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have done, fiiice difTerent nations have been vanoudv blended 

 with one another by the exteiifion of trade, arts, and fciences ; 

 and yet fome changes mu!l have occurred in the interval that 

 elapfed between tiie time of Mofcs and tliat of Malachi. 

 The Bibhcal Hebrew correfponds fo exaftly to this criterion, 

 as to afford a confiderable argument in favour of the ge- 

 nuinenefs of the books of the Old Teftanient. Belldes, 

 thefe books have too great a diverfity of llyle to be the work 

 of either one Jew, or of any fet of cotemporary Jews.. If 

 they be forgeries, there muft have been a fucceifion of im- 

 poilors in different ages, who concurred in the fame iniquitous 

 delign. Again, the Hebrew language ceafed to be fpoken, 

 as a living language, foon after the time of the Babylonilh 

 captivity ; and it would be difficult or impoffible to forge any 

 thing in it, after it became a dead language. Hence it ap- 

 pears, tliat all the books of the Old Tellament muft be nearly 

 as ancient as the Babylonifii captivity ; and as they could not 

 all be written in the fame age, fome mult be much more an- 

 cient, and this would reduce us to the neceffity of fnppofing 

 a fueceiTion of confpiring impoftors. Moreover, there 13, as 

 we have already obfcrvcd, a finiplicity of ftvle, and an un- 

 aiTecled manner of writmg, in all the books of the Old Tttta- 

 ment, which is a ftrong evidence of their genuinencfs. The 

 flyle of the New Teftament, in particular, is not only finiple 

 and unaffeAed, but perfedtly adapted to the time, places, and 

 perfons. To which we may add, that the narrations and 

 precepts of both the Old and New Teftament are delivered 

 without hefitation ; the writers teaching as having authority ; 

 and this circumftance is peculiar to thofe, who unite with a 

 clear knowledge of what they deliver, a perfeft integrity of 

 heart. 



Another argument for the genuinenefs and truth of the 

 Scriptures, isfupplied by the very great number of particular 

 circumllances of time, place, perfons, &c. mentioned in them. 

 It is needlefs to recount thefe ; but they arc incompatible 

 with forged and falfe accounts, which do not abound in fuch 

 particularities, and the want of which furnhhts a fufpicion to 

 their difcredit. Compare, in this refpeft, Manctho's ac- 

 count of the dynafties of Egypt, Ctelias's of the AfTyrian 

 kings, and thofe which the technical chronologers have given 

 of the ancient kingdoms of Greece, which are defeftive in 

 fuch particulars, with Thucydidcs's hiftoi-y of the Pelopon- 

 refian war, and Caefar's of the war in Gaul, in which they oc- 

 cur, and the difference will be fufficientiy apparent. Dr. Pa- 

 lev's admirable treatife, entitled " Horz Paulins," affords 

 very valuable illuftrations of this argument as it refpefts the 

 genuinenefs of the books of the New Teftament. 



Tlie agreement of the Scriptures with hiltory, natural and 

 civil, is a farther proof of their genuinenefs and truth. The 

 hiftoi-y of the fall agrees in an eminent manner both with the 

 obvious fafts of labour, forrow, pain, and death, with what 

 we fee and feel every day, and with all our philofophical en- 

 quiries into the frame of the human mind, the nature of fecial 

 life, and the origin of evil. Natural hiftory bears a ftrong 

 teftimony to Mofes's account of the deh:ge. Civil hiftory 

 affords many evidences, which corroborate the fame account. 

 (See Deluge.) The Mofaic account of the confufion of 

 languages, of the difperfion of Noah's fons, and of the ftate 

 of religion in the ancient poftdiluvian world, is not only ren- 

 dered probable, but in a very high degree eftabliftitd, by 

 many collateral arguments. See Cokfusion of Lan- 

 guages, Dis?ERSios of Alauiind, Idolatry, Sacrifice, 

 &c. 



