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disposing him to search the Scripture; to examine his own mind; to meditate on the nature, the providence, the word, and the works of God; to be humble, in consideration of his, ignorance and infirmity; and to implore the aid of the Holy Spirit, to guide him into all necessary truth. Are these exercises detrimental to human nature? Are they not, in the highest degree, beneficial? Let not then the obscurities of particular passages and doctrines be objected to the religion of the New-Testament. When fairly stated, they will be found rather to add to its evidence. At least, they prove it to be exactly similar to the other works of the same great and good Being, who, by the constitution of every thing here below, plainly shows, that our present state is a state of trial.

These remarks may suggest an answer to what has been objected to our religion by those, who wonder, that, after having been preached seventeen hundred years in the most enlightened parts of the world, it should still need interpretation, and give scope to the labours of the critic, translator, and antiquary. To him who has studied the analogies of nature, this can be no matter of wonder. In the other works of God we are continually making new discoveries; without foreseeing any end to human research, or any period that promises complete gratification to human curiosity. This having been the case in all past ages, and all other sciences, we may reasonably conclude that it will be so in every age to come; and that the contemplation of the divine goodness and wisdom, as displayed in the works of creation and providence, may furnish delightful employment, even for eternity. For an Almighty Creator may make his works of infinite extent, if he pleases; and to a limited understanding, the examination of that which is infinite, can never come to an end.

Every day we have something to do; if we had not we should be miserable. Every art and science admits of improvement; if it did not, the human mind would languish in idleness, human labour would no longer

be amusing, and the spirit of enterprize, and the vicissitudes of hope and fear, would be no more; a state of things equally inconsistent with the virtue, and the happiness of such a creature as man. The essential doctrines of our religion, like the practical, and most necessary parts of agriculture, medicine, navigation, and other sciences, are within the reach of every mind, who is willing to be instructed. And yet, in our religion, as in the arts and sciences, there still is, and ́probably will continue to be, room for inquiry, and need of illustration: and he who humbly inquires, with a sincere desire to know the truth, and do good by explaining it, will ever have reason to rejoice in his labour, as contributing no less to his own happiness and virtue, than to that of mankind. To which let me add, with respect to those who employ themselves in illustrating theological truth, that, as long as men are liable to mistake, the penetration of one may be useful in correcting the inaccuracy of another.

IV. Some are at a loss to reconcile the inspiration of the evangelists with those particulars wherein their gospels seem to differ from one another. They do not all record the same things, nor do they relate all the same events in the same manner The differences are indeed minute: but they are perceptible. How could this be, if the historians were inspired? The following answer to this query is submitted to the reader.

Socrates long ago observed, that man has no need of supernatural information concerning those things which his natural faculties are alone sufficient to discover. To enable the apostles to comprehend all evangelical truth, supernatural light was necessary. Their Master accordingly promised it, and on the day of Pentecost, or soon after, they received it. I say, or soon after, because, subsequent to the descent of the Holy Spirit, on that day, a particular revelation, relating to the conversion of the Gentiles, was made to Peter, and the whole scheme of the gospel, as well as its miraculous gifts and graces, communicated to Paul. VOL. ii.

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by immediate inspiration. After this, we find, that in their doctrine they lay claim to infallibility, in pretty strong terms. On some extraordinary emergencies too, in the course of their ministry, as in the case of their being arraigned before kings and rulers, it was promised that they should receive aid from heaven in making their defence.

But inspiration was not necessary to enable them to see and hear; or to teach them how to conduct themselves in the common business of life. After their conversion, we have no reason to think, that John was a more expert fisherman, or Luke a more skilful physician, than before. As historians, therefore, they need not, I presume, be considered in any other light, than that of honest men, recording what they saw and heard, and had examined, and were competent judges of, and deeply interested in: for, on this supposition, their testimony is fully sufficient to establish the truth of the gospel. And this may account for their not all recording the same things, nor describing the same events in exactly the same way.

