as 
durable as themselves, find a paradise in every field, and 
possess by instinct a knowledge perfect in its kind, need- 
ing no cultivation: while man, the "lord" of these ani- 
mals, can neither eat, sleep, nor be clothed but in conse- 
quence of labor ; obtains his knowledge by an effort 
greater and more continuous than all others ; and, after 
all, does not reach the contents of the cup, but sips mere- 
ly the dew from the outside, — refreshing it is true, but 
never filling. Call all this, as Moses authorizes you to 
do, the result of just punishment, and every thing is plain 
and easy : deny the fall of man, its permanent effects upon 
mankind in the tendency of sin, the maladies attending 
pregnancy, and the necessity for labor, and you must 
then be precipitated into the conclusion, that because 
" man is unhappy God is unjust." 

There are those, I am aware, who not only refuse their 
assent to the doctrine of the fall of man, but who ad- 
vance still farther in the train of sentiment, and affirm 
most positively that the notion of the universal depravity 
of human nature is incompatible with the general tenor 
and language of the Bible. Let us see how far an un- 
strained abstract of the sentiments of the principal Scrip- 
ture-writers, as to this particular, will tend to confirm 
this assertion. 

Moses gives us the result of the observation of Deity, 
and not of a fallible man, when he says, " God saw that 
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only 
evil continually." And again, after the deluge, " The 
Lord said, The imagination of man's heart is evil from 
his youth." Gen. 6:5; 8:21. 

The language of the Psalmist, descriptive of himself 
and of all men in his time, is not less decisive. " Men are 
corrupt; they have done abominable works; there is 
none that doeth good. They are all gone aside ; they are 



272 Gregory's letters. 

altogether become filthy ; there is none that doeth good, 
no not one." " I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my 
mother conceive me." " If thou, Lord, shouldest mark 
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand V "In thy sight shall 
no man living be justified." Psa. 14 : 1, 3 ; 51 : 5 ; 130 : 
3; 143 : 2. 

Job's reprover, Eliphaz, inquires, " What is man that 
he should be clean ; and one born of a woman that he 
should be righteous 1 How abominable and filthy is man 
which drinketh iniquity like water /" Job, 15 : 14, 16. 

Solomon says, " The way of man is froward and 
strange." " There is not a just man upon earth that doeth 
good and sinneth not." "God made man upright; but 
they have sought out many inventions." " The heart of 
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." " Their 
heart is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while 
they live." Prov. 21 : 8 ; Eccles. 7 : 20, 29 ; 8 : 11 ; 9 : 3. 

The language used by Isaiah, when influenced by the 
Spirit of prophecy, is, "Thy first father hath sinned, and 
thy teachers have transgressed. All we, like sheep, have 
gone astray: the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
us all." "We are all, as a polluted thing, and all our 
righteous deeds are as a rejected garment, and our sins, 
like the wind, have borne us away." Is. 43 : 27; 53 : 6; 
64 : 6. Lowth. 

Jeremiah says, " We have sinned against the Lord 
our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto 
this day." " The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked : who can know it V Jer. 3 : 25 ; 17:9. 

Micah in like manner affirms, " There is none upright 
among men;" Micah, 7:2; and similar language might 
be quoted from other of the minor prophets. 

The New Testament abounds with declarations equally 
express and decisive. Thus Jesus Christ himself, in his 
conference with Nicodemus, assumes the fact that the 
wnole world has sinned, John, 3 : 16, 19, and soon after 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 273 

affirms that " men loved darkness rather than light, be- 
cause their deeds were evil." 

The apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, after he 
had received the Spirit which should "lead him into all 
truth," said, not to a select party of great sinners, but to 
a promiscuous multitude of "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, 
Mesopotamians, Cappadocians, Phrygians, Egyptians, 
Cyrenians, Romans, Cretes, Arabians, Jews and Pros- 
elytes," " Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, 
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins." 
Acts, 2 : 38. A plain proof that, in the estimation of this 
inspired apostle, every one of them had sins to be remitted. 

The epistles of Paul are full of passages of the same 
import. I select the following. When reasoning upon 
the general subject, but speaking of himself as if to avoid 
giving offence, he says : " I know that in me, that is, in 
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Again : " Jews and 
Gentiles are all under sin." "All have sinned and come 
short of the glory of God." " Death hath passed upon all 
men, for that all have sinned." " By the disobedience of ■ 
one, many were made sinners." " The Scripture hath 
concluded all under sin, that the promise, by faith of 
Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe." All 
of us likewise lived "formerly in the desires of our flesh, 
&c. and were by nature children of wrath, even as 
others." "If one died for all, then were a/£dead." Rom. 
3 : 9, 23 ; 5 : 12, 19 ; Gal. 3 : 22 ; Ephes. 2 : 3 ; 2 Cor. 
5 : 14 ; Tit. 3 : 3. 

James, who is generally imagined to dwell less upon 
the peculiarities of the christian system than the othei 
apostles, says, "In many things we all offend." Jas. 3 : 2 

The apostle John says, " If we say that we have no sin, 
vve deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." " Jesua 
Christ is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours 
only, but also for the sins of the whole world" " The 
whole icorld lieth in wickedness." 1 John, 1:8; 2:2; 5:19. 
12* 



274 Gregory's letters. 

Now, my friend, examine the passages here cited at 
tentively, compare them with their respective contexts, 
to ascertain that they contain the genuine sentiments of 
the several writers ; and then devise, if you can, any 
means by which I could offer a greater insult to your 
understanding than by saying, as those from whose sen- 
timents I wish to preserve you are often saying, " Hence 
you may safely infer, that the doctrine of the depravity 
of human nature is not supported by Scripture." 

Indeed, it seems next to impossible to deny this doc- 
trine, without at the same time impugning the wisdom 
of God, as manifested in the scheme of redemption. In 
this scheme there is an amazing apparatus, for which, 
upon the hypothesis of our opponents, there can be no 
necessity; for there certainly can be no necessity that 
"Christ should die for all," if all have not sinned. Ac- 
cording to this scheme, every human creature must be 
born of "God," "be created anew," "be quickened," 
"be reconciled to God by Jesus Christ," "be washed 
from his sins in His blood." Here therefore are require 
ments and provisions where none are needed, if the doc- 
trine of human depravity be unfounded. God, who alone 
can see and provide for future contingencies, has fancied 
there would be a universal apostacy, when there has been 
no such thing — foretold by his prophets that he would 
provide a way for the restoration of his people, when no 
restoration was required — appointed a Savior to die for 
the sins of the whole world, and whose "blood" was to 
wash away the sins of many who had no sins to be thus 
cancelled. And this, even this, is called " ratio?ial reli- 
gion;" a religion that evinces the wisdom and goodness 
of God, conformably to the most liberal, and pure, and 
philosophical principles ! 

"Shall we then continue in sin that grace may abound'? 
God forbid." Though the powers of man are vitiated, 
and his inclinations to evil are so strong that they will 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 275 

never be thoroughly subdued but by Divine influences ; 
yet God, who cannot be otherwise than holy, continues 
still to demand a perfection of obedience. Ours is a 
moral inability to fulfil the law ; but he who knows the 
heart can, and has graciously promised that he will ulti 
mately destroy this inability, by communications from 
himself. "To the Lord our God belong mercies and 
forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him." 
Though we cannot of ourselves fulfil what God requires 
in his law, yet we " can do all things through Christ, 
who dwelleth in us." If we " live after the flesh, we 
shall die ; but if through the Spirit we mortify the deeds 
of the body, we shall live." Rom. 8 : 13. God conde- 
scends, by the dispensation of the Gospel, to pardon and 
accept the humble, sincere, penitent sinner, on account 
of the perfect obedience and atoning sacrifice of his own 
Son, who died to deliver his people from the j'ower of 
sin as well as from the punishment due to it. The pro- 
mises of the New Dispensation relate as well to the re- 
covery of the divine image as the recovery of the divine 
favor. On both these accounts we are solicited to come 
to Christ " that we may have life." The invitations of 
the Gospel are free and open to all; yet this should not 
cause us to sink into supineness, or to treat the invalua- 
ble gift with indifference ; for the blessings of redemption 
are restricted to penitent believers, and to them alone. 



% LETTER XIV. 

On the atonement for sin, by the death of Jesus Clirist. 

" God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believetli in him should not perish, 



276 Gregory's letters. 

but have everlasting life."* Such is the remarkable lan- 
guage of the great Head of the Church concerning him- 
self. It is important for us to determine the precise 
meaning of this proposition ; and therefore to inquire 
whether we believe in him when we consider him as cne 
who came merely to teach us and to set us an example, 
or when we farther regard him as one who died a sacri- 
fice for sin ? 

To me it appears that the latter is the correct inter- 
pretation of the passage : and that, therefore, though the 
preaching of "Christ crucified was unto the Jews a 
stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolis hness" 1 Cor. 

* John, 3 : 16. When reflecting upon this text and many others in 
the New Testament, it has often occurred to me that it would be extreme- 
ly difficult to defend either our Lord or his apostles from the charge of 
egregious trifling upon the most solemn subjects, according to that inter- 
pretation of Christianity which denies the extent of human depravity and 
the doctrine of Christ's divinity. Thus, in the case before us, a Jewish 
ruler, convinced that Jesus Christ was " a teacher sent from God," solicit- 
ed a conference with him. In the course of it this Jew hesitated much 
at the doctrine of regeneration; but his teacher prepared his mind for 
still more extraordinary discoveries of divine truth by saying, " If I have 
told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell 
you of heavenly things ?" What, then, is the mysterious truth for which 
the mind of Nicodemus was thus prepared ? Why, that " God so loved the 
world as to send " a good man into it ! That is, to send a good man as 
an example to a world that already contained many good men, and to 
give unto those good men eternal life ! Or, "God so loved the world as to 
give," not his Son by nature, but by adoption and elevation from a state ot 
wretchedness and poverty to inexpressible glory at his own right hand ! ! 
Who would ever extol so wonderfully the clemency of a monarch that 
should pretend to give his own son to die for rebels, and instead of so 
doing should adopt one of the most indigent and wretched of his subjects 
'oj that purpose ? So again the language of the apostle to Timothy, 
' Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was mani- 
"ested in the flesh," has an intelligible and important meaning, if it signify 
that the divine nature was mysteriously united to human nature in the 
person of Jesus Christ. But deprive the passage of this interpretation, 
and give it that of the Socinians, and you cannot, I think- conceive any 
thing more puerile. 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 277 

i : 23, both in the primitive and most succeeding times, 
yet it is a genuine and awfully momentous christian 
doctrine, that Christ by his death has made atonement or 
satisfaction for the sins of all those who truly repent and 
return unto God in the way of sincere though imperfect 
obedience. 

This great truth (for such I doubt not you will find it 
to be) has been believed and defended by good men in 
all ages. Among the christians of the earliest times we 
have, first, Clemens Romanus saying, "Let us look stead- 
fastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious it is 
in the sight of God ; which being shed for our salvation, 
has obtained the grace of repentance for all the world." 
And again, " By the blood of our Lord there shall be 
redemption to all that believe and hope in God." Igna- 
tius also, in his epistle to the Smyrnaeans, says, " Now 
all these things he suffered for us, that we might be saved. 
And he suffered truly, as he also truly raised up himself; 
and not as some unbelievers say, that he only seemed to 
suffer." Clem. Ep. ad Corint. § 7, 12. Ignat. Ep. ad 
Smyrn. § 2. 

Polycarp, again, in his epistle to the Philippians, 
quotes 1 Pet. 2 : 22-24, in proof of the doctrine of 
Christ's atonement ; adding, " He suffered all this^r us, 
that we might live through him." And in the account 
given of his martyrdom by the church at Smyrna over 
which he presided, they speak of it as an indisputable 
christian sentiment, that " Christ suffered for the salva- 
tion of all such as shall be saved throughout the whole 
world, the righteous for the ungodly" Pol. Ep. ad. Phil. 
§ 8. Pol. Mart. § 17. 

It would be easy to quote pages from Barnabas, Justin 
Martyr, and the succeeding fathers, in favor of the atone- 
ment ; but, for the sake of brevity, I shall cite only one 
more passage, and that from a work of acknowledged an- 
tiquity, the Apostobr.al Constitutions, most probably com 



278 Gregory's letters. 

piled in the third century. In the fine prayer given in 
the liturgy for the eucharist we read, " He was pleas- 
ed by thy good will to become man, who was man's Cre 
ator; to be under the laws, who was the Legislator; to 
be a sacrifice, who was an High Priest ; and reconciled 
thee to the world, and freed all men from the wrath to 
come." "He that was the Savior was condemned;. he that 
was impassible was nailed to the cross ; he who was by 
nature immortal died, and he that is the giver of life was 
buried, that he might loose those for whose sake he came 
from suffering and death." Const. Apost. lib. viii. cap. 12. 

Descending to later times we find the same doctrine 
maintained as essential in the Greek and in most of the 
reformed churches. It is clearly stated by the venerable 
fathers of the English church, and by many of the most 
profound, eloquent, and learned of the episcopal clergy. To 
prove this the three following quotations may suffice. 

" We are all miserable persons, sinful persons, damna- 
ble persons, justly driven out of Paradise, justly excluded 
from heaven, justly condemned to hell-fire : and yet (see a 
wonderful token of God's love) he gave us his only begot- 
ten Son, us, I say, that were his extreme and deadly en- 
emies, that we, by virtue of his blood shed upon the cross, 
might be clean, purged from our sins, and might become 
righteous again in his sight." Second Homily on the 
Passion. See also Art. 31. 

" In correspondence to all the exigencies of the case 
(that God and man both might act their parts in saving 
as,) the blessed eternal Word, the only Son of God, by 
the good-will of his Father, did vouchsafe to intercede 
for us, and to undertake our redemption : in order there- 
to voluntarily being sent down from heaven, assuming hu- 
man flesh, subjecting himself to all the infirmities of our 
frail nature, and to the worst inconveniences of our low 
condition ; therein meriting God's favor to us, by a per- 
fect obedience to the law, and satisfying God's justice by 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 2'/'J 

a most patient endurance of pains in our behalf; in com 
pletion of all willingly laying down his life for the ransom 
of our souls, and pouring forth his Mood in sacrifice for our 
sins." Dr. Isaac Barrow's Sermon on the Passion. 

" In what particular way the blood of Christ had this 
efficacy there are not wanting persons who have endea- 
vored to explain : but I do not find that the Scripture 
has explained it. We seem to be very much in the dark 
concerning the manner in which the ancients understood 
atonement to be made, i. e. pardon to be obtained by sa- 
crifices. And, if the Scripture has, as surely it has, left 
this matter of the satisfaction of Christ mysterious, left 
somewhat in it unrevealed, all conjectures about it must 
be, if not evidently absurd, yet at least uncertain. Nor 
has any one reason to complain of. want of farther inform- 
ation, unless he can show his claim to it. 

" Some have endeavored to explain the efficacy of 
what Christ has done and suffered for us, beyond what 
the Scripture has authorized. Others, probably because 
they could not explain it, have been for taking it away, 
and confining his office as Redeemer of the world to his 

o 

instruction, example, and government of the church. 
Whereas the doctrine of the Gospel appears to be, not 
only that he taught the efficacy of repentance, but render- 
ed it of the efficacy which it is, by what he did a.nd suf- 
fered for us : that he obtained for us the benefit of hav- 
ing our repentance accepted unto eternal life : not only 
that he revealed to sinners that they were in a capacity 
of salvation, and how they might obtain it ; but moreover 
that he put them into this capacity of salvation by what 
he did and suffered for them : put us into a capacity of es- 
caping future punishment, and obtaining future happiness 
And it is our wisdom thankfully to accept the benefit, 
by performing the conditions upon which it is offered, on 
our part, without disputing how it was procured on his." 
Butler's Analogy, part ii. ch. 5. 



280 Gregory's letters. 

In a question of such moment, however, you will na- 
turally look for something higher than human authority. 
I shall, therefore, endeavor to convince you from Scrip- 
ture that Christ died a sacrifice for sin; and the eviden- 
ces I shall adduce will be partly typical, partly propheti- 
cal, partly historical, and partly declaratory. 

With regard to the typical evidences of the doctrine o 
the atonement, besides the practice of sacrifices in gener 
al, we have them in several persons and various observan 
ces. Thus we have an express representation of Christ 
in the brazen serpent in the wilderness, by looking upon 
which the people were cured of the wounds inflicted by 
the fiery serpents. So, in looking upon Christ by faith, 
the sting of "that old serpent the devil " is taken away. 
The lifting up of the brazen serpent typified the lifting 
up of Christ upon the cross. This is no fanciful interpre- 
tation of mine ; our Lord himself makes the allusion. 
" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
so must the Son of man be lifted up : that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.'' 
John, 3 : 14, 15. 

Another lively representation of Christ's bearing ou 
sins and taking them away from us, was exhibited in the 
custom relative to the scape-goat. Lev. 16 : 21, 22. 

There was also a standing and continual representation 
of him appointed in the person of the high priest undei 
the law ; who, entering into the holy of holies once a 
year with the blood of the great expiatory sacrifice, and 
he only, to make atonement for sin, did thus represent in 
a lively manner our great High Priest entering into hea- 
ven, once for all, with his own blood to expiate the sins 
of the whole world. This again is not an imaginary in- 
terpretation, but is largely insisted upon by the apostle 
Paul. Heb. 7, 8, 9, 10. Consult Owen and Maclean on 
the Hebrews. 

Our deliverance by the death of Christ is typified agnin 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 2S1 

in that ordinance of the law, that the manslayer who fled 
to one of the cities of refuge should not come out thence 
till the death of the high priest, and no satisfaction be 
taken till then ; and then he should be acquitted, and 
11 return into the land of his possession." Num. 35 : 6, 
25-28. 

But the most remarkable? type of the atonement cf Je- 
sus Christ is the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, in corres- 
pondence with which " Christ our Passover is sacrificed 
in our stead." 1 Cor. 5 : 7. See the original. Justin 
Martyr, in his conference with Trypho the Jew, evinces 
from the Scriptures and the nature of this rite, that it 
was a type of Christ crucified for the sins of the world. 
One curious circumstance which he notices, without any 
contradiction from his learned opponent, is this; "The 
paschal lamb (says he) which was to be entirely roast- 
ed, was a symbol of the punishment of the cross which 
was -inflicted on Christ : for the lamb which was roast- 
ed was so placed as to resemble the figure of a cross : with 
one spit it was pierced longitudinally, from the tail to the 
head ; with another it was transfixed through the shoul- 
ders, so that the fore legs became extended." Opera ab 
Oberthur. vol. ii. p. 106. 

The same learned apologist has another passage still 
more extraordinary in gelation to this ceremony. The 
Jews, he affirms, expunged passages from their sacred 
writings which bore testimony to the vicarious sufferings 
and death of Jesus Christ, and among them the follow- 
ing : When Ezra celebrated the passover (as is related 
Ezra, ch. 6 : 19, &c.) Justin says he spoke thus : — "And 
Ezra spoke unto the people, and said, This passover is 
our Savior and our Refuge : and if ye shall understand 
and ponder it in your hearts that we shall afflict him for 
a sign, and if afterwards we shall believe on him. this 
place shall not be desolated for ever, saith the Lord of 
hosts. But if ye will not believe on him, nor hear hi» 



£'$2 Gregory's letters. 

preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Gentiles." 
This, Justin asserts, the Jews blotted from the Septua- 
gint translation ; and if so, they took care to expunge it 
from the Hebrew likewise ; for, at present, it exists in 
neither. Another circumstance connected with the pass- 
over is recorded in the Mishna. After the blood was 
sprinkled, the lamb was hung up and flayed. This 
hanging up was deemed so essential a part of the cere- 
mony, that if there was no convenience to suspend the 
lamb, two men standing with their hands on each other's 
shoulders had the lamb suspended from their arms till 
the skin was taken off. These are manifestly typical of 
Christ's crucifixion and sacrifice. Dr. A Clarke on the 
Eucharist, p. 35. 

In the second place let me point to the prophetical evi- 
dence of the atonement of Jesus Christ. " Those things, 
(says Peter) which God foreshowed by the mouth of 
all the prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so ful- 
filled." Acts, 3 : 18. Numerous are the passages in the 
prophecies which declare that the Messiah should suffer ; 
but the only ones I now recollect which declare why he 
should suffer, are given by Isaiah and Daniel ; they are, 
however, quite sufficient for our present purpose : 

'• Surely our infirmities he hath borne : 
" And our sorrows he hath carried them." 

" He was wounded for our transgressions ; 
" Was smitten for our iniquities : 

" The chastisement by which our peace is effected was laid 
" upon him ; 
" And by his bruises we are healed." 
" Jehovah hath made to light upon him the iniquity of us all." 
" For the transgression of my people he was smitten to death." 
11 Although he had done no wrong, 
" Neither was there any guile in his mouth : 
" Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush him with affliction." 
" Of the travail of his soul he shall see, and be satisfied : 
" By the knowledge of him shall my servant justify many ; 
* For the punishment of their iniquities he shall bear " 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 283 

" He poured out his soul unto death ; 
" And was numbered with the transgressors ; 

" And he bare the sin of the many ; 
" And made intercession for the transgressors."* 

To the same effect Daniel predicts that the " Messiah 
shall be cut off, but not for* himself; but to make recon- 
ciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righte- 
ousness."! 

By historical evidence that Christ died as a sacrifice for 
sin, which I intended to produce in the third place, I 
mean especially that which arises from the consideration 
of his mental " aguny " previous to his crucifixion and 
at that solemn event. When he was at Gethsemane the 
evening on which he was betrayed, the evangelist Mat- 
thew says, he " began to be sorrowful and very heavy, 
and said to his disciples, my fouI is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death." Matt. 26 : 37, 38. Mark in like man- 
ner says, " he began to be sore amazed and to be very 
heavy." Mark, 14 : 33. Indeed the original language 
employed by Mark conveys a stronger sense than the 
translation ; for USa^uCY-o-Q*/ imports the most shocking 
mixture of terror and amazement ; and ^/i/aojt-o?, in the 
next verse, intimates that he felt on every side surround- 
ed with sorrow. Thrice did he pray to his Father to " take 
away the bitter cup," and though it was in the cool of the 
evening, " the sweat " occasioned by the agony of his 
mind " was as it were great drops of blood falling down 
to the ground." Luke, 22 : 44. And when hanging; on 
the cross, his piteous and heart-rending exclamation, 
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me V 
Matt. 27 : 46, doubtless arose from the want of a com- 
fortable sense of God's presence. 

* Lowth's Isaiah, 53 : 4-6, 8-12. 1 Dan. 9 : 24, 26. See also 

Zechariah, 13:1; where, though the name of the Messiah does not ap- 
pear the language is very expressive and fully to the purpose 



284 Gregory's letters. 

Now whence arose this agony and this interruption 
of the sense of God's presence, during our Lord's great 
extremity, but from the necessity that he should suffer ? 
Bodily pain might have been lost in enjoyment, even du- 
ring crucifixion, (as has been manifested in the delights 
of some martyrs in the midst of their tortures ;) but in 
that case the " soul " of the Messiah could not have been 
" an offering for sin," as Isaiah predicted it must be. To 
this end it was that it "pleased Jehovah to crutli him 
with affliction :" and it is next to impossible to meditate 
upon his pathetic exclamations amid his severe sufferings 
without adopting again the recently quoted language of 
the same prophet, — 

'' Surely our infirmities he hath borne, 
" And our sorrows he hath carried.' 1 '' 

If this explication be rejected, it is natural to ask up- 
on what principles of equitable retribution, or of consis- 
tency of character, can that extreme anguish be account- 
ed for which was endured by a pure and perfect being, 
who had not on his own account one " recollection tinged 
with remorse, or one anticipation mingled with dread I" 
This question admits but of a single answer, and that in 
my estimation a very absurd one : for, to allot a series 
of exquisite sufferings to an individual who is without sin, 
and with regard to whom of course they cannot be penal, 
and at the termination of his life, when they cannot be 
corrective, merely for the purpose of calling into exer- 
cise " patience and resignation," and thus tending to 
" our benefit and example,"* is to adopt a mode of gov- 

* Fellowes 1 Theology, vol. i. p. 210. They who assign this reason for 
our Lord's sufferings should, before they urge it confidently, free it from 
an objection advanced by themselves against our opinions. For even this 
would be to suffer for us, — for our good. If it be just in God to permit 
the innocent to suffer for such an end as this, why should it be unjust in 
him to permit him to suffer for that which we specify as the true cause of 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 2S5 

ernmcnt entirely irreconcileable with all " rational " 
ideas of wisdom and justice, and completely repugnant 
to every attribute of Deity. 

The answer here adverted to is, moreover, as contra- 
ry to matter of fact as it is to reason : for, if the doctrine 
of satisfaction by our Savior's crucifixion be denied, other 
examples of fortitude in suffering may be thought no less 
striking. Compare him under suffering with other mar- 
tyrs, many, for example, in the third century. He suffer- 
ed for the space of a few hours only ; they were made to 
sustain sufferings for days, weeks, months, nay, in some 
cases, years. He suffered the punishment of the cross ; 
they have" agonized under boiling oil, melted lead, plates 
of hot iron ; or have been broiled for days over a slow 
fire, or shut up in fiercely glowing brazen bulls ; or have 
had their members cut and torn off, one after another, in 
tedious and barbarous succession. Yet he lamented, and 
they triumphed. Is not this infinitely astonishing, upon 
any other theory of religion than ours 1 Is it not incom- 
prehensible that the Master of our faith, the "Captain of 
our salvation," should be abashed and astounded at the 
sight or even the contemplation of death, and that his ser- 
vants and followers should triumph in the midst of un- 
equalled torments 1 The one is seized with sorrow even 
unto death ; the others are transported with joy. The 
one sweats as it were drops of blood at the approach of 
death ; the others behold a divine hand wiping off their 
blood, but not their tears, for none do they shed. The 
one complains that God forsakes him ; the others cry 
aloud with rapture that they behold him stretching forth 
his hands to encourage and invite them to him ! 

All this cannot be because they have more internal 

his sufferings ? " Can it be just w God (asks Dr. Wardlaw) to inflict suf- 
ferings on the innocent for an inferior end, and yet unjust in him to in 
flict the same sufferings, on the same person, for an end obviously and 
incalculably superior f" Sermons, p. 217. 



286 Gregory's letters. 

strength and holiness ; but God administers to them 
special support and consolation. And why not impart 
infinitely more to Christ, his " Son in whom he is 
well pleased %" Why, indeed, but because he regards 
him as our pledge, having constituted him " a sin-offer- 
ing for us 1" 

Contrast, again, the dismal agony of our Lord, with the 
holy serenity of Stephen, or the joyful anticipation of 
Ignatius, or the heroic fortitude of Blandina, whose pa- 
tience outstood the successive labors of a series of tor- 
mentors, Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. 1, and then 
ask — If the approbation of God ordinarily comforts those 
who suffer for righteousness' sake, should it hot have 
consoled Jesus Christ] If the certainty of possessing an 
eternal life of bliss makes the martyrs leap with joy and 
exultation when they are about to lose a temporal life ; 
shall not a like certainty, superadded to that of " finishing 
the work for which his Father sent him into the world," 
fill Jesus with joy too % Shall men, who are accustomed 
to love the earth, rejoice to leave it; and shall Jesus 
Christ, who loves heaven alone, be smitten with a thou- 
sand mortal terrors because he is going thither ! How 
truly inexplicable must all this for ever remain, if the 
orthodox hypothesis be rejected. 

Before I produce the fourth class of evidences from 
the Scripture, or those which are positively declaratory, 
I request you will bear it in mind that the New Testa- 
ment, being intended for universal use, and of course for 
that of plain unlettered men as well as others, does not 
deal in logical distinctions and metaphysical subtleties 
but conveys its momentous truths in the simplest Ian 
guage ; and to rivet them the more firmly upon the mind 
often has recourse to a variety of apt and striking meta 
phors and allusions to communicate the same general 
idea. Thus with regard to atonement, and words of anal- 
ogous import, correct notions may be readily obtained 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 287 

when the different lights in which sin is represented are 
contemplated. If, for example, sin be regarded as a breach 
of the law, which calls down its curses and excites God's 
anger, then an atonement (which literally signifies a 
covering) screens from the curses of the law, covers, or 
appeases, or propitiates the angry countenance of Deity. 
If sin be that which interrupts the friendship which 
would otherwise subsist between man and his Maker, 
then what is needed is something to procure reconciliation 
between the parties at variance. If sin be considered as 
a debt incurred by man, then what he requires is some 
thing which will give satisfaction for that debt. If sin be 
depicted as slavery to Satan, then the grand requisite is a 
ransom. If sin be described as an impurity, then what the 
sinner needs is something that will purge or wash it away. 
All these, and perhaps some other views of sin, its 
effects, and the means of cancelling them, are included 
in that sacrifice and offering for sin, in consequence of 
which " iniquity is not imputed, transgression is forgiven, 
and sin covered." Ps. 32 : 1, 2. 

These observations being- premised, I shall transcribe 
some passages from the New Testament, in which the 
doctrine of Jesus Christ's surrendering his life as an 
atonement for sin is plainly declared, beginning with 
those that were furnished during his own personal 
ministry. " The Son of man (says he) " came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister ; and to give his life a 
ransom for many." Matt. 20 : 28. " I lay down my life 
for the sheep." John, 10 : 15. " The bread which I 
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the 
world." John, 6 : 51. And when he instituted the eu 
charist, which was expressly intended, not to remind his 
disciples of the purity of his conduct or the exemplary 
holiness of his life, but to " show forth the Lord's death 
till he come," 1 Cor. 11 : 26, Judas, (whose sins were 
not lo be remitted,) Matt. 26 ■ 24, having previour.l 



288 Gregory's letters 

departed, he took bread and brake it, saying, " This is 
my body, which is given for you." Luke, 22 : 19. And 
taking the cup and blessing it, he said, " Drink ye all 
of it : for this is my blood of the New Covenant, which 
is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matt. 26 : 28. 
Giving to these passages their natural and obvious im- 
port, it seems impossible to eradicate the doctrine of the 
atonement for sin, made by Christ's death, from the 
minds of plain, humble, sincere christians, so long as the 
ordinance of the eucharist continues to be observed 
with reference to the time and manner of its institution. 
I have not forgotten that a writer of great ingenuity, 
who seems to have carefully weighed the meaning of all 
words except those which relate to religious topics, has re- 
cently had the boldness to say that " if the Unitarian So- 
ciety, on their English Anniversary Festival, were to con- 
secrate the first goblet to the immortal memory of the great 
founder of their faith, they would more faithfully copy 
the spirit of his institution than any rival creedsmen, and 
would accomplish the association of religion with the 
natural and habitual pleasures of mankind." But this at- 
tempt at transmuting the orgies of Bacchus into a christian 
rite will not succeed with those who have beheld by 
faith " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world." John, 1 : 29. "No : the enemies of this heart- 
reviving truth might as well hope to pierce through a 
coat of mail with a straw, as to reach such a truth, 
defended by such an ordinance as this, by any of their 
trifling sophistries!" Doddridge's Fam. Expos, on 
Matt. 26. 

In showing the opinion of the apostles as to this fun- 
damental point, my business must be selection : for no 
one can read the Epistles without perceiving that the 
grand object of their authors is to preach " Christ cruci- 
fied;" and that for every reference to the life of the Re- 
deemer there may be found at least ten triumphant ap- 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 



289 



peals to the benefits resulting from his death. Thus Paul 
" God forbid (or far be it) that I should glory, save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." " Christ our passover 
is sacrificed for us." " Christ died in due time for the un- 
godly : while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
" Through our Lord Jesus Christ we have now received 
the atonement." " Ye are bought with a price." " Christ 
died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." " Christ 
died Jo r all, that those who live should not henceforth live 
to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose 
again." " God hath made him to be sin for us, who 
knew no sin." Thus " he hath made us accepted in the 
Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sins." " Reconciling both unto God in One 
body by the cross." " Christ gave himself for us, an offer- 
ing and a sacrifice to God." " Christ Jesus gave himself 
a ransom ,for all." " Who gave himself for us, that he 
might redeem us from all iniquity." " Christ by his own 
blood obtained eternal redemption." " Where a testa- 
ment is, there must also of necessity be the death of the 
testator." " So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
many." " He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy : of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall 
he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the 
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing'?" Gal. 6 : 
14; 1 Cor. 5:7; Rom. 5 : 6, 8, 11.; 1 Cor. 6 : 20 ; 
2 Cor. 5 : 15,21; Eph. 1 : 7; 2 : 16; 5 : 2 ; 1 Tim. 2 : 6; 
Tit. 2 : 14 ; Heb. 9 : 16, 28 ; 10 : 28, 29 ; see also Heb. 
2 : 10, and 9 : 22. 

As these texts are of themselves sufficient to establish 
the point in question, I shall merely quote one or two 
from the other apostles. Peter, for example, says, " Ye 
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and 
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition 
from your fathers ; but with the precious blood of Christ, 

, try, 1 <J 



290 Gregory's letters. 

as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." " Christ 
also suffered for us :" " who his ownself bare our sins in 
his own body on the tree.'" " Christ also hath once suffer- 
ed for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us 
to God." And to the same purpose is the language of 
John : " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all 
sin." " He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours 
only, but also for the sins of the whole world." " Herein 
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and 
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 Pet. 
1 : 18, 19 ; 2 : 21, 24 ; 3 : 18 ; 1 John, 1:7; 2:2; 4 : 
10 ; Consult also Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 13 : 8. 

Surely, if language have any definite meaning, these 
texts declare the innocence of Jesus Christ who suffered, 
and the iniquities of those for whom he suffered ; they 
declare that a righteous person died for the guilty, and 
that thereby the guilty were saved. Hence arises the 
grand difference between the dispensations of the law 
and of grace. The law requires perfect obedience and 
satisfaction to be wrought out in our persons : grace 
allows of the obedience and satisfaction of a substitute. 
The law makes no allowance for the least failure, but 
says, " He that offendeth in the least tittle is guilty of 
all; the soul that sinneth shall die:" grace says, "If any 
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous." The law demands sternly, " Pay 
me that thou owest;" but "Grace points to the hand- 
writing of ordinances blotted out and cancelled by the 
blood of Jesus ;" so that we can say, "Behold, O God, 
our shield, and look upon the face of thine Anointed," 
who manifested his love to his friend Lazarus by his 
tears, and to us by shedding his blood for us while we 
were enemies ! 

" A truth so strange, 'twere bold to think it true; 

" If not far bolder still to disbelieve." Young. 

It is the great glory of the Gospel that it give", such a 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 2 l J I 

satisfactory account of the method whereby sin may 
be pardoned in a manner consistent with the honor 
of the divine government : yet so astonishing and sur- 
passing human expectation is the plan of redemption 
we are now contemplating, that many, who notwith- 
standing profess themselves christians, object against 
it ; and that, unfortunately, in a very dogmatical 
and assuming tone. Thus Faustus Socinus : — " If 
not once only, but often, it should be written in the 
sacred Scriptures that Christ made satisfaction to 
God for sins, I would not therefore believe it." 
And again, " Any, even the greatest force is to be 
used with words, rather than take them in this the 
obvious sense." On the Satisfac. and second Epistle 
to Balcerimicius. 

Sentiments like these, though g they seem much 
more compatible with deism than with any princi- 
ples that can be incorporated with the belief that 
the Scriptures are of divine authority, are avowed 
by many of the professors of " Rational Religion " 
(as it is often arrogantly called) in the present day. 
Yet I conceive the difficulties connected with the 
subject, and which occasion the adoption of such 
strong language, may be removed with tolerable fa- 
cility. 

It is asserted for instance, in the first place, that if 
the doctrine of atonement for sin be true, then, "since 
it was only obscurely declared ty our Lord, he can- 
not be said to have taught his own religion." This ar- 
gument, I think I have already shown in the present 
letter, cannot very fairly be urged on the present oc- 
casion, since the language of our Lord is too unequi- 
vocal to be easily misunderstood : yet, as similar rea- 
soning is advanced against other branches of christian 
doctrine, it at least deserves a specific reply. Let it 



292 Gregory's letters. 

be observed, then, that an infidel might, upon the prin- 
ciples here adverted to, deny Christ's Messiahship and 
the doctrine of the resurrection; and might ask, why did 
not Christ, on his first advent, openly declare that he was 
the Messiah 1 Why did not he fully develop the doctrine 
which Dr. Priestley says it was " the sole object of his mis- 
sion to ascertain and exemplify, namely, that of a re- 
surrection and a future state V Let it be remarked,' far 
ther, that if Christ had publicly and plainly preached the 
doctrine of the atonement of his death to all who heard 
him, he must of course have predicted openly that he 
should die a sacrifice : and this might have provoked the 
malicious Jews either to kill him before his hour was 
come, to prevent his teaching, and pretend that they only 
fulfilled his own prophecy ; or to lay hold of him and 
keep him a prisoner without killing him, for the purpose 
of falsifying the prophecies of his death and making void 
his doctrine of atonement. m 

Let it be observed again, that many passages in the 
writings of the evangelists prove decisively that it was 
not the design of our Lord in his life-time, and indeed 
" not expedient," to publish the grace of the Gospel so 
fully and clearly as it was afterwards to be revealed to 
and by his apostles. But shortly before his death he said 
unto them, " I have yet many things to say unto you ; but 
ye cannot bear them note. Howbeit, when he the Spirit of 
truth is come he will guide you into all truth : for he will 
not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that 
shall he speak ; and he will show you things to come. 
He will glorify me : for he will receive of mine, and will 
show it unto you." John, 16 : 12, 13, 14. Here, then, the 
question is simply, was this prediction accomplished, or 
was it not 1 And the only answer a consistent believer in 
the New Testament can give, is that it was fulfilled in 
the forty days' communication our Lord had with his 
disciples after his resurrection, when he spake to them 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 



59; 



" of things pertaining to the kingdom of God" Acts, 1 : 3, 
and in the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Ei- 
ther these truths "pertaining to the kingdom of God" 
were revealed for the benefit of the church in all ages, or 
they were not. If they were not, why were they reveal- 
ed at all ] If they were, where are they to be found ex- 
cept in the writings of the apostles'? And if the writings 
of the apostles contain them, is it not the most stupen- 
dous folly or arrogance to deny, in the positive tone of 
many Socinians, that those writings are of the same di- 
vine veracity, authority and efficacy as the rest of Scrip- 
ture ; or that He who dictated them taught his own re- 
ligion ? 

A second objection, frequently advanced with great 
vehemence and confidence, is, that " it does not agree 
with the moral perfections of God to punish sin in a 
surety ; that it is unjust and inequitable to appoint such a 
way of salvation as would require an innocent creature to 
suffer that the offender may be spared." Indeed ! Then 
how was it that Abel, who slew the innocent "firstlings of 
his flock," thus "offered unto God a more excellent sacri- 
fice than Cain," who " brought of the fruit of the ground 
an offering unto the Lord," Gen. 4 : 3, 4 ; Heb. 11:4, 
and by so doing avoided the injustice of shedding innocent 
blood 1 This objection, as you must at once perceive, by 
aiming at too much, accomplishes nothing; for it applies 
just as forcibly against sacrifices of every kind, as against 
that of the Redeemer ; and should, therefore, come from 
a professed unbeliever, and not from one who bows to 
" the law and the testimony." Now, taking the question 
for a moment upon its broadest ground, it is a notorious 
and incontrovertible fact, that sacrifices have almost uni- 
versally prevailed in all ages and in all countries, as well 
the most civilized as the most barbarous. Reasoning from 
this fact, we say, either sacrifices had some foundation in 
true religion, which led the whole world to practise them 



294 Gregory's letters. 

for four thousand years, and the heathen part of the world 
to practise them till the present time ; or else the principle 
of reason so much boasted of for its efficacy and energy, 
which suffered men to pursue this system of idiotism and 
inhumanity for six thousand years, is a very defective and 
insufficient guide. One of these positions is indisputable. 
If the latter be admitted, then revelation was absolutely 
necessary to reform and instruct the world : if the former, 
then sacrifices were of divine institution. The adversaries 
of revelation may take their choice of these alternatives.* 
But to those who allow the truth of the Mosaic history, 
.and will therein trace the origin of sacrifices, it must ap- 
pear evident that sacrifice was from the beginning (as in 
the case of Abel) acceptable to God ; and that faith made 
it so : — that offerings of animals were sacrifices of atone- 
ment for sin, while offerings of fruits were thank-offer- 
ings ; — that sacrifices for sin enforced plainly, though 
typically, these two important truths : 1, That every sin 
caused a forfeiture of the offender's life ; and, 2, That God 
vouchsafed notwithstanding to have mercy on the sinner, 
and to accept of some other life as a ransom in lieu of 
that forfeiture. Sacrifices, in short, were, from the first, 
seals of the covenant of mercy into which God entered 



* " It has been made a question (says the late Mr. Jones, of Nayland) 
by those who question every thing, whether sacrifices were of Divine in- 
stitution. But sacrifices are descriptive; and as the thing described is 
the redemption of man by the shedding of the blood of Christ, which never 
could be known but by revelation : the supposition that sacrifice could bo 
of human invention is an absurdity. It is as if we weic to imagine that 
words could be invented by those who had no knowledge of tilings ; or 
that signs could be brought into use without any prior idea of the things 
signified. The knowledge of a Redeemer was first given to man ; and 
the obseryation of sacrifice *was the expression of that knowledge by a 
significant act. All mankind were derived from those to whom this know- 
ledge was first given ; and therefore all nations of the world, in all times 
of the world, did in some form or other retain the observation of sacrifice 
r or the putting away of sin." Lectures on the Hebrews. 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 2\)0 

with man immediately after the fall ; and nothing can be 
urged in respect to their injustice, that does not apply 
with greater force against the patriarchal and Mosaic 
sacrifices than against that of Jesus Christ : for this lat- 
ter, it must not be forgotten, was perfectly voluntary. His 
own language was, " therefore doth my Father love mr, 
because I lay down my life that I might take it again. 
No man laketh it from me; but I lay it dozen of myself. 
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it 
again." John, 10 : 17, IS. This completely annihilates 
the force of the objection, since it shows that the suffer- 
ings and death of Christ, being voluntary, must necessa- 
rily be consistent with the equity and justice of God, 
although the innocent suffered that the guilty might be 
redeemed : that being, indeed, the only way in which the 
innocent can suffer without infringing upon justice. 

It is of some importance to remark, that many of those 
who are loudest and most eager in urging this objection 
admit that Jesus suffered for our benefit ; which is much 
the same as refuting their o^vn argument : for surely 
there is just as little reason why an innocent person 
should suffer for the benefit of a criminal, as that he 
should suffer in his stead. Indeed, as Archbishop Tillot- 
son remarks, " If the matter were searched to the bottom 
all Ithis perverse contention about our Savior's suffering 
for our benefit, but not in our stead, will signify just 
nothing. For if Christ died for our benefit, so as some 
way or other by virtue of his death and sufferings to save 
us from the wrath <.f God, and to procure our escape 
from eternal death ; this, for aught I know, is all that 
any body means by his dying in our stead. For he that 
dies with an intention to do that benefit to another, as to 
save him from death, doth certainly to all intents and pur- 
poses die in his place and stead. And if they will grant 
this to be their meaning, the. conyroversy is at an end ; 
and both sideg are agreed in the thing, and do only differ 



296 Gregory's letters. 

in the phrase and manner of expression; which is, to 
seek a quarrel and an occasion of difference where there 
is no real ground for it ; a thing which ought to be very 
far from reasonable and peaceable minds. For many of 
the Socinians say that our Savior's voluntary obedience 
and sufferings procured his exaltation at the right hand 
of God, and power and authority to forgive sins, and to 
give eternal life to as many as he pleased ; so that they 
grant that his obedience and sufferings, in the meritorious 
consequence of them, redound to our benefit and advan- 
tage as much as we pretend and say they do ; only they 
are loth in express terms to acknowledge that Christ died 
in our stead: and this for no other reason that I can ima- 
gine, but because they have denied it so often arid so long" 
The last objection I shall here notice has been stated 
in the following terms : "According to the usual theory 
of atonement, none less than a Divine person can bear 
away the sins of the whole worldj yet a Divine person 
cannot atone for sin, because Deity cannot die." This, it 
must be acknowledged, presents a difficulty of formida- 
ble aspect; yet it is one which arises rather from our 
ignorance of the nature of death, than from any inade- 
quate views of the nature of atonement. The following 
observations will, I trust, greatly diminish the difficulty, 
if they do not remove it. The death of a being consti- 
tuted of a material and an immaterial part, does not 
consist in a perfect extinction of its existence, but in a 
separation of its constituent parts. What we call the 
death of an animal is a separation of the spiritual prin- 
ciple of animation and sensa'tion from the organized 
matter which it animated. The death of a man is, in 
a similar manner, the separation of the spiritual source 
of sensation, volition, and action, from the material or- 
ganization which forms the human body. "The body 
without the spirit is dead ;" James, 2 : 26 ; it is no 
longer an active, thinking, sensitive, determining being, 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST, 297 

Dut an insensible, inactive lump of clay. After death the 
man no longer exists in liis compound nature ; his con- 
stituent parts are separated ; his body to be still farther 
decomposed and divided, but his soul to remain entire, 
single, indivisible, indestructible as before. It does not 
follow, therefore, that the soul is dead : indeed, strictly 
speaking, a soul cannot die. None but a compound 
being can undergo that separation which constitutes 
death. But a soul is simple and indivisible ; for if it 
were divisible into two or more parts, those parts, each 
partaking of the same spiritual essence, would each pos- 
sess distinct consciousness, and would each, therefore, 
become a distinct soul ; which is repugnant to reason. 
Hence it appears that a soul, though it may be annihi- 
lated by the power of Him who created it, cannot die. 
What is dead exists, however its mode of subsistence be 
changed ; but what is annihilated has no existence. Ad 
mitting this, the objection must be relinquished ; for, al- 
lowing Christ to have a soul, (which all Humanitarians 
allow,) it might as pertinently be objected, that, since 
his soul cannot die, he cannot atone for sin : and there- 
fore, since nothing Divine nor any thing human can 
atone for sin, and nothing else can, (see Hebrews, 10 : 
4,) it would result that sin cannot be atoned for at all, 
which is contrary to the uniform tenor of Scripture. 

