1 pared with common natural events, but with uncommon appearances, such as comets, magnetism, electricity; which, to one acquainted only with the usual phenomena of nature, and the common powers of matter, must, before proof of their actual existence, be thought incredible *. The presumptions against Revelation in general being dispatched, objections against the Christian Revelation in particular, against the scheme of it, as distinguished from objections against its evidence, are considered next. Now, supposing a Revelation to be really given, it is highly probable beforehand, that it must contain many things, appearing to us liable to objections. The acknowledged dispensation of nature is very different from what we should have expected; reasoning then from analogy, the revealed dispensation, it is credible, would be also different. Nor are we in any sort judges at what time, or in what degree, or manner, it is fit or expedient for God to instruct us, in things confessedly of the greatest use, either by natural reason, or by supernatural information. Thus, arguing on speculation only, and without experience, it would seem very unlikely that so important a remedy as that provided by Christianity for the recovery of mankind from a state of ruin, should have been for so many ages withheld; and, when at last vouchsafed, should be imparted to so few ; and, after it has been imparted, should be attended with obscurity and doubt. And just so we might have argued, before experience, concerning the remedies provided in nature for bodily diseases, to which by nature we are exposed for many of these were unknown to mankind for a number of ages; are known but to few now; some important ones probably not discovered yet; and those which are, neither certain in their application, nor universal in their use: And the same mode of reason * Chap. 2. ing that would lead us to expect they should have been so, would lead us to expect that the necessity of them should have been superseded, by there being no diseases; as the necessity of the Christian scheme, it may be thought, might also have been superseded, by preventing the fall of man, so that he should not have stood in need of a Redeemer at all *. As to objections against the wisdom and goodness of Christianity, the same answer may be applied to them as was to the like objections against the constitution of Nature. For here also, Christianity is a scheme or oeconomy, composed of various parts, forming a whole; in which scheme means are used for the accomplishing of ends; and which is conducted by general laws; of all of which we know as little as we do of the constitution of Nature. And the seeming want of wisdom or goodness in this system is to be ascribed to the same cause, as the like appearances of defects in the natural system; our inability to discern the whole scheme, and our ignorance of the relation of those parts which are discernible to others beyond our view. The objections against christianity as a matter of fact, and against the wisdom and goodness of it, having been obviated together, the chief of them are now to be considered distinctly. One of these, which is levelled against the entire system itself, is of this sort: The restoration of mankind, represented in scripture as the great design of the Gospel, is described as requiring a long series of means, and persons, and dispensations, before it can be brought to its completion; whereas the whole ought to have been effected at once. Now every thing we see in the course of Nature shews the folly of this objection. For in the natural course of Providence, ends are brought about by means, not operating immediately and at once, but deliberately and in a way of progression; one thing * chap. 3. being subservient to another, this to somewhat further. The change of seasons, the ripening of fruits, the growth of vegetable and animal bodies, are instances of this. And therefore that the same progressive method should be followed in the dispensation of Christianity, as is observed in the common dispensation of Providence, is a reasonable expectation, justified by the analogy of Nature *. Another circumstance, objected to in the Christian scheme, is the appointment of a mediator, and the saving of the world through him. But the visible government of God being actually administered in this way, or by the mediation and instrumentality of others; there can be no general presumption against an appointment of this kind, against his invisible government being exercised in the same manner. We have seen already that, with regard to ourselves, this visible government is carried on by rewards and punishments; for happiness and misery are the consequences of our own actions, considered as virtuous and vicious, and these consequences we are enabled to foresee. It might have been imagined, before consulting experience, that after we had rendered ourselves liable to misery by our own ill conduct, sorrow for what was past, and behaving well for the future, would, alone and of themselves, have exempted us from deserved punishment, and restored us to the divine favour. But the fact is otherwise; and real reformation is often found to be of no avail, so as to secure the criminal from poverty, sickness, infamy, and death, the never-failing attendants on vice and extravagance, exceeding a certain degree. By the course of nature then it appears, God does not always pardon a sinner on his repentance. Yet there is provision made, even in nature, that the miseries, which men bring on themselves by unlawful indulgencies, may in many cases be mitigated, and in some removed: partly by extraor * chap. 4. dinary exertions of the offender himself, but more especially and frequently by the intervention of others, who voluntarily, and from motives of compassion, submit to labour and sorrow, such as produce long and lasting inconveniences to themselves, as the means of rescuing another from the wretched effects of former imprudences. Vicarious punisment, therefore, or one person's sufferings contributing to the relief of another, is a providential disposition, in the oeconomy of nature *: And it ought not to be matter of surprise, if by a method analogous to this we be redeemed from sin and misery, in the oeconomy of grace. That mankind at present are in a state of degradation, different from that in which they were originally created, is the very ground of the Christian revelation, as contained in the Scriptures. Whether we acquiesce in the account, that our being placed in such a state is owing to the crime of our first parents, or chuse to ascribe it to any other cause, it makes no difference as to our condition: the vice and unhappiness of the world are still there, notwithstanding all our suppositions; nor is it Christianity that hath put us into this state. We learn also from the same Scriptures, what experience and the use of expiatory sacrifices from the most early times might -have taught us, that repentance alone is not sufficient to prevent the fatal consequences of past transgressions: But that still there is room for mercy, and that repentance shall be available, though not of itself, yet through the mediation of a divine person, the Messiah; who, from the sublimest principles of compassion, when we were dead in trespassés and sins t, suffered and died, the innocent for the guilty, the just for the unjust, that we might have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins §. In what In what way the death of Christ was of that efficacy it is said to be, in pro * See note [I], at the end of this Preface. curing the reconciliation of sinners, the. Scriptures have not explained: It is enough that the doctrine is revealed; that it is not contrary to any truth which reason and experience teach us; and that it accords in perfect harmony with the usual method of the divine conduct in the government of the world *. Again it hath been said, that if the Christian revelation were true, it must have been universal, and could not have been left upon doubtful evidence. But God, in his natural providence, dispenses his gifts in great variety, not only among creatures of the same species, but to the same individuals also at different times. Had the Christian revelation been universal at first, yet from the diversity of men's abilities both of mind and body, their various ineans of improvement, and other external advantages, some persons must soon have been in a situation, with respect to religious knowledge, much superior to that of others, as much perhaps as they are at present: And all men will be equitably dealt with at last; and to whom little is given, of him little will be required. Then as to the evidence of religion being left doubtful, difficulties of this sort, like difficulties in practice, afford scope and opportunity for a virtuous exercise of the understanding, and dispose the mind to acquiesce and rest satisfied with any evidence that is real. In the daily commerce of life, men are obliged to act upon great uncertainties, with regard to success in their temporal pursuits and the case with regard to religion is parallel. However, though religion be not intuitively true, the proofs of it which we have are, amply sufficient in reason to induce us to embrace it; and dissatisfaction with those proofs may possibly be men's own fault *. Nothing remains but to attend to the positive evidence there is for the truth of Christianity. Now, besides its direct and fundamental proofs, which are miracles and pro |