-m

u

I«S3

AN

ESSAY ON THE
PHILOSOPHICAL EVIDENCE
or
CHRISTIANITY; ETC.

G. WOODFALL, ANSEL COURT, SKINNEB STREET, LONDON.

AN

ESSAY

ON THE

PHILOSOPHICAL EVIDENCE
OF
CHRISTIANITY; OR,
THE CREDIBILITY OBTAINED
TO A
SCRIPTURAL REVELATION,
J-ROM ITS COINCIDENCE WITH THE FACTS OF NATURE.

BY THE REVEREND
RENN D. HAMPDEN, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF OEIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD.

 what if earth
Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein
Each to other like, more th^i on euth is thought ?
PARADISE LOST, V. 674.

LONDON : ¦
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
MDCCCXXVII.

n|3i53

PREFACE.
Admiration of the celebrated treatise of
Bishop Butler, — " The Analogy of Reli
gion, Natural and Revealed, to the Consti
tution and Course of Nature", — and a de
sire to obtain a full comprehension of the
character and force of the particular evi
dence exemplified in that work, have been
the primary inducements to the following
attempt to elucidate the principle on which
that evidence proceeds, and the importance
of its application to such a religion as Chris
tianity. A discussion of this kind appeared the
more necessary, as the evidence of the
natural world has been greatly underrated
in the general estimate, as a constituent
of the great Christian Argument. It is
usual to speak of it, indiscriminately, under
the general head of the internajl evidence,-

11 PREFACE.

and, accordingly, to contrast it with the ex
ternal evidence derived from facts belong
ing to the history of Christianity. — Now,
though it may rightly be classed under the
head of the internal evidence, inasmuch as
it respects the internal system and charac
ter of the religion itself contained in any
revelation ; yet is it also an evidence from
external facts, inasmuch as it is conversant
about the phenomena of nature. And it
ought not, therefore, to be contrasted with
the evidence usually termed external, as if
it offered a proof of a different kind; but to
be distinguished from it simply in respect
of, the subject-matter of its facts, and the
points of the revelation to which it applies
those facts. The facts which the evidence,
properly external, employs, are the events
which have accompanied the promulgation
and establishment of the religion in ques
tion. The facts which that kind of internal
evidence here examined employs, are those
which are collected from observation of the
established course of Divine Providence in

PREFACE. HI
the world. — The former applies the test of
facts to a given religion, considered as an
historical event. The latter applies the
test of facts to a given religion, considered,
in its structure as a system of truths, and
in the nature of its evidences and circum
stances in general, — the nature of its evi
dences and circumstances clearly present
ing a point of comparison distinct from
their application as actual events. It ap
plies, for instance, to Christianity, either as
containing the doctrine of the atonement ;
or as miraculous in its essential evidence, —
as deficient in its proof, — not universal in
its diffusion, &c.
From not distinctly considering then,
that there is an internal evidence conver
sant about facts (and not mere opinions)
no less than the external, — the argument
of " The Analogy " has been involved
in that suspicion, which justly attaches to
all speculations a priori on the subject of
religion, or attempts to ascertain the in
trinsic merits of a given revelation, by its
a 2

IV PREFACE.

accordance with preconceived notions un
supported by adequate data : instead of its
being regarded in its true light, as a deduc
tion, in the first place, of principles of theo
logical truth from actual observations; and
then, an application of the principles so de
duced to the doctrinal and circumstantial
nature of the religion, — and consequently
an argument a posteriori in its principle,
though in the mode of its application it as
sumes the form of a priori reasoning.
Nor can it be reasonably objected, that
this form ofthe argument renders this Evi
dence obnoxious to the charge of a vain
speculation : since, not even our application
of the external evidence is exempt from
the like imperfection. For, whilst in ar
guing the historical truth of Christianity we
commence with the fact of its present exists
ence, and those other facts which the testi
monies of historians have transmitted to us,
relative to its existence antecedently to our
own times, — yet, that we may apply these
facts as proofs of the divinity of its origin,

PREFACE.

we must consider, whether they are such as
may be conceived to have been the result of
a supposed divine origin. We must put our
selves in the imaginary situation of persons
who are not in possession of the effect pro
duced ; and argue what would be the effect,
on the supposition that the alleged revela
tion were really from God, in the events be
longing to it. And thus, our inquiry is sa
tisfied on finding the concluded event coin
cident with the real and known effect. As,
for instance, — the rapid propagation of the
gospel at its outset, is a known fact in its
history ; — but, before we can apply this fact
to the proof of its divine origin, we specu
late concerning the probable effect in a case
where the hand of God is supposed to be
immediately exerted; and the conclusion
from such an assumption is, that the truth
so supported would be rapidly propagated,
in spite of all opposition from the world ;
— agreeably to the known fact.
There being, accordingly, a means of
substantiating by facts the internal econo-

VI PREFACE.

my of revealed truth, it follows, that there
is an intimate and proper philosophy of re
ligion ; and not merely an external philo
sophy, or application of the general laws of
evidence to the particular evidence adduced
in favour of any religion, — as is implied in
those statements which rest the credibility
of a religion solely and exclusively on the
testimonies to its, existence as an historical
event. At the same time, it will readily be ac
knowledged, there is a strong prima facie
objection to the assertion of a philosophi
cal theology. We appear, in holding such
language, to be exceeding our proper limits,
as the simple recipients of a gracious illu
mination from the Divine wisdom ; and to
be presumptuously reducing into system
and order, where we ought rather to be de
voutly ascribing, not only our measure of
divine knowledge in general, but every par
ticular matter revealed, both in its sub
stance and method, to the good pleasure of
God. We seem to be theorising, when we

PREFACE. Vll
ought to be obeying, — to be giving to know
ledge the prerogatives of faith and love. —
The objection, it is trusted, will be found
to apply rather to the name of philosophy,
than to its right use in the study of religion.
So far as the argument pursued in " The
Analogy" is valid, there is a sound philo
sophy of religion ; and it is only to that ex
tent, and in that sense, that the assertion of
it is here advanced.
Nor is it only in respect of its essential
nature, that the Evidence here investigated
has been underrated ; but its importance
has been limited to the purpose of invali
dating objections against Christianity, — its
positive subserviency, as an argument to the
truth of the religion, being regarded as
comparatively little. This disesteem of
the Evidence is a result of that mistaken
view of its nature already adverted to. For
if it be considered merely as an argument
a priori, it may still be triumphantly em
ployed against an adversary, who brings
objections against the religion drawn from

vui PREFACE.

speculations of a similar kind ; but no real
evidence can be obtained from it of the in
ternal truth of the religion to which it may
be applied; since it then has no foundation
in nature. It is then only an argumentum
ad hominem. This limitation, however, of
the service of the Evidence, whether it pro
ceed from a wrong estimate of its nature,
or not, is certainly very common among
even professed admirers of " The Ana
logy". Probably it has arisen, in some de
gree, from the method pursued by Bishop
Butler himself, in directing the attention of
the reader, throughout the work, to the
force with which the Evidence repels spe
culative objections. To remove this mis
apprehension, as well as the former, a full
investigation of the merits of the Evidence
appeared to be demanded; that the various
ways, in which it administers to the cause
ofthe Christian Revelation, might distinctly
be placed before the view.
An additional motive to this inquiry sug
gested itself in a conviction of the injustice

PREFACE. IX

of that prejudice, with which the admirable
work of Bishop Butler is regarded by some,
as a work full of intricacy and obscurity.
If there be no ground for accusing a writer
of confusion of thought, the apparent ob
scurity of his writings may, in that case,
be ascribed to a want, in the reader, of a
previous due acquaintance with the subject
of which they treat. Now, all ground of
the former charge must be entirely removed
when we apply our criticism to such a writer
as Butler ; and it may, therefore, be con
cluded, that a preliminary consideration of
the nature and grounds of the argument
pursued in the work is what is required,
for some readers, to dissipate that appear
ance of obscurity with which it is overcast.
The student, indeed, who has not conceived
just notions of the nature of the Evidence,
is not immediately aware, as he reads, that
the right prosecution of the argument es
sentially precludes all theories concerning
the subjects discussed, and, consequently,
all modes of expression, as far as is pos-

X PREFACE.
sible, which involve particular theories in
them. To avoid the fallacy, which the in
troduction of such theories in his language
would occasion, Butler is often obliged to
employ a circuitous, and apparently awk
ward, style in stating his arguments ; or, as
he says himself, in reference to the princi
ples of liberty and moral fitness, has " some
times been obliged to express himself in a
manner which will appear strange to such
as do not observe the reason for it"*.
Thus, in his chapter on a Future Life, he
does not speak of the soul, as an imma
terial, or naturally immortal, principle ;
since his object is, to employ such argu
ments as would be conclusive, whatever
theory of the soul be maintained ; appeal
ing, simply, to such facts as are signs of its
posthumous existence, whatever may be its
nature. Hence his use of such expressions
as "faculties of perception and action" —
"living powers" — "living agents" — "the
? Butler's Works, by HaUfax, Vol. I. p. 398, Oxford Ed.
1820.

