preserved this doctrine pure and entire, without committing it to writing; but, for the most part, he has been pleased to make use of means naturally suited and adapted to his purposes, and disposes all things, so as effectually to secure his ends, yet in an easy natural manner suited to our capacities and conceptions of things.

If any one would prove, that these books which we receive as such, are in fact the repositories of this sacred and celestial doctrine, the most proper method he could take would be, first, to shew, that the sacred history and doctrines, contained in them, are true; and then, from their own testimony, conclude them divine.

For the truth of our religion being once well established, it is, to be sure, a most just postulation, and such as ought not to be denied to any sect of men, that, in this instance, the testimony of the Christian church should be believed, when it points out the books wherein the sum and substance of that religion are originally and authentically deposited*.

The truth of the sacred history being once granted, the divinity of the doctrine will naturally follow of course; as the history mentions so many and so great miracles that were wrought in confirmation of the doctrine; those particularly that were performed in proof of the Old Testament, by Moses, the servant of God, by whose ministry the law was given to the Jews; and those that were

ἀυθεντικῶς.

wrought in confirmation of the New by Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, and author of the Evangelic law; as also those that were wrought by his servants the Apostles, and other Christians: and absolutely to deny the force of all these, would be an instance of impudence and obstinacy so great, that the keenest enemies of the Christian name of old did not venture upon it. But the scriptures have two great evidences of their divinity, their own internal character, and that external testimony. There are two things which principally prove their internal character.

1. The incomparable sublimity and purity of the doctrine they contain: for in vain will you look for such profound mysteries, and such pure and holy precepts, any where else.

2. The inimitable and evidently divine majesty of the style, attended, at the same time, with a surprising and wonderful simplicity. Their voice is not the voice of man; but the whole of them, notwithstanding their great extent, sounds something more grand, than can be expected from the mouths of mortal men. Nor ought we to pass over that divine efficacy, which the scriptures have, not only to move the minds of men, but also, by a divine operation*, to change them into something quite different from what they were before; according to that of Lactantius, "Give me a fierce, cruel, and passionate man, with a few of the words of God

* Θεεργῶ μεταμορφώσει.

I will make him as meek as a lamb, &c. *." And the external testimony, already mentioned, has, to be sure, as much weight as any thing of that kind can possibly have. Who would deny to the regular succession of the Catholic church, the credit of a witness? Who, on the other hand, would claim the authority of a judge and arbitrator? It would be quite silly to ascribe to the church a decisive power, as if, when a book were first presented to it, or brought out of any place, where it had been long concealed, it could immediately pronounce whether that book was a divine authority or not. The church is only a witness with regard to these books we acknowledge, and its testimony extends no farther than that they were received, in the first ages of Christianity, as sacred and divinely inspired, and as such handed down from age to age, to the church that now is; and he that would venture to discredit this testimony, must have a heart of lead, and a face of brass.

There is no occasion to dispute so fiercely about the inward testimony of the Holy Ghost: for I am persuaded that those who talk about it, understand nothing more by it, than that the Holy Spirit produces, in the hearts of men, that faith whereby they cheerfully and sincerely receive these books, and the doctrine contained in them, as divine; because such a faith either includes, in the very notion of it, or at least is necessarily connected with, a religious frame of the mind, and a sincere disposition

* Da mihi ferum, &c. ut supra.

to universal obedience. "And he that believeth, as the apostle John expresseth it, has this testimony in himself*," though he cannot convey, or transfer it to others. Now, to assert the necessity of such an internal testimony, is nothing more than to say, that, whatever evidence the scripture may have in itself, or from other considerations, yet the divine faith of this truth must be from above. And he that would deny this, would thereby plainly discover, that he was an entire stranger to that faith himself. "The scripture, says Thomas a Kempis, must surely be believed and understood, by means of the same spirit, by whom it was at first deliveredt." And, as St Augustine expresses it, "the only effectual teacher is he, who has his chair in heaven, and yet instructs the hearts of men on this earth‡." The same divine spirit plants faith in the mind, together with the proper intelligence of divine things, and daily augments and improves these dispositions. This great gift of the spirit is, therefore, to be sought by fervent and constant prayer; and the Son of God, who is truth itself, has assured us, that his most bountiful Father will give it to those that ask him. Aristotle has told us, "That divine inspiration is to be sought by sacrifices §." And it is no less true," that the faith and under

* 1 John v. 10.

† Eodem certe spiritu et credenda, et intelligenda sacra scriptura, quo tradita est.

Qui cathedram habet in cælo, corda docet in terris.

§ Τὸ θεόπνευσον ταις θυσίαις ζητητεον.

standing of things revealed by divine inspiration are to be sought by prayer*." Varro tells us, that he wrote first of human, and then of divine institutions, because societies of men existed first, and the latter were instituted by them.. True religion, on the contrary, instead of being instituted by any city or society on earth, hath instituted a city altogether heavenly and divine, and is itself inspired by God, who is the giver of eternal life to all that worship him in sincerityt.

It is truly surprising to observe, how differently this religion was of old received among men, and what different entertainment it meets with even to this day, though the doctrine has been always the same; though it is still enforced by the same arguments, and has the same difficulties and prejudices to struggle with. When the divine apostle preached in the Areopagus at Athens, a great many mocked and ridiculed him: others said, "We will hear thee again of this matter; but certain men clave unto him and believed." And that we may not think that this faith, in those who believed, was owing to their uncommon penetration or sagacity on the one hand, or to their weakness and simplicity on the other, of the two mentioned in scripture, that believed on this occasion, the one was a philosopher, and the other a woman. Now, though, without doubt, human liberty is to be allowed its due weight

* Την των θεοπνεύζων πίςιν και σύνεσιν ἐυχάις ζητητεον.

+ St. Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. vi. c. 3.

Acts xvii. 32, 34.