and so far as he is under its influence, enables him to cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God, (2 Cor. vii. 1.) · In short, he crucifies the flesh, with the affections and lusts, and reduces to practice that long list of moral precepts previously quoted from the Bible: he moulds his conduct, and endeavours to regulate his affections, according to the rules there laid down; and never satisfied with present attainments, presses uniformly forward towards that entire perfection which the Bible requires. 1 leave, therefore, the candid reader to judge whether this perfection in every spiritual and moral excellence—a perfection which comports with the due performance of every relative and social duty-or whether that perfection (if it deserve to be so called) which consists in abandoning our fellow-creatures to misery and want, and in neglecting all the ordinary avocations of life, is the most rational; and which of the two is the most worthy of God to command, and of men's endeavours to attain and in this way, by instituting a comparison between the Bible and the Hindoo Shasters, considering them as respectively inculcating these opposite principles, he will be able to form his own opinion of the weight which ought to be attached to the evidence by which their respective claims to divine authority are supported. : SECTION 5. General concluding Remarks on the internal Evidences. Having brought forward that impregnable body of moral evidence which to my own mind is a satisfactory confirmation of the truth and divine authority of the Christian Scriptures, I shall now proceed, and with four general remarks bring this part of the subject to a conclusion. 1. A candid reader of the Bible will ever be ready to acknowledge, that it is a work so excellent and complete, that it is every way worthy of its divine Author: in short, whilst imperfection characterizes all the works of men, it is no where to be found in the Bible. Now if this superior and excellent book be not of divine authority, then it of course follows that it must be the work of men; and according to this supposition, we must come to this absurd, unreasonable, and blasphemous conclusion, that men, whilst they are infinitely inferior to God in every other respect, have nevertheless equalled him in this, i. e. they have made a Shaster which it is impossible to improve upon-a Shaster which is in every respect so superior and perfect, that God himself, we may almost venture to assert, could not add to its utility, beauty, or excellence. 2. I have before given a short view of the purity and excellency of the precepts which the Bible contains, and stated at length the beneficial effect produced by it upon the moral character of thousands who have received it, and submitted to its instructions. How then, I ask, can such excellent fruits be accounted for as having attended the reception of the Bible, if it be false? It professes to be a revelation from Deity; but if this be not true, and its claims cannot be substantiated, it then follows, as a natural consequence, that it has originated in forgery, deception, and lies, which no reasonable man can possibly believe, because it is utterly impossible to reconcile this supposition with the superlatively beneficial effects which have universally resulted from its circulation in the world. "A good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and an evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit." Let the Bible, therefore, be brought to this, as the test of its truth; and in the application of this principle, by the fruit which it has produced, both the excellency of its nature, and the divinity of its origin, must necessarily be acknowledged. 3. The authors of the Bible must have been either good or bad men: but nothing can be more unreasonable and contradictory than to associate them with the latter, because their work is in every respect so utterly contrary to the general productions of such characters; that is, bad men could never have written a book which condemns their own conduct so entirely as the Bible does-a book so inimitably pure, and full of such excellent, holy, and benevolent precepts as the Bible uniformly contains. If, therefore, they cannot with propriety be associated with characters of this description, it then of course follows, that we must, as the only alternative, acknowledge that they were good men: and this acknowledgment unavoidably involves the truth and divine authority of the book which they have written. There can be no goodness, when truth is wanting. If, therefore, they were good men, they must consequently be true men; and on this principle, the testimony which they have given that they wrote the Bible by the special direction and authority of God, we are in reason bound to believe. But if the truth of this conclusion be denied, we are then by necessity obliged to admit, that instead of being true and good men, they were a set of wicked, lying impostors, such as the world has never seen, either before or since: a supposition which it is utterly impossible to reconcile with the various characteristic marks of truth which are contained in their writings. 4. The majority of the writers of the Bible were men in ordinary situations in life, especially the writers of the New Testament. Originally they were only common mechanics, possessed of no extraordinary abilities, and in general destitute of the benefits which arise from a learned education. Now if they were not, according to their own testimony, authorized by God to write the sacred Scriptures, it then follows, by a counter parity of reasoning, that they were a company of wicked lying impostors. But by this supposition we are brought into a most inexplicable dilemma, i. e. we are necessitated, on this principle, to acknowledge, that these wicked, lying impostors, although they naturally possessed no extraordinary abilities, and enjoyed no superior acquired advantages, have nevertheless composed and written a book, containing a most perfect and complete system of morals-which is without defect-evinces a correct and universal ac quaintance with mankind—is infinitely superior to all the productions and most elaborate works of the most learned philosophical men who ever wrote on the subject, and which has been productive of the most wonderful and astonishing effects in the reformation of mankind, so far as they have received and submitted to its precepts. This conclusion, therefore, which is the necessary consequence arising from the supposition that the Bible is an imposition, is so absurd and unreasonable, that it is utterly unworthy of an attempt to refute it. But these (otherwise inexplicable) difficulties are all reconciled, and its superiority and excellence at once accounted for, if we acknowledge its divine authority, and assent to the testimony of its writers, that it came not by the will of men, but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The man who admits of this conclusion, who seeks the assistance of divine grace-who submits his understanding to its instructions, bows his will to its precepts, and submits his judgment to its directionwill not be left to remain in darkness and doubt as to the truth of its claims; he will, according to its promise (1 John v. 10.), soon have "the witness in himself," and find, by happy experience, that it is able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim. iii. 15.) |