PREFACE. Xl
living being each man calls himself" — &c. :
which, to be justly estimated, must be re
garded as exclusions of any particular
theory concerning the soul ; so as to leave
the question of a future life, as there entered
into, purely a question of fact. And so
throughout the treatise, it will be found, on
a close examination, that it is the difficulty
of stating an accurate generalization of par
ticular facts, exempt from all particular
theories of the subjects about which they
. are conversant, which occasions a difficulty
in the style. Had a more familiar expres
sion been employed, though founded on
some abstruse speculation, the apparent
difficulty would have been less, whilst a
real perplexity would have been introduced
into the argument, from the fallacy involved
in the more specious term. Conclusions
of the kind employed in "The Analogy"
differ from mere speculative conclusions, in
being drawn immediately and wholly from
the facts examined. In stating them, there
fore, we cannot proceed a step beyond the

xu PREFACE.
limits of the facts. Great precision of
language, accordingly, is required, in order
to exhibit them faithfully. And they exact
from the reader the like patient and close
attention, in order that he may perceive
their true outline, and know why such a
particular form of expression is used in
each instance, and not one more usual and
obvious. At the same time, it is not meant, by what
is here said, to defend every particular ex
pression employed in the conduct of the
argument of " The Analogy ", as the most
appropriate and simple ; — or to assert, that
other forms might not sometimes have been
substituted, at once accurate, and more fami
liar to the general reader ,-^or, that greater
expansion of the reasoning, with less of that
allusion to collateral topics of discussion,
with which, the very comprehensiveness
of his mind, and his forecast of possible
objections to particular statements, have led
him occasionally to interrupt the straight
forward course of his argument — ^would not

PREFACE. Xin

have given greater perspicuity to it, without
diminishing its force. It is only meant to
remove that general imputation of obscu
rity, which is carelessly and unjustly cast
upon the work. That there is some degree
of obscurity arising from the nature of the
discussion pursued in " The Analogy," it
must be conceded; and it is to the removal
of this, that the inquiry here instituted into
the grounds, nature, and importance, ofthe
Evidence itself illustrated in that work, is
intended to serve.
The separate arrangement, adopted by
Butler, of the arguments from the consti
tution and course of nature, as they refer to
natural or revealed religion, has not been
followed in this Essay ; because, when once
it is admitted, that religion has been authen
ticated and enlarged by a distinct communi
cation from God, it seems, that nature is
then superseded, as the source of instruction
on the subject, by the more express and co
pious subsequent information : and we have
only to examine how far nature leads us on

XIV PREFACE.
the same track of divine truth, and confirms
and illustrates the words of her successor :
ranging the scriptures exclusively on one
side, as containing the truths of religion,
and the instruction of nature on the other,
as containing their evidence. Butler's ar
rangement, however, is not objectionable in
itself; since the concession of some funda
mental truths to the province of natural
religion, by no means implies, that such
truths were originally discovered, or are ne
cessarily discoverable, by dint of human
reason. Natural and revealed religion may
be contradistinguished, in respect of the
truths properly belonging to each ; the
former containing those truths which result
from our relations to God, as the Lord of
the visible world; the latter containing
those truths which result from our rela
tions to God, as the Lord of the invi
sible worid. Now, in the case of those
belonging to the latter class, their origin
must be known to us, because we have no
other means of apprehending them, but

PREFACE. XV
by supernatural revelation. In the case of
those belonging to the former class, as they
exist in nature, they may be traced in na
ture, whether originally obtained in the
same way, or otherwise.
If we suppose nature to have been in
tended as an independent organ of divine
communication ; yet it may consistently be
supposed, that a miraculous unfolding of
the truths contained in nature, may havebeeii
necessary in the first instance to open the mind
of man to a perception of those truths ; — in
like manner, as immediate oral instruction
from the ministers of scripture truths ap
pears to have been a necessary accompani
ment of the word of God, in order to in
troduce the knowledge supernaturally re
vealed to the understanding of the future
reader of scripture. " For natural religion ",
as Bishop Butler remarks, " may be ex
ternally revealed by God, as the ignorant
may be taught it by mankind, their fellow-
creatures."* And it is, moreover, " to be
* Anal. Part ii. ch. vii p. 358.

xvi PREFACE.
remembered," according to another ob
servation of this excellent author, " that
how much soever the establishment of na
tural religion in the world, is owing to the
scripture-revelation, this does not destroy
the proof of religion from reason, any more
than the proof of Euclid's Elements is de
stroyed, by a man's knowing or thinking,
that he should never have seen the truth of
the several propositions contained in it, nor
had those propositions come into his
thoughts, but for that mathematician."*
It requires certainly great caution, in the
separate consideration of the two classes of
theological truth, lest we transfer to the
head of natural religion what belongs to
the scriptures alone, and thus disparage
the work of the Holy Spirit manifested in
the oracles of inspiration. Perhaps the
titles of some of the chapters in the first
part of " The Analogy ", as expressing
more than is justly due to the revelation of
nature, may lead to the supposition, that the
* Id. p. 367.

PREFACE. XVll
whole theological truth, as nakedly stated
in them, is attributed to natural religion.
But it is from the discussion of the different
points indicated by these titles, that we must
take our estimate of the extent of natural
religion, so far as it is conceived to be in
timated to us by the signs of nature : and
there we find its pretensions stated with due
moderation and reserve.
As the scriptures are here considered
as the storehouse of theological truths ;
so also the division of the system of na
ture into natural and moral, has been dis
regarded in reference to the present subject.
Both natural and moral truths are consi
dered here, indiscriminately, as parts of the
great system of nature. Though, in another
point of view, indeed, the natural system of
the world is but a subordinate part of the
moral, or the intellectual (as it is termed in
the phraseology of Cudworth) ; since every
thing in the world is evidently intended to
be the means of moral and intellectual im
provement to a creature made capable of
b

XVlll PREFACE.
perceiving in it this use. If we were inquir
ing, accordingly, into the moral evidence of
the scripture-revelation, then it would be
necessary to look at nature only as it pre
sents a moral aspect, — collecting its facts,
not simply as real existences, but as con
taining indications of right and wrong. But
our object in this inquiry being, to observe
in general whatever is, in that portion of
God's creation which He has submitted to
the ken of our present faculties, we are no
further concerned with the moral qualities
of the facts observed, than as they fall
under the head of actual phenomena in the
course and constitution of the world. And,
consequently, in this point of view, the
moral system of the universe is subordinate
to the natural.

an

ESSAY

ON THE

PHILOSOPHICAL EVIDENCE

CHRISTIANITY.

b 2

ARGUMENT.
The necessity of examining into the character of any
assumed revelation, arises from the intervention of human
instruments in its delivery. Two modes of prosecuting
the examination. 1st. By a priori reasoning from the
principles of our nature. 2d. By comparison with the
works of creation. The latter the subject of the present
inquiry. Heads of inquiry : — 1. The grounds of the
credibility derived to a revelation from such a comparison.
2. The nature of it. 3. Its importance. 4. The consi
deration of objections to the employment of such an
evidence. I. The grounds of the credibihty. The comparison
implies, that the natural world is a kind of revelation, — ¦
that it is so, argued from the adjustment of our minds to
the condition in which we are placed; — the question con
cerning the grounds of credibility then turns upon the
existence of some common principles in the two systems
of divine instruction — our repugnance to admit a scriptu
ral revelation, on account of its improbabihty, raises a
presumption, that there are such intemal tests of its pro
bability — a presumption also arises from the analogy of
our knowledge in general — ^but contrary presumptions

XXll AEGUMENT.
from the form and character of a scriptural revelation. — It
is certain, that the two kinds of divine instruction cannot
disagree — 1. from both being the works of the same
Divine Author — 2. from both being addressed to the same
human nature. — The credibility into which we are in
quiring, requires some positive agreement, and not the
mere absence of disagreement. Intimations of such
positive agreement in passages of scripture. The proof
of the existence of some common principles in the systems
of nature and the scriptures, not to be confounded with
the power of applying them with confidence from one
class of facts to the other — the proof of the existence of
some common principles, depends on the nature of the
information which an inspired messenger may impart.^
All our knowledge of God obtained from experience is
relative — and we are incapable of attaining to a higher
kind of knowledge, even from express revelation, as ap
pears — 1. from the fixed standard of our feculties — 2.
from the employment of human ideas in the revelation —
3. from the employment of language. — Hence it follows,
that there must be some common principles in the two
systems of instruction. — What those principles are, in
ferred from the practical character which must belong to
any true revelation. — No religious knowledge can be
merely speculative — A revelation, in order to be both true
and practical, must supply such motives of action, as may
readily combine with those ordinary principles of conduct

ARGUMENT. XXIU
which we obtain from the course of nature. This requires
that the two systems should unfold the same general laws
of the divine procedure — which laws of the divine pro
cedure are the media of comparison, or grounds on which
the internal credibility of the scriptures is rested.
II. The nature of that credibihty. — Preliminary consi
deration of the extent to which natural and revealed
knowledge must differ from each other. A difference
between the two systems arises — 1. from the instruction
by revelation being subsequent in order, and presup
posing that by experience — 2. from the different forms
of the two communications — ^the difference considered
between an instruction by words and one by signs — the
former more adapted for conveying a clear divine know
ledge — whilst its comparative limitation directs it to
points of high importance — 3. from the different ends
primarily pursued in each instruction — temporal good,
the primary end of our natural instruction — spiritual
good, the primary end of revealed instruction — ^whilst
each, in a secondary manner, is subservient to the end of
the other. — The two systems of divine instruction differ
ing in the degree in which they evidence the laws of
the divine procedure, it becomes necessary, in applying
common principles to them, to make allowances for the
peculiar circumstances of each system. — Hence it is in
ferred that their agreement is that of analogy. — Analogy
the means of stating a general truth as it may be modified

XXIV ARGUMENT.
by different circumstances.— The variations under which
analogy exhibits a general truth of divine providence,
inferred from experience, and applied to the circumstances
of the invisible world, may be identified with those al
lowances, which, taking the doctrines of scripture and
fects of nature as our data, we must make on both sides,
in order to exhibit them coincident with each other. — To
illustrate this, the various ways in which a general principle
may be modified by analogy, are considered — 1. where
the circumstances, from, and to, which we reason, are
known to be similar — 2. where they are known to be dif
ferent — 3. where their similarity, or difference, cannot be
ascertained. This last species of modification is that
which belongs to conclusions on subjects of divine revela
tion, as such conclusions must be held with a reserve for our
natural ignorance of the circumstances to which we reason.
— But the same consideration of our ignorance obliges us to
adopt into such conclusions any particulars of information
which an authentic messenger of God may relate to us. —
Consequently, on the supposition that the scriptures are
authentic, those forms which the laws of Providence may
assume in their doctrines, are the real analogies to the
facts of nature evidencing the same principles. — This
shewn in particular instances of Christian doctrines. — The
scriptural account of a ftiture life compared with the no
tion of a future life inculcated by natural theology— the
doctrine of natural theology leads us no further than to