From this view of the subject it follows that when the 
Divine and human spirit of the Redeemer ceased to 
animate his body, the person of Jesus Christ as properly 
died as did that of Moses, David, or any other, when 
such individual yielded up his spirit. It follows also 
that the death of Jesus Christ neither caused any muta- 
tion in his Divine nature, nor in the powers and proper- 
ties of his soul. As to the value or efficacy of his death, 
that manifestly depends upon the value of his person in 
the scale of being. Among animated beings relative im- 
portance is estimated by the proportionate extent to 
13* 



29S Gregory's letters. 

which the spirits which animate them carry their actions 
or their influence. Thus we place a sparrow, a pigeon 
and an eagle successively higher in the scale : in like 
manner a sheep, an ox, an elephant would have assigned 
to them successively increased values. A rational and 
accountable being is naturally placed above all these ; 01 
rational beings a man is reckoned superior to a child ; a 
philosopher to a peasant ; a monarch to one of his. sub- 
jects : and the effects resulting from their death are pro- 
portionally felt. Hence, since Jesus Christ is, according 
to the system I am now explaining, infinitely wiser than 
the profoundest philosopher, infinitely more powerful 
than the greatest monarch, his death must be sufficiently 
efficacious to caw el all the guilt which rendered that awful 
event necessary. "Possessing (as Dr. Abbadie remarks) 
the glory of the Peity in the midst of infirmities and miser- 
ies incident to a nature like our own, he need undergo 
but one death of an infinite value ; and God who gave 
him to 'suffer for us' made us a present without limit." 

Thus have I erdeavored to state, establish and defend 
from the principal objections, that great and fundamental 
doctrine of the now or christian dispensation, whence it de- 
rives the name Evuyythtov (Saxon, Godspell,) Gospel, good 
or joyful ntw?.. It remains that I solicit your earnest at- 
tention to so'ne striking and useful reflections upon the 
sufferings pnd cross of Christ, from an author who has 
already furnished me with quotations in this letter. 

"To the exterior view and carnal sense of men our 
Lord v/as then (on the cross) indeed exposed to scorn 
and shame ; but, to spiritual and sincere discerning, all 
his and our enemies did there hang up as objects of con- 
tempt, utterly overthrown and undone. 

'" There the devil, that strong and sturdy one, did hang 
up bound in chains, disarmed and rifled, quite baffled 
and confounded, mankind being rescued from his tyran 
uic power. 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 299 

11 There the world, with its vain pomps, its counterfeit 
oeauties, its bewitching pleasures, its fondly admired 
excellencies did hang up all defaced and disparaged, as 
it appeared to St. Paul; for God forbid (saith he) thai 
I should glory, save in the cross of Christ, by which the 
world is crucified to vie, and I unto the world. 

" There, in a most lively representation and most 
admirable pattern, was exihibited the mortification of our 
■flesh with its affections and lusts ; and our old man was 
crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed. 

" There our sins being (as St. Peter telleth us) carried 
up by him unto the gibbet, did hang as marks of his victo- 
rious prowess, as malefactors by him condemned in the 
flesh, as objects of our horror and hatred. 

" There death itself hung gasping, with its sting pulled 
out and all its terrors quelled ; his death having prevent- 
ed ours and induced immortality. 

" There all wrath, enmity, strife (the banes of comfort- 
able life,) did hang abolished in his fiesh and slain upon 
the cross, by the blood wliereof he made peace, and reconciled 
all things in heaven and earth" 

" This consideration is, farther, most useful to render 
us very humble and sensible of our weakness, our vile- 
ness, our wretchedness. For how low was that our fall, 
from which we could not be raised without such a de- 
pression of God's only Son 1 How great is that impotency 
which needed such a succor to relieve it % How abomin- 
able must be that iniquity which might not be expiated 
without so costly a sacrifice % How deplorable is that mis- 
ery which could not be removed without commutation of 
so strange a suffering] Would the Son of God have so 
emptied ('E*t/Tov Uiw*. Phil. 2 : 7) and debased himself 
for nothing 1 Would he have endured such pains and ig- 
nominy for a trifle 1 No, surely ; if our guilt had been 
slight, if our case had been tolerable, the Divine wisdom 
would have chosen a more cheap and easy remedy for us. 



300 Gregory's letters. 

"Is it not madness for us to be conceited of any worth 
in ourselves, to confide in any merit of our works, to glo- 
rify in any thing belonging to us, to fancy ourselves wor- 
thy of great respect and esteem ; since our unworthiness, 
our demerit, our forlorn estate could extort from the 
most gracious God a displeasure needing such a recon- 
ciliation, and impose upon the most glorious Son of God 
a necessity to undergo such a punishment in our behalf? 

" Yet, while this contemplation doth produce humility, 
it also should preserve us from base abjectness of mind ; 
for it doth evidently demonstrate that, according to God's 
infallible judgment, we are beings of vast importance ; 
that our souls are capable of high regard : that it is a 
great pity we should be lost and abandoned to ruin. For 
surely, had not God much esteemed and respected us, he 
would not for our sakes have so debased himself, 01 
deigned to endure so much for our recovery ; Divine 
justice would not have exacted or accepted such a ran- 
som for our souls, had they been of little worth. We 
should not therefore slight ourselves, nor demean our- 
selves, as if we deserved no consideration, no pity from 
ourselves ; as if we thought our souls not worth saving, 
which yet our Lord thought good to purchase at so dear 
a rate." Sermon on the Passion. 

To this language of the eloquent and philosophic Dr. 
Barrow allow me to add the following powerful expos- 
tulation of our reformers. " Canst thou think of this, O 
sinful man, and not tremble within thyself? Canst thou 
hear it quietly without remorse of conscience and sor- 
row of heart 1 ? Did Christ suffer his passion for thee, and 
wilt thou show no compassion towards him 1 While 
Christ was yet hanging on the cross and yielding up the 
ghost, the Scripture witnesseth that the veil of the temple 
was rent in twain, and the earth did quake, that the stones 
clave asunder, that the graves did open and the dead bodies 
rise : and shall the heart of man be nothing moved to re- 



ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 301 

member how grievously and cruelly he was handled of 
the Jews for our sins ] Shall man show himself to be 
more hard-hearted than stones] Call to mind, O sinful 
creature, and set before thine eyes Christ crucified : think 
thou seest his body stretched out in length upon the cross, 
his head crowned with sharp thorns and his hands and his 
feet pierced with nails, his heart opened with a long spear, 
his flesh rent and torn with whips, his brows sweating wa- 
ter and blood : think thou nearest him now crying in an 
intolerable agony to his Father, and saying, My God, 
My God, why hast thou forsaken mcl Couldst thou be- 
hold this woful sight or hear this mournful voice with- 
out tears, considering that he suffered all this not for any 
desert of his own, but only for the grievousness of thy 
sins % O that mankind should put the everlasting Son of 
God to such pains ! O that we should be the occasion of 
his death, and the only cause of his condemnation ! May 
we not justly cry, wo worth the time that ever we sinned 1 
O, my brethren, let this image of Christ crucified be always 
imprinted on our hearts ; let it stir us up to the hatred 
of sin, and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Al- 
mighty God. For why 1 is not sin, think you, a griev- 
ous thing in his sight, seeing for the transgressing of 
God's precept he condemned all the world unto perpetual 
death, and would not be pacified but only with the blood 
of his own Son ]"* 

* Second Homily on trie Passion, p. 359, Oxford edit. 1810. I bog 
leave to remark here, once, for all, that the frequency of my quoting- from 
the Homilies, and other discourses of great men amongst the Episcopa- 
lians, does- not arise from my supposing they are of superior authority, or 
that they have clearer views of Scriptural truth, than Baxter, Howe. 
Watts, Doddridge, and some other eminent dissenting authors ; but from 
the circumstance that these letters were originally written for the benefit 
of a professed member of the church of England ; and because a large por- 
tion of those who are adverse to the doctrines I am here defending, and 
which nrc so forcibly stated in the " Articles " and " Homilies," fane*- 
themselves to be very " sound churchmen " notwithstanding. 



302 Gregory's letters. 

LETTER XV. 

On the Divinity of Jesus Christ. 

" Four things," said the great and judicious Hooker, 
4 concur to make complete the whole state of our Lord 
Jesus Christ : his Deity, his manhood, the conjunction of 
both, and the distinction of the one from the other, being 
joined in one. Four principal heresies there are which 
have in those things withstood the truth. Avians, by bend- 
ing themselves against the Deity of Christ ; Apollinarians, 
by maiming and misinterpreting that which belongeth to 
his human nature ; Nestorians, by rending Christ asun- 
der, and dividing him into two persons ; and the followers 
of Eutiches, by confounding in his person those natures 
which they should distinguish. Against these there have 
been four ancient general councils : the council of Nice, 
to define against Arians, A. D. 325 ; the council of Con- 
stantinople against Apollinarians, A. D. 381 ; that of 
Ephesus against Nestorians, A. D. 431; and that of 
Chalcedon against Eutichians, A. D. 451 : the decisions 
of which may be comprised in four words, ax«8a>? truly, 
nxtce; perfectly, a-h*. i ptrees indivisibly, and*<rvy%ura>s distinct- 
ly. The first applied to his being God ; the second to 
his being man ; the third to his being both one ; and the 
fourth to his still continuing in that one both. We may 
fully, by way of abridgment, comprise whatsoever anti- 
quity hath at large handled, either in declaration of 
christian belief, or in refutation of the aforesaid heresies, 
within the compass of these four heads." Eccles. Polity, 
book v. 

This view of the Messiah's person agrees with the 
opinion that has most universally prevailed among chris- 
tians, from the first introduction of Christianity into the 
world down to the present period. Nor does the mere 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 303 

existence of other opinions by any means militate against 
the truth of this : for, since evidence, though it be clear, 
forcible, and satisfactory, does not necessarily convince, 
the human mind being free either to receive evidence 
with its due weight, or to reject it as defective ; it fol- 
lows that a doctrine, as well as a fact, may be disbeliev- 
ed by minds of a peculiar structure, however prepon- 
derating and decisive may be the evidence in its favor. 
This is undoubted, and an apostle referring to matters of 
faith, accounts for it in language which I tremble while I 
quote, (with a slight variation,) from the received version : 
" If our Gospel be veiled, it is veiled to those that de- 
stroy themselves, whose minds the god of this world hath 
blinded:' 

Many learned and ingenious men disbelieve the Divin- 
ity of Christ ; but neither the process by which they have 
arrived, at their disbelief, nor that by which they endea- ■ 
vor to prove that we are in error, seems calculated to 
operate strongly upon the minds of those who have been 
previously persuaded that the Scripture is the produc- 
tion of inspired writers, who were so inspired that they 
might teach* doctrines infallibly true (many of which 
could be known no other way,) and whose instructions, 
therefore are to be implicitly received. Having ascer- 
tained that the Bible is the word of God — that none of 
the discrepances between the various existing copies in 
the original languages affect any doctrine, or any impor- 
tant precept — and that the translation we adopt is cor- 
rect — we have nothing to do but to determine its plain 
and obvious meaning, and receive it as true.* But this 

* " It hath been the custom of late to lay too much stress upon Jewish 
idioms, in the exposition of the didactic parts of the New Testament. 
The Gospel is a general revelation. If it is delivered in a style which is 
not perspicuous to the illiterate of any nation except the Jewish, it is as 
much locked up from general apprehension as if the sacred books had been 
written in tho vernacular gibberish of tlir Jews of that ago. The Floiy 



304 Gregory's letters. 

is not the plan pursued by those who deny the Divinity 
of the Messiah. They constantly examine the Scriptures 
rather as critics than as humble inquirers after truth : 
the natural consequence of which is, that they are critical 
beyond measure, and adopt those " refinements in criti- 
cism which make men nauseate what is obvious, and 
pursue through the mazes of etymology what was never 
imagined before." This, indeed, is the necessary result 
of adopting a defective hypothesis. If both the divine 
and human natures meet in the person of the Messiah, 
and if they are essentially distinct though they are inse- 
parably united, then is it to be expected that some pas- 
sages should clearly announce his Divinity, others as 
clearly his humanity, while others may (perhaps indis- 
tinctly) indicate both. But if Jesus Christ be merely 
man, then all those texts which declare his Divine na 
ture, or indicate his compound nature, must be either re- 
jected as spurious, or explained away by the arts of criti- 
cism. Hence Socinians argue, that when Jesus is called 
" the Son of man," the words must not only be constru- 
ed in the most literal, but in the most restricted sense, 
so that the word man shall be understood to mean one 
particular man ; but when he is called " the Son of God," 
they must be explained to mean knowledge, commission, 
affection, office, (though the office of son is a strange 

Spirit, which directed the apostles and the evangelists to the use of the 
tongue which in their day was the most generally understood — the Greek — 
would, for the same reason, it may be presumed, suggest to them a style 
which might be generally perspicuous. It is therefore a principle with me, 
that the true sense of any phrase in the New Testament is, for the most 
part, what may be called a standing sense ; that which will be the first to 
occur to common people of every country, and in every age ; and I am apt 
to think that the difference between this standing sense and the Jewish 
sense will, in all cases, be far less than is imagined, or none at all ; be- 
cause, though different languages differ widely in their refined and elevated 
idioms, common speech is in all languages pretty much the same." Hors- 
ley's Letters in Controversy with Dr. Priestley, p. 122, Ed. 3. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 305 

vagary, that would enter the mind of none but a Socinian 
critic,) any thing or nothing, provided it be not taken lite- 
rally. If one phrase of the apostle John be in favor of 
the Deity of Christ, it is either a solecism, or it is He- 
braical-Greek ; if another phrase of the same writer 
have the same tendency, it is an oratorical flourish, or it 
is an Atticism, or it is an hyperbole ; as if it were not 
contrary to the entire scope and practice of the sacred 
writers to employ hyperboles in order to do 'prejudice, to 
the glory of God ; which, nevertheless, is done repeatedly, 
not only by John but by all the apostles, if the Socinian 
hypothesis be true : if in a third place he say, when 
speaking of Jesus, " We beheld his glory, the glory as 
of the only Son of the Father," we are told it means "his 
miracles," which it should seem are " used to express 
merely a higher degree of affection" If Jesus Christ 
call himself" the Son of God," it is a- strong expression, 
conformable to the eastern phraseology, signifying that 
he was sent by God ; though the inhabitants of Jerusa- 
lem, who were at least as well acquainted^ with eastern 
phraseology as we are, understood the language literally, 
and said that Jesus was guilty of " blasphemy, because 
he made himself equal with God.'-' John, 5 : 18 ; 10 : 33. 
If, as Jerome and Eusebius state, John wrote his Gospel 
in vindication of our Lord's Divinity against Cerinthus 
and the Ebionites, still a critic with a certain turn of mind 
may manage to elude its force ; as does Leclerc, who thus 
ridiculously renders the first sentence of John's Gospel : 
" In the beginning was reason, and reason was in God, 
and reason was God." But as a complete specimen of 
critical ingenuity attenuated into absurdity, I beg to pre- 
sent you with the late Mr. Theophilus Lindsey's transla- 
tion of a part of the 1st chapter of this Gospel. Leclerc's 
version is not sufficiently unreasonable ; we are therefore 
now presented with it after this fashion : 

" In the beginning was Wisdom, and Wisdom was 



>0t> Gregory's letters. 

with God, and God was Wisdom. The same was in the 
beginning with God. All things were made by it, and 
without it was nothing made. In it was life, and the life 
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, 
and the darkness comprehended it not. 

" // (Divine Wisdom) was in the world, and the world 
was made by it, and the world knew it not. It came 
to its own land, and its own people received it not. But 
as many as received it, to them it gave power to become 
the sons of God, even to them who believe on its name. 

" And Wisdom became man, and dwelt among us ; 
and we beheld its glory, the glory as of the well-beloved 
of the Father, full of grace and truth." 

Now, in all this quotation, although, as we are told, its 
"sense is approved by Dr. Lardner, Dr. Priestley, Mr. 
Wakefield and others," there appears to be only one sen- 
tence accurately translated : " the light shineth in darkness, 
and the darkness comprehended it not .•" of the truth of 
which, considering it as a prediction, the translation itself 
and the approbation of such learned m'en is a most lament- 
able proof. What a deplorable system of theology must 
that be which requires such egregious trifling to support it 1 ? 

But even this is not the whole of the ridiculous incum- 
brance that impedes the progress of the theological hy- 
pothesis to which I now advert. It takes for granted 
that uninspired men ma,y, at the distance of eighteen 
hundred years, know more of " the mind of Christ," and 
of the nature of his religion, than those who saw and con- 
versed with him in *' the days of his flesh," and were 
chosen and inspired to communicate his doctrines, by their 
preaching and writings, to "the end of the world." It, 
therefore, cherishes a sentiment which is diametrically 
opposite to that humility and lowliness of mind which is 
essential to Christianity, and which is possessed by those 
to whom God has promised to " give grace." 

But, more than all, it makes it the duty of teachers of 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 307 

the Gospel to be ever active in sinking the value, utility 
and importance of the Gospel ; and diminishing " the 
riches of Divine mercy." Ambassadors and ministers in 
general are proud to exalt the power, honor and, dignity 
of the monarch whom they represent and serve : but, 
according to the Socinian theory and practice, the chief 
employment of ministers and " ambassadors of Christ " 
is to depreciate as far as possible the character of their 
Lord and King, and to show that he is not entitled to the 
honor, dignity, majesty and power which others usually 
ascribe to him. One of this class of Gospel ministers, Mr. 
Belsham, seems by no means persuaded of the purity of 
the life of Jesus. " Whether (says he) the perfection 
of Christ's character in public life (as recorded by the 
evangelists) combined with the general declarations of his 
freedom from sin, establish, or were intended to establish 
the fact that Jesus, through the whole course of his private 
life, was completely exemptfrom all the errors and failings 
of human nature, is a question of no great intrinsic mo- 
ment, and concerning which we have no sufficient data to 
lead to a satisfactory answer! !" In another work the 
same writer affirms that we are totally ignorant of the 
place where Christ resides, and of the occupations in 
which he is engaged ! These are notions which Thomas 
Paine, with all his hatred to Christianity, would proba- 
bly have been ashamed to promulgate. 

• The scheme of theology which includes the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ as an essential and fundamental part, is free 
from these puerilities, absurdities, anomalies, and I could 
almost say blasphemies. According to this scheme we 
believe that Jesus Christ is man ; that he is also God ; 
vet we do not believe that the man Jesus is deified. We 
do not worship the man Jesus ; but we believe his own 
declaration relative to the union of the Divine and hu- 
man nature in his person, when conversing with Nicode- 
mus. and therefore we do worship the God who dwejls 



308 Gregory's letters. 

in the man ; for " in him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily ;" and "through him ice have access, by 
one Spirit, unto the Father." See the original of John 3 
13, where the o cov iv ra> ovpAvn is peculiarly forcible : see 
also Col. 2:9; Eph. 2 : 18. We do not deny that there 
is something mysterious in this, for in our present state 
we do not expect to arrive at the full " knowledge of 
the mystery of God, in which are hidden all the treasures 
of wisdom and knowledge;" Col. 2 : 2, 3 ; nor do we 
forget that the Scriptures are intended rather to reveal 
what God is in relation to us, # than what he is in himself. 
In our system the difficulty is so transferred that it lies 
in the object, not in the terms ; and this is natural, because 
the object of worship is spiritual and infinite. In me- 
taphysics we have many equal difficulties even in the 
spiritual part of our own nature. Thus our soul has the 
three distinct faculties of understanding, memory and will 
proceeding in succession from each other, yet they are 
co-existent, and constitute not three souls, but one soul. 
Indeed, in the usual transactions of life we frequently, 
nay commonly know the use of objects, while we continue 
ignorant of their nature : and in like manner it will bo 
to our benefit if we immediately endeavor to experience 
the use of religious truths, and not wait until we can per 
fectly comprehend them. According to our system, I say, 
the objects are sublime, the language and expression 
easy ; while in the sense of those who deny the Divinity 
rf the Messiah, the objects are quite within the grasp of 
our comprehension, but the expression is obscure ; and it is 
an obscurity which has none of the causes that occasion 
the obscurity of really difficult passages of Scripture : a 

* See Letter 4, vol. i, p. 81. Let it be remarked, too, that in point of 
simplicity of explanation, the doctrine of the Divine unity has no advan- 
tage over that of the trinity. " That unity, which must be the foundation 
of all being, is itself of all things the most mysterious and incomprehensi- 
ble*" Read Horsley, p. 237, &c 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 300 

circumstance which is very surprising and unaccountable, 
and sufficient of itself to produce long hesitation in re- 
flecting men before they wander into the labyrinths of 
Socinianism. 

Having premised thus much respecting the different 
modes of procedure of those who embrace and those 
who reject the doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, I 
shall now direct your attention to a few of the arguments 
apon which I think this great truth has been irrefragably 
established. 

I. The Divine nature of Jesus Christ w r as foretold by 
some of the prophets, either explicitly, when speaking of 
the Messiah, or by describing works and characteristics 
of God, which the apostles have declared were referable 
•to Jesus Christ. 

Thus the prophet Isaiah, in a passage where he clear- 
ly predicts the coming of the Messiah, describes his per- 
son and character in the following terms : 

" Unto us a Child is born ; unto us a Son is given ; 
" And the government shall be upon his shoulder : 
" And his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, 
" The mighty God, the Father of the everlasting age, 
" The Prince of peace. 
" Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no* end." 

In another portion of his prophecy Isaiah says, 

"Jehovah, God of hosts, shall be 

" A stone of stumbling and rock of offence 

" To the two houses of Israel." 

The apostle Peter says, Jesus Christ is that "stone of 
stumbling and rock of offence. "t 

The same prophet predicts the coming of one who 
should be the harbinger of God, and cry 



in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah 



Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." 



Lowth's Isaiah, 9 : 5, C. 1 Im. 8:14; 1 Tot. 2 : 8 



310 Gregory's letters. 

St. Matthew applies this prediction expressly to John 
the Baptist* who was the forerunner of Jesus Christ 
But unless Jesus be Jehovah, this prophecy cannot apply 
to # John the Baptist. 

Isaiah again, in another place, says, in the name oi 
" Jehovah :" 

" Look upon me, and be ye saved, all ye remote people of the earth 
" For I am God, and there is none else. 
" To me shall every knee bow, shall every tongue swear ; 
. "In Jehovah shall be justified, and make their boast, all the seed 
of Israel, "t ' 

Paul applies this prophecy to Christ, the Judge of all : 
" As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, 
and every tongue shall confess to God."! 

The prophet Zechariah, speaking in the name of God, 
says, " They shall look upon me whom they have pierc-* 
ed." An evangelist relates, that " one of the soldiers 

pierced Jesus' side with a spear so that 

the Scripture was fulfilled " they shall look 

on him whom they pierced." Zech. 12 : 10 ; John, 19 : 
34-37. Here the prophet foretells that they would pierce 
God; the evangelist says, they pierced Jesus; and refers 
to this circumstance as a completion of the prophecy. 

The royal Psalmist has many distinct predictions re- 
specting the Messiah, which prove his divinity : I shall 
only select those which were quoted or evidently refer- 
red to by Paul in the 1st chapter of his Epistle to the 
Hebrews. In the second Psalm, universally allowed to 
be prophetic of the Messiah, he is declared to be of the. 
same nature with the Father by the language, " Thou 



* Isaiah, 40 : 3 ; Matt. 3 : 1-3. : t Isaiah, 45 : 22, 23, 25. 

X Rom. 14 : 11. I may just add that Jer. 23 : 6, compared with John, 
12 : 41 ; Joel, 2 : 32, with Rom. 10 : 13 ; and Malachi, 3:1,2, with the 
character and office of John the Baptist, furnish irresistible arguments to 
the same purpose. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 31] 

art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Paul quotes 
this passage to show that Christ is superior to angels ; 
11 for," says he, " to which of the angels said he at any 
time, " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ?"* 
In another passage the Psalmist says, " Confounded 
be all they that serve graven images, that boast them- 
selves of idols : worship him (i. e. Jehovah,) all ye gods" 
(or angels). Here David describes the supreme God, 
and commands the angels to worship him. Paul quotes 



* Fsalm 2:7; Heb. 1 : 5. It is worthy of remark, that the Socinians, 
in their new version, evade the force of this passage in a very disingenu- 
ous manner, by putting a false translation in the text, and the true one in 
a note. In the text they give — " This day I have adopted thee," while in 
a small note, which not one reader in ten will look at, they say, " begot 
ten thee. Gr. and N." To be sure, it would require a front of brass to 
deny that the original tyon cmfAspov ytyivvuxct tri, is properly translated in 
the authorized version. Why, then, should adopted be thrust into the text, 
and begotten be obscured in a note? Are adoption and begetting syno- 
nymous ? Or, in such a case as that before us, can one, with any degree 
of fairness, be substituted for the other ? In another passage (John, 1 : 15,) 
these critics get quit of an equal incumbrance upon their system, by an 
amazing piece of delicacy : " Only begotten," (say they, quoting from Mr. 
Lindsey's List of Wrong Translations,) " is most gross and improper 
language to be used in English, especially with respect to Deity." I would 
be glad to ask these adrnirable detectors of " wrong translations," by what 
other English term they will express the true meaning of /uovoytva, with 
equal correctness and equal conciseness 1 

Mr. Belsham, who seems to rely alike upon the ignorance of his ad- 
mirers and the supineness of those who oppose his dangerous speculations, 
affirms positively (p. 259 of his book on the Divinity of Christ) that the 
word si^*.7r»To; " does not occur in St. John," and that therefore that 
writer used /xsveyivic to denote well-beloved. How will the astonish 
ment and horror of the unlearned reader be excited when I assure him, 
notwithstanding this bold assertion, that John employs a.y*7niTGC, in his 
Gospel and Epistles, at least eight times ! Indeed both these words occur 
in one and the same chapter : see 1 John, 4 : 1, 7, 9, 1 J. Such misrepre- 
sontntion and evasion, as are glanced at in this note, would be very con- 
temptible even in reasoning upon minor topics; but it is difficult to recon- 
cile them with common integrity or common humanity when they are em 
ployed to seduce men into a system in the adoption o»- rejection of which. 



312 Gregory's letters. 

the psalm, Ps. 97 : 7; Heb. 1; applies it to Jesus, and 
commands the angels to worship him. In Paul's estima- 
tion, therefore, Jesus is God supreme. 
f Again, in the hundred and second Psalm, " the afflicted, 
who poureth out his complaint before the Lord," says, 
" O ray God, take me not away in the midst of my days •, 
thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast 
thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are 
the work of "thy hands. They shall perish, &c. But thou 
art the same, and thy years shall have no end." St. Paul 
applies this also to Jesus Christ, Psalm 102 : 24-27; Heb. 
1 : 10-12, to prove that he was really God, because he 
made the world. 

Once more, in the forty-fifth Psalm, an admitted and 
very expressive prophecy of the majesty and grace of the 
Messiah, we have this language : " Thy throne, O God. 
is^or ever and ever" &c. And this also is cited by Paul, 
to show that the title of the everlasting God belonged to 
Christ. " But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, 
is for ever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the 
sceptre of thy kingdom."* 



for aught these writers can show to the contrary, the salvation of the soul 
may be deeply implicated. 

* Psalm 45 : 6 ; Heb. 1 : 8. Here again the Socinians have been evinc- 
ing their ingenuity in a remarkable manner. Their translation is, " God is 
thy throne for ever and ever." This appears to approximate more nearly 
to nonsense than either to pure theology or genuine philosophy ; but it serves 
to exemplify the natural progress of erroneous sentiment. Jesus Christ is 
not the Son of God really, but by adoption (and adopted not in the opinion 
of the apostle Paul, but of modern theologians, who mistranslate his lan- 
guage to favor their notions :) he discharges his " office of Son " so well, 
that he is to be rewarded by having his Almighty Father transformed into 
a chair of state, on which he is to sit "for ever and ever." Such is the 
way in which these writers preserve the awful and sublime character of God 
from degradation. Truly this is a tissue of absurdity very adroitly woven, 
considering that it is done by those who pride themselves upon their ra- 
tionality, and who are presumptuous enough to qecuse the author of the 



DIVINITY OP JESUS CHRIST. 313 

The quotations here made are not from authors who 
are careless in the employment and selection of their lan- 
guage, nor from those who were deficient in jealousy for 
the honor of God. On the contrary, they would not suf- 
fer the character of God to be depreciated, nor would 
they permit that of man to be unduly exalted, or in any 
way to usurp the place of God. " Surely," says one of 
them, " men of low degree are vanity, and men of high 
degree are a lie. Power belongeth unto God. Trust in 
him at all times." Arother says, " Cease ye from man; 
wherein is he to be accounted of?" Another has this 
strong denunciation, " Cursed be the man that trusteth 
in man, and maketh flesh his arm." Yet, when speaking 
of Jesus Christ, their language is, " Embrace the Son 
lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his 
wrath is kindled but a little : blessed are all they that put 
their trust in him." Psalm 62 : 8, 9, 11; Isaiah, 51 : 22; 
Jer. 17 : 5; Psalm 2 : 12. If any words can communicate 
definite ideas, the grand truth, conveyed by the preced- 
ing passages, is that, in the estimation of the apostles, the 
Messiah possesses the Divine nature and attributes, and 
is therefore entitled to confidence and worship as God. 

Men, therefore, who dislike the great peculiarities of 
the christian system, may exercise their ingenuity to the 
utmost, may labor to render some books of Holy Writ 
suspected, and may speculate on the extent of apos- 
tolic inspiration ; yet they cannot shake the certainty of 
these two truths ; 1, That the apostles have applied to 
Jesus Christ certain passages from the prophets which 
characterize the supreme God. And, 2, That if Jesus 
Christ does not partake of the glories of the Divine es- 

Epistle to the Hebrews of indulging in " far-fetched analogies and inac- 
curate reasonings." It ought to be added to the honor of Dr. Carpenter 
that after he had selected " God is thy throne " as one of the most import- 
ant improved renderings, he admitted in his " Letters to Mr. Veysie," that 
the idiom of the Greek forbids our so rendering it. 
Gregory. 1 \ 



314 Gregory's letters. 

sence, and is but a mere creature (to whom consequently 
those characters do not belong,) we must look upon the 
apostles, not as teachers of truth, but as men who betray 
others into idolatry by most impious and blasphemous 
applications of the prophetical books. Nay, we may add 
farther, that if the notions of the modem Socinians as to 
the nature of Christ be correct, it follows, inevitably, that 
neither the prophets exactly predicted things to come, 
nor the apostles understood the prophets ; a consequence 
which would sap the foundation of both the Jewish and 
christian religions, and leave no manner of harmony 
between the Old and the New Testament. This is a 
powerful consideration ; to which, however, others may 
be added equally pressing. 

II. The prophecies, miracles, language and conduct of 
Jesus Christ furnish indubitable proofs of his Divinity. 

The Jewish prophets, when about to announce future 
things, waited till something extraneous roused within 
them the prophetic spirit, and then plainly indicated that 
they were animated by a foreign impulse. Not so the 
Messiah. He prophesied with the same ease, calmness 
and composure as he spoke : the future mysteries and 
events which he predicted were not suddenly infused in- 
to his mind; they were familiar objects to him, always 
present to his view, their images always (if I may so say) 
existing within himself: all ages to come were prefigur 
ed clearly in his capacious intellect. So that, whether he 
foretold his own sufferings and death, the destruction of 
the temple, the resurrection of the dead, or the awful 
solemnities of the day of judgment, he manifested the 
same undisturbed tranquillity. 

Thus again, with regard to his miracles, such was hia 
" mighty power" that they bore no marks of dependence. 
He stilled the raging of the sea without any effort. He 
raised the dead with as great ease as he performed the 
most common actions. A simple and gentle command 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 315 

caused tempests to cease, and the dead to come forth 
from their graves : and instead of guarding the by-stand- 
ers against forming too high conceptions of him on these 
accounts, he informed them that whatever wonder was 
effected by his Father on earth, he likewise performed ; 
and that his Father's works were his. He attributed 
to himself all the grand things he performed. "Was this 
the conduct of a true prophet, if he had been only a 
prophet 1 

Under the old dispensation it sometimes pleased God 
to permit his glory and his power to shine forth in his 
servants. Thus Enoch was translated to heaven, Elijah 
was conveyed thither in a fiery chariot, John the Baptist 
was foretold as the harbinger of God. Yet these were 
individual circumstances. But in Jesus Christ we have 
an assemblage of wonders. In him all the different cha- 
racteristics of a Divine mission, dispersed amongst the 
extraordinary men who had formerly been messengers of 
the Most High, are collected, and in a manner infinitely 
more glorious and Divine. He prophesies, but with far 
nlore minuteness and sublimity than John the Baptist ;* 
nay, he penetrates into the future with more accuracy 
and clearness than any of the prophets; he appears 
transfigured in Mount Tabor, and surrounded with more 
glory than Moses : he ascends to heaven, but with more 
marks of power and majesty than Elijah : he reproves 
11 wickedness in high places," and purifies the temple, 
assuming the authority of " the Lord of that temple." And 
on all occasions his language comports with his dignity. 

Jesus Christ, we find, is continually representing him- 
self as equal to the Father. " I and my Father," says he, 



* For a summary of the distinct particulars, exceeding 20, in our Lord's 
prophecies, see Talbot's Analysis of the Holy Bible, book ii. ch. 4. And 
for a history of the verification of several of them, see Home's Introduction, 
Sup. 1st edit. pp. 1C2-204. 



316 Gregory's letters. 

" are one." He acquaints us that he had come down from 
heaven, and that he had quitted the bosom of God ; that 
he was before Abraham ; that he was before all things : 
that eternal life consists in the knowledge of the Son as 
well as in the knowledge of the Father; that it is not 
a servant, but a Son that abideth ever ; John, 8 : 35, 42, 
58; 10:30; that if the Son make his people free, then 
shall they be free indeed. Did. any of the 'prophets assume 
such strange and authoritative language, and instead of 
rendering glory to God as the author of every good and 
perfect gift, attribute to their own efficiency the great 
things which God performed by their instrumentality 1 
On one occasion, indeed, Jesus says that the Father is 
greater than he. John, 14 : 28. But what a singular ac- 
knowledgment is that, if he be not " God manifested in 
the flesh !" Should we not consider as idiotic or insane, 
any mere man who should tell us seriously that the Su- 
preme Being is greater than he 1 

The texts, also, in which our Lord asserts his pre-exis- 
tence, connected with those in which he affirms his equa- 
lity with the Father, furnish cogent evidence in favfr 
of his true Divinity. This consequence is attempted to be 
weakened by a perfectly gratuitous hypothesis, namely, 
diat he was taken up to heaven for a short time to receive 
his instruction. Now here it is obvious to remark, that 
if it be true that Jesus Christ ivent up into heaven, and 
came down from heaven a little afterwards, it was incom- 
parably more necessary (to prevent our adoption of er- 
roneous opinions) to mention his ascent than his descent; 
yet the Scripture speaks frequently of the latter, never 
of the former. On this point allow me to lay before you 
Dr. Abbadie's plain and unforced illustration. Suppose 
we met with a stranger who should talk to us after this 
manner : " I came from China ; I go to China. Ye shall 
soon see me return where I was before. I departed from 
China and landed in this country ; not to do my own busi- 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 317 

ness, but that of the emperor of China. I came to do the 
will of my father, even the emperor of China ; he is 
my own father;* and no man (here) knoweth my father 
but the son, and they to whom the son hath revealed 
him. Lo, I leave this country and go to the emperor of 
China, for he sent me. Now that I am to return thither, 
what is it but that I was sent into this country 1 He tha. 
is of this country speaketh as the men of this country ; 
but he that has come from China speaketh as one that 
came from China. In a little while longer ye shall not 
see me, because I return to my father." Now, what is 
the natural impression which such language is calculated 
to make 1 Is it that this man was a mere European, whc 
had spent a few weeks in China, and had caught a glimpse 
of the emperor 1 Or that he was really a native of Chi- 
na who expected soon to return thither ; and had pecu- 
liar reasons for wishing to return, that he might receive 
the honor due to him as the son of the emperor 1 It 
would be an insult to your understanding to make the 
application to the uniform conduct and repeated decla- 
rations of our Lord. 

Such conduct and such declarations were calculated to 
excite homage and worship : and how did Jesus Christ 
receive it] Paul and Barnabas, you will recollect, rent 
their garments when they were taken for gods, and re- 
strained the people who wished to worship them. Peter 
also, when the devout Cornelius " fell down at his feet and 
worshipped him," forbade him, saying, " Stand up : I my- 
self also am a many] In the same spirit the angel in the 

* Vide John, 5: 18. TTacrsf* <cT<ov, his own or proper father and 
Rom. 8 : 32, tficv viov, his own or proper son. 

t Acts, 14:11-18; 10:25, 26. From this example it is plain that 
the distinction between supreme and subordinate worship, upon which so 
much stress has been recently laid, was unknown to the apostles of our 
Lord. For it is evident from the story, that Cornelius did not worship 
Peter as God, but as the messeng:r of God : and it is farther evident that 



318 Gregory's letters. 

Apocalypse, when St. John prostrated himself to worship 
him, rejected the homage with horror, saying, " See thou 
do it not : I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren 
who have the testimony of Jesus : worship God." Rev. 
19 : 10 ; 22 : 9. But Jesus Christ tranquilly suffered di- 
vine honors to be rendered him ; commended the faith oi 
his disciples who worshipped him, and who with Thomas 
called him their " Lord and their God ;" upbraided this 
Thomas with his unbelief, yet suffered his idolatry to pass 
unreproved ! and even confuted those enemies who con- 
tested his own deity and celestial origin. Was this the 
way to prove that he was nothing more than man 1 

Ubiquity belongs to none but God ; yet Jesus Christ 
made promises which it was impossible to fulfil without 
this perfection. " Where two or three are gathered to- 
gether in my name, there am I in the midst of them." " I 
am with you always, even unto the end. of the world." 
Compare Matt. 18 : 20 ; 28 : 20, with Exod. 20 : 24. 
When Nathanael went to him to ascertain if any " good 
thing could come out of Nazareth," Jesus at once de- 
scribed his character : the language of the astonished Jew 
was, " Whence knowest thou me ?" The reply of Jesus, 
" Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the 
fig-tree, -J saw thee" convinced Nathanael that he was 
the " Son of God," because it evinced his omnipresence. 
The Messiah, instead of correcting the mistake (which 
he would naturally have done had it been one,) said, 
" Because I said unto thee, ' I saw thee under the fig- 
tree,' believest thou ] Thou shalt see greater things than 
these :" John, 1 : 48-51 : and doubtless he did : he might 
witness many more circumstances that showed how Jesus 
" knew even the thoughts of man ;" Matt. 12 : 25 ; Luke, 

Peter thought all external worship, even such as could in no sense be con- 
ceived to tend towards a Supreme Object, when paid to a creature a 
man, however dignified by office, did infinitely prejudice the glory of the 
Creator. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 319 

6:8; John, 2 : 24, 25; 6 : 64; and might hear him au- 
thoritatively pronounce the forgiveness of sins, though 
" none can forgive sins but God only." Mark, 2 : 7—11. 
Indeed, the single circumstance of his never unde- 
ceiving the Jews, who thought that by " calling himself 
the Son of God he made himself equal with God, is suffi- 
cient with inquirers of unbiassed minds to set the question 
at rest. This was the cause, at least the ostensible cause 
of all the maltreatment he experienced. It was for this 
he was apprehended and tried as a blasphemer. The 
high priest adjured him most solemnly "by the living 
God that he would tell them whether he was the Christ, 
the Son of God;" Matt. 26 : 63 ; clearly showing, on the 
one hand, that in the expectation of the Jews the Mes- 
siah was to possess Divine attributes ; and, on the other, 
that none but a Divine Messiah could without blasphemy 
assume the title of " the Son of God." If these were 
mistakes, why did not Jesus seize this opportunity of 
correcting them, especially when by so doing he would 
probably have avoided crucifixion 1 but instead of this, 
he persisted in what the high priest, as well as the other 
Jews, deemed blasphemy ; Matt. 26 : 65 ; was therefore 
thought deserving of death, and suffered in consequence. 
It is admitted by all christians (and as far as I know, 
by all unbelievers,) that he suffered unjustly: yet how 
could this be, if he were not what he professed himself 
to be, " the Son of God," equal to his Father, and pos- 
sessing glory with him " before the world was ?" John, 
17 : 5. If he were a mere man, his life was a life of im- 
posture ; during Ins whole ministry he usurped honors 
to which he was not entitled ; he died as an impostor, 
and kept up the delusion to the last by even deceiving a 
fellow-malefactor, who called him "Lord," and heaven 
his "kingdom," with vain promises of future happiness 
which he had no power to confer. Luke, 22 : 43. 

In opposition* to this induction of particulars there 



320 Gregory's letters. 

cannot, as I conceive, be more than one argument set 
up, with any semblance of reason. It may be said, if 
Jesus Christ were really Divine, why did he not give 
such palpable evidences of it as could neither be doubted 
nor disputed ] The answer is obvious. Had he furnish- 
ed convincing proofs of his Godhead, they would not 
have been verbal declarations, but real exhibitions of 
his majesty and unlimited power; these would of course 
have restrained the Jews from putting him to death, 
agreeably to the assertion of Paul, "Had the princes of 
this world known, they would not have crucified the 
Lord of glory ;" 1 Cor. 2 : 7, 8 ; Matt. 26 : 53, 54. ; and 
in that case the principal object for which he visited this 
world, that of " taking away sin by the sacrifice of him- 
self," would have been defeated. 

I have just said there can be but one opposing argu 
ment set up with any semblance of reason, because an 
argument of which Socinians are very fond, namely, 
that because a doctrine is "not revealed in the four Gos- 
pels it is not true," is not only inapplicable to the present 
question, but is as trifling and childish as can well be 
conceived. For what does it amount to 1 Just this : If 
a proposition is not to be found in a certain assigned 
portion of Scripture, it is not divinely revealed in any 
other part of Scripture ! How logically conclusive ! 
Must every proposition of revealed truth be condensed 
into every portion of Holy Writ 1 Jesus Christ is no 
where, I think, in the four Gospels called a High Priest : 
will they therefore affirm that he is not " a High Priest 
for ever, after the order of Melchizedec 1" Nor, as far 
as I recollect, is he any where in those Gospels denomi- 
nated a Mediator : will they, therefore, deny that " there 
is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ 
Jesus V Most of them admit his mediation ; though for 
one allusion to it in the New Testament, there will be 
found at least twenty to his Divinity. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 32} 

III. The testimony of the apostles is decidedly in favoi 
of the Divinity of our Lord. 

Stephen, an apostle, and the first martyr, when dying, 
invokes the " Lord Jesus to receive his spirit." The 
apostles in general perform their miracles, not in the 
name of Jehovah, but in that of " Jesus of Nazareth :" 
and they uniformly ascribe to him the epithets, the attri- 
butes, and the works which are peculiar to Deity. They 
tell us that, conformably to prophecy, "his name is Em- 
manuel, God wltli us" Matt. 1 : 23. Moreover, John 
turned " many to the Lord their God." Luke, 1 : 16, 76. 
" Christ is Lord of all." Acts, 10 : 36. " We shall all 
stand before the judgment-seat of Christ; and every one 
give account of himself to God." " The second man is 
the Lord from heaven." " In him dwelleth all the fulness 
of the Godhead bodily; and he is the head of all principa- 
lity and power."* Jesus Christ is " Lord of glory." " For 
by him all things were created that are in heaven 
and that are on earth, visible and invisible; whether they 
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; ah 
things were created by him, and for him ; and he is before 
all things, and by him all things subsist." He is " the 
first and the last, and he that lived and was dead, and live! 
for ever and ever, and has the keys of hell and of death?' 
" The Lamb is Lord of lords, and King of kings," a pe- 
culiar title of Jehovah. He " scarcheth the reins and the 
hearts, and will give to every one according to his works." 
" He knows the works" and conduct of all churches. He 



* Col. 2 : 9, 10. See also the initial salutation in Paul's Epistle to the 
Galatians, " Paul an apostle (or one sent,) not from man, nor by man, but 
by Jesus Christ." And let it be farther recollected that the apostles usual- 
ly mention Christ by the title of Kvpioc " the Lord ;" the very word which 
in the Septuagint (from which they quoted) is employed as equivalent to 
Jehovah. This title Zanche assures us is, " in the writings of the apostles, 
simply and absolutely ascribed to Christ at least a thousand times," "And 
generally so as to import necessary existence. 

