PART I.

OF THE INTERNAL EVIDENCES

OF THE

DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE,

AND

THE DEFICIENCY OF THIS EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE CLAIMS

OF THE

Hindoo Shasters.

1. LEARNED

EARNED men of past ages have employed their talents, and greatly benefitted posterity, by writing the history of the times in which they lived. In examining these histories, so far as they respect civilized nations, we cannot find an account of any people that have ever been without a government, and the establishment of a supreme authority for the regular administration of its laws. The wisdom and policy of men convince them of the utility of such an establishment, and the experience of all ages, whether past or present, shews its absolute necessity to the maintenance of social order in a well regulated community.

2. If the wisdom of men convinces them of the benefits of a good government, and its necessity to the maintenance of tranquillity and order, what establishment of this nature may we reasonably suppose, the superior wisdom of God will lead him to adopt for the maintenance of his authority in the world? Certainly, as God is much wiser than man, we must necessarily

B

suppose that he also has established that system of moral government which shall most conduce to general good; i. e. that he also has given laws by which men are required to regulate their conduct, and that he will ultimately reward or punish them according to their obedience or disobedience to those laws, so far as they have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with them.

3. If we cast our eyes around, and survey the present state of the world, we must be convinced, by the ignorance of spiritual things which men universally manifest, and the endless variety of opinions which prevail amongst them as to the character of God, the duties which all men owe to him, and the means of their being accepted by him, that such a revelation is absolutely necessary; i. e. this diversity of opinion evidently proves, that unless God gives a revelation of himself, shewing men what he requires them to do, they can never arrive at any certain and satisfactory conclusion as to what is true, and what is false on this subject.

4. That such a revelation is not only absolutely necessary, but that it has actually been given by God, may be strongly inferred from the variety of opposite claims which the different nations of the earth make to their having received such a communication from him, each asserting that its own sacred books are of divine authority, and contain the revelation required. Hence a difficulty arises. Those professed revelations are almost all of them totally opposed to each other, consequently all of them cannot be true. We never heard of a king who established a separate code of laws, totally opposed to each other, for every province of his dominions; such a system would be productive of endless disorder and confusion. Every monarch establishes one universal law, which is binding upon all his subjects; and for their disobedience to this one law, all will be alike punished. On the ground, therefore, of reason and observation, we may infer, that the majority of the claims which men make to having each received a separate divine revelation must be false. There is a unity in all God's proceedings, and all are cha

racterized by truth and goodness: instead, therefore, of a multitude, all opposed to each other, he can, according to this attribute of his nature, have given but one exclusive revelation for the direction and universal government of all his creatures. The fact is, when good money is issued, wicked men immediately imitate it by making and circulating false coin: and so it is here; God has given one true revelation, which is designed for all men, and in consequence of this, wicked men have written and palmed upon the world a variety of books full of error and falsehood, the advocates of each asserting that their books are sanctioned by the authority of the Deity, and contain a revelation of his will for the regulation and government of his creatures' conduct.

5. It is of high and essential importance, that every man should endeavour to distinguish the true from the multitude of false revelations which abound in the world, because the possession or absence of this knowledge is intimately connected with his future happiness or misery. This is a work of great difficulty, and many will be ready to say, By what method are we to proceed in this examination, and what rules must be laid down to enable us to distinguish truth from falsehood? To this enquiry it is replied, that were a written communication to come to us from a person at a distance, there are two ways, by which we may examine it, in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims by which it professes to be supported. 1st.

We may examine it as to the subject and nature of the message, and endeavour to judge how far it is genuine by comparing it with the known character of the person, from whom it professes to have come. 2d. We may sit in judgment upon the credibility of the witnesses, and from the apparent marks of fraud or integrity, which are associated with their character and conduct, form our conclusion as to the probable authenticity of the message which they have brought us.

6. In prosecuting our enquiries into the truth of divine revelation, we may, by bringing these two principles to

bear upon the subject, arrive at a conclusion sufficiently satisfactory to enable us in general to detect falsehood, and also to judge with accuracy as to the probability of what is true. I shall therefore proceed to an examination of the Bible and the Hindoo Shasters, and beginning with the first of these two rules, endeavour by applying it to the subject in question, to ascertain the truth or falsehood of their respective claims.

CHAPTER I.

The Nature or fundamental Principle, by which we may, from the known Character of God, expect the Contents of a true Revelation to be distinguished; and the Examination by this Principle of the Bible and Hindoo Shas

ters.

The knowledge of the character and attributes of God which is attainable by the light of nature is exceedingly limited; our means are not sufficient to enable us to arrive at any positive conclusions without an immediate revelation from him. It is, however, highly desirable, that what we do or may know of him should be brought to bear upon the subject before us; for although from this nothing in the clear light of demonstration is attainable, yet much in this way may be brought forward to assist us in the prosecution of our enquiries. Every rational man must be ready to acknowledge, "That the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,” Rom. i. 20. and if we keep close to this as a fundamental principle, we are at once in possession of certain characteristic marks of truth and falsehood, which being brought to bear upon the subject under investigation, will enable us to judge with tolerable accuracy of the authenticity of all books claiming the high authority of being a divine revelation.

SECTION 1.

The Extent of this fundamental Principle, and its Application to the Subject under Review.

Considering God as the Creator of all things, which none but Atheists will attempt to deny, it is sufficiently evident, from the works of nature, that he is a great, and wise, and powerful being; and if, in connection with this, we review his providential dispensations in the preservation and government of the world, it is equally evident that he is as merciful and bountiful as he is wise and powerful. But we may go a step further than this. Every man has a something within him, which enables him to judge of what is right and wrong, and which tells him, that if he does that which is right, he will be approved of and rewarded by his Maker; but that if he does wrong, he will be punished. This is what divines call natural conscience. Now this internal feeling is an actual and full recognition of the authority of God-of his hatred of sin-the duty of all men to obey him, and their liability to punishment, if they do not. In short, as it respects the being and attributes of God, men in the general universally agree. Nearly all men acknowledge that there is but one God, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things,—that he is almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, and unchangeable;-that being himself free from every stain of sin,he will punish all who indulge in it;-that he has created us, supports and preserves us ;-and that it is our duty to love, honour, and obey him.

These universally acknowledged truths, therefore, must be the groundwork or basis of our enquiry: we have here something that is tangible, and which it is our duty firmly to keep hold of in prosecuting the examination before us. Now if we bring the first of the principles previously specified to bear upon this investigation, we may, according to it, as the rule of our procedure, reasonably suppose that there will be an analogy between this acknowledged character of God, and the revelation which he has given; and that in this revelation the honour which is due to