ARGUMENT. xxv
the fact, that we may exist through and after death,
whereas the scriptures add several particulars — if, how
ever, we have reasoned justly from experience, we have
afiirmed nothing respecting those points on which the
scriptural information is added, — and are open accordingly
to the admission of such information, if authentic, into the
analogical inference. — The instructions of nature and the
scriptures compared as to the doctrine of retribution —
nature leading us only to conclude, that it will on the
whole be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked ;
any particulars respecting the mode or duration of ftiture
rewards and punishments are matter of express informa
tion, and may therefore, when known, be justly embodied
in the analogical inference. — The vaUdity of the analogy
between Christianity and nature fiirther pointed out in re
spect ofthe circumstantial character of the two instructions
— 1. as to the circumstance of their exhibiting their respec
tive truths connected in a scheme or constitution — 2. as to
the circumstance of their containing truths irreconcilable
with speculative principles. — That the truths of any two
distinct, and yet connected, consecutive, revelations will
be analogous, still fiirther illustrated by a comparison of
the different parts of Christianity considered as including
the Patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian dispensa
tions. — The doctrines of scripture then being analogies
to the facts of nature, it follows that the evidence resulting
to them from their coincidence with these facts is only

XXVI ARGUMENT.

presumptive— they are proved to be true to a certain ex
tent only, but to their full extent to be hke known truths,
or to be as if they were true. — This evidence may be
increased in two ways — either by the accumulation of
similar facts in nature evidencing some one principle in
volved in a doctrine of scripture, — or by the variety of facts
evidencing different principles implied in a doctrine — on
the other hand, the evidence is diminished by apparent
contradictions, or exceptions, in nature, to the operation
of a general principle implied in a scriptural truth. — The
evidence obtained to the revelation of the scriptures as a
whole, not to be estimated by the simple force of particu
lar analogies, as confirmatory of particular doctrines, but
by the proof thus derived to'the general theory deduced from
a collective survey of all the doctrines of the religion.
III. The importance of the credibility resulting from
this evidence. 1. Its argumentative force. — It is demon
stratively conclusive only on the negative side, as apretend-
ed revelation may perhaps coincide in many respects with
nature, and yet be false — ^irrelevant as an argument in fa
vour of a revelation where there is not the evidence of
miracles presupposed — ^its application as such depends on
the importance, extent, and variety of discerned cor
respondences between a given revelation and the course
of nature — where such correspondences are observed, the
argument from them to the truth of the revelation is
aggravated by. the contrast of the two forms of instruction

ARGUMENT. XXVU
— ^it will be fiirther increased if there be any thing in the
revelation itself challenging such a scrutiny — that such is
the case with regard to Christianity, imphed in the pre
cept, to " do the will of God" in order to " know of the
doctrine " — also in the tenour of the religion, as a reUgion
which connects its doctrines with the business of human
life — ^which descends to particularities — aspires to reform,
not to remodel our nature — connects present and fixture
happiness in the tendency of its system. — ^The necessity
of resorting to the test of experience may also be con
cluded from a general survey of the Bible as an historical
work — the Bible differs not from any other history in its
subject-matter, but differs in the pecuUar relation under
which it contemplates man — whence it foUows that its
theological instruction is for the most part indirectly con
veyed, and not in formal dogmas — its intelUgible and
practical character results from this mode of instruction,
and such a character impUes its conformity to experience. —
The test fiirther required, in the ease of Christianity, to
shew the real tendency of the reUgion in opposition to
false appearances against it. — If, accordingly, Christianity
be proved conformable to nature, we must argue a coin
cidence of design, and not of result only, between its sys
tem and that of nature, and a design of that magnitude
which must be referred to God. — ^An indirect argument
to the truth of Christianity is obtained from the force of
the evidencq in repelling objections — it shews that the

XXVm ARGUMENT.
truth of the religion is independent of objections against
particular doctrines — the force of the evidence in this
point of view has induced some writers to undervalue it
as a positive confirmation of religious truth. — 2. The
practical importance of the evidence. — Religion demands
the aid of practical arguments — this evidence, as being
conversant about matter of fact, shews the principles of
those doctrines to which it applies, in actual operation, and
therefore establishes the practical truth of the religion
— the application of the principles of daily life to reli
gious ends does not affect their expediency — by the same
method the doctrines are shewn to be practicable, since
to act upon them appears to be only to repeat what we
have done before — it is that sort of evidence which is co
gent on our conduct, because it enforces a personal appli
cation of the religious truth — also pecuUarly adapted to
the rapid flux of human life, which admits no delay with
regard to religion — it is in fact the argument upon which
the belief of the generaUty exclusively rests, and which is
the ultimate appeal of the learned inquirer. — 3. The il
lustrative importance of the evidence. — PecuUar need of
iUustration in subjects of revelation — not only on account
of the real mystery, but of the false mysteriousness which
attaches to them from our prejudices. — The illustrative
force of the evidence arises,—!, from the nature of ana
logy in general — analogy as a ground of iUustration not
essentially distinct from analogy as a ground of argu-

ARGUMENT. XXIX
ment — various ways in which analogy throws Ught on a
subject — it unites the pleasure of association — and that of
imitation — converts the learner into self-instructor — 2.
from the pecuUar force of analogy when employed in the
subject of religion — as rendering religion more inteUigible
by exhibiting its truths on a reduced scale — conciUating
attention to religion by connecting it with the feeling of
home — counterbalancing the natural prejudice against the
miraculous nature of a revelation.
IV. Objections to the application of the evidence con
sidered — the objection that it is hypothetical and iUogical
removed by the former consideration of the grounds of
the evidence — the objection drawn from its supposed in-
sufiiciency refuted by Bishop Butler — Other objections
are, 1. that it is unnecessary, or that the testimony to the
fact of miracles having been performed in proof of the
revelation, is the only requisite test of the truth of its doc
trines — that this is not the case shewn by a consideration
of the case of an eye-witness to the performance of a mi
racle — a miracle in proof of a divine commission to teach,
cannot be rationaUy believed without concurring appear
ances of the other attributes of God besides power — this
position iUustrated by an instance from the gospel history
-—miracles not immediately conclusive per se of the truth
of the matters attested by them — -they must be considered
as moral acts — still more is confirmatory evidence wanted
when the revelation becomes traditional — 2. that the

xxx ARGUMENT.
employment of this evidence infringes upon the necessity
of a supernatural revelation — the nature of the evidence
of analogy as being only presttmptive proof, affords an
answer to this— it is competent to us, by reference to the
principles of our constitution, to trace the limits of our
natural knowledge of divine things — the devout"^ Deist
compared in relation to revealed knowledge to the devout
Jew in relation to the spirituaUty of the gospel — 3. that
the evidence derogates from the authority of revelation
— it may be abused to the destruction of the integrity of
scripture — but where rightly used it exacts a rigid ad
herence to the scriptural doctrines as they are written —
the credibiUty resulting from this evidence distinct from
the reasonableness of religion^t is only in investigating
the reasonableness of doctrines that there is danger of im
pairing the scripture authority, whereas this evidence pro^
ceeding on facts checks the presumption of curiosity. —
Butler's "Analogy" a convincing specimen of the reserve
with which it advances — much misconception on this point
avoided by reflecting that reason in no case is the teacher
of truth, but is taught either by nature or by the scrip.
ture-revelation, so that faith in the doctrines of scrip
ture, however unapparent to reason without supernatural
light, is in the strictest sense an act of reason. — Distinc
tion ofthe phUosophy of Christianity from other sciences.
Recapitulation of the principal points discussed. — In
conclusion — the necessity of exploring the evidence for

ARGUMENT. XXXI
ourselves in order to the proper estimate of it — it appeals
to real principles of our nature, and not to fancifiil feel
ings — the rejection of it proves that the infidel is hardened
against the voice of nature as well as of divine revelation
— ^it cannot be rejected without denying all final causey,
and thus no practical argument for the existence of a
Deity would be left — the advocate of the Ught of nature
ought to be a fortiori the advocate of that of grace — the
process of coUecting this evidence a needfiil discipline of
the mind to the beUever, tending to his utmost improve
ment at once in wisdom and in piety.

an

ESSAY,

ETC.

That a revelation of the divine wisdom must
ultimately rest on the credit of miracles wrought
in confirmation of it, and thus be received solely
on the authority of God, will be readily acknow
ledged by every one who considers that it is
the divinity of the truth so imparted which con
stitutes its peculiar nature and importance, and
that no inferior sanction, therefore, can be inter
posed between God and the sacred gift.
But as the heavenly treasure is deposited in
earthen vessels, and comes not into our hands
by immediate donation from the Supreme Giver
Himself, a necessity arises of examining into it
in that form in which it is presented to our ac
ceptance, lest we mistake the counterfeit of an
B

2 The Nature qf a Revelation must be examined.
impious ingenuity for the pure light of divine
wisdom, and dishonour God by paying that re
verence to the wisdom of man which is tran-
scendantly due to His word alone. Before,
therefore, we admit any proposed revelation to
be susceptible of that evidence from miracles
which invests it with its perfect authority, we
must explore its nature from an actual survey
of it in all its parts. We must analyse it into
the materials of which it consists, and thus either
detect the base infusions of human fraud, if
there be any latent within it ; or trace out, as
far as we may be able, the indications of a de
sign and workmanship beyond the scale and the
perfection of man ; and which may, without de
rogation from the divine attributes, be ascribed
to the Father of Lights and Author of all good
ness. Now there are two ways in which a judgment
may be formed respecting the character of any
revelation. Either we may judge of it by itself,
referring those views of the Divine Being which
it unfolds to us to the principles of our moral
nature, which is the direct test of its worthiness

Two Ways of judging of any Revelation. 3
to be received: or we may judge of it indirectly
by comparison with that previous revelation of
God which we possess in the natural world.
The first mode of inquiry suggests an answer to
the question: is it such a revelation as the
Divine Being recognized in the dictates of con
science should give ? The second mode of in
quiry suggests an answer to the question : is it
such a revelation as God has already given?
Ultimately indeed the two questions converge
into one, for they both tend to this point, that
God may have given the particular revelation
into which we are inquiring : but in themselves
they are really distinct in their end and their
process. The first seeks to establish the mo
raUty of the revelation ; the second to establish
its philosophy. The first proceeds by a priori
reasoning, assuming certain principles of divine
truth as indisputable, and arguing from these to
the necessary character which must belong to
the God of the scriptures. The second pro*
ceeds by analysis, taking the facts ofthe natural
world and those of the scripture for its data,
tracing both to their general laws, and, by their
B 2

4 Inquiry stated.
coincidence with each other in such general
laws, determining the likelihood that the God
of nature is also the God of the scriptures.
It is to this second mode of inquiry into the
divinity of the scriptures, as one of the most in
teresting subjects which can engage our atten
tion, that the present investigation is addressed.
It is purposed to examine, first, into the grounds
of the credibility thence derived to the Christian
revelation ; secondly, the nature of that credi
bility ; thirdly, its full importance ; and lastly,
to consider the force of some objections which
may be urged against its application.
It seems almost unnecessary to prove, that
the natural world may no less strictly be re
garded as a revelation from God than the writ
ten word. But as it is upon this assumption
that the whole inquiry proceeds — for it would be
impossible otherwise to bring into comparison
with each other two such incommensurable
things, as an inspired book and the created uni
verse, — ^we should be able to give a reason for
this assumption.