14* 



322 Gregory's letters. 

. 
promises to bestow upon his people " eternal life:" while 

he will " consume the unrighteous with the breath of his 

mouthy And he was the Logos or Word of God who 

was made " flesh, and dwelt among, us," and of whom 

John says, " In the beginning was the Word, and the 

Word was with God, and the Word was God : all things 

were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing 

made that was made."* 

Quotations tending to establish the same point might 

be extended almost indefinitely; but if the real object of 

inquiry be to arrive at truth, the preceding will be quite 



* Matt. 1 : 23 ; Luke, 1 : 16, 76 ; Acts, 10 : 36 ; Rom. 14 : 10, 12 ; 
1 Cor. 15 : 47 ; Col. 2 : 9, 10 ; 1 Cor. 2:8; James, 2:1; Col. 1 : 16, 17 ; 
Rev. 1 : 17, 13 ; Rev. 17 : 14 ; Deut. 10 : 17 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 15 ; Rev. 2 : 2, 
9, 13, 19 ; 3:1, 8, 15 ; John, 10 : 28 ; 2 Thes. 2:8; John, 1:1, 3, 
14. Consult also Eph. 5:5; 1 Thes. 4:14; 2 Thes. 1:12; 1 Tim. 
5:21; Tit. 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:1; and Jude 25 ; applying to most of them 
in the original, the established doctrine of the Greek article. To diminish 
the force of these proofs from the language of the apostles, I have been re- 
minded that in the Acts of the Apostles, if not in their Epistles, they usu- 
ally call Jesus Christ a man ; and farther, that they usually in argumenta- 
tion speak of him as a man; whence it is inferred that they knew not 
that he was Divine, but acknowledged that he was a man. Here it is ob- 
vious to reply, as Dr. Horsley has long ago done, that " according to 
the faith which I defend, Christ is truly a man as well as God : it is no 
wonder, therefore, that he should be mentioned as a man, when nothing in 
the narrative, or in the argument, requires that his Divinity should be par- 
ticularly brought to view. To the first argument in particular it is a 
farther answer, that it was the style of all the sacred writers, and it is the 
style of all writers to name things rather after their appearances than 
their internal forms. The tempter you know, in the Mosiac history of the 
fall, is called the serpent ; and is not once mentioned by any other name. 
The three angels, who appeared to Abraham in the form of men, are call- 
ed men throughout the story. To the second argument in particular it is a 
farther answer, that, as the scheme of man's redemption required the in- 
carnation of the Son of God, the apostles would often find it necessary in 
reasoning upon that scheme, and in argumentation in defence of it, to in- 
insist on his humanity." See also Abbadie on the Divinity, sect, vi 
shap. 3, &c. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 323 

sufficient. Here again, indeed, the merits of the question 
might be very safely made to turn upon the text last cited. 
For, taking Aoyos ( a word not borrowed from the writings 
of Plato or of Philo, as some pretend, but from the Jew- 
ish Scriptures*) to signify, as it doubtless does in this 
passage, the divine and substantial Word of God, the Mes- 
siah, we are hence assured, 1. That he was in the be- 
ginning ; that is, that he already was and did exist when 
things began to be created. 2. That in that state of his 
existence, before the creation of the world, he was par- 
taker of the Divine glory and happiness. 3. That he was 
God by participation of the Divine nature with the Fa- 
ther. 4. That not a single being (ovf& tv) was made with- 
out him : he made all creatures without exception : and 
consequently he is not a creature.t 

In estimating the force of these texts, let it be con- 
sidered that they are selected from the writings of those 



* Parkhurst's Greek Lexicon, koyo;, xvi.' 

t The followers of Socinus are frequently introducing new translations 
and new interpretations of this passage: but if we allow them to be re- 
ceived, we must also admit two very extraordinary and almost incredible 
things, namely, that Ignatius and others who lived very near John's time, 
and were therefore most likely to know his meaning, should so widely mis- 
take it ; and that all christians (or at least the great body) should err so 
extremely in an important article of faith for almost 1600 years, that no 
man understood this text rightly before Socinus. This latter consideration 
would be enough of itself to startle any modest man : but Socinus seems 
more inclined to boast of it; for, when speaking of this very verse, he 
says, " Quorum verus sensus omnes prorsus, qui quidem extarent, expla- 
natores latuisse videtur." 

Another text equally decisive with the above, and which also the rejec- 
tors of the Divinity of Christ have endeavored to weaken by a most extra- 
ordinary construction, is Phil. 2 : 5-10. For a very masterly refutation 
of their strained interpretation see " Abbadie on the Divinity of Jesus 
Christ,' 1 '' sect. 3, chap. 7. This book, which I never saw till jW as my 
3d edition was passing through the press, I beg to recommend most cor- 
dially, as, on the whole, the most valuable and invulnerable work on the 
subject I' have read. 



324 Gregory's letters. 

whose great business was to destroy idolatry and im- 
plant the true worship of God upon its ruins ; and that it 
was foretold their description of " the way, the truth, 
and the life" should be so obvious that "the wayfaring 
men, though fools, should not err therein." If Jesus 
Christ were a mere man, the predictions of the prophet3 
aie, in this respect again, not accomplished, and we are 
yet left to wander without any infallible guide : for, on 
that supposition, the' Bible, instead of being so plain and 
perspicuous " that he who runs may read " and under- 
stand it, if he read with singleness of heart, is the most 
obscure and delusive book in the world : and the chris- 
tian dispensation, instead of having eradicated idolatry, 
has given birth to an idolatry, more refined it is true, but 
at the same time more prevalent, more formed for uni- 
versality and permanence, than any idolatry that ever be- 
fore existed !* 

There is another class of texts which become divested 
of all their propriety and importance, and sink into mere 
trifling, if the Divinity of Jesus Christ be denied : I mean 
those which represent to us in such glowing terms the 
love and condescension of the Redeemer. If Christ were 
in the " form of God, equal with God, and very God," 
then it was an act of infinite love and condescension in 
him to become man and die for us. But if he were no 



* Being obliged to regard brevity, I have omitted all those reasonings in 
favor of the Divinity of our Lord which are deduced from his miraculous 
conception. To such as wish to consider this branch of the argument, I 
woukl beg to recommend the striking passage from Cassian, quoted by 
Hooker in § 32 of his Discourse on Justification, Archbishop Tillotson's 
45th and 46th Sermons, a very able pamphlet entitled " Jesus of Nazareth 
the Son of God, by Mr. R. Alliot, of Nottingham," and Bishop Horsley's 
" Sermontm the Incarnation," published in his most interesting and deci- 
sive volume of " Tracts in controversy with Dr. Priestley." The doctrine 
of the miraculous conception was asserted and defended by Ju3tin Martyr. 
See his 2d Apol. § 28, 30, 41, 43. 



DIVINITY Of JESUS CHRIST. 325 

more than a creature, surely it was no such amazing 
condescension to undertake so noble and sublime a work 
as being the Savior of mankind ; a work which would 
advance him to be Lord and Judge of the world, — cause 
him to be for ever admired, reverenced and adored by 
men and angels, — and highly .exalted and glorified by 
God himself. If either the work of redemption was too 
stupendous for a creature to undertake, or the honors of 
it were too high for a creature to aspire after; then, cer- 
tainly, the very notion of condescension is merged and 
lost, upon every hypothesis which does not make Christ 
truly and properly God, God eternal. In fact, " to be- 
come man, to suffer and die for the redemption of the 
world, and to be made the Lord and Judge both of the 
quick and of the dead, can be an act of condescending 
love and goodness only of God. So that to deny the Di- 
vinity of Christ alters the very foundation of Christianity, 
and destroys all the powerful arguments of the love, hu- 
mility, and condescension of our Lord, which are the 
peculiar motives of the Gospel."* 

IV. The prevailing opinion among christians during 
the first three centuries was, that Jesus Christ was really 
a Divine Person, and not a mere man. 

I assume it here as a position which cannot with any 
justice be disputed, that the opinions held by the majority 
of real and pious christians in the early ages, when, as 
Jerome finely observes,. " the blood of Christ was yet 
warm in the breasts of christians, and the faith and spirit 
of religion were brisk and vigorous," were those that 
were taught by the apostles, and constituted the funda- 
mental doctrines of the christian religion. The observa- 
ble harmony and unanimity of the several churches in 
their most public acts is a circumstance which irresistibly 
confirms this position. It is scarcely probable that an) 

* Sherlock's Vindication of the Defence of Stillingfleet. p. 263 



326 Gregory's letters. 

large church of those early ages should vary, in things 
of moment, from the apostolical doctrine : and it is quite 
absurd to imagine that all the churches should combine 
in the same error, and "conspire together to corrupt the 
doctrine of Christ. This argument is much and justly 
insisted upon both by Irenaeus and Tertullian against the 
heretics of their respective times.* They both affirm 
that the true disciple (that is, according to their own in- 
terpretation, one who believes that He who wrought 
their salvation upon earth was God) " is t a follower of 
the public doctrine of the church." 

Now the facts are well known, that soon after the mid- 
dle of the first century (that is, about A. D. 60 and 72,) 
Cerinthus and Ebion impugned the doctrine of the Divi- 
nity of Christ ; that John wrote his Gospel with a view 
to refute the errors of the former ; and that both were 
condemned for openly impugning this doctrine b£ the 
whole church at that time, and frequently afterwards, be- 
fore the establishment of Christianity by Constantine : this 
doctrine being then reckoned a fundamental and essen- 
tial part of the Gospel faith. It is also equally notorious 
that Theodotus, Artemon, Berillus, Paul of Samosata, and 
Arius did, in succession, before the year 320, deny the 
propei- Divinity of Jesus Christ in a greater or less degree, 
making him a creature; that they were all in their turns 
censured by the church : the sentiments of the latter, for 
example, being strongly censured at the council of Nice, 
by 315 out of 318 bishops, the wisest, worthiest, and every 
way most excellent which the christian world could then 
furnish,t called together out of Europe, Asia, and Africa; 
constituting a free council, under no secular mflnence or 
awe of superior human control. Cerinthus, the first of 
these who denied the doctrine of Christ's Divinity, main* 

* Iren. 1. iii, c. 3. 1. iv, c. 53-59. Tertul. Prescript, c. 20, 28. 
I + Euseb. de Vit. Constantin. 1. iii, c. 7, 9. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 327 

tained that J esus and Christ were two persons : Jesus a 
mere man, conceived, in the natural way, of Joseph and 
Mary ; Christ a celestial spirit, which descended from 
above, and resided in the man Jesus, not constantly, but 
occasionally. Here the proper Divinity of our Lord was 
denied; and this was condemned, as error and heresy, by 
the bishops of Asia, and others of Cerinthus' contempo 
raries, who went in a body to St. John, and importuned 
him to bear his testimony against these sentiments.* 
Now the only question for consideration relative to Ce- 
rinthus is this. Was he the first who truly understood 
that doctrine of the new religion which respected the per 
son of its founder ; or had the great body of the churches 
which were converted by the apostles received from them 
the true doctrines, and was Cerinthus the first who had 
sufficient boldness to promulgate erroneous sentiments 1 

This question admits but of one rational answer ; and 
that will accord with the decision of the primitive chris- 
tians against Cerinthus. Similar observations will apply, 
mutatis mutandis, to Ebion, and the other heresiarchs 
down to Arius : I beg to confirm them by a remarkable 
concession of Mr. Bayle's. He allows that, " in the days 
of the apostles or their disciples, it had been easy to de- 
tect those who gave the Scriptures a wrong interpreta- 
tion, because the infallibility of the apostles (who might 
have been consulted by word or by letter,) and the fresh 
remembrance of the verbal instructions they had given 
their disciples and pastors whom themselves had conse- 
crated, furnished ready means for clearing any doubt 01 
disputed point. Sup. to Phil. Comment, p. 692. 

It would be easy to cite proofs that the sentiment of 
whole churches in the primitive times agreed on the sub- 
ject of Christ's Divinity, with what is now denominated 

2 

* Victorin, in Assoc. Bibl. PP. Tom i. p. 576. Hieronym. Prolog, in 
Matt. p. 3. opp. Tom. iv. Ed. Bencd. 



328 Gregory's letters. 

the orthodox doctrine. But I shall select only two. And 
first let me direct your attention to the epistle written 
by the church of Smyrna to other churches, in which they 
describe the sufferings and martyrdom of Polycarp ; for 
there is related this remarkable circumstance, viz. That 
as soon as Polycarp was dead the Jews suggested to the 
heathen judge the expediency of not permitting the chris- 
tians to take the martyr's body, " lest they should for- 
sake their crucified Master, and begin to worship Poly- 
carp," " not considering (add those early christians taught 
by a bishop who was the disciple of St. John) that we can 
never either forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation 
of all such as shall be saved throughout the whole world, 
the righteous for the ungodly, or worship any other. For 
Him, as the So?i of God, we worship ; but the martyrs we 
only love, as the disciples and followers of our Lord."* 
To this remarkable testimony allow me to add that of 
Cams, who, in his book called " the Labyrinth," written 
against Artemon, in refutation of the assertion that Arte- 
mon's doctrine was coeval with Christianity, points first 
to the then well-known sentiments of Justin, Miltiadcs, 
Tatian, Clemens, Irenceus, Melito, in favor of Christ's Di- 
vinity, and then asks, " How many psalms, hymns, and 
canticles were written from the beginning by the breth- 
ren, and transcribed by the faithful, in which Christ the 
Word of God is celebrated for no other than -God indeed 1 
And these being adopted in the churches, how is it pos- 
sible that our ancestors until the time of Victor should 
have so preached, when the true ecclesiastical sentiment 
for so many years is certainly known unto all the world ? 
How can they thus shamelessly report of Victor, when 
they know for certainty that Victor excommunicated 
Theodotus the tanner, who denied the Divinity of Christ, 
because he was the first who affirmed that Christ was a 

* Smyrn. Eccles. Epist. ap Euseb. lib. iv. Wake's Fathers, p. 150. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 329 

mere man 1 If Victor, as they' report, had been of their 
blasphemous opinion, how is it likely that he would have 
excommunicated Theodotusl" Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 
v. cap. 28. 

Having thus shown that in the early ages the denial of 
Christ's divinity was condemned as heretical and dan- 
gerous, while whole churches avowed the great truth, 
and formed their prayer and praise accordingly ; I shall 
proceed to inform you what were the sentiments of the 
chief ante- Nicene fathers with respect to this important 
doctrine; that you may know how they, who probably 
were better acquainted with the original language of the 
New Testament than we are, interpreted it ; and may 
see how completely their sentiments accord with those 
now maintained by a very great proportion of pious men. 

I quote first from Ignatius, who wrote, at latest, about 
the year 107. " Be not led aside by strange doctrines, 
nor by antiquated tales, which are unprofitable. For, if 
we yet live according to Judaism, it is equivalent to de- 
claring that we have not accepted grace ; for the most 
holy prophets lived according to Christ Jesus. And for 
that cause they were persecuted, being inspired by the 
grace of Christ, that the unbelievers might be convinced 
that there is one God who hath manifested himself by his 
Son Jesus Christ, who is his eternal Word" Ignat. ad. 
Magnes. s. viii. 

Justin Martyr has the following passage, preserved 
by Dr. Grabe : " When man's nature had contracted cor- 
ruption, it was necessary that he who would save it should 
do away with the principle of corruption. But this could 
not be done without uniting essential life with the nature 
so corrupted, to do away the corruption, and ever after 
to immortalize the corrupt nature. Wherefore it was 
meet that the Word should become incarnate, to deliver us 
from the death of natural corruption." Grab. Spicileg 
vol. ii. p. 17. 



330 Gregory's letters. 

The same writer, in one of his " Apologies," says, 
"The pagans tax us with atheism ; and we frankly con- 
fess the charge, that with respect to the gods in worship 
among you we are atheists. But we are far otherwise in 
respect to the most true God, the Father of righteousness, 
purity, and every virtue, a God infinitely removed from 
the least mixture or spot of evil : Him, and his only be- 
gotten Son, together with the Spirit, who spake by the 
prophets, we worship and adore : and our way of wor- 
shipping is in spirit and in truth." Apol. ii. 

Iren^eus treats very forcibly and fully respecting the 
Deity of Christ ; but I shall only extract two passages. 
After remarking that the Son of God, and Word of the 
Father, became man that he might "give salvation to his 
own creature" he proceeds thus : " Therefore, as I said 
before, he united ma?i to God. For if it were not man 
that sliould overcome the adversary of man, the enemy 
would not have been rightly vanquished : and on the 
other hand, if it were not God to give the salvation, we 
could not be firmly possessed of it. Besides, if man had 
not been united to God, he could never have been par- 
taker of incorruption. So it was necessary that a media- 
tor between God and man should bring both together 
into amity and concord by his own proximity to both, 
that so he mignt present man to God, and notify God to 
man."* The same father, when speaking of the miracles 
which were wrought in his time, assures us they were ef- 
fected " not by enchantments, or by invocation of angels, 
but by calling on the name of Jesus Christ." This, by the 
way, is farther manifest from the prayer for the Energu- 
mens, in the eighth book of the Apostolical Constitutions, 

* Irenseus, 1. iii. c. 18 ; 1. ii. c. 55. It may not he amiss to add that 
Irenreus contends in lib. iv. cap. 52, " that they who make Christ the son 
of Joseph, attain neither remission of sins nor the adoption of the sons of 
God, nor so much as the right of a blessed resurrection." This is also tes- 
tified by Feuardentius. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 331 

which is directed personally to Christ under the title of 
'the only begotten God." 

Athenagoras, who flourished in the second century, 
speaks of christians as " men that made small account of 
the present life, but were intent only upon contemplating 
God, and knowing his Word who is from him ; what union 
the Son has with the Father, lohat communion the Father 
has with the Son ; what the Spirit is, and what the union 
and distinction are of such so united, the Spirit, the Son, 
and the Father." Legat. 1. xi. 

Tertullian understood the phrase Son of God as ap- 
plied to Christ to mean the same as God of God ; as is 
obvious from many parts of his writings. There is still 
extant a creed of his, which runs thus : We believe in one 
God ; but under this dispensation which we call the econo- 
my, that the " one God hath a Son which is his Word, who 
proceeded from him, and by whom all things were made. 
He was sent from the Father to the Virgin, and was born 
of her both God and man, Son of man and Son of God — 
who, afterwards, according to his promise, sent from the 
Father the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Sanctifier of the 
faith of those who believe in the Father, and the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost. This is the rule which has come down to 
us from the beginning of the Gospel" And again, " What 
is it that the Gospel has done, what is the substance of 
the New Testament, extending the law and the prophets 
as far as John, if, from thenceforwards, Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit, three persons, are not believed to make one 
God V 



* Tert. adv. Frax. c. 2. and 31 ; see also Apol. c. 21. The collections 
of Creeds and Doxologies given by Bingham, and indeed many of those 
that are drawn together by Whiston, furnish ample proof of the early pre- 
valence of this momentous truth. So, again, many df the early hymns. One 
of these, composed in the second century, has been transferred into the Lit- 
urgy of the church of England. It begins with — " Glory be to God on 
high!" ami ocours just before the benediction of the communion service 



332 Gregory's letters. 

Origen also, in his writings against Celsus, furnishes 
many assertions which are unequivocal and decisive. Thus 
he affirms, first, that Christ was the uncreated Son of God : 
secondly, that the Maker of the world is to be worshipped : 
thirdly, that Christ is the Maker of the world. He main- 
tains a precise distinction between creatures and their 
Creator; and he brings them together into comparison 
as to the respect that is due to them. He next says that 
we ought not to worship any creatures, but only the Crea- 
tor : that we can only lift up our eyes to the Creator of all 
the magnificence of nature, to see whom we ought to ad- 
mire, serve, and adore. Then he proclaims Jesus Christ 
as the Creator of the universe ; that God working with 
him, said, at the creation, "Let there be light: let us 
make man." Nay, he is yet more distinct in the statement 
of his opinions. He says that the Father is indeed emi- 
nently God; but that the worship of the Son is not an 
inferior but a Divine worship : he applies the same ex- 
pression to the adoration of Jesus Christ by the Magi, that 
he does to the worship of God : he speaks of the Father 
and the Son being jointly worshipped as one God : he 
admits the worship of the Son in his distinct individual 
character ; attributing to him immutability, omnipresence, 
and other qualities which are characteristic only of the' 
Most High * 

Cyprian, when arguing against the invalidity of hereti 
cal baptisms, inquires how the subject of such baptism 
can become the temple of God, saying, "If he be thereby 
made the temple of God, I would ask of what divine per- 
son is it % Is it of God the Creator 1 He could not be 
so, if he believed not in him. Is it of Christ] Neither 
can he be his temple, while he denies Christ to be God 
Is it then of the Holy Spirit 1 But since the three are 

* For the references in proof of this, see Mr. F. Cunning* Ws Hulsean 
Prize Essay on the Books of Origen against Celsus, p. 40, \1, See alsc 
for some striking passages, Bull. Defens. Fid. Nicen. sect. 5 *ap. 9. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 333 

one, how can the Holy Spirit have friendship with him 
that is at enmity with either Father or Son V This 
father abounds with passages in which the Divinity of 
Christ is asserted. Ep. 73 ad Jubaian. 

Novatian expresses himself as follows : "If God the 
Father save none but through God, then no one can be 
saved by God the Father, who does not confess that 
Christ is God; in whom, and by whom, the Father 
promises to give salvation. Wherefore, very justly, who- 
soever acknowledges him to be God is in the way to be 
saved by Christ, who is God ; and whosoever does not 
acknowledge him to be God forfeits salvation, because 
he cannot oihcmcise have it than in Christ as God." Novat. 
e. 12, p. 3G. 

Dionysius, bishop of Rome, after censuring Marcion's 
tritheistic doctrine as diabolical, says, " Nor are they less 
to blame who think the Son a creature, and who suppose 
the Lord to have come into being, as if he were one of 
the things that were really made." Apud Athanas. vol. 
i. p. 231. 

His cotemporary, Dionysius of Alexandria (both flou- 
rishing about A. D. 259,) expressed himself thus: "The 
Father being eternal, the Son must be eternal too, Light 
of Light. — The names mentioned by me are undivided 
and inseparable : when I named the Father before I 
mentioned the Son, I signified the Son in the Father 
If any of my false accusers suspect that because I called 
God creator and former" of all things, I made him creator 
of Christ, let him consider that I before styled him Fa- 
ther, and so the Son was included in him." Apud Athanas. 
de Sententia Dionysii, p. 254. 

The case of this Dionysius of Alexandria evinces very 
plainly of what great moment the belief of Christ's Di- 
vinity was reckoned in the middle of the third century. 
In controversy with the Sabellians, he expressed him 
self rather unwarily, and thence became suspected of 



334 Gregory's letters. 

leaning too far towards the opposite extreme, and of 
holding inadequate notions of the Deity of Christ. Such 
was the jealousy with which this doctrine was guarded, 
that the whole christian world were thrown into alarm 
on account of the supposed heresy of so eminent a man 
as this Dionysius. Complaint was brought from Egypt 
as far as Italy : and though the bishop of Rome had not 
at that time any authority over the bishop of Alexandria, 
the aged prelate of the latter place made known to the 
whole world, through the medium of the bishop of Rome, 
that he never intended the least injury to the Divinity of 
Christ, or to his consubstantiality ; but himself believed 
them as sincerely and fully as any other man could."* 

That these were not the sentiments of a few individu- 
als, but of the great body of the christian church in the 
primitive ages, is evident both from the remarks which 
precede these quotations, and from the testimony of co- 
temporary heathen authors.! In a former letter I laid 
before you two frequently cited passages from Lucian 
and Pliny ; from which it appears that the grand crime 
of the first christians consisted in singing "hymns to 
Christ as unto a God." It was for their obstinate adhe- 
rence to this idolatrous worship, as the heathens deemed 
it, that they were persecuted and brought to martyrdom. 

* See Water-land on the Trinity, p. 352, Ed. 1800. Consult also, 
(since I have been obliged to omit many qyr tions from Barnabas, Poly- 
carp, Theophilus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Am.) for a more full account of 
the opinions of the christians of the first three centuries respecting the 
Divinity of Christ, Abp. Wake's "Apostolical Fathers," Mr. Bingham's 
Origines Ecclesiastical, book x, chap. 4, and book xiii, ch. 2. Bishop 
Horsley's " Tracts in controversy with Dr. Priestley, upon the historical 
question of the belief of the first ages in iour Lord's divinity," and Mr. 
Badock's deservedly celebrated articles in confutation of Dr. Priestley, 
in the Monthly Review for 1783. 

t I might adduce the authority of Socinus himself, who assured his dis- 
ciples that to worship Christ was the ancient and universal practice of 
saints and martyrs. Ad Matt. Radec. Epist. 3. p. 391. 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 335 

Now if this were a calumny, which, if they had not ren- 
dered divine honors to Jesus Christ, it must have been, 
they would not have • rested quietly under it, especially 
when its consequences were so dreadful. They would 
have reiterated again and again, " We do not worship 
Jesus Christ, as you suppose : we celebrate his memory 
and his virtues, it is true ; but we consider him as merely 
a creature, and therefore never transfer to him the wor- 
ship due to God alone." The admirable apologists of 
Christianity in the early ages, eagerly seized and refu- 
ted the slightest calumny; yet upon this momentous 
point, in which, if Jesus Christ had not been God, their 
conduct would have been most odious and censurable, 
they attempted no defence. They, who could not be 
persuaded to bend to the statue of the Caesars, justified 
by their silence the accusation of adoring a crucified 
malefactor. They would not offer incense to idols, but 
affirmed that " whatever was exalted above the standard 
of civil worship (or respect) in imitation of the divine ex- 
cellency was directly made an idol;"* yet they worship- 
ped one who had died ignominiously ; and, confiding in 
strength which he would impart to them, despised the 
malice of their enemies, and the wrath of emperors, and 
cheerfully submitted to the most agonizing sufferings, 
terminated only by death, rather -than attempt to wipe 
off the reproach of adoring the " malefactor Jesus." Ad- 
mit that Jesus is " the Christ, the Son of God," that 
though "dead he is alive for evermore," and that he is 
still "head over all things to the church," "dwelling in 
all hearts by faith," and enabling his faithful disciples 
"in all things to be more than conquerors through Him 
that loved them," Rom. 8 : 35, 37, and the Conduct of 
the martyrs of the primitive times is intelligible and de- 
fensible : deny it, and you reduce them to a level with 

* Vide Tert. de Idol. c. 15. Greg. Naz. Or. 38, in >'at. Chrii. 



336 Gregory's letters. 

idiots ; and have moreover to account for the remarkable 
phenomenon of a church whose foundations were laid in 
error, which was supported by enthusiasm and folly, but 
opposed by learning, philosophy, and the strongest secu- 
lar power, being "built up," notwithstanding, and be- 
coming the "joy and rejoicing of the whole earth." 

Here, then, I beg to close the evidence, not because 
there is not more to produce, but because I conceive the 
producing ofmo r e to be totally unnecessary. The Jew- 
ish prophets foretold that the Messiah would be " the 
Mighty God," " God with us," — John the precursor of 
Jesus was the harbinger " of the Most High,'' — Jesus 
Christ himself asserted his equality with the Father, — 
his apostles ascribed to him the works and attributes of 
Deity, — the great body of professing christians in the 
first three centuries lived and died in the persuasion 
that he was " one with God," — the primitive martyrs re- 
signed their lives in attestation of this great truth, and 
while they suffered "rejoiced in God their Savior;" and 
they derived their conviction from the personal instruc- 
tion of the apostles, or from the perusal of the word of 
God. On these grounds we affirm that the doctrine is 
true. If it were not, it would follow that the most dili- 
gent perusers of that book which is given to be "a 
lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths," have 
lost the truth, while Mohammedans, who do not read the 
Bible, have found it ; for if Jesus Christ be not God, Mo- 
hammed has described his character more correctly than 
the apostles. This is his language. " They are infidels 
who declare that God is Christ : Christ the son of Mary 
is no more than God's envoy. Christians say Christ is 
the son of God ; how are they infatuated : far be it from 
God that he should have a Son. Jesus is no other than 
a servant. O Jesus, son of Mary, dost thou persuade 
mankind to put thee in the place of God f" Sale's Koran, 
passim. And truly, if he have so done, and be not essen- 



DIVINITY OP JESUS CHRIST. 337 

tially God, it must follow (though it is a horrid inference) 
that Mohammed, even Mohammed the impostor, was 
more faithful, more wise, and more zealous for God's 
glory than was Jesus Christ himself! ! 

I. cannot, however, pass from the subject before us 
without entreating you to bear in mind that it is, strictly 
speaking, fundamental. Different religions are (as was 
suggested in a preceding letter) distinguished one from 
another by their having different objects of worship, and 
proposing different grounds of hope. Considered in this 
light, the religion of him who admits and him who re- 
jects the Deity of Christ, are as essentially different as 
the religions of the Jew and the Christian. This is no 
uncandid remark; but one founded in the nature of 
things, and justified by the conduct of both partie's. If 
Jesus Christ be a mere man, those who worship him are 
guilty of idolatry ; in that case the Socinians rightly call 
them idolaters, and for aught I can see to the contrary, 
were justifiable upon their own principles in proposing (as 
they did in the reign of Charles the Second)* to reduce 

* I have been called upon to furnish proofs of this singular fact ; and 
feel no hesitation in complying with the requisition. 

A negotiation was opened on the part of our English Unitarians, with 
his Excellency Ameth Ben Ameth, ambassador of the emperor of Morocco 
at the English Court, in order to form an alliance with the Mohammedan 
prince, for the more effectual propagation of the Unitarian principles. 

The two Unitarian divines, who undertook this singular treaty, address 
the ambassador, and the Mussulmen of his suit, as " votaries and fellow- 
worshippers of the sole Supreme Deity." They return thanks to God 
that he hath preserved the emperor of Morocco, and his subjects, in the 
excellent knowledge of one only Sovereign God, who hath no distinction, 
nor plurality of persons ; and in many other wholesome doctrines. 

They say that they with their pens defend the faith of one Supreme 
God ; and that God raised up Mohammed to do the same with the sword, 
as a scourge to idolizing christians. They therefore style themselves 
the felloio-champions with the Mohammedans for these truths. They offer 
their assistance to purge the Koran of certain corruptions and interpola- 
tions, .which, after the death of Mohammed, had crept into his papers, of 

Gregory 15 



338 Gregory's letters. 

the two schemes of Socinianism and Mohammedanism in- 
to one consistent aggregate. If, on the other hand, Jesus 
Christ be God incarnate, then " every spirit that con 

which the Koran was composed. For of Mohammed, they think too highly, 
to suppose that he could be guilty of the many repugnances which are to 
be found in the writings that go under his name. This work they declare 
themselves willing to undertake, for the vindication of Mohammed's glory. 
They intimate that the corrections which they would propose, would ren- 
der the Koran more consistent ; not with itself only, but with the Gospel 
of Christ, of which they say Mohammed pretended to be but a preacher. 
They tell the ambassador that the Unitarian christians form a great 
and considerable people. To give weight to the assertion, they enumerate 
the heresiarchs of all ages who have opposed the Trinity, from Paulus 
Samosatensis down to Faustus Socinus and the leaders of the Polonian 
fraternity. They celebrate the modern tribes of Arians as assertors of the 
proper junity of God; and they close the honorable list with the Mohamme- 
dans themselves. All these, they say, maintain the faith of one God : 
and " why should we forget to add you, Mohammedans, who also consent 
with us in the belief of one only Supreme Deity ?" 

Such is the substance of a letter which they presented to the ambas 
sador, with some Latin manuscripts respecting the diiferences between 
Christianity and the Mohammedan religion, and containing an ample detail 
of the Unitarian tenets. They apply to the Mussulman, as to a person of 
known discernment in spiritual and sublime matters : and they entreat 
him to communicate the import of their manuscripts to the consideration 
of the fittest persons among his countrymen. 

This singular epistle may be seen entire in Leslie's Socinian Conlro 
versy discussed. 

Dr. Horsley, in whose controversial writings with Dr. Priestley this is 
inserted (Letter 16, page 307, ed. 3,) by way of stamping its authenticity 
has added a note, in which he says, that in consequence of Dr. Priestley's 
questioning the veracity of it he examined the Archbishop's library at 
Lambeth, from whence the copy was originally taken, where he found 
it in a thin folio, under the mark 673, among the Codices MSS. Te- 
niaoniani; and entered in the catalogue, under the article Soci7iians 
by the title of Sy sterna Theologi Sociniance. 

On the pi-eceding leaf are these remarks : — " These are the original pa 
I ers which a cabal of Socinians in London offered to present to the am- 
bassador of the king of Fez and Morocco, when he was taking leave of 
England, August, 1632. — The said ambassador refused to receive them, 
after having understood that they concerned religion.- — The agent, of the 
Socinians was Monsieur Virze Sir Charles Cottrcll, Knt. Master of the 



DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 339 

fesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flcsh,Jis of God ; 
and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh, is not of God :" " whosoever denieth 
the Son, hath not the Father," but he " that acknowledg- 
ed* the Son, hath the Father also;" "he that hath the 
Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not 
life;"* they are as opposite in their nature as the dead 
and the living, and it is as impossible for them to unite 
cordially together in religious worship. The one party 
contends, and contends naturally, that by worshipping a 
creature he should dishonor God, to whom alone worship 
is due : the other affirms as naturally, and (as I trust you 
will now allow) more consistently with the uniform tenor 
of the Gospel, that, by withholding worship from the 
Savior, he should deny his Divine perfections, dishonor 
and degrade him, and thus lose his title to eternal glory. 
The character the Redeemer now sustains renders this 
a matter o/ infinite moment. Jesus has " ascended into 
heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of his Father," " far 
above all principalities and powers." Here he was our 

Ceremonies, then present, desvred he might have them, which was grant- 
ed ; and he brought them, and gave them to me, Thomas Tenison, then 
Vicar of St. Martin's in the Fields, Middlesex." 

Dr. Horsley adds, by way of farther confirmation, " I do most solemnly 
aver, that I have this day (Jan. 15, 1789) compared the letter to Ameth 
Ben Ameth, as published by Dr. Leslie in his Socinian Controversy dis- 
cussed, with the MS. in the Archbishop's library, and find that the printed 
copy, with the exception of some trivial typographical errors which in no 
way affect the sense, and are such as any reader will discover and correct 
for himself, is exactly conformable to the MS. without the omission or 
addition of a single word." 

* 1 John, 4 : 2, 3 ; 2 : 23 ; 5 : 12. In the first of these passages, the 
phrase in the flesh either clearly indicates a possibility or capability of 
~tl}3r ways of coming, or it is nugatory. If it be not merely expletive, 
which is not easily to be admitted, it is, therefore, decisively in favor of 
the orthodox doctrine respecting the person of Christ. The Socinian in- 
terpretation of the passage is refuted by Bishop Horsley, Letters, p. 120 
and by Abbadie, sect. iii. cap. 2, 10. 



340 Gregory's letters. 

■prophet anci teacher ; there he is incessantly pleading for 
his people ; nay, there he both intercedes as our High 
Priest, and sits and reigns as King. He governs all 
things in heaven and on earth, that he may defend hie 
cnurch, adorn her with her Spirit, and procure and "ac- 
complish her eternal salvation. But " from thence he 
shall come to judge the quick and the dead :" "for the 
Father judgeth no man ; but hath committed all judg- 
ment unto the Son, that all should honor the Son even as 
they honor the Father." John, 5 : 22, 23. May the con- 
templation of this great event stimulate us, my friend, se 
dulously to seek, and heartily to embrace the truth. For, 
" behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall 
see him, and they also which pierced him." Rev. 1 : 7. 
Then will they " say to the mountains and rocks, fall on 
us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb ; for the great 
day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able.to stand V 
Rev. 6:16, 17 ; while the meek and humble and upright 
followers of Jesus will exclaim in grateful triumph, " Lo, 
this is our GOD ; we have waited for him, and he will 
save us : this is the Lord, we have waited for him ; we 
will be glad and rejoice in his salvation !" Isa. 25 : .9. 



LETTER XVI. 

On the nature of conversion, and its necessity. 

The subject which I have selected for discussion in the 
present letter is one of the highest moment, and yet, un- 
fortunately, it is one respecting which the greatest and 



ON CONVERSION. 34] 

most lamentable mistakes have prevailed. Some have 
imagined that religious conversion, or regeneration, is 
effected by baptism, so that whoever is baptized is, of ne- 
cessity, regenerated. This, however, is neither consis- 
tent with Scripture nor with fact, except in those very 
rare instances in which the "baptism with water" and 
that " with the Holy Spirit " occur at the same moment. 
Gibbon and Hume were baptized in their infancy, but 
lived and died infidels : Simon Magus was baptized, but 
certainly not regenerated : and others there are who, 
though they were baptized when adults, on a profession 
of faith, afterwards relapsed into an open denial of the 
truth, and a daily neglect of the duties of Christianity : 
from which it is evident that baptism and regeneration 
are not necessarily connected. Others have considered re- 
pentance to be regeneration ; but neither is this correct : 
true repentance is always connected with regeneration, 
but it is not the thing itself. Others, again, regard refor- 
mation and regeneration as synonymous ; but this notion 
is as incorrect as either of the former. Regeneration may 
accompany baptism, repentance, or reformation; but it 
is more than either of them. Saul became " another man," 
without becoming a new man : Ahab " humbled himself," 
yet became not truly humble : many repent of some 
great iniquity, "but this repentance not being the genuine 
fruit of the Spirit, they relapse again into evil courses : 
and some reform their conduct, because the state of their 
health or perhaps the monitors of conscience lead them 
so to reform ; though they still remain ignorant of " the 
one thing needful." 

To guard you against these and other erroneous views 
of conversion, to which your attention may sometimes be 
called, I shall endeavor to describe it as it is portrayed 
in Scripture, our only unerring guide with respect to this 
and every other christian doctrine. 

And here you cannot fail to remark, for it must be evi- 



342 Gregory's letters. 

dent to every impartial reader of the word of God, that 
the change, which we are now to contemplate, can nei- 
ther be slight, nor transient, nor, in general, slow. In 
the principal texts where it is delineated, it seems either 
named or characterized in reference to one or other of 
two modes or circumstances of change, both of which arc 
important and usually rapid, compared with the corre- 
sponding duration of existence : these are conversion and 
regeneration; the one indicating frequently a turning 
from one thing toward another, and in theology, according 
to Dr. Johnson's definition, " a change from a state of re- 
probation to a state of grace ;" and the other, a new crea- 
tion, or a new birth ; or, according to the same lexicogra 
pher, " birth by grace to a christian life." The selection 
and classification of a very few texts will show that the two 
general terms I have just mentioned are not artificially 
forced into the technology of theologians, but are those 
which most naturally convey the idea of the change they 
are chosen to describe. 

The prophet Jeremiah has manifestly something more 
in view than a mere nominal turning from one religion to 
another, when he supposed Ephraim, after bemoaning 
himself, to pray — " Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; 
for thou art the Lord my God." Jer. 31 : 18. And again, 
in his faithful exhortation to the Jews — " Turn ye again 
now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of 
your doings." Jer. 25 : 5. More expressive still is the 
language of Joel — " Rend your heart, and not your gar- 
ments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for he is gra- 
cious and merciful." Joel, 2 : 13. 

The language of our Lord to his disciples was—" Ex 
cept ye be converted, and become as little children, ye 
shg.ll not enter into the kingdom of heaven. He that 
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, is 
passed from death unto life." Matt. IS : 3 ; John, 5 : 24. 

The apostles speak of this change as equally moment 



ON CONVERSION. 343 

tous : their divine Master taught them to preach to the 
Gentiles, that they might " turn them from darkness to 
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they 
might receive forgiveness of sins." How great must be 
the transformation from the darkness of ignorance and 
vice to the light of knowledge and holiness; how delight- 
ful the emancipation from the thraldom of the devil to be 
placed under the merciful government of God ! They 
therefore acted under the persuasion that " if any one 
erred from the truth, and one converted him, he which 
converted a sinner from the error of his way, saved a soul 
from death :" and considered this conversion as " a de- 
liverance from the power of darkness, and a translation 
into the kingdom of God's dear Son." Acts, 26 : 18 ; 
James, 5 : 19 ; Col. 1 : 13. 

Among the numerous texts which evince this great 
change to be no less than an entire renovation of charac- 
ter, the following deserve notice. " Create in me a clean 
^ieart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me." " I 
will put a new spirit within them ; and I will take the 
stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart 
of flesh ; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep 
mine ordinances, and do them." " Except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." " Born, not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God." Though they are " dead," they shall 
: ' hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear 
shall live." " In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avail- 
eth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." 
" Love one another with a pure heart fervently, being 
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, 
ny the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever." 
" Every one that doeth righteousness (habitually) is born 
of Him." " Whosoever is bora of God doth not commit 
sin, (habitually,) and lovetli, and believeth that Jesus 
is the Christ, and overcometh the world." " Christ saved 



344 Gregory's letters. 

us, according to his mercy, by the washing of regenera- 
tion and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." " We are his 
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works." 
Ye have been instructed " to put off the old man, which 
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and to be re- 
newed in the spirit of your mind ; and to put on the new 
man, which is created according to God in righteousness 
and true holiness." "Wherefore, if any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature ; old things are passed away, behold 
all things are become new." " That which is born of the 
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit- 
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and 
whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
Psalm, 51 : 10 ; Ezek. 11 : 19, 20 ; John, 3:3; John, 5 : 
25 ; Gal. 6:15; 1 Peter, 1 : 23 ; 1 John, 2 : 29 ; 1 John, 
3:9; Titus, 3:5; Eph. 2 : 10 : Eph. 4 : 22-24 ; 2 Cor. 
5:17; John, 3 : 6-8. 

From these passages it must appear that the grand 
transformation we are now contemplating is not ideal: 
nor does it consist merely in enlightening and convincing 
the understanding, in a change of sentiments or a change 
of outward conduct ; though it often includes all these. A 
man may change his religious opinions, or his outward 
conduct, without experiencing a change of heaii : and, on 
the other hand, a person may experience a genuine and 
complete change of heart (and the heart, it must never be 
forgotten, is the seat of true religion) without being able 
to trace the slightest difference in any one article of his 
creed. Every one knows, that in a certain sense the 
world is vanity, that he must die, that in the hour of death 
riches will not profit him, that time is precious, that the 
portion of it allowed us to prepare for eternity is un- 
certain and often short, that a death-bed repentance is 
not an infallible passport to heaven ; and many know 



ON CONVERSION. 315 

that they are sinners, that " Christ Jesus came to save 
sinners," that there is one, and only one, way of sal- 
vation. Yet though these are known and received as 
truths, they are not felt as such : they are but as the new- 
formed body of Adam, before " God breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life," and need a touch from Him 
who alone can effectually (whether immediately or by 
his own appointed instruments) reach the soul, to render 
them living, operative, efficacious sentiments. 

In regeneration, so much of the light of heaven is let 
into the soul as enables us to know (or at least to begin 
to know) ourselves aright, to know God in his most aw- 
ful and lovely manifestations, to see the enormity of sin, 
the " beauty of holiness," the worth of the Gospel, the 
"riches of divine grace." It is a light accompanied with 
warmth and vigor, that produces an internal and per- 
manent change ; a change that is universal, reaching to 
the heart and evinced in the life ; that renovates the 
powers of the spirit, dissipates folly, guilt, darkness and 
despair, and introduces holiness, joy and hope. 

This change is rightly called conversion : not (as you 
have often known it represented) converting the subject 
of it from vivacity to lifelessness, from cheerfulness to 
gloom, from kindness and affability to churlishness and 
reserve; but because it converts him- " from the error of 
his way," from the abuse to the proper use of the bless-, 
ings with which he is surrounded, from a false to a true 
hope, from indifference to zeal, from " the power of Satan 
unto God." It is also as rightly denominated regenera- 
tion; for it brings the person who experiences it, not 
under the influence of the mechanical transports of ani- 
mal nature, or the blind impulses of a heated imagina- 
tion, or into the delusive paths of enthusiasm ; but into a 
new state, through the operation of the Spirit of God 
upon the spiritual part of man. Surely there can be no- 
thing*chimerical, nothing contrary to reason, nothing that 

15* 



346 Gregory's letters. 

is not highly ornamental and infinitely beneficial to out 
nature, in having the powers of our mind thus changed 
by energy imparted from God, and having our pursuits 
'directed to such objects as are most worthy the attention 
and regard of intelligent, accountable, immortal creatures ! 
•• To have our apprehensions of Divine and spiritual 
things enlarged, and to have right conceptions of the 
most important matters ; to have the stream of our af- 
fections turned from empty vanities to objects that are 
proper to excite and fix them; to have our resolutions 
set against all sin, and a full purpose formed within us 
of an immediate reformation and return »to God, with a 
dependence on his grace to help us both to will and to 
do ; to have our labors steadfastly applied to conquer sin, 
and to promote religioa in ourselves and others ; to have 
our entertainments founded in a religious life, and flow- 
ing in upon us from the sweet intercourse we have with 
God in his word and ordinances, and the delightful con- 
versation that we sometimes have with christian friends; 
and, finally, to have our hopes drawn off from earthly 
things, and fixed upon eternity — where is there any 
thing that can be more honorable to us, than thus to be 
1 renewed after the image of Him that created us,' and to 
1 put on the new man, which after God is created in 
righteousness and true holiness V And where is there 
any thing that can be more desirable than thus to have 
the darkness of our understanding cured,- and the disor- 
ders rectified, that sin had brought upon our nature 1 
Who is there that is so insensible of his depravity, as 
that he would not long for such a happy change 1 Or 
who is there that knows how excellent a work it is to be 
' transformed by the renewing of the mind/ that would 
not with the greatest thankfulness adore the riches of 
Divine grace, if it appear that he is thus become a new 
creature, that ' old things are passed away, and all things 
are become new V " Doddridge's Sermons on Rfcgen 



ON CONVERSION. o!7 

Tlmt such improvements of character often have occur- 
red, and are often taking place now, cannot be denied 
by any philosophic observer of human nature : to disre- 
gard them, or to neglect an investigation of their cause, is 
to neglect one of the most interesting and remarkable 
classes of facts observable amongst mankind. Who has 
not either heard of or witnessed the most extraordinary 
changes of conduct produced through the apparent in- 
fluence (to say the least) of religious motives 1 I say no- 
thing here of the three thousand converted in one day at 
the feast of Pentecost, — of the conversion of St Paul and 
others, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, because 
those are usually ascribed to the miraculous and extraor- 
dinary influence of the Holy Spirit in the apostolic times 
But I may call your attention to matters of more recent 
occurrence. You have witnessed instances of men run- 
ning eagerly the career of folly and dissipation, who have 
been suddenly arrested, and changed from " lovers of 
pleasure to lovers of God." You have known others 
who have devoted themselves early to the military pro- 
fession, who literally knew no fear, who have spent their 
lives in the pursuit of glory, who have approached the 
verge of life full- of scars and full of honors, still panting 
after " glory, honor and immortality," but thinking no- 
thing of " eternal life ;" till, touched by an irresistible 
hand, they have been transformed from good soldiers to 
" good soldiers of Jesus Christ," have buckled on " the 
armor of God," "fought the good fight of faith," and fol- 
lowing " the Captain of their salvation,"- have obtained 
" the victory," and been rewarded with unfading laurels. 
Others again, you have known, who have been strong 
and high-minded, professing never to be subdued but by 
the force of argument, and dexterously evading an argu- 
ment when it was forcible, if it were calculated to expose 
the sophistry of "free-thinking" (as. it is called,) or to 
exhibit the reasonableness and advantages of being pious : 



o4S GREGORY S LETTERS. 

you have seen them increase in the dexterity of unbe- 
lief, and in callousness ti moral impression, year after 
year, 

• Gleaning the blunted shafts that have recoil' J, 
" Aiming them at the shield of truth again," 

and when a band of them has gone to church for the 
laudaole purpose of quizzing, or of staring out of coun- 
tenance, some preacher of rather more than usual energy 
and zeal, — have known one of this band pierced by " a 
dart from the archer," convinced that religion is the " one 
thing needful," and, though he " came to scoff, remaining 
to pray." 

