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to exist at death, or in whatever state we should be, we fhould not be in a worse ftate than others, or than we should be had we not been Chriftians. We have a high enjoyment in our hope now, which will continue as long as we are in this world. It is constantly better to us than all worldly enjoyments, and we fhould be great lofers by exchanging it with the moft happy worldly man, for all his enjoyments. Our hope is a constant fource of high enjoyment, which unfpeakably more than counterbalances all the uneafinefs and fufferings which are occafioned by it, be they ever fo many and great, Therefore unbelievers, if they knew we were deluded, which they do not know, and never will, would act an unreasonable, injurious and cruel part, to take our hope from us, if they could, or even to attempt it; for if this could be effected, it would deprive us of more happinefs than they ever did or can enjoy, which is better to us than all this world. And we fhould fink down into the most gloomy state of despair and mifery, which they who never had the Chriftian hope cannot feel or fuffer while in this world:*

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We now return to the point propofed, to fpeak of the reafon we have of our hope, grounded on the evidence that the gofpel is from heaven, which amounts to

* 1. Cor. xv. 19. If in this life only we have hope in Chrift, we are of all men maft miferable." Thefe words have been understood by fome in a fenfe which may be thought inconfiftent with the fentiments expreffed in the above paragraph. But on a careful examination, they will doubtless appear in perfect unifon.. To hope in Chrift only in this life, is really to give up the Chriftian hope, and Christianity itfelf, as a groundless fable; and confequently to be deprived of all the enjoyment and happiness derived from Christianity, and the Chriftian hope, by which they have an unfpeakably higher enjoyment, and greater degree of happinefs, than unbelievers can have. And as they feel the vanity of all things in this world, their lofs is irreparable, and they must feel themfelves wretched, and fink into gloom, defpair and mifery while the men of the world, by their ignorance, delufion and a worldly mind, knowing no greater good than they have or hope to obtain in the enjoyments of this life, are eagerly pursuing and fondly hoping for worldly good; by which they are, at prefent, prevented falling into that defpair and mifery, which will certainly come upon them, when this life fhall end.

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as great demonftrative certainty as there is or can be of any propofition which was ever propofed or thought of. We have read the Bible over and over again, and with much more care and attention than we bestowed on any other book. And the more we have read it, and attended to and understood the truths contained in it, the more clear and certain has the evidence appeared of its divine original, and the greater pleasure we have had in the things which it reveals.

When we enter on this theme, it is not eafy to determine where to begin, or where to end. There is fo great a multiplicity of evidence that the fcriptures contain a revelation from God, and the number of particulars from which this is proved is fo great, that it would take more time than we now have, to mention all of them. We can only give a fummary view of this evidence now, which we are fure is a fufficient reafon of our hope, of which we fhall never be ashamed.

It is common and proper to diftinguish the evidence that the Bible has a divine original, into that which is called external, and that which is internal, confifting in the doctrines, truths and duties which are revealed and inculcated therein. We fhall endeavour to confider these feparately, though they will naturally, and perhaps to the beft advantage, be, in fome inftances, in a degree blended together. Certainly the honeft mind will view them together, and at once, as ftrengthening each other, and amounting to a clear demonftration of this truth.

The external evidencé confifts in the manner in which the Chriftian fcriptures have been made, and given to the world; the men and their character who wrote them, and the manner of their writing; the miracles which have been wrought in confirmation of the truth of the facts related, and the doctrines and commands made known, and that they who spoke and wrote were inspired by God to fpeak and do what they did; the numerous predictions of things and events which fhould come to pafs, many of which were accomplished foon,

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others have come to pass long fince they were predicted, and many are fulfilling now before our eyes, in the revolutions which are taking place, and the prefent state of the nations and of the world; the fpread of Chriftianity among the nations, by the men who were the principal inftruments of propagating it, and the prefervation and continuance of it in the world to this day, notwithstanding the great and conftant oppofition to it which has been made.