The Natural World a Revelation from God. 5
And the reason appears to be this : that we
find in our minds an evident adaptation to the
course of outward nature. The eye is not more
adapted by its peculiar structure to the nature
of light, nor are the lungs more formed with re
lation to the atmospheric air, than the principles
of our minds are adjusted to the world in which
we live and act. Consider only that regularity
which obtains in every thing which lives, or
moves, or vegetates in the world around us, and
how this regularity without us has its counter
part within us, in that principle of our minds
which leads us to place an habitual dependence
on the continuance of such regularity, a prin
ciple which is the basis of all our calculations
and reasonings, and in short of our whole con
duct in life*. All our knowledge indeed is the
* A question may be raised, " whether this principle of our
minds, whereby we rely upon the continuance and regularity
of the laws of nature, be an original impression, or a result of
repeated experience, which begins to confide because it sees no
cause to mistrust." — The knowledge of the existence of this
principle in our minds, is matter of experience ; our finding
that things do proceed in a certain course, gives occasion to
the developemerrt of the principle and consequent knowledge

6 The Natural World a Revelation from God.
result of this adjustment ofthe principles of our
minds to our condition, since it is the percep-
of its existence. But the fact of its existence, as distinct from
our knowledge of it, antecedently to experience, is plain from
the confidence with which children repose on testimony ; that
confidence, evidently, not being formed by any experience of
the uniform nature of testimony, but being corrected and re
gulated by experience, which teaches us to restrict our natural
tendency to an imphcit credit. An inexperienced or an un
tutored person wonders at many events which the experienced
or instructed sees no reason to wonder at: that is, he is
startled at finding this principle of his mind not answered in
every instance by an uniformity in external nature ; whereas
the latter finds a solution of the difficulty from his knowledge
of the more general laws of nature, under which he is enabled
to range the phenomena which perplex the former, and begins
to wonder rather at that uniformity of nature in which he be
fore unsuspectingly acquiesced. " When I was young", ob
serves Dr. Hey, " I felt no surprise at the return of the summer
or winter ; and I imagine, the unthinking peasant takes all
usual changes in natural phenomena as things of course ; but
now, the days never grow longer in spring without exciting
in my mind a pretty strong sentiment of wonder or admira
tion : and even in those instances in which I reflect the least,
I should be less struck with a real change of what we caU the
Laws of Nature, than a peasant would he, though he would
believe accounts of things supernatural sooner than I should.
. . .... Improvements in knowledge and reasoning

The Natural World a Revelation from God. 7
tion of facts as they appear to minds constituted
as the human mind is.
If then a divine Author be acknowledged at
once of nature and of the mind of man, we can
not do otherwise than assign, as the final cause,
the instruction which results from this admirable
adjustment. And the whole course of nature
accordingly, so long as the mind of man is what
it is, cannot but be considered in the light of a
revelation from God.
I. Regarding then the natural world as a
make real violations of laws of nature more easily admitted, not
less easily." — Hey's Lectures in Divinity, Vol. I. p. 164. So
again in the study of reUgion the child of the world, he who
judges by the unchastened principles of his nature, discovers, as
he thinks, contrarieties to the order of Providence in the inti
mations of scripture ; he wonders that his principles of expecta
tion should be disappointed : but as he becomes more instruct
ed unto the kingdom of heaven, and puts away childish things,
he is more and more placed beyond the reach of such disap
pointment by learning to restrict the appUcation of the prin
ciples of his nature within their proper limits.
" InteUectus humanus ex proprietate sua facile supponit
majorem ordinem et %qualitatem in rebus quam invenit ", &c.
— Nov. Organum, I. 45.

8 The Existence of common Principles
kind of revelation from God, have we any rea
son to think that there must be an evident agree
ment between the instruction supernaturally
conveyed and attested by miracles, and that
which is placed within the reach of our fa
culties ? To decide this question, is to point out
the grounds of that credibility which the scrip
tures derive from their comparison with the book
of nature ;, or, in other words, the foundation of
that analogy which is asserted between revealed
religion and the course and constitution of the
world. Now we have a general presumption that
there must exist some points of coincidence in
the truths unfolded by the scriptures, and those
taught by the experienced course of nature,
from that very repugnance which we feel to ad
mit a scriptural revelation, on account of its
departure from the established method of divine
providence in its mode of instruction ; and which
induces us to seek anxiously for some redeem
ing probabilities in its internal character.
It would be difficult to account for the back
wardness of men to believe in the scriptures on

in the Two Classes of Truths considered. 9
account of their miraculous character, unless
there were real ground for that expectation of
conformity with known truth which the mind so
naturally forms. As an immediate revelation
from Heaven is miraculous in the very notion of
it, to demand the evidence of probability in its
favour appears to be a forgetfulness of its pro
per nature ; and yet a demand so generally felt
cannot be considered as unreasonable : — there
must be, it would seem, some real ground for a
repugnance which acts in many cases as an ob
stacle to the reception of the truth revealed — ¦
some means of converting its apparent hostility
into a real advocacy of the truth, by shewing
how it may be satisfied without derogating from
the miraculous nature of the scriptures.
Antecedently moreover to any distinct ex
amination of the real state of the case, we may
reasonably suspect from the analogy of our
knowledge in general, that there must exist
some tie of connexion between the facts of our
experience, and the truths communicated by
immediate revelation. Whilst we observe that
mutual respect and subserviency which bind to-

10 The Existence of common Principles
gether the various departments of mere human
knowledge, however distinct and independent
of each other in their peculiar pursuits, we are
led to think that the divine science ofthe word
of Qod cannot be found, when rightly esti
mated, to be a knowledge detached from all
communion and sympathy with the science of na
ture, or the truths inculcated on our minds by
observation of the course and constitution of
the world.
But then, on the other hand, presumptions
adverse to such a coincidence are suggested
from the evidently vast difference between
the knowledge revealed by the scriptures and
that naturally acquired both in the form
of communication, and the sublimer nature of
the subjects about which the scriptures are con
versant ; the scriptures being a direct message
from God, nature only appearing to be such
indirectly ; the scriptures discoursing to us of
the future and the invisible world, nature ap
parently limiting its information to the things
present and visible.
The question then recurs, whether there are

in the Two Classes of Truths considered. 11
any just media of comparison, by which the
two classes of truths may be brought to the test
of their agreement or disagreement with each
other, so that the unseen truth may obtain a
credibility from its coincidence with that which
is matter of experience. It is clear that, how
ever great the difference may be in the form
and subjects of the two communications, there
can be no disagreement between them ; from
the general consideration, that both are equally
the appointed instructions of the same divine
Author. Any express contradiction between
their respective assertions would argue either a
diversity of authorship, or imperfection in a
single author. And accordingly as the know
ledge acquired from nature is the first in order,
and what we cannot but believe according to
the principles of our constitution ; in the event
of a contradiction, we must reject the pretended
revelation as internally convicted of falsehood.
The same conclusion may be drawn also from
the consideration, that both kinds of instruction
are addressed to the same human nature.
The same moral and intellectual faculties by

12 The Existence of common Principles
which one class of truths is received and adopted,
must hold good also when applied to the other
class ; and no judgment therefore affirmed in
the system of nature can be reversed in the
system of grace : for this would imply one mode
of thinking and feeling to be applied to one kind
of instruction, and another to the other.
In the event of a contradiction therefore, the
revelation in question must, for the same reasons
as before, be discarded as unworthy of credit.
But though we may thus certainly conclude,
that there can be no disagreement in the re
spective voices of nature and the scriptures, it
does not appear from such considerations, that
there must be any implicit agreement between
them. They may still be conceived to be so distinct
in their peculiar truths, that whilst there is no
contradiction between them, there is no possi
bility of coming even to a negative decision re
specting the credibility ofthe scriptures; so far
as their credibility may depend on a presumed
necessity of their coincidence with experience.
What we want then is, a proof of the necessary

in the Two Classes of Truths considered. 13
existence of some common principles equally
belonging to our natural and scriptural instruc
tions, without which the pretension to inspiration
must be false ; but which, by their presence,
shall bestow a strong probability, that the
scriptures were, as they aspire to be considered,
the inditings of the same Spirit who speaks to
us by the unambiguous oracle of our experience.
Let us examine therefore whether it be not ne
cessary that the scriptures, or rather any volume
which claims to be a record of divine truth,
agree essentially (however sublime its theme
may be) with the lessons which we learn from
the natural world.
Here we might refer to the words of the son
of Sirach, who declares, speaking of the works
of God, " all things are double, one against
another, and He hath madenothing imperfect"*;
and to the still more express and familiar pas
sage of St. Paul, in which it is said, that " the
invisible things of God from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power
* Eccl™«. xlii. 24.