Recollect, too, the recorded conversion of Cecilius (so 
finely described in the Octavius of Minutius Felix) in the 
early ages of the church : and those of Lord Rochester, of 
Colonel Gardiner, of Mr. Newton, and Mr. Scott, in later 
times ; and contemplate them as matters of fact. Recollect, 
again, the memorable advice given by the late Dr. Price 
to Lord Sherburne, the father of the present Marquis of 
Lansdowne. That nobleman inquired of the philosophic 
doctor what would be the best means of reforming some 
profligate, idle, worthless fellows, who were employed 
on one of his estates; and was recommended to "intro- 
duce a zealous methodist preacher among them." Here 
the reasoning w.as from a fact, and that no other than the 
preaching of Whitfield and Wesley among the Kings- 
wood colliers. " These were men who required not only 
to be christianized, but humanized. It was a mighty mass 
of deformity, without shape or order : and it was moulded 
into the human form ; nay, more, it received the impress 
of the Divine image, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, 
through the preaching of these laborious ministers. The 
world will not easily forget the transformation : when 
men, who scarcely had any thing about them human but 
their external configuration, changed their very nature 



ON CONVERSION. oil* 

when the ferocious became softened, and the profane ex- 
emplary for the simplicity of holiness ; and wlien the tears 
chased each other down their dark cheeks as they listened 
to the declarations of a Savior's love, while a total altera- 
tion of their life and manners bore no resemblance to ■ the 
morning cloud and the early dew which passeth away.' " 
Collyer's Appeal to the Legislature. 

Now either this is real regeneration, the genuine ope- 
ration of the Spirit of God, or it is an effect without a 
cause, or at least without any cause even speciously as- 
signable ; we affirm, on the authority of Scripture, that it 
is the former, — and thus assign an adequate cause for this 
grand and durable effect: our opponents take the contrary 
alternative, and yet have the modesty to accuse us of en- 
thusiasm. But if enthusiasm be a disease which is indi- 
cated by " overlooking the relation which subsists between 
ends and means, — by counting upon casualties instead of 
contemplating the stated order of events, — and by hoping 
to realize the most momentous projects without any means 
at all; or by means totally inadequate to the effect," it 
will not be difficult for any one to ascertain whether we 
or our adversaries are most deeply tainted by it. 

Perhaps it may not be uninstructive for us to fix our 
attention upon the leading particulars of some remarkable 
and w r e*ll authenticated instance of conversion ; and to this 
end allow me to select that of the Earl of Rochester, to 
which I adverted in my Letter on Prophecy. In respect 
to the evidence of the permanency of the change, the ex- 
amples of Colonel Gardiner, Mr. Newton, and Mr. Scott 
are doubtless more decisive ; but in these last mentioned 
cases the historians may by some be deemed suspicious 
witnesses, on account of the theological sentiments they 
supported ; I therefore have chosen the instance which 
was thought worthy the attention of Bishop Burnet, a 
writer whom no candid reader will accuse of proneness 
to fanaticism. 



350 Gregory's letters. 

Lord Rochester was distinguished through the active 
part of his life as a great wit, and a great profligate, an 
open and unwearied advocate of atheism. He had, how- 
ever, especially during the last year of his lite, strong 
convictions of the folly of his conduct ; and once, after 
he had been arguing vehemently against the existence of 
a supreme Being, he exclaimed, on retiring from the 
company, " Good God, that a man who walks upright, 
who sees the wonderful works of God, and has the use 
of his reason, — that such a one should bid defiance to 
his Creator!" but impressions like these soon wore off: 
so that it was not till his last illness, which continued 
about nine weeks, that he appears to have been the sub- 
ject of the change which we denominate conversion. 
Then it was, according to his own account, that he first 
saw the enormity of sin, and learned the value of the 
atonement on which his hopes of pardon were founded. 
" Shall the joys of heaven," exclaimed he, "be conferred 
on me 1 O mighty Savior, never, but through thy infinite 
love and satisfaction ! O never, but by the purchase of 
thy blood!" 

The Scriptures, which had so often been the subject 
of his merriment, now secured his esteem', and impressed 
him with delight ; for they had spoken to his heart : the 
seeming absurdities and contradictions vanished : and he 
thenceforward not only received the truth but adhered 
to it. It appears to have been the 53d chapter of Isaiah, 
which was repeatedly read to him by Mr. Parsons, his 
chaplain, that was principally instrumental in the change. 
Comparing it with the history of our Savior's passion, he 
saw the fulfilment of a prophecy, written several ages 
before, and which the Jews, who blasphemed Jesus, still 
kept in their hand, as an inspired book. He confessed 
to Bishop Burnet, that, as he heard it read, " he felt an 
inward force upon him, which did so enlighten his mind 
and convince him, that he could resist it no longer : for 



ON CONVERSION. 351 

the words had an authority which did shoot like rays or 
beams in his mind, so that he was not only convinced by 
the reasonings he had about it, which satisfied his under- 
standing, but by a power which did so effectually constrain 
him, that he did ever after as firmly believe in his Savior 
as if he had seen him in the clouds." 

He had this chapter read so often to him that he " got 
it by heart, and went through a great part of it," says 
the Bishop, " in discourse with me, with a sort of hea- 
venly pleasure, giving me his reflections on it : some of 
which I remember. " Who hath believed our report?" 
" Here," he said, " was foretold the opposition the Gos- 
pel was to meet with from such wretches as he was.'' 
" He hath no form or comeliness ; and when we shall 
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." 
On this he said, " the meanness of his appearance and 
person has made vain and foolish people disparage him, 
because he came not in such a fool's coat as they delight- 
ed in." Many other observations he made which were 
not noted down ; enlarging on many passages with a de- 
gree of heavenly pleasure, and applying various parts of 
it to his own humiliation and comfort. " O my God," 
he would say, " can such a creature as I, who have de- 
nied thy being and contemned thy power, be accepted 
by thee % Can there be mercy and pardon for me 1 Will 
God own such a wretch as I am V 

His faith now rested on Christ alone for salvation, and 
often would he entreat God to strengthen it ; crying out, 
" Lord, I believe : help thou my unbelief." He gave 
numerous proofs of the depth of his repentance : among 
which his earnest desire to check and diminish the evil 
effects of his former writings, and too uniform example, 
deserve particular recollection. His abhorrence of sin 
was now as extraordinary as his former indulgence in it : 
he said more than once, "he would not commit a known 
crime to gain a kingdom." 



352 

" He told me (says the Bishop) he had overcome all his 
resentments to all the world ; so that he bore ill-will to no 
person, nor hated any upon personal accounts. He had 
given a truestate of his debts, and had ordered to pay them 
all, as far as his estate that was not settled could go ; and 
was confident that, if all that was owing to him were paid 
to his executors, his creditors would be all satisfied. He 
said he found his mind now possessed with another sense 
of things than ever he had formerly. He did not repine 
under all his pain, and in one of the sharpest paroxysms 
he was under while I was with him, he said he did will- 
ingly submit; and looking up to heaven, said, ' God's holy 
will be done, I bless him for all he does to me.' He said 
he was contented either to die or live, as should please 
God : and though it was a foolish thing for a man to pre- 
tend to choose whether he would die or live, yet he rather 
wished to die. He knew he could never be so well that 
life should be comfortable to him. He was confident he 
should be happy if he died, but he feared if he lived he 
might relapse : and then said he to me, ' In what a con- 
dition shall I be, if I relapse after all this V But (he said) 
he trusted in the grace and goodness of God, and was re- 
solved to avoid all those temptations, that course of life 
and company that was likely to ensnare him : and he de- 
sired to live on no other account, but that he might, ' by 
the change of his manners, in some way take off the high 
scandal his former behavior had given.' All these things 
at several times I had from him ; besides some messages 
which very well became a dying penitent to some of his 
former friends, and a charge to publish any thing con- 
cerning him that might be a means to reclaim others. 
Praying God, that ' as his life had done much hurt, so 
his death might do some good.' 

" Having understood all these things from him, and 
being pressed to give him my opinion plainly about his 
eternal state, I told him, that though the promises of the 



ON CONVERSION. 353 

Gospel did a.l depend upon a real change of heart and 
life, as the indispensable condition upon which they were 
made, and that it was scarcely possible to know certain 
ly whether our hearts are changed, unless it appeared in 
our lives ; and the repentance of most dying men being 
1 like the howlings of condemned prisoners for pardon, 
which flowed from no sense of their crimes, but from the 
horror of approaching death ; there was little reason to 
encourage any hope from such sorrowing : yet certainly 
if the mind of a sinner, even on a death-bed, be ' truly 
renewed and turned to God,' so great is his mercy that 
he will receive him, even in that extremity. He said 
thut ' he was sure his mind was entirely turned ; and 
though horror had given him his first awakening, yet that 
was now grown up into a settled faith and conversion? "* 
This narration naturally suggests several reflections \ 
but these I must leave to your own meditations; and 
proceed to answer a*few questions which arise out of 
the subject now before us. 

1. Is conversion absolutely necessary] 
If this question is to be decided by the uniform tenor of 
Scripture, it must be answered in the affirmative. Some 
persons, I am aware, will tell you, that, however neces- 
sary this great change may be among heathens, it is not 
universally requisite in a christian country. But this no- 
tion is founded upon a very inadequate view of the sub- 
ject. By nature all are Gentiles. We are " by nature 
the children of wrath, even as others." Eph. 2 : 3. Whe- 
ther men bow down to idols of wood and stone, or are 
immersed in the cares, or idolizing the amusements of 
this world, they may be equally distant from God, and 

* See Bishop Burnet's work entitled " Some passages in the Life and 
Death of John Earl of Rochester," a work which cannot be recommended 
in more appropriate terms than those of Dr. Johnson, who said " the critic 
ought to read it for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments aid tha 
saint for its piety." 



'J54 

equally need an entire change of heart to bring them to his 
spiritual presence, and restore them to his favor. " Those 
(says Bishop Tomline) who call themselves christians, 
but attend neither to the doctrines nor to the duties of 
the Gospel, seem to differ but little, with respect to the 
point now under consideration, from those to whom the* 
Gospel was first preached. ' The process in both must be 
nearly the same.' " Both classes are descended from the 
corrupt stock of Adam, both are influenced by improper 
motives, both are strangers to " Christ the hope of glory ;" 
both are "in the bond of iniquity," whether they are con- 
scious of it or not; and therefore "must be born again." 
The necessity for this change is doubtless as extensive as 
that great moral declension from which it is the object of 
the christian dispensation to restore mankind : so that 
since " all have sinned," are shapen in iniquity and con- 
ceived in sin, all must undergo a total change, or they 
" cannot see the kingdom of God.** Rom. 5 : 12 ; Psalm 
51:5; John, 3 : 3. Indeed nothing in religion can be more 
evident than that " if we be bound on earth, we shall be 
bound in heaven;" if we be absolved here, we shall be 
loosed there : for, in this sense, " where the tree falleth 
there it shall be." Eccl. 11 : 3. Hence the prophets who 
preceded our Lord, Jesus Christ himself, and the apostles 
who were commissioned to succeed him, all agreed in 
declaring that no unregenerate person shall enter the 
kingdom of God. The reason of this is obvious, both 
from the nature of God and from that of man. "No un- 
clean thing " can be admitted into the presence of God 
(who " cannot bear iniquity " but with abhorrence,) nor into 
the regions of universal holiness and purity. And on the 
other hand, if an unregenerate soul could be admitted, 
heaven would furnish no delight. Such a spirit would be 
incapable of relishing the happiness of a future world : 
for the knowledge there communicated, the enjoyments 
there experienced, are of a kind he never aspired after. 



ON CONVERSION. 355 

The holiness of heaven, the sight and service of God and 
of a glorified Redeemer, the society of angels and of saints 
made perfect, the " singing the song of Moses and the 
Lamb," would all be tasteless and insipid, if not disgust- 
ing, to one who had been a stranger to the employments 
and gratifications of religion while on earth. To believe 
otherwise would be to believe that a man could be regen- 
erate and unregenerate at the same time. " The happi- 
ness of heaven (said good old Richard Baxter) is holiness; 
and to talk of being happ^ without it, is as palpable non- 
sense, as to talk of being well without health, or of being 
ed without salvation." 

2. Is the exact era of this great renovation of character 
always assignable 1 

Certainly not : though in many cases it is. In the mo- 
mentous business of regeneration " there are diversities 
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all 
in all." 1 Cor. 12 : 6. Through the blessing of God upon 
early instruction, the seeds of grace have been sown in 
the hearts of many during infancy. God ordains strength 
" out of the mouths of babes and sucklings," Psalm 8 : 2, 
and enables them to give evidence at six or seven years 
of age that their hearts are principally fixed on " Christ 
and things divine." These, of course, cannot assign the 
period of their conversion. Others again, and perhaps 
the greater number of those who have had the benefit of 
a religious education, are led by the suasive influence of 
Divine grace through such insensible gradations that they 
are unable to specify any remarkable circumstances at- 
tending their conversion, or to point out the particular 
time when it occurred. But others, and especially those 
who have passed their lives heedless of religion, or those 
who have allowed themselves in the course and habit of 
some particular sin, in whom there must be not only a 
complete revolution of principle but a total change of 
ionducl , are commonly roused by some alarming or some 



356 Gregory's letters. 

afflictive dispensation of Providence, to " flee from the 
wrath to come," and eagerly inquire ' what they must do 
to be saved V 1 Acts, 16 : 30. To such persons, says Dr^ 
Paley, " conversion is too momentous an event ever to 
be forgot. A man might as easily forget his escape from 
shipwreck." And though, says good Bishop Taylor, " after 
the manner of this life our recollection is imperfect,.yet the 
greatest changes of our state of grace or sin are always 
present, like capital letterpto an aged and dim eye." " It 
may not be necessary (says Paley again) for a man to 
speak of his conversion, but he will always think of it with 
unbounded thankfulness to the Giver of all grace, the 
Author of all mercies, spiritual as well as temporal." 
3. Is this important change ever sudden 1 
Most, if not all of the instances of conversion recorded 
in the New Testament were sudden. This operation of 
God on the souls of men was then frequently instantane- 
ous, and they were transformed from unbelievers to be- 
lievers at once : the Spirit fell on them while they heard 
the word ; Acts, 10 : 44 ; and in consequence of this mi- 
raculous effusion, they who had just before professed Ju- 
daism or Polytheism, and neither knew nor loved Jesus 
.Christ, at once confessed his name, and felt the power 
of his religion. But many moderns contend that sudden 
conversions, such as those to which we now advert, were 
confined to the apostolic times : as if the- common opera- 
tions of the Spirit were not sufficient to produce any rapid 
change. Yet I conceive it requires but slight reflection 
to see that this their opinion comports neither with the 
declarations of Scripture, nor with»the usual phenomena 
of intellect or rules of action. Does not " God work in us 
both to will and to do " now as well as in the primitive 
times % Cannot the eyes of our understanding be as effec- 
tually and as speedily enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom 
now as then 1 Was the pi'omise of bestowing a new spirit, 
and taking away the stony heart, confined to the early 



ON CONVERSION. 357 

ages; or is "God's arm shortened, or weakened, that 
he cannot reach and at once turn our spirits now, as he 
has done with others before us 1 And, with regard to 
operations upon the mind, do men yield to them while 
the impressions are strong, or do they wait till they be- 
come weaker, and then give way 1 When a man is tho- 
roughly persuaded that the course in which he is perse- 
vering is imminently dangerous, does he not immediately 
quit it % When he is convinced that the road in which he 
travels is conducting him from the place he wishes to 
reach, and is being infested with robbers or beset with 
difficulties, does he not immediately come to a stand] And 
if a path be pointed out which is both direct and safe, 
will he not with cheerfulness and alacrity pursue his 
journey in that newly discovered path, and^press forward 
to regain the time lost in the wrong road ] Apply this 
reasoning to religion, and you will perceive that con 
version not only may be, but in many cases is necc.sa 
rily sudden. 

" Some men (says Tillotson) by an extraordinary power 
of God's grace upon their hearts, are suddenly changed, and 
wonderfully reclaimed from a very wicked and vicious, to 
a very religious and virtuous course of life; and that 
which others attain by slower degrees, and great conflicts 
with themselves, before they can gain the upper hand of 
their -lusts, these arrive at all of a sudden by a mighty re- 
volution wrought in them by the power of God's grace, 
and, as it were, by a new bias and inclination put upon 
their souls." Works, vol. 2. Baxter, in his Directions for 
Spiritual Peace, says, " When you are weighing things 
in a balance, you may add grain to grain, and it makes no 
turning or motion at all, till you come to the very last 
grain ; and then suddenly that end which was downward 
is turned upward. When you stand at a loss between two 
highways, not knowing which way to go, as long as you 
deliberate, vou stand still : all the reasons that come into 



358 Gregory's letters. 

your mind do not stir you : but the last reason which 
resolves you, setteth you in motion. So is it in the change 
of a sinner's heart and life. He is not changed (but pre- 
paring towards it) while he is but deliberating whether 
he should choose Christ or the world. But the last rea- 
son that comes in and determineth his will to Christ, and 
makes him resolve and enter a firm covenant with Christ, 
and say, I will have Christ for better or worse, this maketh 
the greatest change that ever is made by any work in this 
world. For how can there be greater than the turning 
of a soul from the creature to the Creator 1 so distant 
are the terms of this change. After this one turning act 
Christ hath that heart, and the main bent and endeavors 
of the life, which the world had before. The man hath a 
new end, a n^w rule, a new guide, a new master." 

The denial of the suddenness of the change seems to 
have arisen from the confounding of two very distinct 
things, regeneration and sanctification. The former of 
these is the commencement of spiritual life, the other is 
spiritual or religious growth: the former is a "passing 
from death unto life," the latter a " changing from glory 
to glory;" and both " by the Spirit of the living God." 
If this distinction were duly attended to, I think the ques- 
tion would be set at rest. 

4. May a person always know when ^he is" in a con- 
verted state % 

Probably not : but he may always with perfect ease 
ascertain the contrary. If he cherish worldly-mindedness 
or an unholy disposition, if he allow himself in the prac- 
tice of any known sin, if he habitually neglect public 
worship or private communion with God, if allusions to 
conversion by others either excite his ridicule or provoke 
his wrath, he need waste no more time to inquire whe- 
ther his religious state be safe, than to ask whether heavy 
bodies fall downwards when left to themselves, whether 
opium is soporific, or ardent spirits productive of intoxi- 



ON CONVERSION. 350 

cation. On the other hand, if, as Paley remarks, " he 
allow himself in no sin whatever, but, cost what it may, 
contends against and combats all sin :" if he sedulously 
cultivate a holy disposition, and "grow in grace," in the 
knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, and in the steady 
practice of all the relative duties, he may hope that his 
spiritual life is commenced. 

Still, as we live in times of much religious delusion and 
infatuation, let him not be satisfied, let him cherish no- 
thing' like assurance, unless he uniformly feel tenderness 
of conscience and a desire to increase his religious attain- 
ments. Let him then " examine himself whether he be in 
the faith." Let him seriously endeavor to ascertain whe- 
ther he has eternal life wrought in his heart ; whether he 
finds any satisfaction of soul in drawing near to God 
through a Mediator ; whether he has an increasing - sin- 
cere love to God ; whether he has a rooted aversion to 
all sin ; whether he has in any measure " overcome the 
world " as they who believe that Jesus is the Son of God . 
and have put their trust in him ; whether his desires to 
escape the miseries of hell, however strong, are weakei 
than his desires after holiness and heaven ; whether he is 
zealous- in God's service, aims at his glory, delights in 
his presence, and in doing his " will on earth as it is done 
in heaven ;" whether he can forgive enemies, can sincerely 
return blessing for cursing ; whether he is anxious not 
simply to stand, but to ■" run in the way of God's com- 
mandments." In religion there is no standing still : if we 
are actuated by true religious principles, they will con- 
tinually impel us forward, and cause us, with Paul, to 
" press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling 
of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3 : 14. 

Be it remembered, then, that true repentance and con- 
version reduce all holy resolutions to action, and either 
thus produce true practical religion, or transfer it from 
the head to tbe heart, there to reside permanently as an 



3G0 Gregory's letters. 

actuating principle. " He that resolves to live well when a 
danger is upon him, or a violent fear, or when the appe- 
tites of lust are newly satisfied or newly served, yet, 
when the temptation comes again, sins again, and then is 
sorrowful, and resolves once more against it, and yet falls 
when the temptation returns, is no true penitent, and is 
very far from salvation : for, if it be necessary that we 
resolve to live well, it is necessary we should do so. For 
resolution is an imperfect act, a term of relation, and 
signifies nothing but in order to action. It is as a faculty 
is to the act, as spring to the harvest, as a relative to its 
correspondent, nothing without it. No man, therefore, 
can be in a state of grace and actual favor by mere reso- 
lutions and holy purposes ; these are but the gate or portal 
towards pardon : a holy life is the only perfection of 
repentance, and the firm ground upon which we can cast 
the anchor of hope in the mercies of God, through Jesus 
Christ." Holy Living, ch. iii. 



LETTER XVII. 

On the influence of the Spirit. 

Among the several momentous doctrines that are deve- 
loped in the system of revelation, none seem to have ex- 
perienced a reception less consistent wdth the natural 
order of things, than that of the influence of the Spirit of 
God upon the mind and conduct of man. This doctrine 
is so compatible with the dictates of unassisted reason, 
that several of the heathen philosophers firmly believed 
it, and unambiguously asserted it. Yet, notwithstanding 
this, it is doubted by some philosophers residing in chris- 
tian countries : and although it is plainly declared in va- 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 3G1 

rious portions of Scripture, still the only persons, as far 
as I know, by whom it is positively and unhesitatingly 
denied and despised, are professing christians. 

This singular anomaly in the progress of opinion is 
often ascribed to the gradual expansion of the mental 
faculties, occasioned by the constant accumulation of the 
store of scientific, literary, and Biblical knowledge ; es- 
pecially since the era of the reformation, when a new 
impulse was given to every species of human inquiry. 
The reason thus assigned, however, though plausible, is 
not satisfactory. Old sciences have, it is true, been much 
improved and extended ; and new sciences have often 
grown with rapidity out of the old stock, so that truths 
which in one age have stood almost at the summit of 
knowledge, have in the next sunk into mere elements ; 
and propositions which in one age have been received 
as irrefragable, have in a succeeding age been exploded 
as untenable and fallacious. But nothing of this kind 
can be traced with regard to religious truth. The 
incessant and successful labors of Biblical critics have 
cleared away all the corruptions of existing copies, espe- 
cially of the New Testament ; and, by a careful collation 
of different manuscripts, have expunged errors and re- 
moved difficulties : but they have not added one proposi- 
tion to the repository of revealed knowledge as it was 
left by the apostles; nor have they taken one proposition 
away. The Bible gave the same view of human nature 
to the primitive christians in the early ages, and to the 
Reformers in the sixteenth century, as it exhibits to us : 
it pointed out the same method of salvation, and pro- 
mised the aids of " the same Spirit " to pious persons, in 
all times and in all places. .This, indeed, is essential to 
its perfection, and fits it for universality : while the un- 
ceasing modifications in human sciences, notwithstanding 
their gradual augmentation, at once prove their imper- 
fection, and suggest the strong probability that such 

Gregory 1 () 



362 Gregory's letters. 

imperfection will never be completely removed in the 
present state of existence. 

But, -without pursuing farther this train of reflection, 
permit me now to lay before you the opinions of philoso- 
phic heathen relative to the subject of Divine influences. 
That they thought the Deity the Inspirer of pure thoughts 
and holy conduct, as well as the Author of animal life, 
will . I conceive, be sufficiently obvious from the few quo- 
tations I shall here select. Xenophon represents Cyrus, 
with his dying breath, " as humbly ascribing it to a Di- 
vine influence on his mind, that he had been taught to 
acknowledge the care of Providence, and to bear his pros- 
perity with a becoming moderation." Plato describes 
Socrates as declaring that "wheresoever virtue comes, it 
is apparently the fruit of a Divine dispensation." And 
Plato, Xenophon, Antisthenes, and Plutarch testify, 
that Socrates publicly declared before his judges, that he 
was accompanied by an invisible conductor, or attendant 
spirit, whose frequent interposition stopped him in the 
commission of evil. Plato also himself observes that 
" virtue is not to be taught but by Divine assistance." 
And in the sixth book, De Republica, he affirms that " if 
any man escape the temptations of life, and behave him- 
self as becomes a worthy member of society, he has reason 
to own that it is God who saves him." Simplicius has a 
prayer " to God, as the Father and Guide of reason, so 
to co-operate with us, as to purge us from all carnal 
and brutish affections, that we may be enabled to act 
according to the dictates of reason, and to attain to the 
true knowledge of himself." Maximus Tyrius argues that 
if skill "in the professions and sciences is insinuated into 
men's minds by a Divine influence, we can much less 
imagine that a thing so much more excellent as virtue is, 
can be the work of any mortal art : for the notion must be 
very strange to think that God is liberal and free "in mat- 
ters of less moment, and sparing in the greatest." And 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 303 

n the same discourse he remarks that " even the best 
disposed minds, as they are seated in the midst between 
the highest virtue and extreme wickedness, need the as- 
sistance of God to incline and lead them to the better 
side." Tully, in a passage quoted in the third letter of 
this series, declares that " No man was ever truly great 
without some Divine influence." And Seneca, when he 
is speaking of a resemblance to the Deity in character, 
ascribes it to his influence upon the mind : " Are you 
surprised (says he) that man should approach to the 
gods ] It is God that comes to men ; nay, which is yet 
more, he enters into them : for no mind becomes virtuous 
but by his assistance* Numerous passages might easily 

* Xcn. Cyropicd. lib. viii. cap. 7. § i. Plat. Men. ad. fin. p. 428. Epi- 
nom. p. 1014. De Re-pub. lib. vi. Simplic. in Epictet. ad. fin. Max. 
Tyr. Dissert, xxii. See vol. i. p. 61. Senec. Epistol. Ixxiii. — Among 
modern nations destitute of the light of Christianity, the doctrine that wis- 
dom of various kinds is imparted by spiritual teaching is frequently avow- 
ed. Thus one of the answers of a Chicasaw to Wesley indicates clearly 
that the tradition of Divine influence had reached that people : " There 
are but few (says he) whom the Beloved One chooses from a child, and is 
in them, and takes care of them, and teaches them. They know these 
things [religious matters,] and our old men practice, therefore tlccy know ; 
but I do not practice, therefore I know but little." 

So again, the following translation of a letter " sent with a present from 
the chiefs of the five Indian Nations to Dr. Jenncr," furnishes pleasing 
evidence to the same effect. 

" Our Father has delivered unto us the book you sent us how to use the 
discovery which the Great Spirit made to you, whereby the small-pox, that 
fatal enemy of our tribes, may be driven from the earth. We have depo- 
sited your book in the hands of the man of skill, whom our Great Father 
employs to attend us when sick or "wounded. 

" We shall not fail to teach our children to speak the name of Jenncr, 
and to thank the Great Spirit for bestowing upon him so much wisdom 
and so much benevolence. 

1 We send with this a belt and string of Wampum, in token of our ac- 
ceptance of your precious gift; and we beseech the Great Spirit to take 
care of you in this world and in the lrnid of spirits. 

*■ Signed by the chiefs of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneidn, and 
Cayuga nations." 



364 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

be extracted from the christian apologists and other 
writers in the first four centuries, to elucidate and con- 
firm the same great truths.* But, as I wish to reduce this 
branch of our inquiry into as narrow a compass as possi- 
ble, you will prefer my laying before you the sentiments 
of the venerable English Reformers, as they are repre- 
sented in the Homilies : that their notions on this point 
were sufficiently clear and decisive, will appear from a 
quotation or two. 

" The charity wherewith we love our brethren (say 
they) is verily God's work in us. If after our fall we 
repent, it is by Him that we repent, who reached forth 
his merciful hand to raise us up. If we have any will to 
rise, it is he that inclineth our will and disposeth us 
thereto. If after contrition we feel our consciences at 
peace with God through remission of our sins, and so be 
. reconciled again to his favor, and hope to be his chil- 
dren and inheritors of everlasting life ; who worketh 
these great miracles in us ] Our worthiness, our de- 
servings, our wits, our virtue 1 Nay, verily St. Paul 
will not suffer flesh and clay to presume to such arro- 
gancy, and therefore saith, All is of God." 

" Without his lively and secret inspiration can we not 
once so much as speak the name of our Mediator, as St. 
Paul plainly testifieth : no man can once name our Lord 
Jesus Christ, but in the Holy Ghost. Much less should 
we be able to believe and know those great mysteries 
that be opened to us by Christ." 

" Very liberal and gentle is the Spirit of Wisdom. In 
his power shall we have sufficient ability to know our 
iluty to God, in him shall we be comforted and encou- 

* For a brief but judicious summary of the sentiments of tbose indivi 
duals in every age from the Fathers down to the Reformation, who were 
either famous for piety, or instruments of the several minuter changes 
which led to the Reformation itself, seethe Edinburgh Christian InRtruc 
tor, vol. v. w- 325-328. 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 365 

raged to walk in our duty, in him shall we be meet ves- 
sels to receive the grace of Almighty God : for it is he 
that purgeth and purifieth the mind by his secret work- 
ing. He lighteneth the heart to conceive worthy thoughts 
of Almighty God, he moveth the tongue of man to stir 
him to speak his honor : no language is hid from hirn, 
for he hath the knowledge of all speech, he only minis- 
tereth spiritual strength to the powers of our soul and 
body. To hold the way which God hath prepared for us 
to walk rightly in our journey, we must acknowledge 
that it is the power of his Spirit which helpeth our infir- 
mity. That we may boldly come in prayer, and call up- 
on Almighty God as our Father, it is by this Holy Spirit 
which maketh intercession for us with continual sighs. 
If any gift we have wherewith we may work to the glory 
of God and profit of our neighbor, all is wrought by his 
own and self-same Spirit, which maketh his distributions 
peculiarly to every man as he will." Horn, for Rog. 
Week, part 3. 

Consistently with this is the language of a very great 
majority of religious writers from the Reformation down 
to the present time. Even Bishop Tomline, though his 
language on several religious topics indicates a strange 
aversion to the views current among the majority of pious 
men, yields his testimony in favor of the doctrine now in 
contemplation. In explaining the words of the liturgy, 
" O God, because through the weakness of our mortal 
nature we can do no good thing, without thou grant us 
the help of thy grace," &c. he says, " 1 have only to ob- 
serve that the ' good thing ' here mentioned must mean 
good in the sight of God : such an action our weak and 
unas'sisted nature will unquestionably not allow us to per- 
form." To the same purpose he observes in another 
place, " The human mind is so weakened and vitiated 
by the sin of our first parents, that we cannot by our own 
natural strength prepare it, or put it into a proper state 



368 Gregory's letters. 

for the reception of a saving faith, or for the performance 
of the spiritual worship required in the Gospel : this 
mental purification cannot be effected without Divine 
assistance." Once more : " The grace of God prevents 
us christians, that is, it goes before, it gives the first 
spring and rise to our endeavors, that we may have 
good will : and when this good will is thus excited, the 
grace of God does not desert us, but it works with us 
when we have that good will." And again : " It is ac- 
knowledged that man has not the disposition, and con- 
sequently not the ability, to do what in the sight of God 
is good, till he is influenced by the Spirit of God." Ref. 
ofCal. 

Christians then ascribe, or ought to ascribe every in- 
tellectual, moral, and spiritual attainment to God. And 
when we speak of the ordinary influences of the Spirit of 
God, we mean to impute to the operation of that Spirit 
our sanctification, all the actions of our christian course, 
our constancy and perseverance, — all particular graces 
and virtues which we seek at his hands, — our adoption, — 
our access to God and assistance in prayer, — our "joy 
and peace in believing," — our support in trials and af- 
flictions, and deliverance from temptations, — our continu- 
al progress in holiness : and we affirm that these gifts are 
not offered to here and there a favored individual, but to 
all sincere christians in every age of the church ; for, 
when speaking of the promise of the Spirit, the declara- 
tion of Peter was as universal as language cou d make it 
— -" the promise is unto you and your children; and to all 
that are afar off (either in point of space or of time,) even 
as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts, 2 : 39. 
That this opinion is compatible with the uniform tenor 
of Scripture will be made evident by a few quotations set 
down promiscuously, as they occur to my mind. 

"No man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus 
accursed ; and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 361 

vy the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts but 
•he same Spirit." " We have received not the spirit of 
the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might 
know the things that are freely given to us of God.' 
" Such were some of you : but ye are washed, ye are 
sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesup, 
and by the Spirit of our God." " Ye are not in the flesh, 
hut in the Spirit; if so be that the Spirit of God dwell 
in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ 
he is none of his." " If, through the Spirit, ye mortify the 
deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led 
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." " The 
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know not what 
we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself 
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot 
be uttered." " The God of hope fill you with all joy and 
peace in believing ; that ye may abound in hope, through 
the power of the Holy Spirit." " That the offering up 
of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by 
the Spirit." " He who hath begun a good work in you, 
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." " They 
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." 
" My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength is made 
perfect in weakness." " Not by works of righteousness 
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved 
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly, through 
Jesus Christ our Savior." " That good thing, which was 
committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Spirit which 
dwelleth in us." " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, 
there is liberty." " The love of God is shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." 
" That ye may be strengthened with might by his Spirit 
in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by 
laiih ; that being rooted and grounded in love, ye may 
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." 



368 Gregory's letters. 

" For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suf 
fering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tempe- 
rance." " Except a man be born of water, and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." " He 
that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth 
much fruit ; for without me ye can do nothing." " Never- 
theless, it is expedient for you that I go away : for, if I 
go not away, tlie (Comforter, Advocate, Monitor, or In 
structor, UctpuxxnToc,) will not come unto you ; but if I de> 
part I will send him unto you. And when he is come he 
will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment. When he, the Spirit of truth, is come he will 
guide you into all truth." " We are witnesses of these 
things, and so is also the Holy Spirit whom God hath 
given to them that obey him." " Ye have received the 
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The 
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are 
the children of God." " In whom also, after that ye be- 
lieved, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, 
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemp- 
tion of the purchased possession." " Through him we 
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." " I can 
do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God; and that 
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you % If any man defile the 
temple of God, him will God destroy : for the temple of 
God is holy, which temple ye are." " Know ye not that 
your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in 
you, which ye have from God?" Therefore, "offend 
(or grieve) net the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are 
sealed unto the day of redemption." But, " work out your 
own salvation with fear and trembling : for it is God that 
worketh in you, both to will and to do," i. e. influences 
your desires and endeavors, "of his good pleasure."* 

* 1 Cor. 12 : 3, 4 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 12 ; 1 Cor. 6 ; 11 ; Rom. 8 : 9, 14, 26 ; 
Dodd. in loc: Rom. 15:13, 16 ; Phil. 1:6; Is. 40 : 31 ; 2 Cor. 12 : 9 ; 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 3G9 

Such is the language of Scripture ; from which it is 
manifest that it is not a mark of ignorant enthusiasm, but 
of pious reliance upon the Divine promise, to expect the 
assistance of the Spirit of God. when it is humbly sought 
in the way of his appointment. The mode in which these 
influences are communicated, may be indefinitely diversi- 
fied, but the effect will uniformly be the improvement of 
the religious character, a more complete emancipation 
from the domination of the passions, from the slavery of 
sin; or, to express the continued effect in Scripture 
phraseology, it will be "growth in grace." In accom- 
plishing this, the whole circle of means and instruments, 
animate and inanimate, by which we are circumscribed, 
is within the reach of God and at his command. Some- 
times he has recourse to alarming dispensations of his 
Providence, which awaken a sense of the fluctuating na- 
ture of all terrestrial sources of enjoyment, teach us our 
dependence upon him, and lead us to repose our entire 
confidence on him alone. At other times he employs the 
conversations, the arguments, perhaps the faithful remon- 
strances of christian friends to stimulate us in the path 
of duty, and point us to " the fountain of living waters." 
At others, and this most frequently, he makes use of " the 
word of truth " either read or preached : this he has as- 
sured us he will render " quick and powerful, sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
asunder of soul and spirit, and to be a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart;" Heb. 4:12; and 
thus, by putting life into it, cause it by a Divine energy to 
communicate spiritual life to our souls. Sometimes he 
operates upon us by the recollection of past occurrences, 
and while we are thus musing, the fire of divine love 

Tit. 3:5; 2 Tim. 1:14; 2 Cor. 3 : 17 ; Rom. 5:5; Eph. 3 : 16, 18, 19 
Gal. 5 : 22, 23 ; John, 3:5; 15 : 5 ; 16 : 7, 8, 13 ; Acts, 5 : 32 ; Rom. 8 
15, 16 ; Eph. 1 : 13, 14; 2 : 18 ; Phil. 4 : 13; 1 Cor. 3 : 16; 6: 19 
Eph. 4:30; Phil. 2 : 12, 13. 

1G* 



370 Gregory's letters. 

burns within us. On such occasions he can awaken a 
dormant idea which lay neglected in the memory, can 
secretly attract the attention of the mind to it, can enable, 
nay compel, us to trace its various relations, can throw a 
lustre upon things which were obscure, place those 
which seemed remote immediately before our mental 
eye, suspend the operation of secular objects, dispel the 
clouds of prejudice, impart an unusual power to what 
was before considered as trifling or unworthy present re - 
gard, convince us fully and practically of the vanity of all 
enjoyments except those which are consecrated by re- 
ligion, and thus effectually lead us to " fix our affections 
on things above." In these and numerous -other ways 
there may be a positive operation of the Spirit of God 
upon men's minds, though they may be utterly uncon- 
scious of it. His energy is not the less real because it 
is silent, secret, and unperceived : for here, as well as in 
the management of the natural world, 

" Alone He works in all, yet He alone 
' Seems not to work." Thomson. 

To ridicule, disbelieve, and deny all this, has some- 
times been reckoned an indication of a powerful and phi- 
losophic mind : yet it requires but a cursory examina- 
tion to perceive that this is a spurious criterion of true 
elevation either of sentiment or character, and to affirm, 
on the contrary, that, with only our present knowledge 
of human intellect and of Divine power, the denial of 
spiritual influences is as unphilosophical as it is impious. 

No person can look into the world with the eyes of a 
philos6pher, and not soon ascertain thc.t the grand theatre 
of phenomena which lies before him is naturally subdivi- 
ded into two great classes of scenery, the one exhibiting 
constrained, the other voluntary motion ; the former 
characteristic of matter, the latter as clearly indicating 
something perfectly distinct from matter, and possessing 
totally different qualities. 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 



371 



•' Pulverize matter, (says Saurin) give it all the different 
forms of which it is susceptible, elevate it to its highest 
degree of attainment, make it vast and immense, mode- 
rate or small, luminous or obscure, opaque or transparent, 
there will never result any thing but figures ; and never 
will you be able by all these combinations or divisions to 
produce one single sentiment, one single thought." The 
reason is obvious : a substance compounded of innumera- 
ble parts, as every one acknowledges matter to be, can- 
not be the subject of an individual consciousness, the 
seat of which must be a simple and undivided substance ; 
as the great Dr. Clarke has long ago irrefragably shown. 

Intellect and volition are of a quite different nature 
from corporeal figure or motion, and must reside in, or 
emanate from, a different kind of being, a kind which, to 
distinguish it from matter, is called spirit or mind. Of 
these, the one is necessarily inert, the other essentially 
active. The one is characterized by want of animation, 
life, and even motion, except as it is urged by something 
ab extra : the other is living, energetic, self-moving, and 
possessed of power to move other things. We often fancy, 
it is true, that matter moves matter; but this, strictly 
speaking, is not correct. When one wheel or lever in a 
system of machinery communicates motion to another, 
it can at most only communicate what it has received, and 
if you trace the connexion of the mechanism, you will at 
length arrive at a first mover, which first mover is, in fact, 
spiritual. If, for example, it be an animal, it is evidently 
the spiritual part of that animal from whence the motion 
originally springs. If, otherwise, it be the descent of a 
weight, or the fall of water, or the force of a current of 
air, or the expansive force of steam, the action must ulti- 
mately be referred to what are termed powers of nature, 
that is, to gravitation or elasticity; and these, it is now 
well known, cannot be explained by any allusion to ma- 
terial principles, but to the indesinent operation of the 



372 Gregory's letters. 

Great Spirit, in whom we live, and move, and have out 
being, — the Finger of God, touching and urging the vari- 
ous subordinate springs, which in 'their turn move the 
several parts of the* universe. Thus God acts in all pla- 
ces, in all times, and upon all persons. The whole mate- 
rial world, were it not for his Spirit, would be inanimate 
and inactive :* all motion is derived either from his energy, 
or from that of spirits which he animates ; and it is next 
to certain that the only primary action is that of spirit, and 
♦he most direct and immediate, that of spirit upon spirit. 

All consistent theists allow that God is every where 
present by his essence, and, as Bishop Taylor has most 
exquisitely expressed it, "God is everywhere present by 
his power. He rolls the orbs of heaven with his hand, he 
fixes the earth in it's place with his foot, he guides all the 
creatures with his eye, and refreshes them with his influ- 
ence : he makes the powers of hell shake with his terrors, 
and binds the devils with his word, and throws them out 
with his command, and sends the angels on embassies with 
his decrees ; he hardens the joints of infants, and confirms 
the bones when they are secretly fashioned. He it is that 
assists at the numerous productions of fishes ; and there 
is not a cavity at the bottom of the sea but he shows him- 
self to be Lord of it, by sustaining there the creatures that 
come to dwell in it ; and in the wilderness the bittern and 
the stork, the dragon and the satyr, the unicorn and the 
elk, live upon his provisions, and revere his power, and 
feel the force of his Almightiness." 

If, then, the moral well-being of the universe be of 
greater importance than its mere existence; and that it 

* See Baxter on the Soul, § 2, in which that acute metaphysician proves 
the necessity of an immaterial mover in all spontaneous motions : and Pro- 
fessor Vince's Essay on the Cause of Gravitation, in which he assigns 
many cogent reasons for believing that the Deity " in his government doe» 
not act by material instruments, but that the whole is conducted by hit 
more immediate agency, without the intei-vention of material causr*. 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 373 

is so is evident from the fact, that the continuance of tne 
earth is solely rendered subservient to " the gathering in 
of the saints," after which " the heavens will pass away 
with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fer- 
vent heat ;" 2 Pet. 3:10; if it be irreconcileable with the 
idea of a wise governor to imagine that he will incessant- 
ly attend to minor matters, and as habitually disregard 
concerns of greater moment, then may we adopt the suc- 
ceeding language of the same admirable writer, and say, 
that " God is especially present in the hearts of his peo- 
ple by his Holy Spirit : and indeed the hearts of holy men 
arc temples in the truth of' things, and in type and shadow 
they are heaven itself. For God reigns in the hearts of his 
servants : there is his kingdom. The energy of grace hath 
subdued all his enemies : there is his power. They serve 
him night and day, and give him thanks and praise : that is 
his glory. This is the religion and worship of God in the 
temple. The temple itself is the heart of man ; Christ is 
the High Priest, who from thence sends up the incense of 
prayers, and joins them to his own intercession, and pre- 
sents all together to his Father \ and the Holy Ghost, by 
his dwelling there, hath also consecrated it into a temple ; 
and God dwells in our hearts by faith, and Christ by his 
Spirit, and the Spirit by his sanctifying influence : so that 
we are also cabinets of the mysterious Trinity : and what 
is this short of heaven itself, but as infancy is short of man- 
hood, and letters of words t" Holy Living, ch. i. 