These are the chief, but not all, the external evidences of the divine original of the Bible; which must be more particularly confidered. The men by whom it was written appear to be men of good natural abilities, fenfible, honeft and ferious, as men really inspired by God to write would be. They were not a number of men who lived at the fame time, and could confult together, and lay a scheme what to write; but lived in different ages, the last above a thousand years after the firft who wrote. They do not appear selfish, proud and vain, to seek their own worldly honour or interest, but the contrary. The manner of their writing is inimitable, and differs from the writings of all other men. This has been obferved and illuftrated by many authors, and is needlefs for us to repeat. They write an orderly history of the world from the beginning of it to the time of those laft events which relate to the fubjects on which they wrote. And this history is carried on by them to the end of the world by their predictions. This is the moft ancient, well authenticated, confiftent, important and useful hiftory, that was ever formed by uninfpired men, or ever will or can be. It exhibits one grand fcheme and plan of events, all uniting and confpiring to bring all things to the moft happy iffue, worthy of the infinite Being who is infinitely powerful, wife and good. It is as really impoffible that any uninfpired man or number of men, efpecially who lived in fuch diftant ages of the world, fhould make the writings which we find in the Bible, as it is for them to contrive and make the visible world: and we have as fatisfying evidence

evidence that the fcriptures contained in the Bible were written by the infpiration of God, as we have that the fun, moon and stars, and all the vifible world, were made by him; efpecially if we take into view the facts which we are now going to mention.

MOSES, who was the firft writer, gave abundant proof that what he wrote, faid and did, was by the infpiration, command and direction of the true God, by the numerous miracles which he wrought, and the predictions he made, which were fulfilled directly, or in the time of his life, and have been fince fulfilled. And here we would obferve, that prophecy, when it is fulfilled, is a real miracle, as abfolute, independent prefcience is an incommunicable attribute of God; and when a man has ability to know and foretel events that are future, this is as much above what are called the laws of nature, as the ability to work any miracle whatever, and is an evidence of divine infpiration. Therefore miracles, and prophecy which comes to pafs, may be confidered to-gether, as they are frequently united in the fame event in the fcriptures. Thus moft of the miracles wrought by Mofes in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wildernefs, during forty years, were accompanied by predictions of the miraculous event before it took place, though the latter was inftantaneous with the former, and both were of the nature of a miracle. And fo were all the prophecies of Mofes which have fince been fulfilled, by which, and by all the miracles done by him, his divine miffion was fully confirmed, in the view of the whole nation of Ifrael; and this has been handed down through all ages fince in the church, and been increafing by the fulfilment of many of his prophecies, and the difcovery of the import and defign of the inftitutions which he appointed, which he declared he received from heaven. And, indeed, all or moft of the ordinances inftituted by Mofes contained predictions, pointing out the character of the Saviour who was to come into the world, and what was to be done and fuffered by him for the redemption of man, which were exactly

exactly fulfilled in him, together with all the predictions of him by the prophets who arofe after Mofes. All the mofaic inftitutions, and all the miracles he did, and predictions he uttered, all the miracles and prophecies by the prophets after Mofes, with all the events which took place, were defigned and suited to prepare the way for that event, the incarnation of the Son of God; so that divine design and wisdom is to be seen, by those who will properly attend, fuperintending through the whole. It is impoffible it fhould be a mere human contrivance. At the very time which was pointed out and fixed by the prophets hundreds of years before, when there was confequently a general expectation of the appearance of the promised Saviour, and the ftate of the Jews and of the world was made ready for fuch an event, the expected Meffiah came, in a character and in juft fuch circumstances as were described and foretold long before by the prophets. He wrought many miracles, by which he proved that he was the Son of God, the very person predicted by the prophets, and taught the moft important truth, in a manner which was never done by any mere man. He was a perfect example of humility, meeknefs, uprightnefs, benevolence, wifdom and piety, and taught, both by precept and example, the nature and properties of true religion, and the only excellent and perfect morality. But now we have infenfibly run into what properly belongs to the next head, of internal

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He inftructed his difciples into the meaning of thofe prophecies which related to him; and from this, and acquaintance with him, his doctrines and precepts, and the miracles he wrought, they believed with all their heart that he was the Son of God, who was to come into the world. The body of the nation of Jews, especially their teachers and leaders, the fcribes and pharifees, were fo funk into depravity and ignorance, their hearts were fo very bad and vicious, that they did not understand the prophecies concerning him; nor could they approve of his perfon, character and doctrines, ail

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