14 The Existence of common Principles
and god-head" * ; in both which assertions, the
existence is implied of some common principles
of truth in the systems of nature and gface :
but our object is to ascertain the foundation on
which these assertions rest.
The difficulty which arises on this point is
from the sublimity and remoteness of the sub
jects about which a revelation immediately
vouchsafed from Heaven is conceived to be con
versant ; since these are conceived to be so
completely out of the verge' of human specula
tion, as to preclude the application to them of
any common principles derived from our expe
rience. Now in one sense this is true, and in
* Horn. i. 20. It is not meant to affirm that St. Paul ex
pressly asserts in this passage a correspondence between the
scripture revelation and nature. His words, it is evident,
refer exclusively to the instruction of nature. It is only
meant, that his assertion respecting this instruction of nature
presupposes a fundamental agreement between scriptural and
natural theology — that nature taught the same essential truth
which was oraUy delivered to the hearers of the word preached,
so that the Heathen were placed in a Uke situation as to kind,
though not as to degree, of religious knowledge, with the
Christian convert.

in the Two Classes of Truths considered. 15
another false. If it be understood as pointing
out the impropriety of applying common prin
ciples to matters of fact and truths of inspiration,
with confidence in the mode ofthe application,
it is true ; because we then proceed on the hy
pothesis that we are equally acquainted with the
nature of the case in each system. But if it is
construed to mean, that common principles do
not ea:ist in both systems, the position is false ;
for the same principles may exist in both, not
withstanding our utter uncertainty in their ap
plication from the visible to the invisible world.
The fact of their existence is all that our present
inquiry demands.
It being conceded then that the voice of in
spired wisdom must communicate to us truths
concerning God (for we can conceive no other
knowledge but religion, worthy of His special in
terposition to teach, or rather His speaking to
us by revelation is religious instruction in itself),
which human wisdom in its utmost agony of
thought could never have discovered, or at
least ascertained ; it may still be maintained,
that there will be an intercommunity of senti-

16 Natural Knowledge of God relative.
aient between the heavenly and the earthly mes
sengers of truth, and that the true philosophy
of nature will be found also the philosophy of
the sublimest religion.
The question turns entirely, not upon the
quantity of information which may be conveyed
by an inspired messenger from God, but on the
nature of it; for if the knowledge of divine things
should be of a different nature in each system,
there could be no means of comparing the two
systems ; but if they are necessarily of the same
nature, then, however the knowledge which is
of grace may surpass that which is learned by
experience, the two systems of divinity must
essentially agree in some common principles.
Now all our knowledge of God by experience,
is confessedly relative in its nature. That it is
such, is implied in the very terms which enun-
tiate it as the knowledge of experience. We
acquire our natural knowledge of His existence
from a consciousness of our own existence ; for
this consciousness is the basis even of all our
reasonings a priori concerning His being and at-

Natural Knowledge of God relative. 17
tributes ; we acknowledge His intellectual and
moral attributes by conceiving principles in Him,
corresponding to the principles in ourselves
which produce moral and intellectual effects;
his power, in like manner, by transferring to Him
unlimited superiority of energy and dominion,
such as are exercised among men. Thus we know
Him only by reflection. We can apply our expe
rience with confidence of knowledge when we ex
tend its conclusions from ourselves to our fellow-
creatures, because " as in water face answereth
to face, so the heart of man to man" : though
even here it may be questioned whether our con
viction of a moral identity of nature is founded
on any higher proof than that which results
from an observation of their manner of acting.
But we cannot regard our experience as an ab
solute authority, when we look beyond our
selves to Him whose infinity of nature consti
tutes an unparalleled case. We cannot there
fore consider our natural knowledge of God as
more than relative. It implies the real ex
istence of principles in the nature of the Deity,
correspondent to the principles in the nature of

18 Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative.
man which produce similar effects ; but as ob
tained from observation, it is necessarily quali
fied by the character and circumstances of the
observer *.
But are we capable of attaining to a know
ledge of God different in kind from this, by
means of the illuminating grace of the Holy
Spirit shed abroad in the scriptures of truth ? —
From the following considerations, it will ap
pear that no scriptural revelation — that is, no
revelation which is not imparted at once to the
mind by direct inspiration— can introduce to the
understanding of man a higher kind of know
ledge. Our natural divine knowledge will be
corrected, confirmed, and enlarged in degree,
* See Archbishop King's " Discourse on Predestination,
with Notes by Dr. Whately." Bishop Browne's " Procedure,
Extent, and Limits of Human Understanding", and " Things
Divine and Supernatural, conceived by Analogy with Things
Natural and Human." Dr. Copleston's " Enquiry into the
Doctrines of Necessity and Predestination ", Disc. III. with
the Notes : and Dr. Whately's " .Essays on some of the Pe
culiarities of the Christian Religion ", Essay V.

Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative. 19
by any authentic light from Heaven ; but it will
still remain relative in kind.
1. This limitation of the knowledge commu
nicable by an inspired messenger may be in
ferred from the fixed standard of those faculties
to which it is addressed. Those faculties are
conformed in their structure to that natural ve
hicle of knowledge which the world presents.
In the world they are to be exercised, and it is,
therefore, necessary that they should be adapted
to that scene of things about which they are
conversant. If they had been so framed by the
Divine Artificer, as to perceive and know inde
pendently of experience, the principles of the
knowledge so acquired would not have admitted
of a ready application to the circumstances of
the world. That knowledge only which is fur
nished by experience, is fitted for reaction in
the emergencies of human life ; for the mode of
application is also learned together with the
learning itself. Had the faculties of man, ac
cordingly, been made so powerful as to appre
hend the things of the world by simple intuition ;
though they had attained to a higher knowledge c 2

20 Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative.
and accomplished their purpose with greater fa
cility, they would have been incapacitated for the
acquirement of that dexterity in the use of the
things of the world which experience gives.
Being furnished with principles of truth, not
from an observation of effects, but independent
ly of the actual phenomena of nature — as instru
ments, they would have been too keen for the
purposes for which they were immediately re
quired. — The standard of our faculties being
thus fixed by their necessary relation to their
sphere of operation, any message from God
must, in order to be intelligible, conform its in
structions to the existing standard. It cannot
impart to them a knowledge of a different na
ture from that which they are adapted to re
ceive ; and this we find to be of a relative na
ture ; such therefore must be also the truth
scripturally revealed.
2. If we further consider that human ideas
and language are the instruments which must
be employed in a scriptural revelation, we shall
readily perceive that it cannot acquaint us with
divine things otherwise than consistently with

Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative. 21
those principles of theological truth which
are collected fi-om observation of the natural
world. Though its tree of knowledge may be a
plant of the heavenly paradise, and may bear
aloft on its branches the golden fruits of its na-
tive clime ; still it must strike its roots in the
earth, and clothe itself with a foliage congenial to
its adopted soil. For the very act of enlightening
the mind with extraordinary truth, presupposes
the acquisition of some previous knowledge, as
the substratum and element of that sublimer
truth which it purposes to teach. Without some
natural apprehension of the being and attributes
of God, a discourse of His mysterious provi
dences would but amaze and bewilder the reason
of man. However fraught with divine wisdom,
yet, like the fabled music of the spheres, its
strains could not be heard by mortal ear. Whilst
therefore a light from Heaven may extend our
natural notions of divine things in the highest
degree, and in the greatest variety of particu
lars, it cannot introduce to the mind ideas con
cerning them, essentially different from all that it
ever entered into the heart of man to conceive.

22 Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative.
These are those secrets of the Lord which it
belongs to a more spiritualized state of existence
to disclose to human apprehension. At present
we can only hear of God, even through his spe
cial messengers, in our own tongue wherein we
were born. Those modes of thought which we
hav6 acquired in the course of our natural edu
cation, are the universal language, into which a
scriptural revelation must translate its most re
condite mysteries. They are our schoolmasters,
which bring us to the knowledge of revealed re
ligion. Thus, when Christianity unfolds to us
the high mystery of a Trinity in the Unity ofthe
Divine Nature, it enlarges our knowledge of God
to a degree beyond the ken of human intellect,
but still the ideas upon which that sublime in
formation is grounded, are all of a relative cha
racter. It is StiU a relative Deity whom it reveals
to us, when we learn that there are three Persons
in the Unity of the Godhead : for it is only from
being enabled to behold God in the new distinct
relations of a Redeemer and a Sanctifier, super
added to that in which we naturally regard him
as our Father in heaven, that we are led to the

Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative. 23
confession of the co-equal Godhead of the Son
and the Holy Ghost. We know much more
accordingly of God in degree by this superna
tural information, but our knowledge of Him re
mains the same in kind.
3. Supposing, however, that the Scriptures
could dispense with our preliminary naturalknow-
ledge of divine things, we shall arrive at the same
conclusion respecting the nature of their commu
nications, from the fact alone, that they employ
the instrumentality of language in conveying
their instruction. For what is it to teach by
language, but to teach by ideas which are al
ready part of the stock of human knowledge ?
New, and otherwise undiscoyerable, appropria
tions of our natural ideas may be suggested by
language consecrated to the ofiice of interpret
ing the counsels ofthe Most High; but still the
original sense of the words employed must be
the basis of the imposed theological sense.
Thus the terms, by which our minds are led to
the perception of unknown truths concerning
God, are necessarily analogical : they express
the ideas of which they are the signs, but those

24 Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative.
ideas, at the same time, in a new and peculiar
acceptation, derived from the subjects to which
they are transferred. By this application of
language we are made acquainted with facts con
cerning God, without any fundamental altera
tion of our original conceptions. By the em
ployment of the terms in an authentic revelation
we know assuredly that there must be real prin
ciples of the divine nature, and real acts of God,
correspondent to the principles and acts of
human life signified by the terms so adopted in
the message from Heaven. We know, for in
stance, certainly, that there is that in the nature
of God, which will prompt him to reward and
punish mankind according to the rules of dis
tributive justice, because we are assured of the
fact, in terms which we fully understand;
though the terms themselves impart to us no in-^
timate knowledge of his nature. We know
again, that there are three persons in the God
head, as far as the existence of the fact so re
vealed is concerned, because we read the fact in
the pages of Scripture ; but we do not know that
the notion of personality, under which the

Scriptural Knowledge of God also relative. 25
triune nature of God is revealed, is strictly ap
propriate, abstractedly from the circumstances
of the human intellect, though it points to an
indisputable truth, latent, as it were, under it,
concerning the divine nature.
In this respect, indeed, it is with theology, as
with all other sciences. All that any human
science justly aspires to teach, is an accurate and
comprehensive knowledge of the particular
facts in that department of nature which is the
field of its investigation, and not an acquaint
ance with the essential nature of the subjects.
When Natural Philosophy instructs us in the
existence of an universal law of gravitation, it
furnishes us with a general fact, under which all
the particular phenomena in the motions of
bodies may be classed, but it does not attempt
to explain to us the nature of the force of gra
vity *. So also theology, while discoursing to us
* " Videmus tantum corporum figuras et colores ; audimus
tantum sonos ; tangimus tantum superficies externas ; oUaci-
mus odores solos ; et gustamus sapores ; intimas substantias
nuUo sensu, nuUa actione reilexa cognoscimus ; et multo
minus ideam habemus substantiee Dei." Newt. Princip. III.
Schol.