If John, for example, saw his Master do, or heard him say, what Matthew did not see or hear, which might have happened in an hundred instances, it was equally natural, for the former to record, and for the latter not to record it. And, if Matthew and Mark, supposed to have been spectators of the crucifixion, were so stationed in the croud, as to hear the one robber revile their dying Lord, and to see the other move his lips, but, without hearing what he said, it was not unnatural for them to conclude, as the combination against him, seemed now to be universal, that both the robbers reviled him; which yet Luke, or some other person from whom Luke received his information, might, by being more advantageously situated, and hearing the words of the penitent robber, know to be true of only one of them. At any rate, we may, with confidence affirm, that if the evangelists had been to invent a fable, and obtrude it on the world for truth, they would have taken care that there should be no such

contrariety in their testimonies, as there confessedly is in this instance; which, however, is not so important, as either to detract from the veracity of the historians, or throw any blemish on the purity of the gospel.

The same thing may be said of our Lord's genealogy, as it is differently stated by Matthew and Luke. If either account had been false, both would not have existed. Both, therefore, are true; and may be reconciled, by supposing the one to be the genealogy of his mother, and the other that of his reputed father. In the most material articles they agree; namely, that he was descended from Abraham, and of the family of David. And it is impossible to imagine any motive, that could induce either Luke or Matthew to misrepresent the subsequent articles; as among a people, so curious in genealogy as the Jews were, the error might be so easily found out.

When the matter inquired into is very complex, an exact coincidence in the testimony of witnesses is not expected. Let them be ever so attentive and candid, they could not have stood all in the same place, nor consequently have taken notice of the very same particulars without variation. Of some sorts of facts, too, the memory of some men is more tenacious than that of others. One remembers best what he saw, another what he heard: one attends to the connection of events, with their effects and causes; another considers them separately, and, as each event is in itself. Hence as formerly observed, some diversities in what they declare, concerning circumstances of little moment, would convey a favourable opinion of the veracity of witnesses, whereas, a perfect sameness of declaration might, in the case supposed, breed suspicion of a preconcerted plan.

But though, after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the apostles laid claim to infallibility of doctrine, they never gave out, that their whole conduct was under the guidance of inspiration. were indeed holy men; but still they were men; and, as such, liable both to sins of infirmity, which they

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humbly acknowledge, and from which they affirm that no man is free, and also to error, not in doctrine indeed, but in those matters of less moment, in which they had nothing but their own reason to direct them. If we

say we have no sin, says St. John, we deceive our'selves, and the truth is not in us. 'We are men of 'like passions with you,' said Paul and Barnabas, when the people of Lystra were preparing to pay them divine honours. And here, let me ask in passing, whether these two apostles, if they had been impostors, or wished to gain undue influence over the minds of men, would have been so zealous in refusing those honours, and so anxious to convert that people from idolatry. And let me ask further, with respect to the apostles in general, whether, if ambition, or vanity, or any other principle than the love of truth, had been the motive of their conduct; they would so uniformly, and with such solemnity of protestation, have ascribed all the glory of their miracles and doctrine, not to themselves, but to their crucified Lord.

And now, if I have rightly stated the nature of their inspiration, can it appear strange, or in any respect derogatory from the character of the apostles and evangelists, that Paul and Barnabas should differ in opinion, concerning the propriety of taking John, surnamed Mark, along with them: that this John should have been suspected of a temporary neglect of duty*: that Peter and Paul, though men of distinguished fortitude, should, on one or two occasions, have been seized with a momentary fit of fear; or, that the former apostle should have been reproved by the latter, for an inconsistency of conduct, owing to his having been, in one particular case, too indulgent to certain prejudices of his Jewish countryment:-a principle very natural in itself, especially to a warm hearted, affectionate man, like Peter, and in ordinary cases not very blameable? All this might have appeared strange, if the apostles had ever pretended that their conduct was as blameless as + Galat. ii. 11

Acts xv. 37.--40.

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