Many, I am aware, ascribe all notions of communion 
with God, and the operations of the Spirit, to " some 
strange ferment of the* animal spirits." But this is to give 
mere words in current payment, and leave the phenome- 
non unexplained. For, if you inquire, what are the ani- 
mal spirits 1 how do they ferment 1 how does this tempo- 
rary fermentation produce a permanent change of cha- 
racter, enduring through life, with no other modification 
than the constant approximations to still greater perfec- 



374 Gregory's letters. 

tion ? you immediately reduce the assertors to silence 
and leave them to enjoy the consolation of seeing their 
much vaunted proposition shrinking into its pristine vacu- 
ity and inanity. And where indeed is the necessity of re 
curring to any other theory to explain this momentous class 
of facts, than that which the Scriptures present ] Why 
should the Deity, whose moral excellencies if possible 
outshine his majesty and his power, be excluded from 
interference in the moral department of his creation 1 

Where is the philosophy of imagining (when it is 
acknowledged that God created us, sustains us by his 
power, cherishes us by his providential care, and sheds 
upon us temporal blessings) that he will never pour his 
influences into the soul, the only avenue through which 
religion can enter, or from which it can proceed 1 We 
are taught by the great Author of christian knowledge 
that " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must 
worship him in spirit and in truth." He therefore 
" searches the heart ;" and the only religion he approves 
is a spiritual religion, manifested, it is true, by external 
deportment, by uprightness of conduct and purity of life, 
but still having its seat in the soul — and yet are we to be 
told that he has it not in his power, or that it comports 
not with his purposes, to reach the spiritual part of man? 
The writers of the New Testament exhort us to fer- 
vency and frequency in prayer; but our modern promul- 
gators of Christianity improved (for such they esteem it 
by their innovations,) remove the very basis of prayer : 
for what is prayer but aspiration of soul, " spiritual 
breathing V what can a religious creature, as such, pray 
for, but to be rendered better 1 and how can he possibly 
be rendered better but by experiencing Divine energy, 
by having strength and goodness imparted to him from 
the Fountain of strength and excellence, that is, by being 
made a recipient of the influences of the Spirit 'I 

Farther, I believe it will be found that the deniers of 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 375 

this consolatory and cheering doctrine, by so doing, ex- 
clude the greater while they admit the less ; and that, 
whether they believe in spiritual existences, or are com-* 
pletely materialists in theory. Whether the mind be 
purely spiritual (that is, in this sense, immaterial,) or 
some ethereal conformation of refined matter, it is an in- 
controvertible fact that mind can act upon mind, either 
mediately or immediately. For example : A correspon- 
dent at a distance communicates his sentiments to me by 
written symbols : on the perusal of these my mind is as 
completely and more powerfully operated upon than the 
wheels of a watch by its main-spring, or of a clock by its 
pendulum and descending weight : joy or sorrow, pain 
or pleasure, malevolent or benevolent sympathies, shall 
thence be excited : and this is the entire operation of 
human intellect, upon human intellect, through the me- 
dium of the various instruments we have in our power. 
Similar effects result from the perusal of poetry, or from 
witnessing dramatic representations. I repeat that they 
are the genuine influence of mind upon mind : and you will 
at once perceive the truth of the assertion, if you simply 
recollect that by excluding the thinking, inventive, senti- 
ent, percipient part (whatever it be) from writers, read- 
ers, performers, and spectators, you in consequence an- 
nihilate the whole of this interesting class of phenomena 
This, then, being the case, there remains no other al- 
ternative than either to admit that the mind of God can 
act upon the mind of man, or to concede to the human 
intellect greater power than belongs to the Most Pow- 
erful ; a conclusion from which it must be a singularly 
strong mind indeed that does not recoil with horror and 
dismay. 

Having thus shown that the doctrine of Divine influ- 
ence is revealed in Scripture, and is consistent with the 
purest philosophy, it remains that 1 fortify it against one 
or two prevailing abuses. And first, it is by some af- 



376 Gregory's letters. 

firmed that the gift of the Spirit is arbitrary, that is, 
entirely independent of human conduct or human qualifi- 
cations ; but, that this is invariably the case, is not, I 
apprehend, a fair inference from the New Testament, 
contemplated in the aggregate, however it may have 
been deduced from some insulated passages. There is, I 
conceive, (though on this delicate subject I would speak 
with diffidence, and with the deepest conviction of the 
unnipotent energy with which the Spirit often prepares 
its own way,) an established connexion between the con- 
dition of those who are, or will be, believers, and the 
communication of spiritual life and growth ; and that 
connexion may be doubtless founded upon sufficient rea- 
sons in the nature of things, though they may not have 
the least dependance upon antecedent merit, and are, 
and must be unknown to us in our present state. God 
sees us as we are, and imparts to us according to our 
necessities, and his own wise and beneficent (not capri- 
cious) intentions, efficacious grace being given to some, 
while sufficient grace is afforded to all. Divine assistance 
thus bestowed does not take away our liberty, but frees 
us from "bondage," and, as David expresses it, " cnlarg- 
eth our hearts to run the way of God's commandments." 
And though it is conferred gratuitously, and not because 
we deserved it, yet we must not assert that it is usually in 
its origin imparted arbitrarily; for it is communicated in 
answer to prayer, and we are exhorted to pray for it. 
" If ye (says our Lord,) being evil, know how to give 
good gifts unto your children ; how much more will your 
Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
him/" And conformably with this the first great effusion 
of the Spirit was given in answer to prayer, when the 
disciples were for that purpose " with one accord in 
one place;" and, on another occasion, "when they had 
prayed, the place was shaken where they were assem- 
bled together : and they were all filled with the Holy 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 077 

Spirit, and spake the word of God with boldness." Luke, 
2 : 13; Acts, 2:1; 4:31. 

Nor, again, is the operation of the Spirit arbitrary in 
degree. Its rule and measure is, " Whosoever hath, to 
him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance : 
but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that 
he hath." Matt. 13 : 12. Hence result the exhortations 
of the apostles to the Gentiles, which would otherwise 
be remarkable enough : " Be strong in the grace that is 
by Christ Jesus." " Be strong in the Lord and in the 
power of his might." "Be filled with the Spirit, speak- 
ing to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual 
songs." 2 Tim. 2:1; Eph. 6:10; 5:18, 19. 

Xor, on the other hand, is the withholding or the with- 
drawing of the influence of the Spirit merely an arbitrary 
act. It is the just punishment of men's wickedness, per- 
verseness, and folly in trifling with the means of grace, 
" doing despite unto the Spirit," and thus grieving that 
Spirit till it is compelled to withdraw. Heb. 10 : 29; 
Eph. 4 : 30. Hence, by the way, results the necessity of 
a constant self-denial : because it is evident that so far 
as we indulge any vanity of mind or corruption of heart, 
so far we resist the operation of the Spirit, and render 
ourselves indisposed to relish and improve its inspiration : 
we should, therefore, sedulously avoid all those tempers 
and employments, all those enjoyments and indulgences 
which may cause us to be " less able and less disposed 
to improve those degrees of Divine grace that are com- 
municated to us." 

Lastly, I may remark, that the doctrine under consi- 
deration is most fearfully abused by every one who says, 
" I can do nothing without Divine assistance, therefore I 
;vill sit still and use no efforts for my recovery till God 
irresistibly impel me to it." Here, as in numerous other 
instances, the state of torpid inactivity persevered in is 
completely different from that which is recommended and 



378 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

adopted in all analogous circumstances where religion la 
not concerned. For, although, as it is forcibly expressed 
in the liturgy, " we have no power of ourselves to help 
ourselves," yet it does not follow that we can do nothing: 
we can put ourselves in the way to obtain the aidoffered ' 
to us. The dependance of the creature on God is not 
confined to religious matters, but runs through all our 
concerns. We can no more stretch out our hands, or 
walk, than we can raise our hearts to God, without his 
aid ; yet stretching out the hands, or walking, is perfectly 
voluntary. Our gardens and our fields will be totally 
unproductive, unless God further our endeavors by his 
agency and his blessing : yet who but a madman or an 
idiot would think this a sufficient excuse for neglecting the 
culture of his garden or the business of ploughing and 
sowing in his fields % Spiritual influences neither destroy 
our moral liberty nor remove our moral responsibility ; 
but bring with them a corresponding class of duties. We 
are not to be careless in our conduct, because we are as- 
sured of the suggestions, reproofs, and expostulations of 
our faithfu} friends ; nor are we to be supine in our reli- 
gious concerns, because we know not how soon or how 
long it may be before the suggestions and monitions of 
the Holy Spirit are prevailingly influential. The apos- 
tle Paul does not refer to the promised aids of the 
Spirit as an argument for sloth, but for exertion; his 
language (already quoted in this letter) is, " Work out 
your own salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is God 
that worketh in you to will and to do," that is, of his 
goodness influences your desires and endeavors. 

As this topic, and especially exhortation to obey the 
solicitations of the Spirit, falls peculiarly within the 
province of ministers of the Gospel, allow me to termi- 
nate this letter by a quotation from an excellent modern 
author, whose eloquence and piety on this as on all oc- 
casions mutually adorn and exalt each other. 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 379 

" Though a general attention to the duties of piety and 
virtue, and a careful avoidance of the sins opposed to 
these, are certainly in ;luded in a becoming deportment 
to the Holy Spirit, perhaps it is not all that is included. 
The children of God are characterized in Scripture by 
their being ' led by the Spirit :' led, evidently not im- 
pelled, not driven forward in a headlong course, without 
choice or design ; but, being, by the constitution of their 
nature, rational and intelligent, and, by the influence of 
grace, rendered spiritual, they are disposed to obey at a 
touch, and to comply with the gentle insinuations of Di- 
vine grace ; they are ready to take that precise impres- 
sion which corresponds with the mind and purpose of 
the Spirit. You are aware of what consequence it is in 
worldly concerns, to embrace opportunities and to im- 
prove critical seasons; and thus, in the things of the 
Spirit, there are times peculiarly favorable, moments of 
happy visitation, where much more may be done towards 
the advancement .of our spiritual interest than usual. 
There are gales of the Spirit, unexpected influences of 
light and of power, ' which no assiduity in the means of 
grace can command, but which it is a great mark of 
wisdom to improve. If the husbandman is attentive to 
the vicissitudes of weather and the face of the sky, that 
he may be prepared to take the full benefit of every 
gleam of sunshine and every falling shower, how much 
more alert and attentive should we be in watching for 
those influences from above, which are necessary to ri- 
pen and mature a far more precious crop ! 

" Permit me to suggest two or three heads of inquiry. 
You have sometimes felt a peculiar seriousness of mind, 
the delusive glare of worldly objects has faded away, or 
become dim before your eyes, and death and eternity, 
appearing at the door, have filled the whole field of vi- 
sion. Have you improved such seasons for fixing those 
maxims and establishing those practical conclusions 



380 Gregory's letters. 

which may produce an habitual sobriety of mind when 
things appear under a different aspect 1 You have some- 
times found, instead of a reluctance to pray, a power- 
ful impulse to that exercise, so that you felt as if you 
could do nothing else. Have you always complied with 
these motions, and suffered, nothing but the claims ol 
absolute necessity to divert you from pouring out your 
hearts at the throne of grace 1 The Spirit is said to make 
intercession for saints, with groanings which cannot be 
uttered ; when you have felt those ineffable longings aftei 
God, have you indulged them to the utmost ] Have you 
spread, every sail, launched forth into the deep of the 
Divine perfections and promises, and possessed your- 
selves as much as possible of the fulness of God 1 There 
are moments when the conscience of a good man is more 
tender, has a nicer and more discriminating touch than 
usual ; the evil of sin in general, and of his own in parti- 
cular, appears in a more pure and piercing light. Have 
you availed yourselves of such seasons as these for 
searching into ' the chambers of imagery,' and while you 
detected greater and greater abominations, been at pains 
to bring them out and slay them before the Lord ] Have 
such visitations effected something towards the mortifica- 
tion of sin 1 Or have they been suffered to expire in 
mere ineffectual resolutions 1 The fruits which godly 
sorrow produced in the Corinthians, are thus beautifully 
portrayed : ' What carefulness it wrought in you ; yea, 
what clearing of yourselves ; yea, what indignation ; yea, 
what fear ; yea, what vehement desire ; yea, what re- 
venge !' There are moments in the experience of a 
good, man, when he feels a more than ordinary soft- 
ness of mind ; the frost of selfishness dissolves, and his 
heart flows forth in love to God and his fellow-creatures. 
How careful should we be to cherish such a frame, and 
to embrace the opportunity of" subduing resentments, 
and of healing- those scars and wounds which it is 



INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT. 38l 

scarcely possible to avoid in passing through this un 
quiet world ! 

" Remember, we as christians profess a peculiar re 
lation to God as his children, his witnesses, his people, 
his temple ; the character of that glorious Being and of 
his religion will be contemplated by the world, chiefly 
through the medium of our spirit and conduct, which 
ought to display, as in a mirror, the virtues of Him who 
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light 
It is strictly appropriate to the subject of our present 
meditations, to remind you that you are ' temples.' ' For 
ye,' says the apostle, ' are the temple of the living God, 
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, 
and T will be their God, and they shall be my people.' 
What purity, sanctity and dignity may be expected in 
persons who bear such a character ! A christian should 
look upon himself as something sacred and devoted, so 
that what involves but an ordinary degree of criminality 
in others, in him partakes of the nature of sacrilege ; 
what is a breach of trust in others, is in him the profa- 
nation of a temple. Let us watch and pray that nothing 
may be allowed a place in our hearts that is not suitable 
to the residence of the holy and blessed God. Finally, 
having such great and precious promises, dearly beloved, 
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness cf flesh and 
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." Let- 
ter on the Work of the Spirit, by Rev Robert Hall. 



382 GREG0R1 S LETTERS. 



LETTER XVIII. 



On Justification by Faith. 

Here again, my dear friend, we enter upon controvert' 
ed ground : and on such ground, indeed, we must con- 
tinue nearly till we terminate our correspondence. The 
difficulty, however, does not arise from any obscurity in 
the subjects themselves, or from the vagueness of the 
terms in which they are revealed ; but rather from the 
natural aversion of the unenlightened human mind to re- 
ceive religious truth in the way God has been pleased to 
communicate it, and from that peculiarity of the chris- 
tian system which requires that " the lofty looks of man 
shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men bowed 
down," in order that " the Lord alone may be exalted." 
Isa. 2 : 11. 

It is the humiliating fact, that " all have sinned and 
come short of the glory of God," that renders the chris- 
tian religion necessary. Or, in other words, it is because 
" by the works of the law no flesh living can be justified," 
that the new dispensation was requisite. If obedience 
be at all times our duty, in what way can present repent- 
ance release us, as some would argue, from the punish- 
ment of former transgressions 1 Can repentance annihi- 
late what is past 1 Or can we do more, by present obe- 
dience, than acquit ourselves of present obligation 1 Or 
does the contrition we experience, added to the positive 
duties we discharge, constitute a surplusage of merit, 
which may be transferred to the reduction of our former 
demerit ] " We may as well affirm," says a learned di- 
vine, " that our former obedience atones for our present 
sins, as that our present obedience makes amends for an- 
tecedent transgressions." No man can discharge an old 
debt merelv by taking care to incur no fresh ones : and, 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 383 

in like manner, since sin is a debt to Divine justice (which 
demands undeviating rectitude and holiness,) when once 
incurred it would not be cancelled merely by abstaining 
from sin in future, even supposing it were possible 
( .vhich I am not inclined to admit) that sin could be en- 
tirely avoided without the aid of that restraining and in- 
vigorating principle which is implanted in the heart of a 
sincere believer on his conversion.* 

The question, then, to which not merely every philo- 
sophical inquirer, but every man who is interested about 
his eternal welfare, must be solicitous to receive a satis- 
factory answer, is, " How shall God be just, and yet the 
justifier of the ungodly I" To this question the New 
Testament happily furnishes a most explicit reply- "For 
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ 
died for the ungodly '." Rom. 5 : 6. And how were the 
ungodly to avail themselves of the benefit resulting from 
the death of Christ 1 The scriptural reply is, "by faith." 
" By him (Jesus) all who believe are justified from all 
things, from which they could not be justified by the law 
of Moses." " Being justifiedfrecly by his grace through 
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." " Man is justi- 
fied by faith, without the deeds of the law." " He saved 
us not by works of righteousness, but according to his 
mercy." "By grace are ye saved through faith, and 
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, 
lest any man should boast." "Wherefore, being justified 
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord 

* As the due consideration of that branch of the argument which fixes 
the guilt of sin upon every individual, however he may have escaped all the 
grosser vices, would draw me too far from my present purpose, I beg- to 
refer to ch. 5 of that valuable work, Dr. Doddridge's " Rise and Progress 
of Religion," and to section 7 of the excellent Hooker's Discourse on Justi- 
fication : and, for a striking proof of the practical necessity of the entire 
doctrine of the Trinity, to the first part of Bishop Beveridge's " Private 
Thoughts. '• 



384 Gregory's letters. 

Jesus Christ." Acts, 13 : 39 ; Rom. 3 : 24, 28; Tit. 3 i 5; 
Eph. 2 : 8, 9 ; Gal. 2:16; Rom. 5 : 1. 

Such being the main tenor of the declarations in the 
New Testament, it is no wonder that the doctrine of 
justification by faith should in all ages have obtained a 
very general reception, or that infidels and others should 
in all ages have disputed it. " You tell sinners (says Cel- 
sus) not to examine, but to believe ; and their faith will 
save them :" which is just the language that it might 
be expected an uncandid opponent would adopt. Our 
reformers, whose views of most doctrinal points were 
remarkably clear and comprehensive, furnish us with 
abundant evidence, not of their opinions alone, but of 
those of much earlier writers, as to the subject before us. 

" After this wise (say they) to be justified only by this 
true and lively faith in Christ, speak all the old and an- 
cient authors, both Greeks and Latins; of whom we will 
specially rehearse three, Hilary, Basil, and Ambrose. 
Hilary saith these words plainly in the ninth canon upon 
Matthew : ' Fakh only justifieth.' And Basil, a Greek 
author, writeth thus : ' This is a perfect and whole re- 
joicing in God, when a man advanceth not himself for his 
own righteousness, but acknowledgeth himself to lack 
true justice and righteousness, and to be justified by 
the only faith in Christ.' 

" These are the very words of Basil ; and Ambrose, a 
Latin author, hath these words : ' This is the ordinance 
of God, that they which believe in Christ shall be saved 
without works, by faith only, freely receiving the remis- 
sion of their sins. Consider diligently these words, 'with- 
out works, by faith only, freely we receive the remission 
of our sins.' What can be spoken more plainly than tc 
say, that freely without works, by faith only, we obtain 
remission of our sins 1 These, and other like sentences, 
that we be justified by faith, only, freely, and without 
works, we read oft-times in the best and most ancient 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 385 

writers : as, besides Hilary, Basil, and Ambrose, before 
vehearsed, we read the same in Origen, Chrysostom, 
Cyprian, Augustine, Prosper, Oecumenius, Proclus, Ber- 
nardus, Anselm, and many other authors, Greek and 
Latin. Nevertheless, this sentence, that we be justified 
by faith only, is not so meant of them that the same jus- 
tifying faith is alone in man, without true repentance, 
hope, charity, and the fear of God, at any time and sea- 
son. Nor when they say that we are justified freely, do 
they mean that we should or might afterwards be idle, 
and that nothing should be required on our part after- 
ward : neither do they mean so to be justified, without 
good works, that we should do no good works at all, as 
shall be more expressed at large hereafter. But this say- 
ing, that we be justified by faith only, freely, and without 
works, is spoken to take away clearly all merit of our 
works, as being unable to deserve our justification at 
God's hands, and thereby most plainly to express the 
weakness of man and the goodness of God ; the great 
infirmity of ourselves, and the might and power of God; 
the imperfection of our own works, and. the most abun- 
dant grace of our Savior Christ ; and therefore wholly to 
ascribe the merit and deserving of our justification unto 
Christ only, and his most precious blood-shedding. This 
faith the holy Scripture teacheth us ; this doctrine all an- 
cient authors of Christ's church do approve; this doc- 
trine advanceth and seltcth forth the true glory of Christ, 
and bcatcth doxcn the vain-glory of man ; this, whosoever 
denieth is not to he accounted a christian man, nor a set- 
ter forth of Christ's glory ; but an adversary to Christ 
and his Gospel, and a setter forth of men's vain-glory. 

"It hath been manifestly declared unto you, that no 
man can fulfil the law of God ; and therefore by the law 
all men are condemned : whereupon it followeth neces- 
sarily, that some other thing should be required for our 
salvation besides the law ; and that is, a true and lively 

Gregorv -J 7 



386 Gregory's letters. 

faith in Christ, bringing forth good works, and a life 
according to God's commandments. You heard also the 
minds of the ancient authors concerning this saying, 
'Faith in Christ only justifieth man,' so plainly declared, 
that you see that the very true meaning of this proposi- 
tion, ' We be justified by faith in Christ only,' is this : 
We put our faith in Christ, that we be justified by him 
only, that we be justified by God's free mercy and the 
merits of our Savior Christ only, and by no virtue or 
good works of our own that is in us, or that we can be 
able to have, or to do, for to deserve the same ; Christ 
himself only being the cause meritorious thereof. Here 
you perceive many words to be used to avoid contention 
in words with them that delight to brawl about words, 
and also to show the true meaning to avoid misunder- 
standing ; and yet peradventure all is not enough with 
them that be contentious ; but contenders will ever forge 
matters of contention, even when they have no occasion 
thereto." Homily on Salvation. 

And thus, as it should seem, it happens* that the adver- 
saries of the doctrine of justification by faith, some from 
pure ignorance, others from a love of calumny, affirm that 
it is a doctrine that leads to licentiousness. But " it is a 
childish cavil," says good old Hooker, "wherewith in 
the matter of justification our adversaries do so greatly 
please themselves, exclaiming that we tread all chris- 
tian virtues under our feet, and require nothing but faith 
because we teach that faith alone justifieth ; whereas, by 
this speech, we never meant to exclude either hope or 
charity from being always joined as inseparable hand- 
mates : — but to show that faith is the only hand which put- 
tetli on Christ unto justification, and Christ the only gar- 
ment which being so put on covereth the shame of our 
defiled natures, hideth the imperfection of our works, 
preserveth us blameless in the sight of God : beforo 
whom otherwise the weakness of our faith were cause 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 387 

sufficient to make us culpable, yea, to shut us from the 
kingdom of heaven." Disc, on Justif. 

To decide, however, in this important inquiry, from 
the nature of things as revealed in Scripture, and not 
from any appeal to inferior authority, let us attend to 
three questions : What is meant by justification ? What 
by faith? What is the genuine import of the term justifi- 
cation by faith ? 

I. With regard to justification ; it manifestly in its pri- 
mary sense has relation to accusation. Those who have 
committed no crime, or omitted no binding duty, are free 
from guilt, or reasonable charge of guilt; but may still 
require justification. If there be no accusation or charge 
brought against a person, he does not stand in need of 
being justified : but when he is accused of a crime of 
which he is entirely innocent, he thence has an oppor- 
tunity of justifying himself by making his innocence ap- 
pear; and his judge has thence an opportunity of justify- 
ing him by pronouncing or declaring publicly that he is 
innocent of the crime laid to his charge. This is justifi 
cation according to its original meaning : but in this sense 
none can, strictly speaking, be justified, since all are sin- 
ners, and all are accused : for the law accuses, Satan 
accuses, and conscience accuses. The law accuses : for 
all are made under "the law," and "we know (says 
Paul) that what things soever the 'law saith, it saith to 
them that are under the law : that every mouth may be 
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before 
God." So again Satan accuses. He is the " prince of 
this world," " the adversary," " the accuser of our bi»th- 
ren, that accuses them before our God day and night." 
And farther, conscience, that mighty troubler of the hu- 
man breast, is a frequent accuser. Paul, speaking of the 
Gentiles, says, " their conscience bearing witness, and 
their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing 
one another." And truly none but those who have learnt 



3SS Gregory's letters. 

by experience, can tell fully what the pangs inflicted by a 
guilty and awakened conscience are. A man may flee 
from many calamities, and bear up with dignity and pa 
tience under others ; but he can no more flee from an 
accusing conscience than he can flee from himself, 
" The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity : but a 
wounded spirit who can bear ?" Rom. 3:19; John, 12 : 
31; lPet.5:8; Rev. 12: 10; Rom. 2: 15; Prov. 18 : 14. 
Against such accusers, retaining the primary inter- 
pretation of the word, " no flesh living can be justified." 
We must look, then, for some other acceptation of the 
term. And thus we find that by the phrase to justify is 
often meant so to do a man justice, as to pronounce sen- 
tence in his favor, to acquit him from guilt, to excuse 
him from burden, to liberate him from punishment, and 
to repute or deem him just. Thus in one of these senses 
" wisdom " is said to be "justified of her children:" and 
thus justification, in a still more extended sense, is not 
opposed to accusation merely, but to condemnation. As 
in the observation of Solomon, " He that justifieth the 
wicked, and he that condemnetli the just, even they both are 
abomination to the Lord ;" and in the declaration of Jesus 
Christ, " By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy 
words thou shalt be condemned." Pro. 17:15; Mat. 12 : 37. 
In the evangelical acceptation of the term, as it is ap- 
plied by the apostle !Paul, justification is " of God," and 
imports his acquitting us from guilt, condemnation and 
punishment, by free and full remission of our sins, repu- 
ting and declaring us just persons, and dealing with up 
as though we were upright and innocent in his esteem. 
For this apostle treats of justification as an act of judg- 
ment performed by God, by which he declares his own 
righteousness and justice, and at the same time our libe- 
ration from the punishment due to transgression : his 
iustice consisting in accepting a competent satisfaction 
offered in lieu of the debt due to him, and in reparation 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 3S9 

of the injury done to him, by reason of which the debtor is 
acquitted and the offence remitted. " But now the righ- 
teousness of God without the law is manifested, being 
witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righ- 
teousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto 
all, and upon all them that believe : for there is no dif 
forence : for all have sinned, and come short of the glory 
of God ; being justified freely by his grace, through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God hath set 
forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to 
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that 
are past, through the forbearance of God ; to declare, I 
say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, 
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. 
3 : 21-26. Hence we see that justification is a result 
of Christ's redemption: that remission of sins is so like- 
wise; and that they may be considered as synonymous 
expressions : God demonstrating by either or both of 
them his justice and goodness. Justification, in fine, in- 
cludes, in St. "Paul's view at least, an acquittal from guilt 
and condemnation, and a being regarded as righteous with 
" God who juslificth." 

II. I propose, in the next place, to ascertain what is 
the evangelical interpretation of the word faith, as it 
relates to justification. I make the inquiry with this re- 
striction, because it is evident, as was indeed remarked 
by Chrysostom, that the word ttio-ti^ usually rendered 
faith, is variously employed in Scripture. I also confine 
myself entirely here to the kind of faith required of those 
who possess the Gospel ; not wishing to embrace the 
question with any thing relative to such as have never 
had it proposed to them. 

?. This faith is something more than simple belief, or 
that assent of the understanding which neither affects the 
heart nor the conduct. For, Paul speaks of " believing 
in the heart " as essential to salvation, because " with the 



300 Gregory's letters. 

heart man believeth unto righteousness" or justification 
Rom. 10 : 9, 10. 

2. This faith is something different from believing that 
the Scriptures are the word of God, and that all things 
contained in them are true. For this, as Dr. Doddridge 
remarks, is liable to a double objection ; as on the one 
hand it supposes it absolutely necessary that every man 
should believe both the plenary inspiration, and the ex- 
tent of it to all the books of Scripture ; which, though it 
may admit of strong proof, can never be shown to be a 
thing the belief of which is absolutely requisite to salvation : 
and on the other hand, an implicit and entire belief in this 
may be yielded by a mind which is grossly ignorant of, 
or sadly misapplies, some of the most important doctrines 
of Christianity. 

3. This faith presupposes a conviction of the corruption 
of our nature, a lively and painful sense of the guilt of 
sin, a solicitude to be delivered from it; and implies a 
persuasion that through the mystery of redemption " there 
is forgiveness with God, that he may be 'feared;" but 
it does not necessarily imply a persuasion that God hath 
remitted our sins ; for it relates to propositions revealed 
by God; and God has no where declared that he has re- 
mitted our sins individually. He has, indeed, declared 
that he will pardon our transgressions, and " blot out our 
iniquities," if we cordially and sincerely comply with 
certain requisitions ; but the ascertaining that we have so 
complied is matter of experience, and not of faith. When 
we distrust God, we want true faith ; but it is possible 
we may possess faith, although we distrust ourselves. 
The observation of the wisest of men was, '• Blessed is 
he that Jeareth always;" so feareth as to excite solicitude 
and watchfulness over his heart and conduct : and to ren- 
der him diligent to " make his calling and election sure." 
The great danger is on the side of presumption, arro- 
gance, and self-confidence, and not in humility, diffidence, 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 391 

edit! poverty of spirit, which God has assured us he loves. 

4. Much less is that a correct notion of faith which de- 
fines >\ to be " a firm and certain knowledge of God's 
eternal good will towards, or complacency in us particu- 
larly, and that we shall be saved." For, according to 
this, a man must possess a certain knowledge both of hia 
present sincerity and sanctity, and of his perseverance : 
and, farther, if he be not sure he has repented and is con- 
verted, it would follow from this definition that he must 
be sure lie is not converted, which would be truly perplex- 
ing and discouraging to most persons of genuine humility 
and lowliness of mind. It may also be observed that 
faith, according to this interpretation of it, leaves no room 
for the exercise of hope : and since it necessarily classes 
the humble christian who is conscious that " the heart 
is deceitful above all things," and is therefore " working 
out his own salvation with fear and trembling" among 
unbelievers, it stifles charity; and thus banishes two 
out of the three associate -christian graces. On this point 
I beg to refer to Barrow's first Sermon on Justifying 
Faith. 

5. True faith implies acts of mind, acts of will, .and 
subjection of conduct. It is called "faith in Christ" and 
includes not merely belief in Christianity, belief in Jesus 
as the Messiah, but a practical assent to all that the 
Gospel reveals concerning him, an inward conviction and 
a full persuasion of his all-sufficiency, in his complex 
character, to suffer and die, to rise and save, to fulfil every 
thing that was necessary for a Mediator, in order to re- 
concile guilty creatures to an offended God ; and, con- 
sequently, an entire resigning of our souls to him for sal- 
T alion in his appointed way. It is also termed " faith in 
the name of Christ," " faith in his blood," " faith in his 
righteousness," John, 1 : 12 ; Rom. 3 : 25 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 1, im- 
plying an acknowledgment of worthlessness and insuffi- 
ciency in ourselves, and a depending on what the Savior 



392 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

has done and suffered, for our pardon and acceptance. 
It farther includes " coming to Christ " in the way of his 
commandments, and a firm and prevailing resolution of 
sincere obedience, such as, though it may unhappily be 
sometimes precipitated by temptation into sinful actions, 
does not, dare n6t, fall into a sinful course; but manifests 
itself in a "purified" heart, a " sanctified" conduct, and 
exalted attainments in righteousness, even " the righ- 
teousness which is of faith." Rom. 9 : 30. 

With regard to this true faith, it bas justly been ob- 
served, that " the words warts and ar/s-swa, (faith and to be- 
lieve,) which continually return upon us in reading the 
Greek Testament, should be frequently translated by 
trust and trusting in God, or Christ, especially where the 
preposition sv or as (in) is added to it : and it should not 
be so often called belief or believing ; for a mere assent to 
the Gospel of Christ fails to excite hope or trust in mer- 
cy, and to draw forth the soul to love God, repent of sin, 
and fulfil the duties of holiness. 

" The Hebrew words, which, in the Old Testament, 
imply trust and dependance, are represented often by 
TriTivm in the New Testament, as well as those which sig- 
nify belief or assent. And therefore David in the Psalms, 
where he expresses the inward actings of his soul to- 
wards God, is ever using the words trust and hope; and 
the translators of the New Testament should have much 
oftener used them to express the true meaning of the 
words 7rins and frirtvu in the sacred writers. As John, 
14 : 1, ' Ye trust in God, trust also in me.' Acts, 16 : 
31, ' Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved.' Mark, 6 : 22, ' Have trust in God.' Acts, 20 : 21, 
Repentance towards God, and trust in our Lord Jesus 
Christ;' and many other places. This is the constant 
sentiment of our Protestant divines in their opposition 
to that of the Papists, that 'faith is mere assent' — ' fides 
est fiducia? " Watts' Harmony of all Religions, ch. Tiii. 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. o93 

Lastly, with respect to true faith, it may be remarked, 
that though good works are distinct from it, so distinct 
ndeed that they are frequently opposed: though they 
do not give value to it, but it renders them acceptable ; 
yet they always accompany it as its peculiar fruit and 
genuine effect : proceeding as naturally from it as water 
flows from a fountain, or light emanates from the sun.* 
They are also the touchstone of faith, its evidence and 
measure. ' Faith itself is unseen, being seated in the 
heart ; but holiness and good works bring it forth to pub- 
lic view, and make it tend to public benefit. "Where 
there is much faith, much will be produced ; where there 
is but little faith, there will be proportionally little holi- 
ness ; and where there is no faith, no "fruit" is to be 
expected. Hence, hypocrites and men of spurious faith 
are described as " clouds without water, carried about of 
winds : trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice 
dead, plucked up by the roots." Jude, 12. 

III. Let us now proceed to inquire what is the evan 
gelical interpretation of Justification by faith] How, ac 
cording to the scheme developed in the christian dispen 
sation, is a man to obtain the blessing of justification, 
when he seeks it at first, or when, through his frailty 01 
unfaithfulness, he needs a renewal of it 1 The correct 
answer, I apprehend, is, that he is to seek it by a sole 
recourse to. God in Christ through the medium of faith, 
and to look entirely away from himself to the fountain of 
grace for mercy. This is not the meritorious but the 
appointed medium, by which, through the riches of Di- 



* " The fruits of faith (says Bishop Hall) are good works whether 
inward, within the heart, as love, awe, sorrow, piety, zeal, joy, and the rest; 
or outward towards God, or our brethren: obedience and service to the 
one, to the other relief and beneficence : these he bears in his time ; some- 
times all, but always some." See also Baxter's Paraphrase on Luke, 
23: 43. 

17* 



394 Gregory's letters. 

vine mercy, Christ's righteousness is reckoned to us. 
But man needs a righteousness imparted as well as a 
righteousness imputed; he therefore goes to God that he 
may possess a " meetness" as well as a title for heaven ; 
he goes that he may be " quickened," and when so quick 
ened, he will be another ma?i in God's reckoning (who 
cannot be supposed not duly to estimate his creatures 
according to what he has made them to be,) and general- 
ly, though not always, in his own conscious feeling. God, 
as I have seen it somewhere admirably expressed, " will 
admit him into spiritual life wholly for Christ's sake ; — 
but he will esteem him spiritually alive only in conse- 
quence of his own gift of living faith. And he makes 
this living faith the exclusive test, because this alone is 
the vitalizing tie ; every thing else lives by this, — but this 
lives through God alone." 

The inspired writers of the New Testament considei 
man as he really is, that is, both as guilty and depraved ; 
and they make us acquainted with the remedies God has 
graciously provided both for our guilt and our depravity. 
They assure us that on the exercise of a lively faith we 
are justified from former sins, and brought into a state of 
acceptance with God by virtue of the atonement : " the 
blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin :" and to meet our 
wants in the second case, or as theological writers fre- 
quently designate it, " to preserve us in a state of justifi- 
cation," we are promised the aids of the Spirit to renew 
the heart, and effectually lead us on to the performance 
of duty ; this also being promised as a consequence of 
true faith. " Being justified by faith we have peace with 
God ; because the love of God is shed abroad in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." 
Rom. 5:1,5. 

Now, he must have eagle-eyes that, in all this, can 
detect any thing like a tendency to licentiousness. For, 
while faith is inculcated as the medium of justification. 



JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 395 

good works are equally enforced as the necessary con- 
comitants, and only genuine evidence (to men) of true 
faith. Besides, it must not be forgotten, that though by 
justification we are freed from punishment, and brought 
into a state of acceptance, yet, as justification is a state 
without degrees, it does not, nor ever was intended to 
furnish the measure of the degrees of future happiness. 
Though we are brought into a state of justification inde 
pendently of good works, yet the degrees of future happi- 
ness will be apportioned to " our works of faith and la- 
bors of love," performed subsequently to " the renewal 
of our minds " by Divine influences. Hence it is" that 
we are exhorted to " grow in grace," to " press forward " 
to more exalted attainments, to be more and more " trans- 
formed into the image of God ;" that we may in due time 
obtain a larger portion of that " blessing of the dead who 
die in the Lord, who rest from their labors, and their 
works do follow them." Rev. 14 : 13. 

I cannot close this letter without adverting to the sup- 
posed collision of sentiments between the apostles Paul 
and James, as to the matter of justification. Yet it is 
simply necessary to remark, that these two writers were 
treating of different topics, and for the benefit of persons 
of different characters and views. " The error of the 
unbelieving Jews consisting much in denying justification 
to be by Christ and faith in him, and in placing it in their 
own works of circumcising, sacrificing, and other Mosa- 
ical observations ; and St. Paul, designing in some of his 
epistles to provide the christians with an antidote against 
this infection, and to establish them in the saving doc- 
trine of the Gospel, was led of course to bend his dis- 
course in great part against justification by works of the 
law ; and on the contrary to assert it to be by faith in 
Christ, in his death, and in his doctrine, without those 
works. Whereas St. James, having to do, in his epistle, 
with such as professed the christian faith, and justifica 



396 Gregory's letters. 

tion by it ; but erring dangerously about the nature c t 
faith as justifying, thinking that opinionative faith would 
save them, though destitute of a real change in the moral 
frame and constitution of their souls, and of a holy life : 
hereupon it became in a manner as necessary for him to 
plead the renovation of man's nature and evangelical 
obedience, as it was for St. Paul to contend for justifica- 
tion by faith without the deeds of the law. And there- 
fore, though their doctrines did in this respect differ, yet 
they did not differ as truth differs from truth, nor as op- 
posites, but as one truth differs from another." Dis- 
course on the two Covenants. See also Hooker on Jus- 
tification. 

On the whole, you will now, I trust, perceive in what 
way it is that " faith establishes the law," and that those 
who reject the mode of justification by faith, do in reality 
" make void the law." You will see, too, that there is 
no erecting a system of justification through the conjoined 
efficacy of faith and works. Your submission to the way 
of God's appointment must be complete, without reser- 
vation or self-dependance. " By grace are ye saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of 
God; not of works, lest any man should boast :" yet, on 
the other hand, it is not without holiness ; for, " without 
holiness, no man shall see the Lord." Heb. 12 : 14. Be 
careful then, my friend, that your faith be genuine and 
efficacious, that it " work by love," that it " purify the 
heart," that it " preserve from temptation," that it 
" overcome the world," that it cherish humility, watch- 
fulness, and self-examination. " For if a man think him- 
self to be something when 'he is nothing, he deceiveth 
himself. But let every man prove his own work : and 
then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in 
another." " Be not deceived, God is not mocked : for 
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reop. Foi 
he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap cor 



ON PROVIDENCE. 30? 

ruption : but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the 
Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in 
well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint 
not." Gal. 6 : 3-9. 



LETTER XIX. 

On Providence. 

Although great confusion and uncertainty were evinced 
in the notions both of the vulgar and the philosophic of 
the ancient Pagans, with regard to the wiceasing super- 
intending providence of one or more superior beings ; yet 
there were but few among them that positively and con- 
stantly denied that doctrine in every sense. Several of 
them doubted it in some of their speculations ; others 
fancied that the Deity by intermeddling with human 
concerns would degrade and pollute himself: but scarce- 
ly any of them ridiculed the notion, while some reasoned 
forcibly in favor of it, and derived from it consolation and 
delight. Thus Thales of Miletus taught that the world 
was the work of God, a:id that God sees and directs the 
most secret thoughts in the heart of man. Simplicius, the 
celebrated commentator on Aristotle, argued that if God 
do not look to the affairs of the world, it is either because 
he cannot, or will not : the first (he said) is absurd, since 
to govern cannot be difficult, where to create was easy ; 
and the latter is both absurd and blasphemous. Theon 
of Alexandria taught that a full persuasion of God's see- 
ing every thing we do is the strongest incentive to vir 
tue ; and represented this belief concerning the Deity as 
productive of the greatest pleasure imaginable, especial- 
ly to the virtuous, who might depend with the greater 



398 Gregory's letters. 

confidence on the favor and protection of Providence : 
he recommended nothing so much as meditation on the 
presence of God ; and he advised the civil magistrate, 
by way of restraint on such as were profane and wicked, 
to place in large characters at the corner of every street, 
this inscription — God sees thee, O sinner ! That great 
heathen emperor and philosopher, Marcus Antoninus, 
fully persuaded of the existence and government of God, 
maintained that the best thing for a man is that which 
God sends him, and the best time that when he sends it ; 
and so far was he from adopting the comfortless system 
now propagated by many professing christians, as well 
as infidels, that notwithstanding he governed the greatest 
of all empires in the deepest calm, and commanded all 
the enjoyment that splendor, wealth, and regal dignity 
could furnish, even to a well-ordered mind, he still ex- 
claimed, " What would it concern me to live in a world 
void of God and without providence !" 

How lamentable is the contrast between the senti 
nents of these heathens, immersed as they were in the 
grossest ignorance as to the fundamentals of religious 
truth, and those of the many who, though enjoying the 
full blaze of scientific and religious knowledge in a 
christian country, ridicule this consoling doctrine. How 
strange, that while, conformable with the wise observa- 
tion of lord Bacon, " it is heaven upon earth to have a 
man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn 
upon the poles of truth," there should be found men of 
ingenuity and literature who dazzle by their talents and 
delude by their wit, yet will boldly affirm " that the doc- 
trine of the immediate and perpetual interference of 
Divine providence is not true" and insinuate that it 
is " ridiculous, degrading" and dangerous. Essay on 
Truth, and Ed. Rev. vol. xi. p. 356. 

In opposition to the assertion just quoted, I will ven- 
ture to declare, and hope I shall be able to prove, that 



Ox\ ritoviDENCE. 399 

the doctrine of the particular as well as that of the uni- 
versal providence of God is revealed clearly in Scripture, 
is confirmed by history, and is compatible with the es- 
tablished principles of philosophy. 

Now, that the persuasion that the providence of God 
extended to all times and places, and to every individual, 
was prevalent among the primitive christians, is evident 
from the language of C.ecilius, a Roman lawyer, and 
then one of their most skilful opposers, though he be- 
came a convert to the truth by reason of his controversy 
with Octavius. He objected against them that they as- 
serted " a Providence as extending to the affairs and ac- 
tions of men, and even to their most secret thoughts." 
He represented it as very absurd in them to believe that 
" their God, whom they can neither see nor show, in- 
spects diligently into the manners of all men, into their 
actions, and even their words- and hidden thoughts : and 
that he is every where present, troublesome, and imper- 
tinently busy and curious ; since he interests himself- in 
all things that are done, and thrusts himself into all 
places : whereas he can neither attend to every particu- 
lar whilst he is employed about the whole, nor be able 
to take care of the whole, being occupied about particu- 
lars." Min. Fel. p. 15. 

Let me next select two or three passages to show 
that this notion of the early christians was derived from 
the Bible. From the Old Testament I first quote part of 
the language of God to Job, in which he asserts not only 
his power but his providence. " Who hath divided a 
watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way 
for the lightning of thunder, to cause it to rain on the 
earth 1 to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to 
cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth ] 
Hath the rain a father 1 or who hath begotten the drops 
of the dew? Who provideth for the raven his food?" 
Job, 3S: 25-27, 41 



400 Gregory's letters. 

David abounds with references to the providence of 
God. " The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou gives* 
them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine 
hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The 
Lord preserveth all them that love him; but all the 
wicked will he destroy." " The»Lord openeth the eyes 
of the blind : the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down ; 
the Lord loveth the righteous. The Lord preserveth the 
strangers : he relieveth the fatherless and the widow ; 
but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down." 
" He prepareth rain for the earth, he maketh grass to 
grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his 
food, and to the young ravens which cry." Psa. 145 : 15, 
16, 20; 146:8, 9; 147:8, 9. 

Again the prophet EzeJciel, in one of his delightful 
parables where he describes the security, prosperity, and 
universality of the Messiah's kingdom, under the meta- 
phor of a flourishing " branch," concludes by a forcible 
declaration of the minuteness as well as the extent of 
God's providence, still keeping up the figurative al- 
lusion : — " And all the trees of the field shall know 
that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, 
have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green 
tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish : I, the 
Lord, have spoken and have done it." Ezek. 17 : 24 ; 
see also Prov. 16 : 33 ; Dan. 5 : 29 ; Deut. 32 : 39 ; and 
1 Sam. 2 : 6-9. 