26 No Divine Knowledge simply speculative.
in human accents of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God, confines its intimations to
a knowledge of the bare facts which it unfolds,
leaving us to dwell with awful wonder, and faith,
and piety, on the sacred mysteries, whose exist
ence it satisfactorily vouches to us, but cannot
explain. The knowledge of God accordingly con
veyed by the Scriptures,' being of the same kind
as that collected from nature, it follows that
there must be some common principles of the
ology pervading the systems of grace and nature.
This leads us to inquire more closely what these
principles are.
Now the only conceivable end of instruction
from God is the good of mankind. " He hath
shewed thee, O man, what is good, for what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ?"
maybe inscribed as its motto on any authentic re
cord ofthe divine will. For it is plainly unreason
able to suppose, that religious doctrines can be
revealed, to be held merely as credenda, as truths
which ought to be received without reference to

No Divine Knowledge simply speculative. 27
conduct : since a theoretic life is evidently not
the perfect state of a being furnished with active
principles ; and a religion, accordingly, which
provided us only with materials of intellectual
enjoyment, would be insufficient for the purposes
of human nature, and would carry its own con
demnation in its manifest deficiency. The Scrip
tures of truth therefore will supply motives as
well as convictions ; not opinions only, but rules
of duty. The sublimest doctrines contained in
them will all have a practical tendency, bearing
on the heart no less than on the understanding.
The fact is, there can be no knowledge
merely speculative on the subjects of religion ;
whether obtained from the course of the world,
or from the Scriptures. Relations to the Deity,
and to the future invisible world, however made
known to the mind of man, so far as they are
really believed, must have their influence on
human conduct. As we cannot learn under the
natural tuition of experience, that God is our
Creator and Governor, without an accompanying
sense of duties resulting from this knowledge ;
so it is impossible for us to learn from the Scrip-

28 Nature and Scripture coincident
tures that God is our Redeemer and our Sancti
fier, without feeling corresponding obligations
immediately rush upon our minds as the living,
energizing representatives of the faith which
is in us. Let us be only fully convinced, that
our present life is the beginning of an eternal
duration ; and how irresistibly are we urged to
a mode of conduct, answerable to that accession
of importance, which our present condition in
the world derives from the peculiar point of view
in which we then contemplate it !
This obligation of religious truth to conde
scend to the wants of mankind, must have its
effect on the nature of the truth imparted.' If
the doctrines taught supernaturally are to be
practically brought home to us, or are neces
sarily influential on our conduct, they must
be of such a nature as readily to combine with
those natural principles of action which are in
culcated on us by the course and constitution
of the world. For it is by these princi
ples, instilled into us by the droppings of
time, which have imperceptibly worked their
way into our minds, growing with our growth.

in General Principles of ihe Divine Procedure. 29
and strengthening with our strength, that our
conduct will ultimately be regulated, notwith
standing any fuller information respecting our
duties subsequently delivered. These are laws
written in our hearts, learned by dint of our
very constitution : whereas the motives derived
from Scriptural truth are received in the first
place as laws of positive institution, and are af
terwards discerned in their moral force. If the
doctrines, accordingly, of the Scriptures did not
harmonize with our natural principles of action,
but taught a system of theology altogether ab
horrent fi-om them, they would reach the heart
too late to establish their empire there, when
the ground was already preoccupied by the ab
original productions of the soil.
In order then that the practical obligations
resulting from our natural and scriptural know
ledge of divine things may not interfere and
clash with each other, it is further necessary,
whilst both oracles of truth impart a relative
knowledge of God, that they should implicitly
agree in unfolding the same general principles
of the divine administration. For what else is

30 Nature and Scripture coincident
the instruction of nature, when considered in its
practical force, but general views of the divine
conduct translated into general rules of human
life ? All things having been ordered for the
best under the providence of a wise, and good,
and powerful God, a conformity with the proper
course of natural events must be the sure and
only means of attaining to that good, to which
the excellent order of the universe is directed.
But it is not the course of natural events, as
they appear to the eye of superficial observation,
encumbered and impeded with the accidental
circumstances of an apostate world, which gives
the true outline and form of that providence
which sustains it ; but it is their real tendency,
abstractedly from those noxious incrustations,
deposited, as it were, around the fact of nature
by the turbid stream of the world, which is the
truth as it is of God. The mind, therefore, in
the very act of learning from experience, is
compelled to generalize the particular facts sub
mitted to its observation, and thus explores the
laws of nature, or, in other words, general prin
ciples of the divine administration, as its rules

in General Principles of the Divine Procedure. 31
of action. Nor is this analytical process carried
on in the mind of the philosopher alone, who
studies the system of natural theology : but the
common man, who requires the knowledge
thence derived for the purposes of life, as much
as the philosopher requires it for the purposes
of science, has a capacity for it, in the adapta
tion itself of the human mind to the condition
of the world ; and thus, unconsciously to him
self, philosophizes in secret concerning the facts
of his observation *. So it is also with respect
to the doctrines of Scripture. Practically con
sidered they resolve themselves into general
* The faculty of generaUzing is that which distinguishes
reason from brute instinct. Without it we should only ap
prehend and know things according to their gross appearances.
But that exercise of it in which it eminently appears as the
proprium of man, is when it is employed upon actions as such,
in selecting out of events those qualities which constitute vir-
tuousness or viciousness in them. " It does not appear," ob
serves Bishop Butler, " that brutes have the least reflex sense
of actions as distinguished from events ; or that will and de
sign, which constitute the very nature of actions as such, are
at all an object to their perception." Diss, on the Nature of
Virtue, p. 434. Bishop HaUifax's Ed.

32 Nature and Scripture coincident
views of the divine procedure presented for the
guidance of human conduct. In applying any
scriptural truth to the purposes of our life, we
examine the principles of action involved in it-
As being a relative information concerning God,
it represents to us God acting in some way to
wards ourselves : and we, accordingly, explore
that way, that by acting ourselves in conformity
with it, we may, as it were, express the doctrine
in our lives. This appears to be the process by
which a revelation of mysterious truth is prac
tically received, and converted to the benefit of
mankind. Hence, though the holiest truths concerning
God, and the world beyond our view, may be
written in the volume of inspirations, and appear
resplendent amidst its more homely themes — as
the gold amidst the other riches of some lordly
treasure — yet will not even such abstruse doc
trines be without some principle of connexion
with the instructions of the natural world.
The same plain of divine providence will be
found pervading both the miraculous and natu
ral admonitions of God to man, as the primary

in General Principles of the Divine Procedure. 33
rule of both, forming an indissoluble tie of con
sanguinity between them, and proclaiming the
same ultimate origin to the wisdom which
" crieth without, and uttereth her voice in the
streets", and the wisdom which is the daughter
of inspiration.
Those general principles, accordingly, of the
divine procedure, which, God being conceded
to be the author of nature, must exist in the
systems of nature and grace, are the legitimate
media by which the truths of scripture may be
brought into comparison with the facts of the
natural world ; and a coincidence in which is
absolutely necessary in order to the credibility
of the doctrines revealed. It is with reference
to these media of comparison that Bishop Butler
observes*, that " it must be allowed just to join
abstract reasonings with the observation of facts,
and argue from such facts as are known, to
others that are like them ; from that part of the
divine government over intelligent creatures
which comes under our view, to that larger and
* Introduction to The Analogy, p. 7- Butler's Works.
D

34 Grounds of Difference between
more general government which is beyond it,
and from what is present, to collect what is
likely, credible, or not incredible, will be here
after." II. In proceeding to consider the nature of
the credibility thus derived to scriptural truth, it
is necessary to inquire into those peculiarities by
which our natural and scriptural instructions are
distinguished from each other, and which must
necessarily preclude an entire agreement be
tween them. These peculiarities may be traced
to the distinct forms of the two communica
tions, and the purposes to which they are pri
marily directed; as from their characteristic dif
ferences in these respects, a difference in the
truths respectively imparted by them, will ne
cessarily result.
1. That the scriptures will convey a know
ledge to man of a much more exalted and com
prehensive character than that which he ac
quires from observation of the course of the
natural world, is sufficiently apparent from the
fact that their truths are engrafted on those of

the Instructions of Nature and Scripture. 35
experience. An instruction expressly given
subsequently, and in addition to the stores of
uninspired wisdom, implies a superiority in it
self to the knowledge which it assumes as its
foundation. It would be superfluous, if it con
tained nothing more than what mankind already
possessed through the ordinary channel of their
experience. Nor can we suppose that a de
parture would be made from the ordinary means
of communication employed by the Creator in
conveying his will to his creatures, and that so
stupendous a series of miraculous interpositions,
as those embodied in the scripture narratives,
would be exhibited, merely to repeat and con
firm the law of nature. Something more than
the truth as taught by nature appears therefore
to be necessarily involved in the notion of a mi
raculous revelation.
2. But let us consider the effect which the
peculiar ^rm of each communication will have
on the truths made known. God, when he in
structs us by the word of his Spirit, employs the
conventional signs of ideas already acquired by
the mind. When he instructs us by objects arid
D 2