The agreement of the books of the Old and New Tcfta- 

 ments, with thtmfclves and with each other, affords an argu- 

 ment both of their genuinenefs and truth. The laws of the 

 Ifraehtes are contained in the Pentateuch, and referred to, in 



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a great variety of ways, direft and indireft, in the hilloricai 

 books, in the Pfalms, and in the Prophecies. The hiftorical 

 facts alfo in the preceding books are often referred to in thofe 

 that fucceed, a:;d in the Pfalms and Prophecies. In like 

 manner, the gcfpels have the greateft; harmony with each 

 other, and the epiftles of St. Paul with the Acts of the 

 Apoftles : and, indeed, there is fcarcely any book of either 

 the Old or New Teftament, which may not be (hewn to refer 

 to many of the reft, in one way or other. For the illuftra- 

 tion of this argument, let us fuppofe that no more remained 

 of the Roman writers than Livy, Tully, and Horace, would 

 they not by their references to the fame fatt> and cuftoms, 

 by the faraenefs of ftyle in the fame writer, and difference in 

 the diftcrent or;es, and numberlefs other fuch like circum- 

 ftances of critical ccnfideration, prove themfelves, and one 

 another to be genuine, and the princ'pal facis related, or 

 alluded to, to be true ? Whoever will apply this rcafonir.g 

 to the prefent cafe will perceive, that the numberlefs minute, 

 direft, and indirect agreements and coincidences, that prefent 

 themfelrcs to ail diligent readers of the fcriptures, prove their 

 truth and genuinenefs beyond all contradiftion . See Acts, 

 Epistles, and Testament. 



The harmony and agreement of the fevcral writers of the 

 Old and New Teftament appear the more remarkable, 

 when it is confidered that their various parts were penned 

 by feveral hands in very different conditions of hfe, from 

 the throne and fceptre down to the loweft desrree, and in 

 very diftant ages, through a long interval of time ; which 

 would naturally have led a fpirit of impofture to have 

 varied its fchemes, and to have adapted them to different 

 Rations in the world, and to the different viciflitudes of every 

 age. David wrote about 400 years after Slofes, and Ifaiah 

 about 250 after David, and Matthew more than 700 years 

 after Haiah. And yet thefe authors, with all the other 

 prophtts and apoftles, write in perfect harmony, confirming 

 the authority of their predeceffors, labouring to red\icc the 

 people to the obfervance of their inftructions, and loudly ex- 

 claiming againft the neglect and contempt of them, and de- 

 nouncing the fevereft judgments againft fuch as continued 

 difobedient. Confequently, as the writers of the Holy Scrip- 

 tures, though they ail claim a divine authority, yet write in 

 perfect connettion and harmony, mutually confirming the 

 doctrine and teftimony of each other, and concurring to efta- 

 blifh the veiy fame religious truths and principles, it is a 

 ftrong proof that they all derived their inltruftions from the 

 fame fountain, the wil'dom of God, and were indeed under the 

 direction and illumination of the fame fpirit. This leads us 

 to add, that the unity of defign, which appears in the dif- 

 penfations recorded in the Scriptures, is an argument not only 

 of their truth and genuinenefs, but alfo of their divine autho- 

 rity. In order to perceive the force of ths argument, it is 

 only neceffary to inquire what this defign is, and how it is 

 puriued by the feries ol events and divine interpofitions, re- 

 corded in the Scriptures. (See Dispensation.) We may 

 further add, that divine communications, miracles, and pro- 

 phecies, recorded in Scripture, are agreeable to natural reli- 

 gion, and even feem to be neceffary in the infancy of the 

 world. (See Miracle, Prophecy, and Revelation.) 

 It ftiould alfo be confidered, that the hiftorical evidences in 

 favour of the genuinenefs, truth, and divine authority of the 

 Scriptures, do not become Icfs fro.m age to age ; but, on the 

 contrary, it may rather be prefumed, that they increafe. 

 Since the three great concurring events of printing, the re- 

 formation of rehgion in thefe weftem parts, and the reftora- 

 tion of letters, io many more evidences and coincidences have 

 been difcovered in favour of the Jewilh and Chriftian hifto- 

 ries, as may ferve, in fonie meafurc, to fupply the want of 



thofe 