Since, then, the Divine Being is " the same yesterday, 
to-day, and for ever," without "variableness or shadow 
of turning," and since his Providence was constantly and 
universally manifested in the times of Moses, Job, David, 
Daniel, and Ezekiel; it would be absurd to imagine that 
it should now, or at any time, become dormant, or par- 
tially evinced. But we need not stop here. The proofs 
from the New Testament misrht be extracted from al- 
most every page. A few of them only I shall request you 



ON PROVIDENCE. 401 

to consult. For declarations of the extent and univer- 
sality of Providence read Matt. 6 : 19-34 ; 10 : 29-31 , 
Luke, 12 : 6, 7, 22-31. That all things are fixed under its 
conduct, is declared in Acts, 17 : 26. Our entire depen- 
dence upon Providence is taught in James, 4 : 13-17. 
And that it is most remarkably manifested in the care oi 
good men, may be learnt from Acts, 23 : 17-35 ; 25 : 
4, 21-27 ; 26 : 21, 22, 32. That we owe every thing 
which is conducive to'life and piety to God's providence, 
is taught by Peter, 2 Epist. 1:3; and by Paul in nu- 
merous places. 

Indeed the connexion established between- piety and 
prayer, on which its growth depends, and the acknow- 
ledgement of a particular Providence included in the 
performance of prayer, must with all considerate per- 
sons be decisive on this point. We are exhorted to 
"pray with the spirit and the understanding also," to 
" pray without ceasing," to " ask that we may receive," 
to " seek that we may find," to " knock that it may be 
opened to us :" we are told that " men ought always to 
pray, and not to faint;" that God "hears and answers 
prayer;" that " all things whatsoever we ask in prayer, 
believing, we shall receive." 1 Cor. 14 : 15 ; 1 Thess. 5 : 
17 ; Matt. 7:7; Luke, IS : 1 ; Matt. 21 : 22, &c. Bui 
unless the Supreme Being holds constant intercourse 
with his creatures ; unless, as the Psalmist expresses it, 
"his ear is always open to their cry," and "his hand" 
ready to be " stretched out " to assist those who trust in 
him, prayer is an absurdity ; and Jesus and his apostles, 
in exhorting us to frequency and fervency in prayer, tri- 
fled with our wants and distresses, and urged us to ren- 
der ourselves ridiculous by an indulgence in solemn 
mummery. Prayer obviously implies God's universal 
agency ; that he is able to attend to the separate wanes 
of each individual among the millions of his creatures, 
nnd ready to furnish his providential supplies as they are 



402 Gregory's letters. 

needed, and where they aye solicited with a proper spirit, 
James, after assuring us that the " fervent prayer of a 
righteous man availeth much," informs us that " Elias 
was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he 
prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not 
on the earth for three years and six months : and he 
prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth 
brought forth her fruit." We also learn from the Penta- 
teuch, that when God in his anger sent fire among the 
Israelites which consumed even " in the uttermost parts 
of the camp," the people cried unto Moses : " and when 
Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched." 
James, 5 : 16-18; 1 Kings, 17 : 1 ; 18 : 42-45 ; Num. 11 : 2. 
Now on both these occasions the interposition of Pro- 
vidence was vouchsafed in answer to prayer. We have 
here nothing to do with the reason of the connexion sub- 
sisting between prayer and the providential supply of 
blessings or removal of calamity ; but with the fact that 
such connexion does subsist : and with the promise that 
such connexion always will subsist : for this fact and this 
promise being incontrovertible, it is equally incontrover- 
tible that the providence of God reaches to all persons 
and things ; their comparative insignificance or grandeur 
in our estimation forming no scale for him ; but all and 
each being dealt with according to the rules of match- 
less wisdom, righteousness, and mercy. 

The doctrine of a particular or special providence is, 
therefore, a doctrine of Scripture : and that it is confirm- 
ed by history is strikingly manifest. Thus the history of 
revealed religion is in truth the history of Providence. 
Trace, for example, the stories of Joseph, of David, or o\ 
Jeroboam. Men usually assign no cause for the convey- 
ance of Joseph into Egypt, but the envy of his brethren, 
for Shimei's reviling David, but his base malignity; fo^ 
David's success against Goliah, but his skill in using the 
sling ; for his numbering the people, but his vain-glorious 



ON PROVIDENCE. 403 

pride ; for Jeroboam's revolt, but his unruly ambition. 
Yet, if you look beyond the surface, you will find that 
these were foreseen, and, if I may so say, projected into 
their respective places, for the most important purposes. 

Fix your attention for a moment upon the case of Da- 
vid. It was the intention of Providence to place him upon 
the throne of the Hebrews. The country is invaded by a 
foreign enemy : the hostile armies meet and lie encamped 
upon opposite mountains. A man comes forth from the 
army of the invaders, as was extremely common in those 
times, and defies the Hebrew host to send forth a cham- 
pion to meet him in single combat. Terrified by the 
gigantic bulk and mighty force of Goliah, no man would 
risk the unequal conflict. David, who was too young to 
carry arms, had been sent to the camp with provisions 
for his brothers, and heard the challenge. In defence of 
his flock he had killed some beasts of prey in the wilder- 
ness, and he was an excellent marksman with the sling. 
He thought it might probably be as easy to kill a man as 
a wild beast ; at all events he knew that a stone well di- 
rected would prove no less fatal to a giant than to a 
dwarf: he therefore resolved to try his skill, and he tried 
it with success. Here no man's free will was interrupted, 
and no miracle w r as accomplished ; yet by this train of 
circumstances thus brought together, a foundation was 
laid for the future fortunes of the son of Jesse, for the 
greatness of his country, and for accomplishing the pur- 
poses of Providence. 

Observe, again, the chain of events which led to the 
birth of Christ, and to the place where he was born. 
They related to individuals who, in human reckoning, 
were among the most mean and ignoble; and yet upon 
ihese persons, their concerns, their journeyings, their 
tarryings, hung the destinies of thousands and tens 01 
thousands, in every age. 

In like manner we may trace in civil history the depen 



104 Gregory's letters. 

dence of momentous concerns upon mere trifles. The 
bare sight of a fig, shewn in the senate-house at Rome, 
occasioned the destruction of Carthage.* A few boughs 
of trees, carried by soldiers from Birnam Wood to 
Dunsinane,t produced the terror and discomfiture of 
Macbeth, by which even-handed "justice" commended 

u The ingredients of his poisoned chalice 
" To his own lips." 

The accidental finding of a dropped letter led to the 
detection and prevention of the " Gunpowder-plot." 
These and other apparent accidents are not the offspring 
of chance, but result from the silent operation of God's 
providence, which "doth not hurry along like an impetu- 
ous rumbling torrent ; but glideth on as a smooth and 
still current, with an irresistible but imperceptible force 
carrying things down therewith : without much ado, with 
out any clatter, by a nod of his head, by a whisper of his 
mouth, by a turn of his hand, he doth effect his purposes : 
winding up a close spring, he setteth the greatest wheels 
in motion ; and thrusting in an insensible spoke, he stop- 
peth the greatest wheels in their career; injecting a 
thought, exciting a humor, presenting an occasion, insi- 
nuating a petty accident, he bringeth about the most 
notable events." Barrow on the Unsearchableness of 
God's Judgments. 

Nor is all this in any respect incompatible with the 
received principles of natural philosophy, but, as I con- 
ceive, perfectly consistent with them. From the train of 
argument suggested near the commencement of my first 
letter, you would see that it is a necessary consequence 
of the creation of the world, that both it, and every crea- 



* Quod non Trebia, aut Trasymenus, non Canme busto insignes Romani 
nominis perficere potuere ; non Castra Punica ad tertium lapidem vallate, 
portaeque ; Collince adequitans ipse Hannibal. Plin. 

t Heylin's Cosmography, p. 272 



ON PROVIDENCE. 405 

hire in it, only continues in existence through the con- 
stant energy of the power which created. If we assume 
the hypothesis most favorable to the sentiments of those 
who deny the incessant operation of Providence, and say 
that matter always existed, we shall not thence supersede 
the necessity of providential superintendence and con- 
trol. For, from many experiments that have been made 
by scientific men, it is highly probable, nay, it is certain, 
that the particles which constitute even the most solid 
bodies are not all in contact ; yet that a very considerable 
force is required to separate farther from each other the 
parts of a mass of wood, iron, or stone. It also appears 
that great force is requisite to bring bodies, however 
small, or highly polished, into apparent contact ; whence 
they must be kept asunder by some extraneous power. 
So that the cohesive force by which the moleculae of 
matter are retained together, as well as the repulsive 
force by which they are kept at certain distances, demon- 
strate, with regard to every body in the universe, anima- 
ted or inanimate, that the immediate and perpetual agen- 
cy of something that is not matter, is necessary to pre- 
serve them in the state in which they now appear. So 
again it has been shown that from all action" of body upon 
body motion is impaired, and the quantity of it constantly 
decaying in the universe. Hence, since matter cannot re- 
excite the motion in itself, it follows that as an immate- 
rial power first impressed motion on matter, so it still re- 
produces the motion lost, and makes up the decays sus- 
tained. Also, since the forms and motions of bodies are 
sustained, and in all of them an end is thus pursued, a law 
obeyed, wise purposes evinced and accomplished, the 
power which is constantly operating to effect all this must 
be combined with intelligence ; and what can be every 
where and at all times thus exhibiting power and intelli- 
gence but God, either immediately or by his subordinate 
instruments 1 Newton's Ontics. pp. 373, 375, 4th ed. 



406 Gregory's letters. 

But it may still be asked, and indeed has been asi d 
can there be a particular providence, a providence tnat 
suits the several cases and prayers of individuals, without 
a continual repetition of miracles, or without frequent 
infringements upon the laws of nature and the freedom 
of intelligent agents 1 This question may safely be an- 
swered in the affirmative ; and I cannot do better than 
lay before you some of the reasons for so answering it, 
as they have been stated by the ingenious author of " The 
Religion of Nature Delineated." 

" 1. It seems to me not impossible, that God should 
know ichat is to come : on the contrary, it is highly rea 
sonable to think that he does and must know things fu 
ture. Whatever happens in the world, which does not 
come immediately from him, must either be the effect of 
meckanical causes, or of the motions of living beings and 
free agents. For chance, we have seen already, is no 
cause. Now as to the former, it cannot be impossible 
for him, upon whom the being and nature of every thing 
depends, and who therefore must intimately know all 
their powers, and what effects they will have, to see 
through the whole train of causes and effects, and what- 
ever will come to pass in that icay : nay, it is impossible 
that he should *not do it. We ourselves, if we are satis- 
fied of the goodness of the materials of which a machine 
is made, and understand the force and determination of 
those powers by which it is moved, can tell what it will 
do, or what will be the effect of it. And as to those 
things which depend upon the voluntary motions of free 
agents, it is well known that men can only be free with 
respect to such things as are within their sphere; not 
great, God knows :^ and their freedom with respect to 
these can only consist in a liberty either to act, without 
any incumbent necessity, as their own reason and judg- 
ment shall determine them ; or to neglect their rational 



ON PROVIDENCE. 40/ 

faculties, and not use them at all, but suffer themselves to 
oe carried away by the tendencies and inclinations of the 
body, which, left thus to itself, acts in a manner mechan- 
ically. Now He, who knows what is in men's power, 
what not ; knows the make of their bodies, and all the 
mechanism and propensions of them ; knows the nature 
and exte?U of their understandings, and what will deter- 
mine them this or that way ; knows all the process oi 
natural (or second) causes, and consequently how these 
may work upon them : He, I say, who knows all this, 
may know what men will do, if he can but know this 
one thing more, viz. whether they will use their rational 
faculties or not. And since even we ourselves, mean and 
defective as we are, can in some measure conceive how s/i 
much as this may be done, and seem to want but one step 
to finish the account, can we with any show of reason den\ 
to a perfect Being this one article more, or think that he 
cannot do that too ; especially if we call to mind that this 
very power of using our own faculties is held of him 1 

11 Future, or what to us is future, may as truly be the 
object of Divine knowledge as present is of ours : nor 
can we tell what respect past, present, to come f have to 
the Divine mind, or wherein they differ. To deaf men 
there is no such thing as sound, to blind no such thing as 
light or color : nor, when these things are defined and 
explained to them in the* best manner which their cir 
cumstances admit, are they capable of knowing how they 
are apprehended. So here, we cannot tell how future 
things are known, perhaps, any more than deaf or blind 
people what sounds or colors are, and how they are per 
ceived; but yet there may be a way of knowing those, as 
well as there is of perceiving these. As they want ?L.ffth 
sense to perceive sounds or colors, of which they have 
no notion : so perhaps we may want a sixth sense, or 
some faculty ', of which future events may be the proper 
objects. Nor have we any more reason to deny, that 



408 Gregory's letters. 

there is in nature such a sense or faculty, than the deaf 
or blind have to deny there is such a sense as that of hear- 
ing or seeing. 

" In the last place, this knowledge is not only not im- 
possible, but that which has been already proved con- 
cerning the Deity and his perfection doth necessarily 
infer that nothing can be hid from him. For if ignorance 
be an imperfection, the ignorance of future acts and 
events must be so : and then if all imperfections are to 
be denied of him, this must. 

" There is indeed a common prejudice against the 
■prescience (as it is usually called) of God; which suggests, 
that if God foreknows things, he foreknows them infal- 
libly or certainly : and if so, then they are certain ; and 
if certain, then they are no longer matter of freedom. 
And thus prescience and freedom are inconsistent. But 
sure the nature of a thing is not changed by being known, 
or known beforehand. For if it is known truly, it is 
known to be what it is ; and therefore is not altered by 
this. The truth is, God foresees, or rather sees, the ac- 
tions of free agents, because they will be ; not that they 
will be, because he foresees them. 

" Ina word, it involves no contradiction to assert, that 
God certainly knows what any man will choose; and 
therefore that he should do this cannot be said to be im- 
possible. 

" 2. It is not impossible that such laws of nature, and 
such a series of causes and effects may be originally de- 
signed, that not only general provisions may be made for 
the several species of beings ; but even particular cases, 
at least many of them, may also be provided for without 
innovations or alterations in the course of nature. It is 
true this amounts to a prodigious scheme, in which all 
things to come are as it were comprehended under one 
view, estimated, and laid together ; but when I consider 
what a mass of wonders the universe is in other regards ; 



ON PROVIDENCE. 409 

what a Being God is, incomprclicjisibly groat and perfect; 
that he cannot be ignorant of any thing, no, not of th 3 
future wants and deportments of particular men ; and 
that all things, which are derived from him as the First 
cause, must do this so as to be consistent one with another, 
and in such a manner, as to make one compact system, 
befitting so great an Author : I say, when I consider this, 
I cannot deny such an adjustment of things to be within 
his power. The order of events proceeding from the 
settlement of nature, may be as compatible with the 
due and reasonable success of my endeavors and prayers 
(as inconsiderable a part of the world as I am) as with 
any thing ox phenomenon how great soever. 

" Perhaps my meaning may be made more intelligible 
thus. Suppose M (some man) certainly to foreknow some 
way or other that when he should come to be upon his 
death-bed, L would petition for some 'particular legacy, in 
a manner so earnest and humble, and with such a good 
disposition, as would render it proper to grant his re- 
quest : and upon this INI makes his last will, by which he 
devises to L that which was to be asked, and then locks 
Mp the will ; and all this many years before the death of 
M, and whilst L had yet no expectation or thought of any 
such thing. When the time comes, the petition is made, 
and granted ; not by making any new will,' but by the old 
one already made, and without alteration: which legacy 
had, notwithstanding that, never been left had the peti- 
tion never been preferred. The grant may be called an 
effect of a future act, and depends as much upon it as if 
it had been made after the act. So if it had been foreseen 
(hat L would not so much as ask, and had therefore been 
I jft out of the will, this pretention would have been caused 
by his conduct, though much later than the date of the 
will. In all this is nothing hard to be admitted, if M be 
allowed to foreknow the case. And thus the prayers, which 
good men offer to the all-knowing God, and the neglecU 

Gregory JQ 



410 Gregory's letters. 

of others, may find fitting effects already forecasted" in the 
course of nature. Which 'possibility may be extended to 
the labors of men, and their behavior in general. 

"3. It is not impossible j that men, whose natures and 
actions are foreknown, may be introduced into the world 
in such ti?nes, places, and other circumstances, as that their 
acts and behavior may not only coincide with the general 
plan of things, but also answer many private cases too. 
The planets and bigger parts of the world we cannot but 
see are disposed into such places and order, that they to- 
gether make a noble system, without having their natural 
powers of attraction (or the force of that which is equiva- 
lent to attraction) or any of the laws of motion, restrained 
or altered. On the contrary, being rightly 'placed, they by 
the observation of these become subservient to the main 
design. Now why may there not be in the Divine mind 
something like a projection of the future history of man- 
kind, as well as of the order and motions, and various 
aspects of the greater bodies of the world % And then why 
should it not be thought possible for men, as well as for 
them, by some secret law, though of another kind, or 
rather by the superintendence and guidance of an unseen 
governing power, to be brought into their places in such 
a manner as that by the free use of their faculties, the 
conjunctions and oppositions of their interests and incli- 
nations, the natural influence and weight of their several 
magnitudes and degrees of parts, power, wealth, &c. 
they may conspire to make out the scheme ? And then 
again, since generals consist of particulars, and in this 
scheme are comprehended the actions and cases of par- 
ticular men, they cannot be so situated respectively 
anYong the rest of their species as to be serviceable to the 
principal intention, and fall properly into the general dia- 
gram of affairs, unless they and their several actings and 
cases do in the main correspond one to another, and fit 
among: themselves, or at least are not inconsistent. 



ON PROVIDENCE. 411 

" 4. It is not impossible (for this is all that I contend 
for here) that many things, suitable to several cases, 
may be brought to pass by means of secret and some- 
times sudden influences on our minds, or the minds of 
other men whose acts may affect us. For instance, if 
the case should require, that N should be delivered from 
some threatening ruin or from some misfortune, which 
would certainly befall him, if he should go such a way at 
such a time as he intended : upon this occasion some new 
reasons may be presented to his mind, why he should not 
go at all, or not then, or not by that road ; or he may 
forget to go. Or, if he is to be delivered from some dan- 
gerous enemy, either some new turn given to his thoughts 
may divert him from going where the enemy will be, or 
the enemy may be after the same manner diverted from 
coming where he shall be, or his (the enemy's) resent- 
ment may be qualified, or some proper method of defence 
may be suggested, or degree of resolution and vigor 
excited. After the same manner, not only deliverances 
from dangers and troubles, but advantages and successes 
may be conferred : or, on the other side, men may, by 
way of punishment for crimes committed, incur mis- 
chiefs and calamities. I say, these things and such like 
may be. For the operations of the mind following in 
great measure the present disposition of the body, some 
thoughts and designs, or absences of mind, may proceed 
from corporeal causes, acting according to tne common 
laws of matter and motion themselves ; and so the case 
may fall in with No. 2 ; or they may be occasioned by 
something said or done by other men, and then the case 
may be brought under No. 3 ; or they may be caused by 
the suggestion and impulse, or other silent communica- 
:ions of some spiritual being; perhaps the Deity himself 
For that such imperceptible influences an J still whispers 
may be, none of us all can possibly d- ny : that is, we 
cannot know certainly that there are no :>uch things. Od 



412 Gregory's letters. 

the contrary, I believe there are but few who have made 
observations upon themselves and their affairs, but must, 
when they reflect on life past, and the various adventures 
and ovents in it, find many instances in which their usual 
judgment and sense of things cannot but seem to them- 
selves to have been overruled they know not by uhat, nor 
how, nor ivhy (i. e. they have done things which afterwards 
they wonder how they came to do ;) and that these ac- 
tions have had consequences very remarkable in their 
history : I speak not here of men demented with wine, 
or beguiled with some temptation : the thing holds true 
of men even in their sober and more considerate seasons. 

" That there may be possibly such inspirations of new 
thoughts and counsels may perhaps farther appear from 
this ; that we so frequently find thoughts rising in our 
heads, into which we are led by no discourse, nothing we 
read, no clue of reasoning ; but they surprise and come 
upon us from we know not what quarter. If they pro- 
ceeded from the mobility of spirits, straggling out of 
order, and fortuitous affections of the brain, or were of 
the nature of dreams, why are they not as wild, incohe- 
rent, and extravagant as they are 1 ? Not to add that the 
world has generally acknowledged, and therefore seems 
to have experienced some assistance and directions given 
to good men by the Deity ; that men have been many 
times infatuated, and lost to themselves, &c. If any one 
should object, that if men are thus overruled in their 
actings, then they are deprived of their liberty, &c; the 
answer is, that though man is a free agent, he may not be 
free as to every thing. His freedom may be restrained, 
and he only accountable for those acts in respect, of 
which he is free. 

" 5. There possibly may be, and most probably are, be- 
ings invisible, and superior in nature to us, who may by 
other means be in many respects ministers of God's pro- 
vidence, and authors under him of many events to par 



ON TROVIDENCE. 413 

ticular men, without altering the laws of nature. For it 
implies no contradiction or absurdity to say there are such 
beings : on the contraiy, we have the greatest reason to 
think what has been intimated already; that such imper- 
fect beings as we are, are far below the top of the scale. 
Though 'pictures of spiritual beings cannot be drawn in 
our imagination, as of corporeal ; yet to the upper and 
reasoning part of the mind the idea of spiritual substance 
may perhaps be as clear as that of corporeity. For what 
penetrability is, must be known just as well as what im- 
penetrability is : and so on. 

" And since it has been proved that all corporeal mo- 
tions proceed originally from something incorporeal, it 
must be as certain, that there are incorporeal substances, 
as that there is motion. Besides, how can we tell but 
that there may be above us beings of greater powers and 
more perfect intellects, and capable of mighty things, 
which yet may have corporeal vehicles as we have, but 
■finer and invisible ? Nay, who knows but that there may 
be even of these many orders, rising, in dignity of nature 
and amplitude of power, one above another 1 It is no 
way below the philosophy of these times, which seems to 
delight in enlarging the capacities of matter, to assert the 
■possibility of this. But, however, my own defects suffi- 
ciently convince me that I have no pretension to be 
one of the first rank, or that which is next under the 
All-perfect. 

" Now then, as ice ourselves by the use of our powers 
do many times interpose and alter the course of things 
within our sphere, from what it would be if they were 
left entirely to the laws of motion and gravitation, with- 
out being said to alter those laws ; so may these superior 
beings likewise, in respect of things within their spheres, 
much larger be sure, the least of them all, than ours is : 
only with this difference, that, as their knowledge is 
more extensive, their intellect purer, their reason better, 



414 Gregory's letters. 

they may be much more appropriate instruments of Di- 
vine Providence with respect to us, than we can, be with 
respect one to aiwther, or to the animals below us. I can- 
not think indeed that the power of these beings is a.. 
large as to alter or suspend the general laws of the 
world ; or that the world is like a bungling piece of clock- 
work, which requires to be oft set backward or forward 
by them : or that they can at pleasure change their con- 
dition to ape us, or inferior beings; and consequently 
am not hastily to credit stories of portents, Sec. such as 
cannot be true, unless the natures of things and their 
manner of being be quite reversed ; yet (I will repeat 
it again) as men may be so placed as to become, even by 
the free exercise of their own powers, instruments of 
God's particular providence to other men (or animals;) 
so may we well suppose that these higher beings may 
be so distributed through the universe and subject to such 
an economy (though I pretend not to tell what that is,) 
as may render them also instruments of the same provi- 
dence ; and that they may, in proportion to their greater 
abilities, be capable, co?isistently with the laws of nature, 
some way or other, though not in our way, of influencing 
human affairs in proper places. 

"Lastly, what I have ventured to lay before you I 
would not have to be so understood, as if I peremptorily 
asserted things to be just in this manner; or pretended 
to impose my thoughts upon any body else : my design is 
only to show how I endeavor to help my own narrow 
conceptions. There must be other ways above my under- 
standing, by which such a Being as God is may take 
care of private cases without interrupting the order of 
the universe, or putting any of the parts of it out of 
their channels. We may be sure he regards every 
thing as being what it is; and that therefore his laws 
must be accommodated to the true geniuses and capaci- 
ties of those things which are affected by them. Tho 



ON PROVIDENCE. 415 

purely material part of the world is governed by such as 
are suited to the state of a being who is insensible, passive 
only, and every where and always the same : and these 
seem to be simple and few, and to carry natural agents 
into one constant road. But intelligent, active, free beings 
must be under a government of another form. They 
must, truth requiring it, be considered as beings, who 
may behave themselves as they ought or not ; as beings 
susceptible of pleasure and pain ; as beings who not only 
owe to God all that they are or have, but are (or may 
be) sensible of this, and to whom therefore it must 
be natural upon many occasions to supplicate him for 
mercy, defence, direction, assistance ; lastly, as beings, 
whose cases admit great variety; and therefore that 
influence, by which he is present to them, must be differ- 
ent from that by which gravitation and common pheno- 
mena are produced in matter. This seems to be as it 
were a public influence, the other private, answering 
private cases and prayers ; this to operate directly upon 
the body, the other more especially upon the mind, and 
upon the body by it, &c. But I forbear, lest I should 
go too far out of my depth : only adding in general, that 
God cannot put things so far out of his own power as 
that he should not for ever govern transactions and events 
in his own world ; nor can perfect knowledge and power 
ever want proper means to achieve what is fit to be done. 
So that, though what I have advanced should stand for 
nothing, there may still be a particular iwovidence, not- 
withstanding the forementioned difficulty. And then, if 
there may be one, it will unavoidably follow that there 
is one, because in the description of providence nothing 
is supposed with respect to particular cases, but that they 
should be provided for in such a manner as will at last 
agree best with reason; and to allow that this may be 
done, and yet say that it is not done, implies a blasphe- 
my that creates horror: it is to charge the perfect Being 



416 Gregory's letters. 

with one of the greatest imperfections , and to make him 
not so much as a reasonable being. 

"I conclude, then, that it is as certain that there is a 
particular 'providence, as that God is a Being of perfect 
reason. For if men are treated according to reason, they 
must be treated according to what they are : the virtuous, 
the just, the compassionate, &c. as such, and the vicious, 
unjust, cruel, &c. according to what they are : and their 
several cases must be taken and considered as they are : 
which cannot be done without such a providence." 

I make no apology for the length of this quotation 
The subject is so important, and has notwithstanding 
been so much misunderstood and misrepresented, that 
every ingenious attempt to illustrate it deserves atten- 
tion ; and the view of it taken by Mr. Wollaston is so 
clear, philosophical, and satisfactory, that no man who is 
free from prejudice can read it without benefit, nor, I 
conceive, without complete conviction. 

Before I entirely quit this subject, allow me to remind 
you, that we have not been contemplating a mere specu- 
lation, but have been pursuing a train of reasoning which 
is practical and highly moral in its tendency. Let the 
notion once fully occupy the mind of a vicious man. 
that God is too exalted or too remote from us to watch 
the progress of individual guilt, to notice and record 
its propensities, to counteract its designs, — and with 
what ardor will he run the career of iniquity ] While, 
on the other hand, the conviction that " all things are 
naked and open" to the piercing eye of God, — that 
when transgressors say, "surely the darkness shall co- 
ver us," behold " even the night shall be light about 
them," " the darkness and the light being both alike to 
God," — Psalm 139 : 11, 12, — -that no. being is too insig- 
nificant or too obscure to escape the notice of God, — 
that none can hide himself in gloom so thick as to be 



ON PROVIDENCE. 417 

impenetrable to the glance of omniscience, — tends to ap- 
pal the guilty, and check the luxuriant growth of crimes. 
And in a world of trial, sin, and difficulty, what can be 
so consoling to the good as the firm persuasion that God 
is the God of individuals, and the " Father of the faith- 
ful," the " refuge and strength " of all who trust in him ; 
that he hears the cry of the suppliant, and, wherever it 
is needed and duly estimated, " giveth power to the 
faint;" — that he, who when he promises will perform, 
has declared that " they who wait upon the Lord shall 
renew their strength : they shall mount up with wings as 
eagles : that they shall run and not be weary, and they 
shall walk and not faint!"* 



* Isa. 40 : 29, 31. An objecting correspondent has called upon me to 
reconcile the doctrine of Providence with the existence of moral evil. I 
entreat his attention to the following often quoted passage from Simpli 
cius, a pagan writer before mentioned in this letter. Simplicity asks, 
" Whether God may be called the author of sin, because he permits the 
soul to use her liberty ?" and answers the question thus: 

" He who 6ays that God should not permit the exercise of its freedom 
to the soul, must affirm one of these^wo things; either that the soul, 
though by nature capable of indifferently choosing good or evil, should yet 
be constantly prevented from choosing evil ; or else that it should have 
been made of such a nature as to have no power of choosing evil. 

" The former assertion (continues he) is irrational and absurd; for what 
kind of liberty would that be, in which there should be no freedom of 
choice ? and what choice could there be, if the mind were constantly re- 
strained to one side of every alternative ? With respect to the second asser- 
tion, it is to be observed (says he) that no evil is in itself desirable, or can 
be chosen as evil. But if this power of determining itself either way in 
any given case must be taken from the soul, it must either be as something 
not good, or as some great evil. But whoever saith so, does not consider 
how many things there are which, though accounted good and desirable, 
are yet never put in competition with this freedom of will : for without it 
we should be on a level with the brutes ; and there is no person who would 
rather be a brute than a man. If God then shows his goodness in giving to 
inferior beings such perfections as are far below this, is it incongruous to 
the Divine nature and goodness tc>give man a self-determining power over 
his actions, and to permit him the free exercise of that power ? Had God| 

18* 



418 Gregory's letters. 

LETTER XX. 

On the Resurrection of the Body. 

If a being, which was constituted by the union of two 
substances essentially different, were appointed to con- 
tinue, it must continue a mixed being, or it would be no 
longer the same being: so that if man is to exist in a fu- 
ture state, the doctrine of the resurrection of the body is 
a necessary consequence of his nature : those who admit 
the immortality of the soul, and deny the resurrection of 
the body, therefore forget the man, and, in effect, deprive 
liim of existence beyond the grave. Still, it has been 
thought, by many persons in all ages, " a thing incredible 
that God should raise the dead ;" Acts, 26 : 8 ; and the 
contrary is no where positively asserted, but in the Scrip- 
tures received by christians, or in writings founded upon 
them. There are many passages in the Old Testament 
which either obscurely hint at the resurrection, or im- 



to prevent man's sin, taken away the liberty of his will, he would likewise 
have destroyed the foundation of all virtue, and the very nature of man ; for 
there could be no virtue were there not a possibility of vice ; and man's 
nature, had it continued rational, would have been Divine, because impec- 
cable. Therefore (continues he) though we attribute to God, as its author, 
this self-determining power, which is so necessary in the order of the uni- 
verse, we have no reason to attribute to him that evil which comes by the 
abuse of liberty : for God doth not cause that aversion from good which 
is in the soul when it sins ; he only gave to the soul such a power as might 
turn itself to evil, out of which he produces much good, which, without 
such a power, could not have been produced by Omnipotence itself." 

Those who wish to go farther into this inquiry than the above observa- 
tions of Simplicius will lead them, may turn to a very masterly " Essay oi. 
the Permission of Evil," in the second volume of the " Works " of Dr. 
Hamilton, late bishop of Ossory ; or to part the third of Mr. Samuel Drew's 
.•aluable " Essay on the Being, Attributes, and Providence of Deity." In 
he latter of these works most of the objections to what is denominated the 
doctrine of particular providence have received a very decisive refutation. 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 419 

mediately refer to it;* yet they are by no means such as 
produced a firm and universal belief in the doctrine 
among the Jews. The Sadducees, for example, "say 
that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit ; 
but the Pharisees allow both."t And even among our 
Lord's disciples, though some of them, like Lazarus' 
sister Martha, believed that the dead would " rise again 
in the resurrection at the last day,"f others doubted and 
"wondered what rising from the dead could mean."§ 
When Paul preached to the philosophers at Athens, 
and declared to them the resurrection of Jesus, they 
were astonished at the novelty and singularity of his 
doctrine, and "said, he seemeth to be a setter forth of 
strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and 
the Resurrection :"\\ these philosophers were so deplorably 
ignorant as, when the apostle used the words i»<rovs and 
AriTTAio-/?, to fancy that he was laboring to introduce a 
new god and goddess amongst them ! When he urged 
the matter still farther, " they scoffed :" and on another 
occasion, when he was pleading before Agrippa and 
Festus, the latter interrupted him the moment he ad- 
verted to the resurrection of Jesus, exclaiming, " Paul, 
thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee 
mad."fl Conformably with the conduct of most other 
heathens, Pliny classes it amongst impossible things 
which God cannot accomplish, — Revocare defunctos, " to 
call back the dead to life." And Celsus calls the hope 
of the resurrection, " the hope of worms, a very filthy 
and abominable as well as impossible thing : it is that 
which God neither can nor will do, being base and con- 
trary to nature."** 

* Such as Job, 19 : 23-27; Dan. 12 : 2, 3 ; Isa. 25 : 8 ; 26 : 19 ; Hos. 

6:2; 13 : 14; Ezek. 37 : 1-14. See also Psa. 49 : 14, 15. 1 Matt. 

22 : 23 ; Acts, 23 : 3. * John, 11 : 24. § Mark, 9 : 10. 1| Acts 

17 : 18. IT Acts, 26 : 24. 

* * Orig. cont. Ccls. lib. v This, of course. i< refuted by Origen; and 



•120 GREGORY S LETTERS. 

This doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is, how- 
ever, as I have already intimated, one of the great arti- 
cles of the christian faith. We believe that Jesus died 
and rose again ;* we also believe, for so we are taught 
in the New Testament, that "them which sleep in Jesus 
will God bring with him," that Christ by his rising be- 
came "the first fruits of them that slept," that "the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible," that " the grave and the 
sea shall give up their dead," that, at this resurrection, 
"the dead in Christ shall rise first, "that the Lord Jesus 
Christ will change "our vile body, and fashion it like 
unto his glorious body, according to the working of that 
mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to 
himself."t 

Clearly as this doctrine is revealed in the above quot- 
ed and several other places of Scripture, it is notwith- 
standing doubted by many professing christians. And it 
has been usually denied by infidels, and selected by them 
as one of the most vulnerable points in the system of 
Christianity. Yet, taking deists upon their own ground, 
I conceive the reasonableness, if not the necessity of the 
resurrection may be established : while to those who 
allow the authenticity and correctness of the New Tes- 
tament history, the matter will be placed jeyond the 
reach of dispute. 

In the estimation of deists God is a wise and jusl 
governor of the world : such a governor must reward the 
good and punish the wicked : but in the present state, 
we often see good men under suffering, and bad men 
following and enjoying pleasure through the greatei 



others of the Ante-nicene fathers, especially Justin Martyi and Tertullian 
in their Apologies, most ingeniously defend the doctrine of the church aa 
to this point. See also Clemens Romanus' 1st epistle. 

* See Letter viii. 1 1 Thess. 4 : 14, 16; 1 Cor. 15 : 20, 52; Rev, 

20: 13; Phil. 3 : 21. 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 421 

part of life : the character of the governor, therefore, re- 
quires that there should be a future state in which this 
great anomaly shall be adjusted ; and, of course, a state 
of existence not for the body alone, nor for the soul 
alone, but for the man in his mixed nature, constituted 
of soul and body. It is the man, and not a part of him 
merely, which this simple train of reasoning requires us 
to expect shall be rewarded or punished.* Nor can the 
conclusion be fairly resisted, unless it can be shown that 
the resurrection of the body is impossible : — and that it is 
not impossible may be safely inferred from history, and 
the analogy of nature, in the following manner. 

From history we learn not merely that the body of 
Lazarus was reanimated after he had been interred 
four days, and that of Jesus Christ after it lrad lain in 
the grave part of three days : but farther, that " after 
his resurrection many bodies of the saints which slept 
arose from their graves," which had been thrown open 
by the earthquake at his crucifixion, "and went into the 
hob/ city, and appeared unto many;" thus attesting the 
truth of his resurrection, and declaring their own rescue 
from the grave (in which some of them had Jong lain,) 
by virtue of his power over death and corruption. So 
that to deny the possibility of the resurrection is to deny 
the truth of several matters of fact, all at least as well at- 
tested as any other facts in history; and that in contra' 
diction to some very obvious modes of reasoning, and 
some striking- analogies. 

For, in the first place, the restoring to life a body de- 
prived of motion, animation, and sensation, is not beyond 



* I am aware it may be said, and indeed it has often been said, that 
nf nee consciousness and feeling exist in the soul, the future existence of the 
soul is all that can fairly be inferred from this argument. But we have at 
least as good reasons for affirming as any can have for denying, that in all 
probability the capacity of the soul for feeling the highest degrees of plea 
sure or puin depends upon its union with the body. 



422 Gregory's letters. 

the power of God : since the communication of any 
qualities to an organized body, or body capable of or- 
ganization, which it had lost, cannot be imagined to re- 
quire a greater exertion of power than the original crea- 
tion of such body with certain appropriate attributes. In- 
deed, cases occur almost daily in which human efforts 
lead to a change to all appearance (and it should be re- 
membered that we know little of death, except in regard 
to its mere appearances) as great as the deliverance of 
a dead man from the silence and inactivity of the grave. 
I allude to fainting-fits, and instances of suspended ani- 
mation by drowning. In these the subject is often for a 
considerable time so completely void of motion, feeling, 
and, as it would seem, of life, that no one, who had never 
previously witnessed or heard of a similar suspension, 
could avoid concluding that it would be final and eternal. 
There is, it is true, a difference in the duration of life- 
lessness in cases of swooning and apparent drowning, 
and of real death ; but that is more than compensated in 
the difference of power and skill in the respective agents 
of restoration. 

Nearly allied to these are the examples of peculiar 
transformations undergone by various insects, and the 
state of rest and insensibility which precedes those 
transformations ; such as the chrysalis or aurelia state of 
butterflies, moths, and silk- worms. The myrmeleon for- 
micaleo, of whose larva and its extraordinary history 
Reaumer and Roesel have given accurate descriptions, 
continues in its insensible or chrysalis state about four 
weeks. The libellula or dragon-fly continues still long- 
er in its state of inaction. Naturalists tell us that the 
worm repairs to the margin of a pond in quest of a con- 
venient place of abode during its insensible state. It 
attaches itself to a plant or piece of dry wood ; and the 
skin which gradually becomes parched and brittle, at last 
splits opposite to the upper part of the thorax. Through 



RESURKEC1I0N OF THE BODY. 423 

this aperture the insect, now become winged, quickly 
pushes its way, and being thus extricated from confine- 
ment begins to expand its wings, to nutter, and finally to 
launch into the air with that gracefulness and ease which 
are peculiar to this majestic tribe. Now who that saw 
for the first time, the little pendant coffin in which the in 
animate insect lay entombed, and was ignorant of the 
transformations of which we are now speaking, would 
ever predict that in a few weeks, perhaps a few days or 
hours, it would become one of the most elegant and active 
of winged insects 1 And who, that contemplates with the 
mind of a philosopher this curious transformation, and 
who knows that two years before the insect mounts into 
air, even while it is living in water, it has the rudiments 
of wings, can deny that the body of a dead man may at 
some future period be again invested with vigor and ac- 
tivity, and soar to regions for which some latent organi- 
zation may peculiarly fit it 1 

But I may be reminded, that the analogy, to which I 
have been calling your attention, is not complete, inso- 
much as dead bodies sink from their organized state into 
corruption, while chry sales are merely inactive or at most 
insensible. Let us then advance this step, and we shall 
find a parallel case in the prooess of vegetation. " That 
which thou sowest (say the apostle to the Corinthians) is 
not quickened except it die." 1 Cor. 15 : 36. Seed may 
be sown, but unless it lose its external configuration, and 
appear corrupted, no future vegetable will spring from it. 
The 'little infinitesimal or germen, which is to spring 
forth into new life, is fed by the death and corruption of 
the rest : a fact well known not only to scientific botan- 
ists, but to almost every gardener and husbandman you 
can consult. So that those who deny the propriety and 
correctness of the analogy traced by the apostle, are as 
little supported by truth and nature as the Corinthian 
freethinkers, whose objection he thus ohilosophically 



424 GREGORY'^ LETTERS. 

refuted. The apparent corruption which a grain when 
deposited in the earth undergoes, may be considered as 
the casting of exuviae, whose removal and decay are 
necessary to the dawnings of latent life : and thus, in like 
manner, may the future body be ripening through the 
mysterious process of dissolution, till the day of the 
general resurrection, when it shall come forth a glorious 
body, fitted for new union with the soul from wliich it 
had been separated, and so formed as thenceforward to 
endure for ever. The principal difference in the two 
cases relates to frequency of occurrence ; the process of 
vegetation from a corrupted grain is observed annually ; 
while the deliverance of a body from corruption in the 
grave will occur but once. Yet this ought rather to sti- 
mulate our hopes than to generate scepticism : the con- 
trast between the sterility and death-like appearance of 
the vegetable world in the winter, and the gladsome ver- 
dure, vigor, and variety of spring, when God " renews 
the face of the earth," and enlivens us with balmy air and 
cheerful skies ; is admirably fitted to teach us what the 
Creator and Governor of the universe can effect; to con- 
vince us that he can "loosen the bands of death" as 
easily as he can educe vegetation from corruption ; and, 
in conjunction with the promises of the Gospel, to excite 
a lively and rapturous anticipation of that delightful pe- 
riod, when "one unbounded spring" shall "encircle all." 
Objectors, however, have advanced still farther, and 
urge that after death the body may not merely become 
insensible, inactive, and undergo corruption; but may 
experience dispersion of particles and union with other 
bodies. Thus the body of a dead man may be burnt (as 
were those of some primitive martyrs by their enemies, 
in derision of the resurrection,) its ashes be scattered in 
the air, blown about by the wind, or exhaled into the 
atmosphere : or, after it is resolved into earthy or humid 
matter, it may be taken up by the vessels which supply 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 425 

plants with nutriment, and at length become constituent 
parts of the substance of those plants. How can particles 
thus dispersed half over the earth, or thus intimately 
combined with other bodies, be recalled from their state 
of dispersion, or separated from the bodies of which they 
have subsequently formed constituent parts, and re-uni- 
ted so as to form one body 1 Here again, we may deprive 
the objection of all force, by contemplating processes of 
daily occurrence. Chemists can intermix several liquids, 
of essentially different kinds, in such manner, that the 
smallest sensible particle of the resulting liquid shall 
partake of all the constituent liquids ; and then they can 
by analysis separate this compound substance into all the 
simple liquids of which it was composed. They can de- 
tect, separate, and measure the several simple substances 
of which a certain compound natural mass shall be form- 
ed. They can, for example, detect and measure the chro- 
mic acid, oxyd of iron, alumina, and silica, in a given mass 
of that natural substance chromium Jerri ; the respective 
quantities of acidulous water, thick brown oil, thin empy- 
reumatic oil, charcoal, and gases, in any proposed por- 
tion of guaiacum ; or the relative masses and relative 
weights of the azotic gas, oxygenous gas, aqueous vapor, 
and carbonic acid gas, in any given volume of atmospheric 
air : and all this, be it recollected, by means within the 
compass of human agents. Does the collecting together of 
the scattered particles of dead bodies, or the separation of 
them from other bodies with which they may have become 
combined, require skill or energy so much greater than 
the operations of art to which I have just been advert- 
ing, that we must pronounce them too difficult for the 
Creator of the world to perform ] Is his knowledge so 
circumscribed that he cannot tell what becomes of every 
particle of every body he has created % Or cannot match- 
less knowledge and unlimited power know and accomplish 
all things required by infinite wisdom >r promised by 



426 Gregory's letters. 

■>oundless love, as easily and successfully as a chemist 
can ascertain or separate the various substances in a 
compound mass 1 

There still remains one other objection, to which we 
must reply before we get to " the height of this great 
argument;" and that may be stated in the following 
terms : " Of men drowned in the sea, the bodies may be 
eaten by fishes, and they again by other men ; or, among 
cannibals, men feast upon the flesh of men : in such 
cases, where one man's body may be converted into part 
of the substance of another man's body, and so on, how 
shall each at the resurrection recover his own peculiar 
body]" To this I beg to quote the answer of Archbishop 
Tillotson, who first premises these two observations. 

" 1. That the body of man is not a constant and per- 
manent thing, always continuing in the same state, and 
consisting of the same matter; but a successive thing, 
which is continually spending, and continually renewing 
itself, every day losing something of the matter which it 
had before, and gaining new, so that most men have new 
bodies as they have new clothes ; only with this differ- 
ence, that we change our clothes commonly at once, but 
our bodies by degrees. 

" And this is undeniably certain from experience. Foi 
so much as our bodies grow, so much new matter is ad- 
ded to them, over and besides the repairing of what is 
continually spent ; and after a man be come to his full 
growth, so much of his food as every day turns into 
nourishment, so much of his yesterday's body is usually 
wasted, and carried off by insensible perspiration, that is, 
breathed out of the pores of his body, which, according 
to the static experiment of Sanctorius, a learned physician, 
who for several years together weighed himself exactly 
every day, is (as I remember) according to the propor- 
tion of five to eight* of all that a man eats and drinks. 

* Later physiologists have shown that Sanctorius ascribed to the excre- 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 427 

Now, according to this proportion, a man must change 
his body several times in a year. 

" It is true, indeed, the more solid parts of the body, 
as the bones, do not change so often as the fluid and 
fleshy ; but that they also do change is certain, because 
they grow; and whatever grows is nourished and spends, 
because otherwise it would not need to be repaired. 

" 2. The body which a man hath at any time of his 
life is as much his own body as that which he hath at his 
death ; so that if the very matter of his body, which a 
man had at any time of his life, be raised, it is as much 
his own and the same body, as that which he had at his 
death, and commonly much more perfect ; because they 
who die of lingering sickness, or old age, are usually 
mere skeletons when they die, so that there is no reason 
to suppose (or, at least, not to insist) that the very matter 
of which our bodies consist at the time of our death, shall 
be that which shall be raised, that being commonly the 
worst and most imperfect body of all the rest. 