36 The characteristic Form of
events presented to our observation, he speaks
in that universal language which preceded all
utterance of human tongue, — that language
whose accents were heard, when first the crea
tion arose in all its glories, when " the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy."
The scriptures indeed exhibit an union of
both these methods of instruction. They
give us an account of symbolical actions,
as well as words, employed on some occasions
for the purpose of revealing the will of God *.
* " I have also spoken by the Prophets, and I have multi
pUed visions, and used simUitudes by the ministry of the
Prophets." Hosea, xii. 10. The prophet Ezekiel is the great
exemplar of the mixed mode of divine instruction. See also
Jotham's parable of " the trees." Judges, ix. 7- Jeremiah, xiii.
1. xxiv. 1. xxxv. 1. Amos, vii. 7- viii. 1. And the account
of Agabus binding his hands and feet with Paul's girdle, and
saying, " Thus saith the Holy Ghost ; so shaU the Jews at Je
rusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shaU de
Uver him into the hands of the Gentiles." Acts, xxi. 1 1.
The use of types under the preparatory dispensation of Ju
daism, in which they served as subordinate means of divine
instruction, accords with the view here taken of the signs of
God in nature. The fuU revelation to which that partial sys-

each Instruction considered. 37
Such was the language of the types of the Mo
saic covenant, and of the various ceremonies of
tem was introductory, would have been anticipated out of sea
son, if the types had conveyed a clear information on the sub
jects of which they were significant. The employment of sym
bolical language in prophecy answered in like manner the pur
pose of casting a necessary obscurity over the events fore-
shewn. The parables of our Lord may also be referred to as
iUustrative of the defectiveness of the language of events in
itself. Their character as vehicles of divine knowledge is
thus expressed by Saint Matthew : " All these things spake
Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable
spake he not unto them ; that it might be fulfiUed which was
spoken by the prophet, saying, I wiU open my mouth in pa
rables ; I wiU utter things which have been kept secret from
the foundation of the world." — Matthew, xiii. 34, 35. And
more pointedly by Saint Mark ; " Unto you it is given to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that
are without, aU these things are done in parables ; that seeing
they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and
not understand."— Mark, iv. 11, 12. To this veiled character
of paraboUcal instruction refers that earnest call to attention,
with which the deUvery of it was sometimes accompanied ;
" He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." At the same
time parables as means of instruction concerning human con
duct, are the most simple and interesting lessons. For in
stance, the parable of Nathan was the readiest mode of flash-

38 The characteristic Fo^'m of
the law. Such was Jonah's miraculous deliver
ance; such was the vision of the sheet, de-
ing conviction of sin on the mind of the offending king. It
is as vehicles of theological truth that they are less clear than
more direct statements. There is, however, something of ob
scurity in them, even when only morally applied, as it is by
an after-thought that their practical application is discovered.
David first condemned the guilty individual of the parable,
and then himself. There is also a considerable difference in
degree of clearness between a parable, as an event described,
and an instructive event simply witnessed ; inasmuch as a pa
rable is explained in some measure by the person and circum
stances of the relator, if not by its connexion with the rest of
his discourse.
That events are naturaUy regarded as possible means of in
formation appears from the reliance placed on omens, and the
appearances of the animals offered in sacrifice in ancient times.
The custom of demanding earth and water of a people as
tokens of their subjection, is an instance of the use of symbo
Ucal language. Tarquin's reply to his son by striking off the
heads of the poppies in the garden (Liv. i. 54.); that of
Thrasybulus to Periander of a similar kind (Herodot. Terps.
92.) ; the Scythian king's present to Darius of " a bird, a
mouse, a frog, and five arrows" (Herodot. Melp. 131.); the
successful device of the Samian ambassadors in carrying an
empty sack round the Spartan assembly to indicate their want
of succour (Herodot. Thai. 46.) ; are aU instances to the same

each Instruction Considered. 39
daring to Saint Peter the admission of the
Gentiles into the divine favour ; such was the
impressive event of our Lord's transfiguration ;
the withering of the fig-tree as indicating the
effect. The Egyptian hieroglyphics wiU readily occur to every
one as iUustrations of this mode of teaching, as weU as the
picture-writing of the Mexicans described by Robertson in his
America, Book V. Vol. II. p. 263.
Infidels have endeavoured to represent the transaction of
our Lord's washing the feet of his disciples as entitled to be
considered sacramental no less than Baptism and the Lord's
Supper. And there have been Christians who have thought
that we should UteraUy imitate this action of our Lord. Bar
clay, the apologist of Quakerism, argues from it against the
sacraments. But there is evidently no inward grace attached to
the outward act. Saint Peter appears to have supposed that
there was ; but our Lord's final explanation removes any such
misapprehension. It is nothing more than a significant action.
The double sense of prophecy sufficed to the like purpose,
as when the first intention of the prophecy was accompUshed,
the event so fulfilled was at once an earnest of a further fulfil
ment, and a foreshevdng by visible signs of the ultimate ap
plication. See the remarks of Dr. Hey, on the subject of this note, in
his Lectures in Divinity, Vol. I. p. 227 and 252; and War-
burton's Div. Legat. Book VI. Sec. 5.

40 The characteristic Form of
corresponding withering of the Jewish polity ;
and that significant action used by our Lord,
when he instructed his disciples in the humi
liating spirit of his religion, by washing their
feet. Such is the tone of the whole book ofthe
Apocalypse. But this method of instruction by symbolical
actions as exhibited in the scriptures, is adopted
rather as an energetic and striking accompani
ment of the word preached, than as an entire
substitute for it ; and presupposes a living au
thoritative expounder of the divine will, to in
terpret and apply it in its full force. The par
ticular instances, in fact, in which such a mode
of teaching was employed, had a subserviency
to the particular oral revelation, with which
they were associated, corresponding to that
which the whole natural world, as an organ of
divine instruction, has to a scriptural revelation
in general.
Now the difference between the scriptural
and the symbolical language of the Deity con
sists in this : that the former gives us the pre
cise ideas without the intervention of our senses;

each Instruction considered. 41
the latter requires the previous processes of
perception and judgment. When our Lord
washed the feet of his disciples, Saint Peter
questioned him concerning the action, " Lord,
dost thou wash my feet ? " Jesus answered and
said unto him, "what I do thou knowest notnow,
but thou shalt know hereafter." Here we find
an action performed full of sacred meaning, and
yet that meaning was hidden to those who wit
nessed it. Saint Peter looked only to the con
descension of the act itself, and deemed it un
worthy of his blessed Master. He stopped short
of the divine import afterwards made known in
the words of Jesus ; " Know ye what I have
done to you ? ye call me Master and Lord, and
ye say well, for so I am ; if I then, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet, ye also
ought to wash one another's feet. For I have
given you an example, that ye should do as I
have done to you." An instruction by actions
or events may appear accordingly to rest in it
self, or to have accomplished its purpose in the
mere perception of it, as this particular act of
our Lord appeared to Saint Peter nothing more

42 The characteristic Form of
than an office unworthy of his Master : or it
may be misconstrued from the judgment not
being rightly exercised about it ; as on this same
occasion. Saint Peter, on being corrected by
our Lord for his insensibility to the religious na
ture of the act, erroneously conceived it to con
vey a mystical purification, or to be sacramental
in its character ; as is indicated by his answer ;
" Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and
my head." Every event considered as a means
of divine instruction, thus, either is without
meaning, or is ambiguous ; and is therefore,
when alone, that is, without verbal instruction
accompanying it, unadapted for conveying any
information concerning God, except the most
simple and elementary, such as the knowledge
of his being and attributes. Upon these funda
mental points, God has not left himself without
a clear witness, so that perhaps there are no
truths which so force themselves upon the un
derstanding as those relating to his providence.
But for the plainness of our natural instruction
on these points no revelation of more intimate
truths could have been authenticated to us. This

each Instruction considered. 43
seems to be the reason of their being made to
stand forth so prominently in the page of nature.
If man were perfect in his moral and intel
lectual powers, as when first he came forth from
the hands of his Creator, it might be conceived
that the language of nature would have clearly
and infallibly conveyed to his understanding and
heart that knowledge of God which was requisite
for his duty and his happiness; so far at least as
the creation was appointed by God in the stead
of more express revelation. He would have
seen the traces of the Almighty agent, not as
now, through the obscurations of a perverse
and blind understanding, but with a quick and
lively perception *. But, however this may be,
* It is not however asserted, that a revelation by words,
or by direct inspiration, was not necessary for man even in
his perfect state of being. Supernatural instruction may have
formed an original essential part in the scheme by which God
designed to impart wisdom to man. We may at the same time
see a reason for such a kind of instruction after the faU, but
none for concluding that it was necessary before. It is only
as seeing a sufficient reason, according to human apprehension,
for a divine interposition, that we Can justly assert the neces
sity of an express revelation at any given period.

44 A Revelation in Wo^ds more adapted for the
his fall has evidently destroyed the keenness of
his moral eye— he has no longer an ear for the
melody ofthe creation — and he must now collect
by slow process of reasoning amidst doubting
and suspicion of error, the truths which other
wise would have immediately told their own tale
in all their native charm.
In the lapsed state of man, accordingly, a re
velation in words becomes more especially ne
cessary for the direct and clear communication '
of the will of God, in order to human happiness.
Though more limited, it should seem, in its
nature than a revelation by the works of God —
(for, in employing words, it must be so far re
stricted to the use of such signs as have been
adopted into the use of mankind for the com
munication of their ideas to each other, whereas
the signs which the universe presents are in
themselves without limit,) — yet it is more expe
dient for arresting the attention of mankind,
and impressing with the stamp of authority on
their minds the truths which belong to their
peace. The knowledge of Him which His works
present is sufficient to leave men without excuse.

clear Communication of the Will of God. 45
if they do not love and obey Him : but the know
ledge given by a scriptural revelation is so di
rect and explicit, that man cannot but hear and
understand, and be converted by it, unless he
wilfully stops his ears to the truth, and will not
understand, that he may be converted and live.
The imperfection of language, as an instrument
of thought, must have some influence in retard
ing the reception of the divine instructions, and
obscuring their meaning ; more particularly as
those languages in which they may have been
originally given become more ancient ; but still
a communication by words is unquestionably,
in the present condition of the world, the most
direct and unexceptionable means of imparting
divine truth to the mind. The same perverse
ness indeed of human nature, which deadens
our faculties to the appeal of the creation, must
operate to the prejudice of scriptural truth, and
cause it, in like manner, to bear no meaning
to the mind in some cases, in others, to be
misconceived and misrepresented. And yet,
notwithstanding the dullness of the ignorant,
the apathy of the indifferent, the contradictions