" These two things being premised, the answer to this 
objection cannot be difficult. For as to the more solid and 
firm parts of the body, as the skull and bones, it is not, I 
think, pretended that the cannibals eat them ; and if they 
did, so much of the matter, even of these solid parts, 
wastes away in a few years, as, being collected together, 
would supply them many times over. And as for the 
fleshy and fluid parts, these are so very often changed 
and renewed, that we can allow the cannibals to eat them 
all up, and to turn them all into nourishment ; and yet no 
man need contend for want of a body of his own at the 

tory function of the skin somewhat too great an influence. In temperate 
climates, however, the weight of matter taken daily from a human body 
by insensible perspiration is usually between 2 and 4 lbs. instead of 5, as 
Sanctorius supposed ; so that a man will change his body several times \r. 
the course of his life, though not several times in a year, as the archbishop, 
assuming the accuracy of Sanctorius' observations, inferred. 



428 Gregory's letters. 

resurrection, viz. any of those bodies which he had ten or 
twenty years before, which are every whit as good, and 
as much his own, as that which was eaten.*" 

Thus far I have been led by a desire to convince you 
that the resurrection of the body is not impossible, and 
therefore that it ought not to be ridiculed or denied, even 
though the belief of it had not been authoritatively pro- 
posed to us in Scripture. You will expect me to offer 
you a few thoughts relative to the kind of body that will 
be raised ; but on this topic I shall be brief, as I have no 
wish to carry you far into the regions of conjecture. 

We are assured by the great Head of the church, that 
" the hour is coming in which all that are in their graves 
shall hear his voice and come forth ; they that have done 
good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil 
unto the resurrection of damnation." At that great and so- 
lemn event, when we shall " all be changed in a moment, 
in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump," " the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible :" and it is probable that the 
bodies of the righteous and the wicked, though each shall 
in some respects be the same as before, will each be in 
some respects not the same, each undergoing some change 
conformable to the character of the individual, and suited 
to his future state of existence ; but both, as the passage 
just quoted clearly teaches, are then rendered indestructi- 
ble. Respecting the good, it is said, " When Christ, who 
is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with him in glo- 
ry," we shall be like him, our " body shall be fashioned 
like his glorious body :" Col. 3 : 4 ; 1 John, 3:2; Phil. 

* Tillotson's 194th Sermon. The archbishop is here of an opinion dia- 
metrically opposite to that of Bishop Stillingfleet, as to the resurrection of 
every particle of the body buried. He has Mr. Locke, however, on his 
side. Fox a summary view of the controversy between Stillingfleet and 
LocLe, and an attempt at compromising their dispute, you may consult the 
8th of Dr. Watts' Philosophical Essays. 

See also Dr. Clarke's remarks on this interesting inquiry, as quoted in 
Bishop Watson's Theological Tracts, vol. iv, p. 235-237. 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 429 

3 : 21 ; yet, notwithstanding this, " it doth not yet fully 
appear what we shall be;" and that for a very obvious 
reason. Our present manner of knowing depends upon 
our present constitution, and we know not the exact re- 
lation which subsists between this constitution and the 
manner of being in a future world ; we derive our ideas 
through the medium of the senses ; the senses are ne- 
cessarily conversant with terrestrial objects only : our 
language is suited to the communication of present ideas; 
and thus it follows that the objects of the future world 
may in some respects (whether few or many we cannot 
say) differ so extremely from terrestrial objects, that lan- 
guage cannot communicate to us any such ideas as would 
render those matters comprehensible. But language may 
suggest striking and pleasing analogies ; and with such 
we are presented by the philosophic apostle. " All flesh 
(says he) is not the same flesh : but there is one flesh of 
men, another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of 
birds ;" and yet all these are fashioned out of the same 
kind of substance, mere inert matter till God gives it life 
and activity. " There are also celestial bodies, and bo- 
dies terrestrial : but the glory of the celestial is one, and 
that of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of 
the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory 
of the stars : for one star differeth from another star in 
glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown 
in corruption, it is raised in incorruplion : it is sown in 
dishonor, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is 
raised in power: it is sown an ani?nalhody (^s^a 4a ,,t5V ») 
it is raised a spiritual body." 1 Cor. 15 : 39-44. It is 
sown an animal body ; a body which previously existed 
with all the organs, faculties, and propensities requisite 
to procure, receive, and appropriate nutriment, as well 
as to perpetuate the species : but it shall be raised a 
spiritual body, refined from the dregs of matter, utter- 
ly impermeable by every thing which communicates 



430 Gregory's letters. 

* pain,"* freed from the organs and senses requiied only 
in its former state, and probably possessing the remaining 
senses in greater perfection, together with new and more 
exquisite faculties, fitted for the exalted state of existence 
a'^d enjoyment to which it is now rising. In the present 
state the organs and senses appointed to. transmit the im- 
pressions of objects to the mind have a manifest relation 
to the respective objects : the eye and seeing, for exam- 
ple, to light ; the ear and hearing, to sound. In the re- 
fined and glorious state of existence to which good men 
are tending, where the objects which solicit attention 
will be infinitely more numerous, interesting, and delight- 
ful, may not the new organs, faculties, and senses be 
proportionably refined, acute, susceptible, or penetra- 
ting ] Human industry and invention have placed us, in 
a manner, in new worlds ; what, then, may not a spiritu- 
al body, with sharpened faculties and the grandest pos- 
sible objects of contemplation, effect in the celestial re- 
gions to which christians are invited % What delight 
would Archimedes have experienced, could he by the aid 
of a microscope have seen the fluids moving through the 
vessels of some of our minutest insects ; or viewed with 
a telescope the belts of Jupiter or the ring of Saturn % 
And how would these sink into insipidity when compar- 
ed with the rapture with which a being, possessing a 
spiritual body, having its former senses perfected and 
new ones communicated, shall explore all the glories and 
wonders which will be exhibited to it when it shall be 
admitted into heaven, and enabled to see God 1 

Here, clogged with animal bodies, and bome down to 
the earth by gravity as well as our propensities, we are 
soon tired of bodily exertion, our mental attention flags, 

* " Neither shall there be any more pain." Rev. 21:4. The Greek 
word, 9TCF0?, here translated pain, comprehends toil, fatigue and excessive 
labor of body, as well as vexation and anguish of spirit. 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 431 

and our affections "cleaving to the dust," may impede 
the operations of both body and mind : but there,— where 
the body will be liberated from the influence of gravitation 
(the causes of gravity being removed,) motion may be 
free and without fatigue, the body may obey with aston- 
ishing facility the volitions of the soul, and transmit 
itself from place to place with the utmost celerity — there 
the senses will no longer degrade the affections, the ima- 
gination no longer corrupt the heart — the magnificent 
scenery thrown open to view will animate the attention 
give a glow and vigor to the sentiments ; that roused at- 
tention will never tire, those glowing sentiments will 
never cloy : but the man now constituted of an indestruct- 
ible body as well as of an immortal soul, may visit in 
eternal succession "the streets of the celestial city," may 
" drink of the pure river of water of life, clear as crys- 
tal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
Lamb ;" and dwell for ever in those abodes of harmony 
and peace, which though " eye hath not seen, nor ear 
heard, nor have they entered into the imagination of 
man," we are assured " God hath 'prepared for them that 
love him." Rev. 22 : 1, 2 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 9. 

But I leave you to pursue and improve this train of 
delectable reflection ; and am Truly yours. 



LETTER XXI. 

On eternal existence after death. 

It is one of the grand peculiarities, and (as I doubt not 
you will find it, on consideration) one of the great excel- 
lencies of the New Testament, that it exhibits both pro 
mises and threatenings of eternal existence after natural 



432 Gregory's letters. 

death. These are presented to the contemplation of man 
kind under the character of reward and. punishment, whicxi 
are correlatives : the existence of one implies the exist- 
ence of the other: the belief of the latter is as necessary 
as the belief of the former : for, without it, the belief of 
a future state will have little if any influence on the bulk 
of mankind. 

This is not a narrow notion confined to the minds of 
theologians of a rigid stamp : it is the sentiment of acute 
philosophers and wise politicians ; of some indeed who 
have neither been condemned nor contemned for an un- 
due attachment to what are fashionably termed religious 
dogmas. Montesquieu, for instance, affirms " that the 
idea of a place of future rewards necessarily imports that 
of a place or state of future punishments ; and that when 
the people hope for the one without fearing the other, 
civil laws have no force." Lord Bolingbroke also ob- 
serves, that " the doctrine of rewards and punishments 
in a future state has so great a tendency to enforce the 
civil laws, and to restrain the vices of men, that reason 
which (as he pretends) cannot decide for it on principles 
of natural theology, will not decide against it on princi- 
ples of good policy." And even Mr. Hume, when speak- 
ing of the notions that " the Deity will inflict punish- 
ments on vice, and confer infinite rewards on virtue," 
says, " those who attempt to disabuse persons of such 
prejudices may, for aught he knows, be good reasoners ; 
but that he cannot allow them to be good citizens and 'poli- 
ticians, since they free men from one restraint upon their 
passions, and make the infringement of the laws of equity 
and society in one respect, more easy and secure."* 

The ancient philosophers had some feeble glimmerings 
of a future state ; but, as you have long ago learned, 

* Spirit, of Laws, vol. 2, book 24. ch. 14. Bolingbroke's Works, 4to 
edit. vol. v. p. 322. Hume's Philosophical Essays, 1st cd. p. 231. 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 43H 

(Letter III.) they were sadly clouded by error and ab- 
surdity ; and the awful idea of accountability was in great 
measure, if not entirely excluded. This is not to be 
wondered at, since their notions of the Supreme Being 
weie so erroneous. The belief of a God and that of a 
future state are indissoluble : no consistent theist can 
believe that human existence ceases at death ; nor, on 
the other hand, can any one who believes in a future 
world be an atheist. Our ideas of these subjects, how- 
ever, must have been very vague independent of Revela- 
tion : but " God hath brought life and immortality to 
light through the Gospel." Christians are taught that 
man has two states of existence, the one temporal, the 
other eternal : ineffable, interminable bliss, is promised 
to those who are "faithful unto death;" while "indigna- 
tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish " are represent- 
ed as. the eternal doom of "every soul of man that doeth 
evil," and repenteth not. The Scriptures also suggest to 
us a remarkable and essential distinction, not only in re- 
gard to the duration, but to the nature of the states be- 
fore and after death. Here the capacity of enjoyment 
and that of suffering appear to have nearly an invariable 
ratio : those who have the richest sources of delight 
seem to have most avenues of pain ; every new road to 
knowledge gives them a fresh insight into their igno- 
rance ; and every refinement upon pleasure renders 
them more alive to distress : while those who are blunt- 
ed against the finer feelings seem in an equal degree 
hardened against the pressure of evil ; so that though 
they may enjoy less, they likewise surfer less : and the 
happiness of this life is, probably, much more uniformly 
diffused* (the stings of conscience not considered) than 
cursory observers might suppose. But this balancing 
of bliss and wo will not be found beyond the grave. In 
the future world the capability of enjoyment will, to 
the blessed, be perpetually expanding, while that of suf- 

Greffory *■ •' 



434 Gregory's letters. 

fering will be entirely destroyed : and, on the othejr 
hand, with those who are consigned to endless punish*- 
ment, the capacity of suffering will, there is reason tc 
fear, continually increase, while that of enjoyment will 
be blunted and annihilated ; — for " the wrath of God 
abideth on them." They are considerations like these 
that give such unbounded importance to the concerns of 
the soul, and make us exclaim to those who regard them 
with supineness, — 

" ! be wise ! 
" Nor make a curse of immortality. 
" Know'st thou th' importance of a soul immortal ? 
" Behold this midnight glory ! worlds on worlds ! 
" Amazing pomp ! redouble this amaze ; 
" Ten thousand add ; add twice ten thousand more , 
" Then weigh the whole ; one soul outweighs them all, 
" And calls th' astonishing magnificence 
" Of unintelligent creation poor." Young. 

Allow me to place before you a few of the passages of 
Scripture, in which the nature and duration of the fu- 
ture state of existence are expressly declared. And 
first I shall quote part of the language of our Lord in 
his awful description of the solemnities of the judgment 
day. " Then shall the King say to them on his right 
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 
" Then shall he say also to them on his left hand, De- 
part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the devil and his angels." "And these shall go away 
into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eter- 
nal" In one of his prayers to his heavenly Father, the 
language of the Messiah was, " Father, I will that they 
whom thou hast given me be with me where I «.m, that 
they may behold my glory." In 'his celebrated sermon 
on the mount, his language was, " Blessed are the pure 
in heart ; for they shall see God." And in the Revela- 
tion we have the promise, " To him that overcometh 



ETERxNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 435 

will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also 
overcame and am set down with my Father in his 
throne." Hence in other parts of the same inspired book 
it is said, " They are before the throne of God, and 
serve him day and night in his temple; and he that 
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They 
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither 
shall the sun strike on them, nor any heat. For the 
Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, 
and lead them to living fountains of waters : and God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." " And there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, nei- 
ther shall there be any more pain : for the former things 
are passed away."* Well may language labor to de- 
scribe felicity such as this : even hyperbole upon hyper- 
bole would here be defective, as is indicated by the 
apostle Paul, when he calls it "a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory."] 

Let us now contemplate the other side of the picture. 
" If thine hand cause thee to offend, cut it off: it is bet- 
ter for thee to enter maimed into life, than, having two 
hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire ; where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if 
thy foot cause thee to offend, cut it off: it is better for 
thee to enter into life lame, than having two feet, to be 
cast. into hell, into the unquenchable fire; where their 
worm dieth not, and the fire is 7iot quenched. And if thine 
eye cause thee to offend, pluck it out; it is better for 
thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, 
than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire ; where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For 



* Matt. 25 : 34, 41, 46 ; John, 17 : 24 ; Matt. 5:8; Rev. 3:21; 7 : 
15 17; 21:4. 

t 2 Cor. 4 : 17 ; where the *o3-' u7r$fCohm at v7rtf.Go.>n is infinitely 
emphatical, as Blackwell justly remarks. 



136 Gregory's letters. 

ivery one shall be salted with fire." " Between us and 
you (who are in hell torment) there is a great gulf fixed : 
so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot ; 
neither can tliey pass to us that would come from thence" 
" The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with 
his mighty angels, in naming fire, taking vengeance on 
them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ : who shall be punished with 
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 
and from the glory of his power." " To these is re- 
served the blackness of darkness for ever." " The smoke 
of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever ; and 
they have no rest day nor night." " And the devil that 
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim- 
stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and 
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." 
Mark, 9 : 43-49 ; Luke, 16 : 26 ; 2 Thes. 1:7-9; Jude, 
13 ; Rev. 14 : 11 ; 20 : 10. 

Such, on the one hand, are the delightful, and on the 
other, the tremendous declarations of Scripture. They 
are so plain and forcible that it is scarcely credible that 
any other sentiments than those they inculcate should 
be cherished by persons who profess to be believers in 
Christianity. Yet there are some who contend that the 
soul sleeps, utterly void of sense, consciousness, and ac- 
tivity from the time of death till the day of judgment ; 
the admission into any degree of happiness being sus- 
pended till that event : and others, who dream of tempo- 
ral punishments after the time of life is past, who fancy 
that there is a state of preparation and improvement be- 
yond the term of life, through which bad men will pass. 
<uid come out fitted for " the beatific vision of God." 
Both these appear to me to be very great mistakes ; 
though the latter is inconceivably the most dreadful. I 
shall, therefore, devote a few pages to each of them ; be* 
ginning with that of the sleep of the sovl. 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 437 

Thought is as essential to mind, as figure is to matter 
So that if we can suppose matter to exist without figure, 
we may suppose mind to exist without thought. I con 
cur in the statement of an able writer, that a real cessa 
tion of thought "is the destruction of the mind; and 
what might be termed a restoration of thought, would, 
in fact, be the formation of a new mind. If therefore, at 
death, the thinking principle should rest, should cease to* 
act, it would at the same time cease to be. Its very ex- 
istence and character depend on its action. And if, at 
the resurrection, the inspiration of the Almighty should 
again make man a living soul, capable of thought, such 
an act of omnipotence, with respect to mind, would be a 
new creation. The mind, formed for inhabiting the glo- 
rified body, would thus be another mind than that which 
formerly possessed the body when in a state of mor- 
tality ; the identity of the soul would be destroyed : a 
reward and punishment would be useless ; and a day of 
retribution unavailing." For why should you and I be 
any way -concerned for the happiness or misery of the 
men who should ages hence be raised from our ashes, 
when the future beings could be in no respect the same 
in reference to us but as they were arbitrarily to be de- 
nominated the same, because their bodies were to be 
constituted of the same matter which now constitutes 
ours 1 Why should we regard any promised rewards or 
threatened punishments in another life, when they can 
only be enjoyments and sufferings of a new race of 
beings made of the old materials which we dropped at 
our dissolution 1 

The notion, then, of soul sleeping, is not without dan- 
ger, since it deprives religion of its most cogent motives, 
or at least weakens them excessively. How, you may 
ask, do any persons contrive io deduce it from Scrip- 
ture ] Entirely, I believe, from the circumstance that 
death is frequently in Scripture depicted under the 



438 Gregory's letters. 

image of sleep. Dead persons are there often said to be 
"fallen asleep :" and in the First Epistle to the Thessa- 
lonians, we are told that " they which sleep in Jesus will 
God bring with him." But in such passages the word 
sleep is used in reference to the body ; and I know not 
one in which the same metaphor is used in allusion to 
the soul. In Daniel, " Many of them that sleep in the 
'dust of the earth shall awake," applies manifestly to the 
body. More expressly still, we learn in Matthew " that 
the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which 
slept, arose." And again, " David, after he had served 
his own generation, by the will of God, fell asleep, and 
was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption, but he 
whom God raised again saw no corruption." Here that 
which is described as falling asleep is evidently the body. 
Many other passages might be adduced to the same pur- 
pose. Dan. 12 : 2 ; Matt. 27 : 52 ; Acts, 13 : 36, 37. 

It is also easy to quote or refer to various portions of 
the word of God which run directly counter to this opi- 
nion of the sleep of the soul. In the parable, of Dives 
and Lazarus, for example, we have a description of the 
state in which good and bad men are placed immediately 
after death, in which there is no allusion to a suspension 
of happiness or misery ; but, on the contrary, it appears 
that directly after the termination of mortal existence, 
the poor man was comforted, the rich tormented. "Whe- 
ther the delighi and the anguish are equal to what they 
will be after the day of judgment, when the soul and 
body will *be inseparably united, or whether they are 
principally the pleasurable and the^-dreadful anticipation 
of future bliss and wo, we are not taught : those points 
are, however, amply decided from other Scriptures ; 
and we, at least, learn from this that the soul does not, 
at death, pass into a state where it is unconscious of 
pleasure or pain. So again, when our Lord promised the 
penitent malefactor, on the cross, that he should "that day 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 439 

be with him in Paradise," he could not mean that he 
should be conveyed thither to sleep : this would be sadly- 
trifling with the trembling penitent's feelings : and is 
perfectly incompatible both with the character of the 
Savior and with the solemn and important purposes for 
which he was then suffering. 

Once more, the doctrine of the sleep of the soul is irre- 
concilable with the language of the apostle Paul: "I am 
in a strait between two, having a desire to depart and he 
with Christ, which is far better; nevertheless, to abide in 
the flesh is more needful for you." Phil. 1 : 23, 24. If, 
after death, the soul sleep till the day of judgment, and 
that be all that is meant by being uith Christ, not only 
is the phraseology very strange, but the apostle fancies 
himself in a difficult dilemma, when a sensible man 
would decide without hesitation. On the one hand, he 
might be useful to the church, and might invite many 
more to " the Shepherd and Bishop of souls :" on the 
other, though he would die earlier, he would not earlier 
enter into glory, but he would be rendered perfectly 
useless to those whom he loved as himself, and deemed 
" his joy and crown of rejoicing." Lastly, in another 
passage of the same apostle, he says, " Therefore we are 
always confident, knowing that while we sojourn in the 
body, we are absent from the Lord ; we are confident, I 
say, and ivilling rather to be absent from the body, and 
-present with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5 : 6, 8. Here the expres- 
sion " present with the Lord," as a necessary conse- 
quence of the reasoning, implies happiness immediately 
subsequent to death ; whereas sleep is not happiness, but 
insensibility. These passages, which have been quoted 
again and again to refute the doctrine of soul-sleeping, 
will, I doubt not, fully suffice to convince you that that 
doctrine is directly contradictory to many of the most 
stimulating and cheering promises in the New Tes- 
tament. 



440 Gregory's letters. 

I must now guard you against the adoption of the 
much more dangerous error, respecting the duration of 
future punishment; and I shall call your attention the 
more seriously and earnestly to this subject, because it is 
far from being a matter merely speculative, and is one 
of the highest moment with regard to its practical ten 
dency. The notion of punishment for a limited period 
has been espoused by many, in the earlier as well as the 
present times ; but it was strongly opposed by the pri 
mitive christians : " We say (observed Justyn Martyr) that 
the souls of the wicked being reunited to the same bo- 
dies shall be consigned over to eternal torments ; and not, 
as Plato will have it, to the period of a thousand years 
only : but if you will affirm this to be incredible or im- 
possible, there is no help but you must fall from error to 
error till the day of judgment convinces you we are in 
the right."* 

They who oppose the doctrine of the eternal suffering 
of bad men after death, have recourse to a variety of 
arguments ; but they may be reduced to three, which I 
shall here consider. 

* Just. Mart. Apol. ii. § 3. The same sentiment is reiterated, and its 
tendency to stimulate to holy conduct most forcibly exhibited in various 
parts of this admirable Apology. The contrary opinions, says this Apolo- 
gist, are due to the suggestions of " evil spirits, who do all they can to 
smothe* the notion of hell-fire." " But since all departed souls continue, in 
sensation, and everlasting fire is treasured up for the unrighteous, let me 
exhort you to lay these things seriously to heart." Yet Dr. Estlin, p. 18 
of his " Discourses on Universal Restitution," adduces Justin Martyr as 
an evidence in favor of his opinions ! I request the serious attention of 
this gentleman to the following observation of Dr. Waterland: " It should 
be considered that the moral obliquity and turpitude of misquoting or mis- 
representing authors consists in this : that it is a means to deceive tho 
simple, to surprise the unwary and unlearned (who must or will receive 
;hings upon trust;) it is taking advantage of the blind side of human na- 
ture, laying a snare for such readers (perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred) 
as i-ead not with due care and thought. I do not see but this very method 
of tbn Doctor s is bi°r with all this mischief." 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 441 

I. It is said, that "since God is a Being whose good- 
ness and mercy are indisputably infinite, he may naturally 
be expected to overlook inconsiderable errors; and even 
when he does punish, to observe a proportion between 
offences and punishments, and not punish temporary sins 
by inflicting eternal suffering, because that is unjust : 
he is bound by his nature and attributes to be merciful 
as well as just ; and therefore not to make the greater 
portion of his intelligent creatures for ever unhappy." 

This argument, though specious, is by no means irre- 
futable ; as I trust the following observations will show. 

1. To argue from the Divine perfections by mere infer- 
ence is a very convenient, but not very complete way 
of disproving any assertion we please. In such case the 
arguer and his opponent have only each to take it for 
granted that he has an adequate idea of the Divine at- 
tributes, and the business is settled. But if this cannot 
be taken for granted, the major proposition of the syl- 
logism is unfounded, and the whole necessarily falls., 
Now, this exactly occurs in the instance before us : on 
the one hand it is affirmed that God is bound to be 
merciful, and on the other hand it is admitted that he 
will be merciful to a certain extent, limited by his other 
attributes : but we have no measure of that extent (foi 
" who hath known the mind of the Lord ?") except so 
far as he has furnished us with it in the Scriptures; — 
and there we are sufficiently cautioned against relying 
upon mere mercy, " uncovenanted mercy," by being as- 
sured that " the wrath of God abideth on " unbelievers, 
and that " he shall have judgment without mercy, that 
hath showed no mercy." John, 3 : 36 ; James, 2:13. 

2. If God is bound by his own nature to be merciful 
to his frail creatures, and to restore them to his favor af- 
ter they have expiated their sins by intense suffering 
of limited duration, the work of redemption by Jesus 
Christ must be unnecessary. So that this argument 

19* 



442 Gregory's letters. 

operates unfavorably two ways at least : it nearly de- 
stroys all obligation to Jesus Christ for dying to expiate 
human guilt; since the criminal would, according to 
this hypothesis, have suffered the full demerit of his 
own sins in a limited time : and it imputes to a being of 
unbounded wisdom, justice and love, the injustice of 
bruising his dearly beloved Son, of putting him to grief 
and shame, and leading him to an ignominious death, to 
cancel the sins of mankind, which he was bound to for- 
give without any such sacrifice. 

3. As, in human courts of judicature, criminals are natu- 
rally inclined to estimate too lightly their own turpitude, 
and to think the punishment inflicted upon them much 
too heavy ; so, in like manner, may it be with regard to 
transgressions against God. None of us estimate duly the 
" exceeding sinfulness of sin :" for we have all been guilty 
of it, and are, therefore, all inclined to palliate it:. and 
if to palliate it, then to lessen the punishment we think 
it justly deserves : so that on this account, as well as be- 
cause of our ignorance of the attributes of Deity, we are 
totally unqualified to determine (and much more in op- 
position to positive declarations) the adequate duration 
or magnitude of future punishment. _ 

4. We know not to what extent future misery may result 
from the nature and duration of the soul, independently 
of punishment absolutely inflicted. The loss of the chief 
good, and exclusion from heaven, are the necessary, con- 
sequences of transgression ; and a consciousness of this 
loss, as well as remorse and self-condemnation on account 
of it, follow naturally from the existence of the soul : 
these may constitute the venom of "the worm that 
never dies," and the fierceness of " the fire that is not 
quenched ;" and it is easy to see that it may be perfectly 
equitable in the Divine Being to suffer these to con- 
tinue. If the greater part of the punishment be conscious 
guilt, that does not seem very likely to produce purity, 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 443 

holiness, and love to God, and thus ultimately to issue 
as the Universalists imagine, in restoration to the Divine 
favor. 

5. It by no means follows that, because impenitent sin 
ners will be eternally punished, God " makes the greatef 
■portion of his intelligent creatures for ever unhappy.' 
Yet this, in the estimation of Dr. Hartley (one of the 
most able jnen that ever defended the system of the 
Universalists,) is the grand argument. " To suppose 
(says he) future punishments to be absolutely eternal, is 
to suppose that the christian dispensation condemns far 
the greater part of mankind to infinite misery upon the 
balance, whilst yet it is every where declared to be a 
dispensation of mercy, to be glory to God and good will 
to men; which is a great apparent inconsistency." On 
Man, vol. ii. ch. 5. To remove this apparent inconsis 
tency, then, let it be recollected that not far from one 
half 'of the children which are born, die in infancy or 
early childhood and there is reason to believe are happy 
in a future world, their faculties being expanded at death 
so as to prepare them for the full enjoyment of heaven;* 
and that though, for ages, true christians may have been 
the minority, yet a time will come, and that not of short 
duration, when " the earth shall be full of the knowledge 
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea;" Isa. 11 : 9; let 
these, I say, be recollected, and duly considered, and 
there will remain no grounds of belief that the greater 
part of mankind will be eternally miserable.f 



* " Of such is the kingdom of God." Matt. 19 : 14. 

t Richard Baxter, when resolving this, among " the intrinsical Diffi- 
culties in the christian faith," has some observations, which, considering 
that they were published thirty years before Huyghen's "Conjectures con- 
cerning the Planetary Worlds," are as calculated to interest the man of 
science as the man of piety. 

" I confess (says he) it greatly quieteth my mind against this great ob- 
jection of the numbers that are damned and cast off for ever, to consider 



444 Gregory's letters. 

6. Waiving all these considerations, it may be remark- 
ed that the measure of penalty will be regulated by the 
just ends of government, and not necessarily by either 
the quality of the offence or the time of its performance. 
If the suffering were proportionate to the time of com- 
mission, then it would follow that some of the greatest 
ciimes, such as murder or suicide, which may be com- 
mitted in a much shorter time than many, other less 
heinous sins, would for that reason be more slightly 
punished ; which is repugnant to all correct ideas of 
justice. So that the objection of temporary crimes being 

how small a part this earth is of God's creation, as well as how sinful and 
impenitent. Ask any astronomer, that hath considered the innumerable 
number of the fixed stars and planets, with their distances and magnitude, 
and glory, and the uncertainty that we have whether there be not as many 
more, or a hundred or thousand times as many, unseen to man, as all 
those which we see (considering the defectiveness of man's sight, and the' 
planets about Jupiter, with the innumerable stars in the Milky Way, 
which the tube hath lately discovered, which man's eyes without it could 
not see,) — I say, ask any man who knoweth these things, whether all this 
earth be any more in comparison of the whole creation, than one prison is 
to a kingdom or empire, or than the paring of one nail, or a little mole or 
wart, or a hair, in comparison of the whole body. And if God should cast 
off all this earth, and use all the sinners in it as they deserve, it is no 
more sign of a \vant of benignity or mercy in him, than it is for a king to 
cast one subject of a million into a jail, and to hang him for his murder, 
or treason, or rebellion." — " I know it is a thing uncertain and unrevealed 
to us, whether all these globes be inhabited or not : but he that consider- 
ed that there is scarce any uninhabitable place on earth, or in the water 
or air, but men, or beasts, or birds, or fishes, or flies, or worms and nioles 
do take up almost all, will think it a probability so near a certainty, as not 
to be much doubted of, that the vaster and more glorious parts of the 
creation are not uninhabited ; but that they have inhabitants answerable 
to their magnitude and glory (as palaces have other inhabitants than cot- 
tages:) and that there is a connaturality and agreeableness there, as well 
s.s here, between the region or globe and the inhabitants. Whether they 
are all to be called Angels or Spirits, or by what other name, is unre- 
vealed to us : but whatever they are called, I make no question but our 
number to theirs is not one to a million." Reasons of the Christian Keif 
gion, p. 330 : published in 1667. 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 445 

punished by indefinitely long sufferings is, plainly, of no 
force. And! as to the ad valorem punishment, if that alone 
were threatened, the consequences would obviously be, 
that petty sins would abound, that the heart and con- 
science would become cauterized by an indulgence in 
them, and thence proceed without a pang to the com- 
mission of greater crimes. The grand design of govern-' 
ment is to prevent all crime : and if the apportioning of 
penalties to transgressions be not so properly a conside- 
ration of justice as a matter of prudence and wisdom in 
the lawgiver, then justice cannot well be said to be con- 
cerned in any imagined disproportion between sins and 
sufferings. But justice is concerned in this, that the 
righteous and the wicked should not be treated alike, as 
well as that greater sins should have a heavier punish- 
ment; all which may evidently be adjusted in the de- 
gree and intenseness of suffering, without there being 
any difference in its duration. 

7. However, it must be observed, " that the primary 
end of all threatenings is not punishment, but the pre- 
vention of it. For God does not threaten that men may 
sin, and be punished ; but that they may not sin, and so 
escape the punishment threatened. And. therefore the 
higher the threatening runs, so much the more mercy 
and goodness there is in it, because it is so much the 
more likely to hinder men from incurring the penalty 
that is threatened." Tillotson's 35th Ser. 

II. Those who reject the doctrine of eternal punish- 
ment contend that the word which we translate to punish 
is often used in a mitigated sense ; and they farther 
bring forward many passages to show either that after 
a certain portion of suffering the criminal will be re- 
stored to favor, or that " eternal death " means an- 
nihilation. 

Thus, in their note on Matt. 25 : 40, the recent So- 
cinian Translators say, "the word here rendered punish- 



446 Gregory's letters. 

ment properly signifies correction inflicted for the benefit 
of the offender." To this it may be replied that the true 
signification of «.c\aa-ic (the word adverted to) is punish- 
ment in general : my authorities are first Hesycliius, who 
explains it by ri/xopix.: and, secondly, Scapula, who trans- 
lates it punitio, item castigatio. But farther, in 1 John, 
4 : 18, we find the same word translated by torment even 
in the same version ; and it is not easy to trace there any 
reference to a torment for the benefit of the person 
tormented. So again, in Acts, 4 : 21, where the word 
is noxtto-uvrdLi, we cannot perceive how the punishment, 
with which the apostles Peter and John were threaten- 
ed, was calculated for their benefit. And once more, in 
2 Peter, 2 : 9, where we are told that "the Lord know- 
eth how to deliver those that are godly out of trial, and 
to reserve those that are unrighteous to the day of judg- 
ment to be punished ;" the phrase surely cannot imply 
punishment for the benefit of the offenders ; because, if 
so, the worst offenders are singled out to experience that 
benefit : for, according to these very translators, they are 
"chiefly those who walk after the flesh with polluted 
desires, and despise dominion : who are presumptuous, 
self-willed, and not afraid to blaspheme dignities," &c. 
that are selected to undergo this beneficial process. 

As to the passages usually adduced to prove that the 
punishment in a future world will be annihilation, it may 
be remarked, first, that a state of misery, which is as bad 
or worse than death, may without impropriety be called 
by that name, as indeed it often is by the best ancient 
Roman and Greek authors ; and thus " the lake of fire " 
into which the wicked shall be cast, to be there torment- 
ed, is expressly called " the second death" Rev. 20 : 14. 
And secondly, if " eternal death " mean eternal annihi- 
latipn, then all positive punishment and torment is ex- 
cluded, contrary to the language of our Lord, who says 
"there shall be wreping, and wailing, and gnashing of 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 447 

teeth;" and besides, upon this hypothesis, the punish 
ment of all sinners must be equal, because annihilation 
is not-being, in which there can be no degrees : but this 
is contrary to all ideas of justice. 

The other notion, that is of annihilation after a tem- 
porary punishment, has not the least foundation in Scrip- 
ture, and is in itself too absurd to demand any specific 
reply : and with regard to all these speculations respect 
ing mitigated suffering, it may be remarked, once for 
all, that if the Divine Being intended his threatenings 
should have their full effect in deterring from crime, it 
cannot be conceived that in the same Revelation he 
should have given any intimations of his intention to 
mitigate their severity, or not to execute them at all. 
If it be wise to excite the strongest dread of future pun- 
ishment, any other declarations, intended to weaken that 
impression, would be unwise. 

III. But the grand current of the arguments against 
the eternal duration of future punishment flows from 
the affirmed limited meaning of the words aim, aiaviovy 
&c. which it, therefore, becomes necessary to examine 
rather particularly. 

" The word translated everlasting" (say the late So- 
cinian translators in a note on Matt. 25 : 46,) " is often 
used to express a long but indefinite duration. Rom. 
16 : 25 ; 2 Tim. 1:9; Philemon, 15. This text there- 
fore, so far from giving countenance to the harsh doc- 
trine of eternal misery, is rather favorable to the more 
pleasing and more probable hypothesis, of the ultimate 
restitution of the wicked to virtue and to happiness." 

I certainly can trace no allusion to either ultimate vir 
Uie or happiness in the express declaration, " these shall 
go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous 
into life eternal :" or at least, I must be permitted to 
think that if the wicked may extract a grain of hope 
from so strong a passage, the righteous have at least 



44S Gregory's letters. 

equal reason to dread, that, after a similar duration, they 
may . lapse from virtue and happiness into wickedness 
and misery ; and thus the good and the bad may change 
places at the termination of that ceonian period, which is 
here alike placed before each class of persons. It can 
never, I conceive, be consistent with sound criticism to 
interpret the same word used twice in the same sen- 
tence and connexion, and in both directly applicable to 
the soul, which is naturally immortal, so as to indicate 
eternity in the one instance, and terminable duration in 
the other. 

But the word climios, we are told, is sometimes em 
ployed to express a limited but very long duration, and 
is three or four times (perhaps) so used in Scripture ; 
being indeed derived from sum, which denotes duration 
or continuance of time, but with great variety ; • and 
" therefore " it can never mean eternity. I will not here 
argue from the probable derivation, ah ay, always being ;* 
but consider what is thus advanced in opposition to the 
more received opinion, as emanating from an established 
canon of criticism, to which all subordinate considera- 
tions must bend. This canon may, I suppose, be fairly 
enunciated thus : " When words have by frequent use 
deviated from their primitive meaning, we must in all 
our researches into the real meanings of authors, espe- 
cially in disputed matters, endeavor to ascertain the ori~ 

* That continued existence is the essential idea comprehended in the 
word we know upon the authority of Aristotle. Speaking of the celestial 
intelligences, he says, they are " without change or infirmity, and, pos- 
sessing a most excellent and satisfactory life, they continue through all 
eternity" (fiattXH tov xvayta AlilNA.) Then follows this remarkable 
passage: "For this word has been divinely spoken by the ancients: Fo 
the consummation containing the time of every life not supernatural is 
called its age : (its period of duration.) For the same reason, the consum- 
mation of the whole heaven, and the consummation containing the unlimit- 
ed duration, and the immensity of all things, is eternity, deriving its name 
frcm always being — immortal and divine." Lib. i. Ccel. c. 10. 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 449 

ginal sense of such words, and thereby abide I" Unless 
this be a legitimate canon of criticism, the " therefore " 
of the critics just quoted stands for nothing : let us then 
apply it to a few examples. 

1. To discourse means primarily, to run up and down : 
" therefore " when a person delivers a moral or religious 
discourse he runs up and down ! 

2. Sarah signifies originally a lady or a princess : " there- 
fore " every one named Sarah is a lady or a princess ! 

3. Qixapyvpi*, according to its primary acceptation, sig- 
nifies the love of silver : "therefore " it can never denote 
avarice, or the love of money generally; and conse- 
quently 1 Tim. 6 : 10 is erroneously translated in every 
version extant ! 

4. Kyytxx originally denotes a mere messenger: "there- 
fore" it never means any thing else ; — therefore Acts, 12 : 
16, should be rendered, "It is his messenger;" — and 
Matt. 13 : 39 should be, " the harvest is the end of the 
age, and the reapers are the messengers ;" and we have 
thence an irresistible exhortation to hospitality in Heb. 
13 : 3, "for by this some have unknowingly entertained 
messengers /" 

5. A/*/3s\5j means primarily an accuser, informer, or 
slanderer : " therefore " it cannot properly denote any 
thing else ; — therefore John, S : 44, should be rendered, 
'•'Ye are of your father the slanderer ;" — Acts, 10 : 3S, 
should be, " Jesus went about doing good, and healing 
all that were oppressed of the slanderer ;" — Matthew, 
13 : 39, should be, "the enemy that sowed them is the 
informer ;." — and 1 Peter, 5 : 8, might be translated very 
consistently with these notions, "Be sober, be vigilant, 
because your adversary, the informer, walketh about as a 
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour!" 

6. A/J/sc in its primary use denoted eternal in a re- 
strained sense, and is, in fact, employed in Jude, vex. 6, 
to signify without end only, and not without beginning 



450 Gregory's letters. 

also : (i therefore " it can never properly indicate absolute 
eternity, and consequently Rom. 1 : 20 contains no full 
and positive declaration of God's eternal power and Di- 
vinity ! 

7. iivivrA* primarily denotes breath or wind : " there 
fore " Rom. 8 : 26 should commence with " The wind 
helpeth our infirmities;" and James,. 2 : 26 should be 
translated, " the body without the wind is dead." Hence 
also the propriety of the exhortation in Gal. 5 : 16, — 
"Walk in the wind ;" — and hence again the axiomatic 
evidence of the proposition in Gal. 6 : 8, — " He that sow- 
eth to the wind shall of the wind reap age-lasting life;" — 
as well as of that in John t 4 : 24, — " God is a wind /" 

8. ©soc, from S-«», to place, is a name borrowed from 
the heathen, being that by which they denoted an ima- 
ginary god, or an idol made with hands : in this sense it 
is sometimes used in the New Testament, as at Acts, 
14 : 11 ; 28 : 6 ; 1 Cor. 8:5;" therefore " we must not 
be confident that the word can ever designate any other 
than false gods ! 

All these " therefore," strange and ridiculous as they 
may appear to you, are just as "pleasing and probable," 
so far as the genuine meaning of the respective words 
and passages is determinable by means of this much ad- 
mired rule of interpretation, as the inference that kokao-iv 
cttaivtov denotes limited suffering for the good of offenders, 
to terminate in their eternal holiness and happiness. 

Indeed, this curious mode of enucleating difficulties, 
and rendering Scripture plain and simple, furnishes us 
with many "pleasing" deductions : and among others it 
has the happy effect of rendering the " glorious Gospel 
of the blessed God" nearly if not entirely nugatory 
Thus, as we have seen, it would leave us in doubt as to 
the existence of any being invisible to us ; for " messen- 
gers" and "accusers" may be very different beings from 
angels and devils : and farther, instead of having " life 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 451 

and immortality brought to light through the Gospel," 2 
Tim. 1 : 10, the Gospel would be stripped of almost every 
direct declaration relative to immortality (as *tf*po-t& may 
mean incorruptibility only, and */a>m? terminable exis- 
tence,) and we should have to gather this cheering and 
consoling truth from remote and circuitous inference. 

Some patronizers of the hypothesis I am now oppos- 
ing appear to think this no great objection to their sys- 
tem ; but are prepared to expel from the New Testa- 
ment the forcible English words and phrases eternal, ever- 
lasting, forever, world without end, &c. and to substitute 
in their place words from a dead language which them- 
selves acknowledge they do not well comprehend, and 
which to a plain unlettered christian can convey no defi- 
nite idea whatever. Hence, as has been remarked by 
an ingenious anonymous author on this subject, when 
men look " into this sacred volume for the important in- 
formation promised, they there read of an ceonian God, 
who regards his people with an ceonian love, has made 
with them in Christ an ceonian covenant, provided for 
them an ceonian salvation, together with an ceonian righ- 
teousness, through which they shall now experience ceo- 
nian consolation, and finally possess ceonian life in an 
ceonian kingdom : but that if they reject and despise all 
this, they will be compelled to suffer ceonian punishment. 
In this case how great their disappointment and morti- 
fication !"* 

After these observations it can scarcely be necessary 
for me to affirm that the Greek word, so frequently used 
in Scripture with regard to a future world, expresses cor- 
rectly a proper eternity ; or, to support that affirmation 
by examples. I shall, however, refer you to two portions 
of Scripture which have been often and properly quoted 
as decisive, namely, Rev. 20 : 10, and 2 Cor. 4 : 18. In 

* Free Strictures on an " Address to Candid and Serious Men." 



452 Gregory's letters. 

the first mentioned of these the phrase us roue ««»v*c ran 
ctiwuv (for ever and ever) is so energetic, that if it do not 
fully signify eternity to come, I know nothing in the 
Greek language which does. And in the latter specified 
passage the things which are seen, all things visible 01 
material, the world and every thing in it, are put in com 
plete opposition to the unseen future state; the things 
which are seen being said to be for a short time (01 
temporary,) while the things which are not seen are 
everlasting. 

To bring these arguments to a conclusion, let me re- 
mark that the awful picture of the duration and terrible 
nature of future punishment exhibited in the passage 
from the 9th chapter of Mark's Gospel, introduced in 
an early part of this letter, is calculated to produce the 
deepest conviction in the minds of all who receive the 
Scriptures as the word of God. The expression, " where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" is rei- 
terated with solemn and dreadful energy : and the decla- 
ration, " every one shall he salted with fire" implies, I 
conceive, if it imply any thing, that as salt preserves 
from putrefaction flesh to which it is applied, so those 
unhappy victims of Divine justice shall be salted with 
fire, and, instead of being consumed by it, shall, in the 
wretched abodes to which they are consigned, continue 
immortal in the midst of their flames ! This sentiment 
was decidedly avowed by Tertullian, who in his Apolo- 
getic (cap. 4S) says, " The profane and the hypocrite 
shall be doomed to a lake of ever-flowing fire, and. fueled 
ivith incorruptibility from the Divine indefectable nature 
of the flame which torments them ! the mountains burn 
with perpetual fire, and are mountains still : why, then, 
may not the wicked and the enemies of God burn like 
these]" 

How far the misery of* the eternal state will be corpo- 
real, and how far mental, I pretend not to decide : but I 



ETERNAL EXISTENCE AFTER DEATH. 453 

will extract for your perusal a sentence or two from Dr. 
Hartley, who, you will recollect, was a Universalist, 
though much too sincere a lover of truth to run the 
length in support of the " restoration " hypothesis which 
some later writers have. gone. " With respect to the 
punishment of the wicked in a future state (says he) we 
may observe, that it may be corporeal, though the happi- 
ness of the blessed should not be so. For sensuality is 
one great part of vice, and a principal source of it It 
may be necessary, therefore, that actual^fire should feed 
upon the elementary body, and whatever else is added 
to it after the resurrection, in order to burn out the 
stains of sin. The elementary body may also perhaps 
bear the action of fire for ages, without being destroyed. 
Like the caput mortuum or terra damnata of the chym- 
ists. For this terra damnata remains after the calcina- 
tion of vegetable and animal substances by intense and 
long continued fires. The destruction of the world by 
fire, spoken of both in the Scriptures and in many pro- 
fane writings, the phenomena of comets, and of the sun 
and fixed stars, those vast bodies of fire which bum for 
ages, the great quantity of sulphureous matter contained 
in the bowels of the earth, the destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah by fire and brimstone alluded to in the New 
Testament, the representation of future punishment un- 
der the emblem of the fire of Gehenna, and, above all, 
the expreSs passages of Scripture, in which it is declared 
that the wicked shall be punished by fire, even everlasting 
fire, confirm this position concerning the corporeal na- 
ture of future punishment, as well as give light to one 
another. 

" But if the punishments of another world should bo 
corporeal in some measure, there is still the greatest 
reason to believe that they will be spiritual also ; and 
that by selfishness, ambition, malevolence, envy, revenge, 
cruelty, profane ness, murmuring against Gioil. infidelity 



454 Gregory's letters. 

and blasphemy, men will become tormentois to them- 
selves, and to each other ; deceive and be deceived ; in- 
fatuate and be infatuated ; so as not to be able to repent 
and turn to God till the appointed time comes, if that 
should ever be. 

" But we are not to suppose that the degree, probably 
not the duration of future punishment, corporeal or men- 
tal, will be the same to all. It may also perhaps be, that 
there may be some alleviating circumstances, or even 
some admixture of happiness. Only the Scriptures do not 
authorize any such conjectures ; and therefore we ought to 
■proceed with the ut?nost caution, lest we lead ourselves or 
others into a fatal mistake. And indeed, if the happiness 
of the blessed be pure and unmixed^s the Scriptures 
seem to declare, and give reason to hope, then may the 
misery of the wicked be unmixed also." On Man, vol 
ii. prop. 89. 

Such is the language of Dr. Hartley ; from which you 
will perceive that his expectations of future punishment 
being any thing short of everlasting unmitigated anguish 
and despair, were very faint indeed. Happy would it be 
for the interests of religion and the extermination of vice 
if all subsequent defenders of similar opinions had pro- 
ceeded with equal diffidence and candor. I regret that 
the length to which it has been necessary to carry my 
reasonings, and the number of texts I have been obliged 
to select in order to show the fallacy and danger of their 
theory, prevent my expatiating, as I intended, upon the 
indefinite and perpetual extension of the intellectual and 
moral faculties, which will be experienced by the " spi 
rits of the just made perfect " in the heavenly world 
That you may not lose any thing, however, but gain con 
siderably by this omission, permit me to close the pre 
sent letter by referring you to the second of Dr. Watts' 
discourses in his work on " Death and Heaven :" a dis- 
course which contains the most fascinating and inspiring 



CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 45£ 

description of the employments, the holiness, and the 
happiness of glorified saints I have ever perused ; an! 
which no one, I conceive, who has any pretensions to 
taste and sensibility, to say nothing of piety, can read 
without surprise and delight. 1 remain, &c 



LETTER XXII. 



On Christian Duties. 



Lactantius, an ancient father of the church, in one of 
nis appeals to the adversaries of true religion, drew a 
bold but not unfaithful picture of the genuine effects of 
the Gospel upon the heart and conduct of sincere chris- 
tians : — " Give me (says he) a man who is choleric, abu- 
sive in his language, headstrong, and unruly ; and with 
a very few words, (the words of God,) he' shall be ren- 
dered gentle as a lamb. — Give me a greedy, avaricious, 
close-fisted man, and I will presently .return him to you 
a generous creature, freely bestowing his money by 
handfuls. Give me a cruel, blood-thirsty wretch, in- 
stantly his ferocity shall be transformed into a truly mild 
and merciful disposition. Give me an unjust man, a 
foolish man, a sinful man; and on a sudden he shall 
become honest, wise and virtuous. In one laver, 
(the laver of .regeneration) all his wickedness shall be 
washed away. So great is the efficacy of the Divine 
Wisdom, that when once admitted into the human heart 
it expels folly, the parent of all vice ; and in accomplish 
ing this great end, there is no occasion for any expense 
no absolute need of books, or deep and long study or 
meditation. The benefit is conferred gratuitously, easi- 



456 Gregory's letters. 

ly, expeditiously ; provided the ears and the heart thirst 
after wisdom. Did any, or could any of the heathen phi- 
losophers accomplish such important purposes as this 1" 
Lib. iii. de fals. sapient, c. 26. 

This language of the Christian Cicero (as he was 
usually denominated) conveys no vain and empty boast ; 
n©r does it, under pretence of exalting Religion, insult 
and trample upon reason and philosophy. The effects 
here ascribed to religion have been frequently produced 
by it, and will always be produced when it is allowed its 
genuine and complete operation. And with respect to 
the supposed insult offered to reason, there can be no 
such thing, unless that be an insult to reason which ren- 
ders its real nature palpable, and guards against the 
abuse of it while it teaches its proper use. Reason has 
been termed, and not improperly, " the eye of the soul ;" 
for as the eye cannot see without light, so neither can 
reason know without instruction. The progress of man- 
kind in learning and science has been made, strictly 
speaking, by gropi?ig, by feeling out one truth after 
another, and adding it to the general stock ; except, in- 
deed, when some grand discoveries have been struck out 
once in a century ,. or perhaps less, by the force of genius; 
but even these, whatever benefits may have resulted 
from them, have not been discoveries of such truths or 
propositions as are developed in Revealed Religion. 
Reason can no more instruct itself, because it knows by 
instruction, than the eye can give light to itself, because 
it sees by the light* This observation applies peculiarly 
to religious matters ; and, as Bishop Hornehas well said, 
you may safely infer from it, that " a man may as well 
take a view of things upon earth in a dark night, by the 
light of his own eye, as pretend to discover the things of 
heaven, in the night of nature, by the light of his own 
reason." Upon these points, says a very powerful rea- 
Goner, Bishop Horsley, " the evidence of Holy Scripture 



CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 457 

is, indeed, the only thing that amounts to proof. The ut- 
must that reasoning can do, is to lead to the discovery, 
and, by God's grace, to the humble acknowledgment of 
the weakness and insufficiency of reason; to resist her 
encroachments upon the province of faith; to silence 
her objections, and cast down imaginations, and prevent 
the innovations and refinements of philosophy and vain 
deceit." 

The grand attributes of reason are, its capability of 
receiving, and, when properly disciplined, of retaining, 
whatever is communicated to it, and its power of discri- 
minating, when it has suitable data, between truth and 
falsehood, or between fitness and want of fitness to ac- 
complish certain purposes. And these attributes are 
possessed in the highest perfection, when, as Paul ex- 
presses it, the eyes of our understanding, (t>k fi*toktti 
the faculty of separation or discernment,) being enlight- 
ened, we may know what is the hope of our calling, and 
what the riches of the glory ;f our inheritance in the 
saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power 
toward us who believe." Eph. 1 : 18, 19. Now, if these 
faculties of the soul be duly exercised, it will be seen 
that the religion of Jesus Christ is all it professes to be, 
and is capable of effecting all that its advocates ascribe 
to it ; that it is conformable to the highest reason, and is, 
therefore, deserving of the warmest admiration and the 
most cordial reception. The religion we are taught in the 
Gospel leads inevitably to the exaltation and perfection 
of our noblest faculties : it requires us to use the things 
of this life as in reason they ought to be used, to cherish 
such tempers and dispositions as are the glory of intelli- 
gent creatures, to avoid such conduct as would degrade 
and debase our nature, to walk in such wisdom as exalts 
our character, to practise such piety as will raise us abovo 
the world and elevate us to God. 



Gregory. 



20 



458 Gregory's letters. 

" His hand the good man fastens on the skies, 

" And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl." Young. 

If these be the genuine productions of religion, it is 
plain that they can never be too universally known and 
felt. Hence results the duty of promulgating religious 
knowledge to the widest extent; as well as that of bring- 
ing every action of life under the influence of religious 
principles : for if it be advantageous for one person to be 
wise, it is more so for all to be wise ; and, if it be produc- 
tive of profit and delight to an individual to be once wise, 
it is infinitely more so for him to be wise always. If it be 
commendable to avoid sin and folly to-day, it will be 
equally commendable to avoid them to-morrow, and to 
the end of life : if God ought to be worshipped and loved 
"with all the heart, and mind, and soul, and strength " 
now, he ought to be so worshipped and lovla for ever : 
if the faithful discharge of every personal and relative 
duty be required of us now, it is equally required of us 
always : if, being pure and holy, and free from guile, if 
exercising ourselves to promote the happiness of our 
fellow-creatures and the glory of G-od, if aspiring after 
communion with the DeiTy, be productive of "joy and 
peace" to-day, they will have a like tendency through 
life, and will assuredly issue in indescribable, unending 
felicity. So that, as he knows not truly what reason is, 
who does not always wish to live conformably to it ; nei- 
ther does he know the true use or nature of religion, who 
wishes to confine it to times, or seasons, or persons, or 
places. " He who thinks it grievous to live always in the 
spirit of religion, to have every part of his life full of it, 
would think it much more grievous to be as the angels of 
God in heaven." 

There is a unity of design in the gift of the Christian 
Religion, and there must, in like manner, be unity of de- 
sign in the profession of it. Its immediate tendency is at 
once to promote the glory of God and the happiness of 



CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 459 

man ; and its various doctrines, precepts, and promises, 
all converge towards that grand point. Selfishness is, 
therefore, excluded ; while happiness, individual as well 
as general, is necessarily predicated and insured in the 
christian system. Its promises allure the soul to heaven, 
while they prompt the believer to benevolent and upright 
conduct : its doctrines expand and delight the intellectual 
faculties, while they furnish the strongest possible mo- 
tives to virtue and holiness.* Thus it happens that the 
Scriptures, as I have before observed, furnish a consistent 
and harmonious, though not a connected scheme of mo- 
rality : for the scheme is harmonious, in so far as the 
same great purposes are always kept in view, and as it in- 
cludes no contradictory or impossible injunctions ; though 
its various precepts are scattered about, and not strictly 
connected, because one and another were delivered at 
distinct times to different persons, according to their re- 
spective circumstances and necessities. 

Faith and practice constitute the whole of our religion ; 
and none of the sacred writers is ever, as I recollect, so 
exclusively occupied with one of those as to forget or 
neglect the other. Hence, christians are not merely ex- 
horted to believe such and such propositions, but they are 
reminded that such belief, to be beneficial, must be influ- 
ential ; and they are exhorted to " let their conversation 
or conduct be asbecometh the Gospel," that they "maybe 
blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, 
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among 
whom" they are to " shine as lights in the world." Phil. 
1 : 27; 2 : 15. 

Christianity, then, is decidedly moral in its tenden- 
c ies : and, therefore, since I have taken some pains to 
explain to you what is proposed for your belief, it is na- 

* " Chose admirable ! La Religion Chretienne, qui ne semble avoir 
d'objet que le felicite de l'autre vie, fait encore notre bonbcur dans celleci.' 
— Montesquiei-. 



460 Gregory's letters. 

tural that you should expect me, before I close our cor 
respondence, to devote a few pages to the enumeration 
of the chief -practical duties which are binding upon 
christians. This I shall now attempt with all possible 
regard to brevity, wishing you to consider it as a bare 
enumeration, and earnestly referring you to the Bible 
itself as the richest store-house of moral precepts. In 
this enumeration I shall adopt the order of several 
moral philosophers, and consider, 1, the duties a man 
owes to himself; 2, those which he owes to society; 3, 
those which are due to God. 

1. Personal Duties. These will manifestly be such 
as tend to preserve our health, and to secure our happi- 
ness ; for " godliness has the promise of the life which 
now is, as well as of that which is to come : they will, 
therefore, include the government of our" affections, appe- 
tites, and passions, the regulation and improvement of 
our temper, the purification of the heart, and an increase 
of useful knowledge. Thus we are earnestly exhorted to 
humility, meekness, temperance, chastity, and modesty, 
diligence, contentment, cheerfulness, self-denial, and mor- 
tification, and to edification in general ; all the contrary 
vices being forbidden in the most forcible terms. To 
prove this I need quote but a very few precepts and 
aphorisms ; for the sake of some order, taking the words 
as I have already placed them before you. 

Humility. " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven." " Whosoever shall hum- 
ble himself as a little child, the same is greatest in 
the kingdom of heaven." " Let the brother of low de- 
gree rejoice in that he is exalted ; but the rich in that he 
is made low." " I charge every one among you not to 
think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but 
to think soberly, accordingly as God hath dealt to every 
man the measure of faith." " Mind not high things; but 
condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your 



PERSONAL DUTIES. lOl 

own conceits." " Who maketh thee to differ from ano- 
ther 1 and what hast thou, that thou didst nut receive] 
now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou 
hadst not received it!" "God resisteth the proud, but 
giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves in the 
sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."* 

JSIeckness. Meekness is a " fruit of the Spirit." " The 
meek will God guide in judgment, the meek will he teach 
his way." " He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly : he 
that is slow to wrath is of great understanding ; but he 
that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." " Seest thou a man 
that is hasty in his words, there is more hope of a fool 
than of him." " Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; 
for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." " Let your 
moderation be known unto all men." " Be ye angry and 
syi not ; let not the sun go down upon your wrath ; nei- 
ther give place to the devil.t" 

Temperance. " Take heed to yourselves, lest at any 
time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and 
drunkenness." " When thou sittest to eat, consider dili- 
gently what is before thee ; and put a knife to thy throat 
if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous 
of dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Be not among 
wine-bibbers nor among riotous eaters of flesh ; for the 
drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty." " They 
that be drunken are drunken in the night ; but let us who 
are of the day be sober." " Let us walk honestly, as in 
the day ; not in rioting and drunkenness." For " drunk- 
enness, revellings, and such like, are works of the flesh ;" 
and " they which do such things shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God :" but temperance is a fruit of the Spirit 
They that count it pleasure to riot in the day-time, sport- 

* Matt. 5:3; 13 : 4 ; James, 1 : 9. 10 ; Rom. 12 : 3, 16 J 1 Cor. 5:7; 
James, 4: 6,7, 10. 

t Gal. 5:23: Psa. 25 : 9 Trov. 14 : 17, 29 ; 29 : 20 ; Ecclcs. 7:9] 
Phil. 4:5; E r b. 4 : 26, 27. 



462 Gregory's letters. 

ing themselves with their own deceivings while they 
feast, shall receive the reward of unrighteousness.* 

Chastity and Modesty. " This is the will of God. even 
your sanctification ; that ye should abstain from fornica- 
tion ; that every one of you should know how to possess 
his vessel in sanctification and honor ; not in the lusts of 
concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not 
God." " God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto 
holiness." " Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against 
the soul." " "Walk not as other Gentiles walk ; who, being 
past feeling, have given themselves over unto lascivious- 
ness, to work all uncleanness greedily." " Whosoever 
looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed 
adultery with her already in his heart." " Put all filthy 
communication out of your mouth ; indulge neither filthi- 
ness nor foolish talking." " Neither fornicators, nor adul- 
terers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with 
mankind, shall enter into the kingdom of God." " Know 
ye not that ye are the temple of God ; and that your body 
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you 1 If any 
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. 
For the temple of God is holy, which temple are ye." 
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
" Let women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with 
shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair, or 
gold, or pearls, or costly array : but (which becometh 
women professing godliness) with good works." " Ab- 
stain from all appearance of evil. "t 
• Diligence. " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
evening withhold not thine hand ; for thou knowest not 
whether shall prosper, either this or that : or whether they 

* Luke, 21 : 34 ; Prov. 23 : 1, 2, 3, 20, 21 ; 1 Thess. 5 : 7, 8 ; Rom. 
13 : 13 ; Gal. 5 : 19, 21, 22, 23 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 13. 

t 1 Thess. 4 : 3, 4, 5, 7 ; 1 Pet. 2:11; Eph. 4 : 17, 19 ; Matt. 5 : 28 ; 
Col. 3:8; Eph. 5 : 4 ; 1 Cor. 6 : 9, 10, 19 '; 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:9, 10: 
1 Thess. 5 : 22. 



PERSONAL DUTIES. 4 OH 

ooth shall be aJike good." "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, 
consider her ways and be wise ; which, having no guide, 
overseer, nor ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, 
and gathereth her fruit in the harvest." " Be not slothful." 
Let every man " labor, working with his hands the thing 
which is good, that he may have to give to him that nee<_!- 
eth." " There are some which walk disorderly, working 
not at all, but are busy-bodies : now them that are such, 
we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
with quietness they work and eat their own bread. If 
any man will not work, neither should he eat." " Seest 
thou a man diligent in his business 1 He shall stand before 
kings, he shall not stand before mean men." " Not sloth- 
ful in business ; fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord."* 

Contentment. " Give me neither poverty nor riches ; 
feed me with food convenient for me : lest I be full, 
and deny thee, and say, ' Who is the Lord V or lest I 
be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in 
vain." " A little that a righteous man hath is better than 
the riches of many wicked." " Better is a little with the 
fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble there- 
with." " He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be 
innocent." " Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, 
when the glory of his house is increased : for though 
while he lived he blessed his soul ; yet when he dieth he 
shall carry nothing away ; his glory shall not descend 
after him." " I know both how to be abased and how 
to abound. I have learned in whatsoever state I am, 
therewith to be content." " Let every man abide in the 
same calling wherein he is called. Art thou called, being 
a servant 1 care not for it : but if thou mayest be made 
free, use it rather." " I would have you without anxiety ; 
that, they which weep may be as though they wept not ; 

* Eccles. 11:6; Trov. 6 : 7. 8 ; Heb. G : 12 ; Ej.h. i : 28 ; 2 Thes* 
3 : 10-12 ; Trov.22 : 29 ; Rom. 12 : 11. 



464 Gregory's letters. 

and. they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and 
they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they 
that use this world, as not abusing it. For the fashion 
of this world passeth away." " Having food and rai- 
ment, let us be therewith content. But they that will be 
rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many fool- 
ish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction 
and perdition. For avarice is the root of all evils, 
which, some grasping at, have wandered away from the 
faith, and pierced, themselves all around with many sor- 
rows." " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon 
earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves break through and steal : but lay up for your- 
selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor 
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break 
through nor steal : for where your treasure is, there will 
your heart be also."* 

Religious Joy and Cheerfulness. " Rejoice in the Lord, 

ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright." 
" Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the 
upright in heart." " Rejoice in hope of the glory of 
God." " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say re- 
joice." Believing in Jesus Christ, " ye rejoice with joy 
unspeakable and full of glory." " Let the brother of low 
degree rejoice in that he is exalted ; but the rich in that 
he is made low." " In every thing give thanks : for 
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 
" Rejoice evermore." (n«vroTs £at//»e<re. Semper gaudete.) 
" And the ransomed of the Lord shall come to Zion with 
6ongs and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall 
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall 

1 Prov. 30 : 3, 9 ; Psa. 37 : 16 ; Prov. 15 : 16 ; 23 : 20 ; Psa. 49 : 16- 
13 ; Phil. 4 : 11, 12 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 21, 30-32 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 8-10 ; Matt. 6 : 19 
-21. It will be perceived that I have taken the liberty of translating 

1 Tim. 6 : 10, so as to preserve the metaphor, which lias always appeared 
to me to be very beautiful and striking. 



PERSONAL DUTIES. 465 

flee away." ' In the world ye shall have tribulation; but 
be of good cheer."* 

Self -Denial, &c. " If any man (saith Jesus Christ) will 
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his 
cross daily, and follow me." " Put off the old man with 
his deeds : knowing this, that our old man is crucified 
with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 
that henceforth we should not serve sin." " If ye live 
after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit 
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." " They 
that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affec- 
tions and lusts." " Mortify therefore your members 
which are upon the earth : keep under your bodies, and 
bring them into subjection. For though we walk in the 
flesh, we do not war after the flesh." " For the wea- 
pons of our warfare are not carnal ; but mighty, through 
God, to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down 
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself 
against the knowledge of God." " Be not conformed to 
this world ; but be ye transformed by the renewing of 
your mind."f 

Edification. " Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, 
and the man that getteth understanding." " For wisdom 
is better than rubies ; and all the things that may be de- 
sired are not to be compared to it." " He that refuseth 
instruction despiseth his own soul ; but he is in the way of 
life that keepeth instruction." " The works of the Lord 
are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure there- 
in." " Building up yourselves on your most holy faith." 
" As' new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, 
that ye may grow thereby." " Give attendance to read- 
ing, to exhortation, to doctrine." " If any man have ears 

* Psa. 33 : 1 ; 97 : 11 ; Rom. 5:2; Phil. 4:4:1 Pet. 1:8; James, 
I : 9, 10 ; 1 Thes. 5 : 18, 16 ; Isa. 35 : 10 ; John, 16 : 33. 

t Luke, 9:23; E P h. 4:22; Col. 3:9; Rom. 6:5; 8:13; Gal. 5s 
24 ; Col. 3 : 5 ; 1 Cor. 9 : 27 ; 2 Cor. 10:3; Rom. 12:2. 
20* 



4GG Gregory's letters. 

to hear let him hear." " Take heed what ye hear." " Be- 
lieve not every spirit : but try the spirits whether they 
are of God; because many false prophets have gone out 
into the world." "Prove all things, hold fast that which 
is good." " Be not carried about with divers and strange 
doctrines: for it is a good thing that the heart be es- 
tablished with grace. Take heed unto thyself and unto 
the doctrine ; continue in them ; meditate upon these 
things ; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting 
may appear to all." See that ye walk circumspectly, not 
as " fools, but as wise ; redeeming the time, because the 
days are evil."* 

II. Relative or Social Duties. The duties a man 
owes to society are all comprised under the general 
terms " doing justly " and "loving mercy," and all ema- 
nate from that most comprehensive and admirable pre- 
cept given by our Lord, — " Do ye unto others as ye 
would they should do unto you." Thus it is that we are 
enjoined to abstain from offering the least wrong or in- 
jury to others, in their person, their property, or their 
reputation : we are exhorted to " render to all their 
due," to be sincere and upright in all our words and ac- 
tions, to speak truth invariably, to abide by our promise 
though it be to our hurt, to " provide things honesf in the 
sight of all men." All fraud and falsehood in our pro- 
fessions and dealings, all injustice and violence, all ma- 
lignity and envy, are expressly and repeatedly forbidden. 
We are cautioned against being angry at others without 
cause; we are commanded most forcibly to abstain .from 
slander; being exhorted " to speak evil of no man," and 
neither to raise evil reports ourselves against our neigh- 
bors, nor to promulgate them when they have been 



* Frov. 3 : 13 ; 8:11; 10 : 17 ; 15 : 32 ; Psa. Ill : 2 ; Jude, 20 ; 1 
Pet. 2:2; 1 Tim. 4 : 13 ; Mark, 4 : 23, 24 ; 1 John, 4:1; 1 Thcs. 5 
21: Heb. 13:9; 1 Tim. 4:15, 16; Eph. 5:15,16. 



SOCIAL DUTIES. 4G7 

faised by others. Not only are we forbidden to injure 
others in any respect whatever ; but we are taught that 
it is our.bounden duty "to do good to all men " as far as 
we have ability and opportunity, having however a still 
more forcible command with respect " to them who are 
of the household of faith." We are required to assist 
others in their necessities and distresses, to sympathize 
with them in their afflictions, to rejoice in their prospe 
rity ; when it is necessary, to distribute to them of oui 
worldly substance for the supply of their wants ; to aim 
at converting such of them as are unbelievers, either in 
theory or practice, from " the error of their way ;" to 
reprove them, when it is requisite, in the spirit of meek- 
ness, and use every effort, consistent with other duties, 
to promote their welfare, temporal and spiritual. With 
regard to enemies, we are commanded to "love" them. 
Not only is the " rendering evil for evil" forbidden, 
Dut we are commanded to return good for evil : " Love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them 
that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use 
you and persecute you." Matt. 5 : 44. " If thine enemy 
hunger, feed him; if he thirst give, him drink: for in 
so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head ;" Prov. 
25 : 2i, 22 ; Rom. 12 : 20 ; that is, as Parnell correctly 
explains the metaphor, in his " Hermit," 

" Thus artists melt the sullen ore of lead, 
" With heaping coals of fire upon its head ; 
" In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow, 
" And loose from dross the silver runs below." 

Intercession in worship is also an essential, though 
much neglected branch of our duty to others. The mu- 
tual love of the first christians seems to have been prin- 
cipally kept alive by prayers for each other ; and in all 
times this duty of intercession, properly exercised, raises 
christian brotherhood as much above the common class 
of human friendships, as heaven is above earth. " T thank 



4G8 Gregory's letters. 

my God, (said the apostle Paul to his friend Timothy,) 
that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my 
prayers night and day." 1 Tim. 1 : 3. And thus did all 
the primitive christians ; drawing down mercies from 
heaven through the appointed medium, and causing a 
confluence of spiritual blessings to flow upon each in 
answer to the united supplications of all. Christians are, 
in like manner, exhorted to " pray forcings, and all that 
are in authority;" and indeed, by fair inference, if not 
by express command, every individual in each class of 
society is required to pray for the welfare and happiness 
of all other persons. And this duty is not only binding, 
but manifestly beneficial : for sincere and fervent inter- 
cession would evidently be one of the best arbitrators of 
differences, the best cure and preservative against un- 
kind tempers, angry and malignant passions, the best 
promoter of true friendships ; as well as an unfailing test 
of the state of our own hearts with regard to ourselves 
and others. All these, and numerous other duties which 
I cannot here specify, have their foundation laid in the 
noblest sentiment, love ; and hence it follows that Chris- 
tianity is a religion of benevolence. " Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself." " A new commandment I give 
unto you, that ye love one another ; as I have loved you, 
that ye also love one another." " Herein is love, not 
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his 
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God 
bo loved us, we ought also to love one another." " And 
this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth 
God, love his brother also."* 

Besides the general precepts to which I have thus ad- 
verted in a very cursory manner, prescribing the duties 
of justice and benevolence towards all mankind, there 

* Matt. 22 : 39 ; John, 13 : 34 ; 1 John, 4 : 10, 11, 21 ; James, 2:8; 
Luke, 10 : 33-35, &c. 



SOCIAL DUTIES. 4G ( J 

are also particular injunctions in regard to the duties 
incumbent upon us in the several stations and relations 
we occupy in civil and social life ; all of which are of 
great importance to the welfare of families and nations, 
as well as of individuals. Of these T here present you 
with a selection. 

Husbands and Wives. " Husbands, love your wives, anc 
be not bitter against them." "Let every one of you in par- 
ticular so love his wife even as himself: so ought men to 
love their wives as their own bodies." " Husbands, love 
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave 
himself for it ; for we are members of his body, of his 
flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave 
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, 
and they two shall be one flesh." " Ye husbands, dwell 
with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor 
unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs 
together of the grace of life." " Let the wife see that she 
reverence her husband." " Wives, submit yourselves unto 
your own husbands, as unto the Lord : for the husband is 
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the 
church. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, 
so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." 
" Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that 
if any obey not the word, they also may without the 
word be won by the conversation of the wives, while 
they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear."* 
" The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping." 
11 A prudent wife is from the Lord. The heart of her 
husband doth safely trust in her : she will do him good 
and not evil all the days of her life. She openeth her 
mouth with wisdom ; and in her tongue is the law of 
kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her hcrjsehold, 

* Proh quales feminas habent christian] ! paid Libanius: — 0' What 
excellenl wives the christians have ' 



470 Gregory's letters 

and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise 
up and call her blessed ; her husband also, and he prais- 
eth her."* 

Parents and Children. " Ye fathers, provoke not your 
children to wrath ; but bring them up in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord; having them in subjection with 
all gravity." " Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it." " Chas- 
ten thy son betimes, while there is hope ; and let not thy 
soul spare for his crying. For foolishness is bound up in 
the heart of a child : but the rod and reproof give wis- 
dom : withhold not correction, and thou shalt deliver his 
soul from hell." " The children ought not to lay up for 
the parents : but the parents for the children." " If any 
provide not for his own house, he hath denied the faith, 
and is worse than an infidel." " Children, obey your pa- 
rents in the Lord ; for this is right. Obey your parents in 
all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord." " Ho« 
nor thy father and thy mother, (which is the first com 
mandment with promise,) that it may be well with thee, 
and that thou mayest live long on the earth." " The eye 
which mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his 
mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and 
the young eagles shall eat it."t 

Masters and Servants. " Masters, give unto your sei 
vants that which is just and equal, forbearing threaten- 
ing ; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven ; nei- 
ther is there respect of persons with him." " Despise not 
the cause of thy man-servant, or of thy maid-servant, 
when they contend with thee. Did not he that made thee 
in the womb make him 1 And did not one fashion us in 

* Col. 3 : 19 ; Eph. 5 : 25-30, 31 ; 1 Pet. 3:7; Eph.5 : 33, 22, 23, 24 ; 
I Peter, 3:1,2; Prov. 19 : 13, 14 ; 31:11, 12, 26, 27, 28. 

t Eph. 6:4; 1 Tim. 3:4; Prov. 22 : 6; 19 18 ; 13 : 24 ; 22 : 15 ; 23 : 
13, 1 4 ; 29 : 15 ; 2 Cor. 12 : 14 ; 1 Tim. 5:8- Eph. 6 : 1, 2, 3 ; Col. 3 : 
20 ; Trov. 30 : 17 



SOCIAL DUTIES. 471 

the womb V* " Servants, be obedient to them that are 
your masters according to the flesh ; not with eye-ser- 
vice, as men-pleasers ; but in- singleness of heart, fear- 
ing God." " Servants, obey your masters in all things, 
and please them well ; not answering again, not pur T 
loining, but showing all good fidelity." " Servants, be 
subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the 
good and gentle but also to the froward : for this is 
thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God en- 
dure grief, suffering wrongfully." " Be content with 
your wages."* * 

Magistrates and subjects. " The judges and officers that 
shall be rulers over you shall be able men, such as fear God, 
men of truth, hating covetousness. They shall judge the 
people at all seasons, and hear the causes between their 
brethren, and judge righteously between every man and 
his brother, and the stranger that is with him." " They 
shall not wrest judgment ; they shall not respect persons 
in judgment; but they shall hear the small as well as the 
great. They shall not respect the person of the poor, nor 
honor the person of the mighty ; neither tSke a gift ; for 
a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the 
words of the righteous. They shall not be afraid of the 
face of man, for the judgment is God's." "It is an abo- 
mination to kings to commit wickedness ; for the throne 
is established by righteousness.' * " The prince shall not 
take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust 
them out of their possession."-' " Mercy and truth pre- 
serve the king : and his throne is upholden by mer- 
cy." " Take away the wicked from before the king, and 
his throne shall be established in righteousness " " Let 
every soul be subject unto the higher powers ; for there 
is no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained 



* Col. 4:1; Epb. G : 9 ; Job, 31 : 13, 15 ; Eph. 6 : 5, 6, 7, 8 ; Col. 3: 22; 
Tirus. 2 : 9, 10 ; 1 Peter, 2 : 13, 10 ; Luke, 13:11. 



472 Gregory's letters. 

of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, re- 
sisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall 
receive to themselves damnation : for rulers are not a tei 
ror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be 
afraid of the power 1 Do that which is good, and thou 
shalt have praise of the same ; for he is the minister of 
God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, 
be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he 
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath 
upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be 
subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience-sake. 
For this cause pay you tribute also ; for they are God's 
ministers." " Submit yourselves to every ordinance of 
man for the Lord's sake ; whether it be to the king, as 
supreme ; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent 
by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the 
praise of them that do well."* 

You can scarcely fail to remark, that the exhortations 
to these and other relative duties are independent of 
character. We are commanded to be dutiful to parents, 
affectionate to** children, kind to servants, just to subjects, 
obedient to magistrates and monarchs, absolutely ; and 
not merely dutiful to tender parents, affectionate and 
communicative of instruction to dutiful children, diligent 
under the employment of kind masters, obedient to wise 
governors, and so on ; which appears to me a mark of 
great wisdom in the deliverance of such injunctions. For 
we thence learn, that though the extent of obligation to 
several duties may perhaps vary in some degree with the 
conduct of the individuals towards whom the respective 
sorts of behavior are due, yet the obligation itself results 
from the mutual relation subsisting between the persons; 



* Deut. 16 : 18, 19 ; 1 : 13, 16, 17 ; Exod. 18 : 21, 22 ; Lev. 19: 15 
Prov. 16 : 12 ; Ezekjel, 46 : 18 ; Prov. 20 : 28 ; 25 : 5 ; Rom. 13 : I--*'. 
I Pet. 2: 13-16. 



DUTIES TO GOD. 473 

so that each particular duty must be performed, or we 
are criminal : whereas, if the relative duties were made 
to depend upon character, they would depend upon our 
interpretation of character, which may often be errone- 
ous ; and a man's mind, nay, his fancy, would, in refer- 
ence to his duties to others, become his law, his tribunal, 
and lus judge. 

There is an important class of reciprocal duties aris- 
ing from the connexion subsisting between pastors or 
ministers of churches and their flocks ; but these diverge 
into too many separate branches to be adequately treated 
in a small compass. I therefore proceed to notice, though 
with infinitely more brevity than is commensurate with 
their immense moment, 

III. Duties to God. In the Gospel we have impart- 
ed to us the noblest and most exalted conceptions of 
the Supreme Being ; and the various relations which he 
has been pleased to manifest himself as sustaining, in re- 
spect of his creatures and of his people, are amply reveal- 
ed ; while the correspondent duties are urged upon us, and 
the most palpable and obvious directions given with re- 
gard to their extent and obligation. Thus we are com- 
manded to " love the Lord our Go3 with all our heart, 
and soul, and mind, and strength :" which is represented 
by our Savior as "the first and great commandment ;" 
from which all other duties emanate. We are told that we 
must be animated with a pure and ardent zeal for his 
glory, and must consider the pleasing and honoring of 
him as infinitely preferable to the indulgence of any 
sensual inclinations. We are farther taught, that our love 
to God, if genuine, will be accompanied with a solemn 
and holy fear of his Divine majesty; indeed the terms 
are described as in a measure co-existent, neither opera- 
ting to any great extent without the other. It is farther 
required of us to exercise trust in God ; implying faith, 
confidence in his wisdom and mercy, unreserved sub 



474 Gregory's letters. 

mission to his will, and resignation to all his dispensa- 
tions ; and we are " exhorted te live under a practical 
and habitual conviction of his essential presence with all, 
and of his spiritual presence with truly devout persons. 
A strict obedience to his righteous commands is most ener- 
getically enforced ; and this, besides honor and worship in 
general, includes the diligent and faithful discharge of eve- 
ry personal and social duty. We are also urged to aspire 
after a conformity to God in all his imitable or communi- 
cable attributes ; to be " holy as he is holy, pure as he is 
pure, perfect as he is perfect," &c. and to this end w r e 
have set before us the spotless example of " the Captain 
of our salvation ;" being assured that we most resemble 
God, when the greatest portion of "the same mind" is in 
us, " which was also in Christ Jesus." We are required 
to worship " God who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth :" 
deadness,. dulness and formality, both in prayer and praise, 
are hence excluded ; and a remarkable simplicity and pu- 
rity of worship is represented in the New Testament as 
that which God will most approve. The rites therein 
prescribed are few in number, and highly excellent in 
their signification. The only sacraments enjoined upon 
us are "Baptism" and "the Supper of the Lord;" both 
of which, being positive institutions, should doubtless be 
observed with all possible regard to the circumstances 
exhibited in their primitive establishment. Great care 
seems taken, however, to guard us against mistaking 
" the form " for " the power of godliness ;" being taught 
that rites and ceremonies are as nothing, unless the heart 
be purified and the conduct become holy and upright. 
Private meditation, secret, domestic, and public worship 
are each most powerfully recommended, nay* command- 
ed : the benefits resulting from the " communion of 
saints " in worship, and the evils flowing from " forget- 
ting to assemble ourselves together," are strikingly de- 
picted. We are also shown the advantage as well as the 



DUTIES TO GOD. 475 

duty of "confessing our sins U God;" and of throwing 
ourselves entirely upon his covenanted mercy for pardon, 
acceptance, and gracious assistance. Much of this, I am 
well aware, is extremely repugnant to the notions which 
generally prevail; but it is consistent with Scripture; 
and you will scarcely be able to turn to a page in the 
New Testament, (where the subject is not purely histo- 
rical.) in which you will not find exhortations to one or 
other of the duties I have here attempted to sketch. 

It farther appears, being indeed a necessary conse- 
quence of the christian system, that we are required, 
in order to worship God acceptably, to approach him 
through the appointed Mediator, by reason of whose in- 
tercession the prayers and praises of his sincere disci- 
ples are approved. Hence results another class of du- 
ties relating to " the Lord Jesus Christ," whom we are 
required to " receive by faith ;" and whom we are taught 
to regard continually and habitually as our instructor, 
atonement, intercessor, guardian, example, &c. We are 
also exhorted to pray for the influences of God's Holy 
Spirit', and at all times so to conduct ourselves as not to 
grieve or offend that Spirit, but rather to draw down a 
more copious communication of its influences. These 
latter duties, however, are not considered by all as such, 
but are regarded as of minor importance. I shall there- 
fore throw together for your perusal a few passages 
from which you may learn that the sacred writers did 
not place those duties in a subordinate rank. 

" Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall 
ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." " What- 
soever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the 
Lord Jesvs, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." 
" For through him we both have access by one Spirit un- 
to the Father." " My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
them, and they follow mc." " We are the circumcision, 
which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Jesus 



476 Gregory's letters. 

Christ." "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I 
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which 
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of 
God, who loved me and gave himself for me." " Whom, 
having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see 
him not, yet, believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and 
full of glory." " Let us run with patience the race that 
is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
of our faith." " If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
Christ, let him be anathema maran-atha." " Grace be 
with all them that love our Lord Jesus in sincerity."" " If 
ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father 
give the Holy Sjnrit to them that ask him ]" " Quench 
not the Spirit."^ " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." 
"Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be 
filled with the Spirit." " If we live in the Spirit, let us 
also walk in the Spirit."* 

From this view of christian duties, slight and imper- 
fect as I am conscious it is, I trust you will perceive that 
the New Dispensation, considered as a source of moral- 
ity, is infinitely superior to any scheme that was ever de- 
vised by the wisest and greatest of men, who were not 
favored by a revelation from God. Such is the simpli- 
city of Gospel precepts that the plainest and most uncul- 
tivated understanding may comprehend them ; and such, 
at the same time, their beauty and excellency, their fit- 
ness to expand the intellect, to enrich the soul, to im- 
prove the character of individuals, as well as to illumi- 



* John, 16 : 23 ; Col. 3 : 17 ; Eph. 2:13; John, 10 : 27 ; Phil. 3:3: 
Gal. 2:20; 1 Pet. 1:8; Heb. 12:1, 2; 1 Cor. 16:22; Eph. 6:24; 
Luke, 11:13; 1 Thess. 5 : 19 ; Eph. 4 : 30 ; 5:18; Gal. 5 : 25. For 
many more texts thrown into an order well calculated to enforce the se- 
veral christian duties, the reader may consult Gastrell's Institutes of the 
Christian Religion, Wardens' System of Revealed Religion, or Talbot'» 
Analysis of the Holy Bible. 



CHRISTIAN DUTIES.- 47? 

Date the whole world and to fill it with harmony and lo - * e, 
tjiat they furnish scope for the noblest contemplations of 
the philanthropist and the philosopher. " The law of the 
Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; the testimony of 
the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes 
of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the com- 
mandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes : 
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever ; the 
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altoge- 
ther." Psa. 19 : 7, 8, 9. 

But rules of moral duty, however complete, precepts, 
however excellent, will be of comparatively little avail, 
unless enforced by suitable motives, obvious to the un- 
derstanding and energetic in theii operation. And here 
again the superiority of the religion of Christ is equally 
evident. Good men are supported in the path of duty, and 
consoled under affliction, by the enchanting prospect of " an 
eternal weight of glory :" bad men are persuaded to turn 
from their evil courses by having exhibited to them " the 
terrors of the Lord;" — while the delights of heaven, the 
unending anguish of hell ; the blessed " society of the just 
made perfect," and that of " devils and damned spirits ;" 
are the awful alternatives placed before them. The ex- 
ample of Him, "who, though he was rich, yet for our 
sakes became poor," and tabernacled amongst men, as 
well to show them the way to glory, as to secure glory 
for them, stimulates powerfully to action : while the pri- 
vileges of the Gospel and the truly extraordinary means 
employed to entitle believers to those privileges, furnish 
in their turn admirable incentives to virtuous conduct. 
Let me entreat you to peruse attentively the few por- 
tions of Scripture referred to at the foot of this page ;• 
and then to consider whether any thing less than the ir- 



* Rom. G : 9-13 ; 1 Cor. G : 20 ; 7 : 23 ; 15 : 50-53 ; Phil. 2 passim 
3 : 7-21 ; 4:1-7: Col. 3 : 1-17 : Knh. 2 : « -22 : 3 : 4 : 1-5. 30-32. 



478 Gregory's letters. 

resistible power which " out of stones could raise up chil- 
dren to Abraham," can touch the soul which is insen- 
sible to the impressions they are calculated to make. 
Lastly, for our great encouragement, Divine assistances 
are promised to strengthen and preserve in the path of 
duty all who are duly aware of their own insufficiency, 
and humbly seek for guidance and protection where 
alone they are to be obtained, 

I have now, my dear friend, executed the task I un- 
dertook at your entreaty ; happy shall I esteem myself if 
it be so begun, continued, and carried through as, under 
the blessing of God, to transmit conviction to your mind, 
and render you in all respects such as I wish to see you. 
But, to this end, allow me to remind you, that I under- 
took it in consequence of an implied contract : my part 
is accomplished, faithfully, I trust, though, doubtless, very 
imperfectly; let me, then, beg of you to execute you? 
part with all possible fidelity, and it will be easy to pre- 
dict the issue of the inquiry. Meditate upon what I have 
written ; and then institute a few comparisons. Compare, 
for example, the many difficulties and absurdities, the 
baseless supports and the cheerless prospects of infideli- 
ty, with the few difficulties, the " reasonable service," 
the " everlasting foundations," and the glorious and de- 
lightful prospects of Christianity. Compare, again, the 
cold speculations, the unsatisfactory and forced criticisms, 
the proud spirit of rejection, the assumed superiority in 
point of information • over those who were personally 
" taught of Christ," the false or ridiculous translations, 
and the feebleness of motives to the love of Christ and de- 
votedness to God, which are exhibited and exemplified 
by those who usurp to themselves the exclusive title of 
" rational christians ;" with the noble glow of sentiment, 
the natural and obvious interpretations, the humble and 
teachable disposition, the grateful eagerness to receive 
instruction from the word of God communicated by pro- 



CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 479 

phets and apostles, the resolute determination to bend 
the mind to the genuine meaning of Scripture whatever it 
may be, and the ready yielding to the peculiar and pow- 
erful incentives furnished in the exquisite plan of redemp- 
tion, manifested among many other professed disciples of 
Christ. Make these comparisons, I say, with your wonted 
acuteness and impartiality ; and 1 have no fear that the 
result will be favorable to the cause I have here so feebly 
defended, and infinitely favorable to your own happiness. 
If you wish, my friend- to have your capacious mind 
still farther ennobled and expanded by the influence 
of those truths which can make " the simple wise," 
and have been known to confer a remarkable dignity of 
character and enlargement of soul* upon the otherwise 
ignoble and illiterate ; if you wish to have your " con- 
versation in heaven" while your residence is on earth, 
to " see the invisible," and secretly enjoy that Savior 
whom "to know is life eternal;" if you wish to place 
your trust on solid rock, to have your hope anchored in 
eternity, yoi*r charity glowing towards all mankind ; it 
you wish to enjoy all the blessings of Providence with 
a zest unknown before, to gaze upon the delights of crea 
tion with new eyes, to explore the wonders of nature 
with double ardor; if you wish to evince a meek, gen 
tie, compliant, forgiving, benevolent, conscientious beha- 
vior in every station and character, to be a dutiful and 
respectful son, a discreet and tender husband, an affec- 
tionate and pious parent, an honest and obedient sub- 
ject; if you wish to possess a heart swelling with love to 
God, a tongue ready to speak his praises and defend his 
cause, hands prepared to do his work, and feet to " walk 
in the way of his commandments ;" if you wish to bear 

* " II y a dans les maximes de l'Evangile une noblesse et une elevation 
on les occurs vils et rampans ne sauroient atteindre. La Religion, qui fait 
les grandes ames, ne paroit faite que pour elles: et il faut Stre grand ou 
Ic devarir, pour etre Chretien." — Massillon. 



480 Gregory's letters. 

prosperity without lrigh-mindedness, adversity without a 
murmur, to manifest calm resignation under affliction, 
patient acquiescence in all the Divine dispensations, to 
honor God through life, and to glorify him in death ; to 
have the sting of the last great enemy deprived of its 
poison, and to quit the present life with a soul panting 
after immortality, and anxious to join the glorious as- 
sembly who " surround the throne of God and of the 
Lamb;" if such as these be your desires, then ''forsake 
not the fountain of living waters," walk not by the light 
" of sparks of your own kindling," confide not in that 
strength which is " perfect weakness ;" but throw your- 
self in imagination and in soul at the foot of the cross ; 
implore with the deepest humility, yet with the unceas- 
ing ardor of Jacob, when he " wrestled with God and 
prevailed," a sincere and active faith in the merits and 
mediation of a " crucified " Redeemer, daily and copious 
supplies of the purifying and invigorating influences of 
the Spirit, and an ability so to persevere unto the end of 
your course, that you may " adorn the doctrine of God 
your Savior in all things." 

That these blessings may be yours : that you may here 
live long to enjoy and to impart much happiness ; and at 
length, full of years and full of holiness, be called to par- 
take of the " rest which remainethfor the people of God," 
is the fervent prayer of Your affectionate Friend. 



THE END 



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