46 A higher Knowledge the Result
of the proud and rebellious understanding, the
sacred truth consigned to faithful records re
mains in all its integrity and prominence, to
such as will impartially and diUgently address
themselves to the inquiry after it. In the
scriptures it is to be found, as the pure ore
collected and refined for our immediate use. It
is so set forth in those lively oracles as to be rea
dily accessible to all — so that our Lord's ex
pression where he says, " the words which I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life", may truly be extended to the whole vo
lume of inspirations.
A revelation by words being a more direct"
and impressive mode of communication from
God, the substance of the instruction conveyed
by it will consequently be at once of a more dis
tinct and sublime character than that acquired
by the medium of the natural world. Truths,
which reason would never have discerned, if
left to make its own inferences from the facts of
experience, will appear disclosed to our view,
as we follow the written guidance of the Spirit,
with a vividness of colouring which belongs to

of the Scriptural Form of Instruction. 47
objects placed in the foreground of a landscape.
As the art of the painter selects out of the mass
of objects presented in a survey of nature the
most interesting for representation on the can
vas, so the pencil of sacred delineation sketches
those forms ofthe spiritual world with its boldest
touches, which are the highest in theological in
terest. The very limitation imposed on it by
the materials employed, may reasonably be sup
posed to cause its attention to be directed to the
communication of such truths as are essentially
important for man to know ; and that such truths,
accordingly, will be selected as the proper sub
jects of any authentic scriptural revelation, and
enforced on the notice of mankind with all the
copiousness and sublimity of divine eloquence.
3. But it will more distinctly appear, from
considering what must be the primary purpose of
a scriptural revelation, that its truths must be
fraught more richly with the treasures ¦ of hea
venly knowledge, than those with which our ex
perience of natural providence acquaints us.
Whilst nature abounds with theological in
struction, yet instruction of such a kind is not

48 The characteristic End of each Instruction.
its immediate and primary business. Its lessons,
as conjointly derived from the principles of our
constitution and that condition in which we
have been placed, are, on that account, peculiar
ly adapted for reaction on those circumstances
which have given them their mould. A know
ledge of the principles of our minds, and of the
laws by which the world is governed, must, in
the first place, find its application in the pur
poses of our present being. Hence it may be con
cluded, that the immediate end of our instruction
by the course of nature, is, that we may obtain
our natural good as inhabitants of this world.
The scriptures, on the contrary, are a direct
appeal to God himself and the things of the
invisible world. As a miracvjlous communica
tion, they proclaim that their tidings are ex
traordinary — that they are conversant about
things beyond the proper attestation of the or
dinary course of nature. They call upon us to
give ear to the Almighty Lord of heaven and
earth, and to seek a more intimate acquaint
ance with Him. The spiritual good of man, ac
cordingly, is their primary object. By bringing

Each subservient to the End of the other. 49
down God to our contemplation, not only as he is
the disposer of that portion ofthe universe which
comes under our observation, but, in some mea
sure, as he is out of that portion, they connect us
with the scheme of his invisible providence, with
God as he is the Father of spirits, rather than
as a temporal guide.
Whilst, however, each vehicle of knowledge
to man has its appropriate end, each is in a se
condary manner subservient to the end of the
other. A knowledge of our spiritual condition
must powerfully conduce to unfold to us the ad
vantages attached to our present condition of
being, by giving us the true moral of our cir
cumstances in those enlarged views of the divine
administration which it developes ; and thus a
scriptural revelation must promote the temporal
happiness of man. So, on the other hand, nature
must lead us to our spiritual good, at the same
time that she ministers to our temporal wants ;
as a discernment of the truths of natural provi
dence is identified with an acquaintance with
God. For whether we " eat or drink, or whatso
ever we do, we do all to the glory of God." We
E

50 Scripture intent only on Spiritual Truth.
do not indeed glorify Him with our hearts, un
less we perceive with our hearts that connexion
which the natural blessings of life have with His
sustaining hand, and thus convert our enjoyment
into an act of obedient piety : but still, whilst
we follow the plain directions of nature, in order
to our temporal good, we tacitly confess the
wisdom and goodness of that arrangement of
things to which we conform ourselves.
If this be a correct view of the different kinds
of good primarily intended under the two differ
ent modes of divine instruction, it will follow,
that the scriptures will reveal in larger profusion
and with more extended reach of thought, the
riches of the sacred treasury of wisdom. We
must hear of God in them, not simply as He is
cognizable to us, when we are necessarily occu
pied more immediately in learning that know
ledge of Him which terminates in the exigencies
of our present life ; but as He is a God who must
be known in order to the invisible life of the soul.
As nature gives a more copious information
respecting all things necessary for the life on
earth, and is almost silent or obscure on things

Scripture intent only mi Spiritual Truth. 51
simply spiritual ; so will a scriptural instruction,
which really comes from God, leave the mere
things of time in comparative darkness, whilst it
dwells with particularity of detail on such subjects
as are needful for the formation of the life of God
in the soul of man. In the arts and sciences
which contribute to the support, the comfort, and
the ornament of life, nature, accordingly, is
our perfect instructor ; for all these have their
end in this present world ; and if we sought
therefore for as full, or as correct, information
concerning them in the pages of the scriptures,
we should certainly be disappointed. But the
scriptures, indifferent to truth or error on such
matters, as not belonging to their province, in
vite our steps beyond the barriers of our present
condition, and present to the uplifted eye of faith
the mysteries of godliness. The ways of eternal
life are the arts about which they are employed.
Here then they are full and express. The prin
ciples of holy living are unfolded by them, as
they are in truth ; whilst the principles of all
other arts are neglected. Thus even moral phi
losophy, so far as this science is simply convers-
E 2

52 Scripture intent only on Spiritual Truth.
ant about our temporal relations, and capable of
being viewed as distinct from religion, is left to
the discovery of human reason * ; whilst the en
during part ofthe science, the consideration of
it, in its full extent and proper nature, as it is
grounded in just views of the Divine character,
— as it tends to the formation in us of that frame
of mind which is requisite for the enjoyment of
spiritual happiness t, and which wUl survive the
* " It is observable, when the Scriptures recommend chas
tity, temperance, justice, and mercy, they never give any defi
nition of those virtues, but barely name them, supposing the
world was acquainted with their nature, and that the observ
ance of them, as weU as the forbearance of the contrary vices,
were the dictates of the Ught of reason, and the result of the
moral nature of things." " Essay upon the Laws of Nature",
by Sir Richard Blackmore.
t Aristotle indicates his conviction of the imperfection of
that view of moral philosophy, which respects the temporal
relations alone of mankind, where he insists on the necessity
of cultivating the divine principle of our nature in that noble
passage of his Ethics : Xji S\ oi Kctta. tou? 7rapaii/oDfT«;, at^^ui-
mm (p^ovhn, md^uirov "ana.; ovft hvma. Ton Svjjtov oKX i<p' 'iaoii ev^e-
^£T«t AHAQANATIZEIN, zai 'oi.vana. 5roiE7» 5r§of to ^?» ko-to. to
xpaTitTTOv TOT h uinu- it ya^ xa.) ra 'oyxa /aik^ov icrri, Svtai/,H xai
Tlf410T»iT» iro>iV ^£AAof iiri^sx^H iratTUt, Lib. X. C. 7- He mis-

Scriptural Principles of larger Extent. S3
temporary occasions by which it has been formed
and disciplined,' — is set forth with a height and
a depth of philosophy with which no human wis
dom can compete*.
Whilst, accordingly, the truths taught by the
scriptures and by the natural world, must agree
essentially in some common principles of the
Divine administration, they must also differ ac
tually as to the degree in which they evidence
such principles. In investigating the philosophy
of Christianity, we must ever bear in mind that
takes indeed the nature of the divine principle in man, not
including in it a capacity of moral improvement, since he li
mits it to vouf, or inteUect. Nor does he lay down any precepts
in order to that immortaUzing of our nature of which he
speaks : but here he laboured under the want of a supernatural
revelation, without which he could go no further than he did.
* To this refers the weU-known remark of Josephus, — oi
yap fisVof T?! cc^srrii iirolncn ti vtiai^iiav, aMiia ToiUTr;; ra j/i^ti
l'oM\oi, a-vneXSe na) xaTt'crTiitrE' Xiyu Si rw oixaioo-ywjv, tviv xajTEgiav,
TV' a-u^pocriifi'} tuj' Tftiv iioT^nuv tt^oi; a?^A:)^ou; Iv airairt arvjj^unaf
ccjtaijai yap at 'ffpa^Biq, Kai oiaT^ibai, xat Aoyo* TravTEj, ett. TJic Tpo^
&EQV VIU.!!' eia-i^stav 'i^ovci ivv ot,]ic(,^o^av' ovS^v ya^ TovriiJV avs^Eraa-roii
oi^E ao^tcrroii Tta^iMiri. Contra Apionem, II. 16. Op. Tom. III.
p. 1260, Oberthur.

54 Scriptural Principles of larger Extent.
we are reasoning from the works of God, as he
is our God — the God who doeth wonders in the
earth^-^to the invisible operations of the Lord
GodofSabaoth; — from that comparatively little
scheme of things of which we constitute the
whole, to that scheme, ineffably amazing in its
comprehensiveness, as including the created
myriads of eternity, of which we constitute
only a part. Whilst we justly apply therefore
the principles acquired in the school of natural
theology to the scriptural truths. We must give
them a latitude coextensive with the vastness
of the subjects to which they are transferred.
The same principle, which in our own circum
stances appears frustrate, and distorted, and
imperfect, must expand itself into a perfect and
unexceptionable law^^ when it passes from the
narrow prison-house of the visible world, in
which it is pent up and obstructed, into the
boundless regions of the new heavens and the
new earth.
Largior hie campos sether et lumine vestit
Purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt.
Here then, where all that now impedes must be

Scriptural Principles of larger Extent. 55
conceived tobedone away, — whatis begun ofthe
scheme of Providence in this world shall obtain
its completion, — whatis partial shall become uni
versal, — what is limited and circumscribed shall
assume a vastness and indefiniteness of outline,
— what is seen only in tendency shall be con
summated in effect.
Hence appears the necessity of making allow
ances, in the application of our general observa-
vations from the facts of experience to the
doctrines of Scripture, for the circumstances
under which they are made, as well as for those
to which they are applied. We must not expect
to find an exact coincidence in any instance,
until we have abstracted from the truth, as col
lected from experience, all that is peculiar to ex
perience, and from the truth revealed, all that is
peculiar to the scriptural lessons of instruction.
Thus we must refer each to that state of
things with which it is immediately connected.
We must examine whether, when all those cir
cumstances which may naturally be supposed to
produce the observed difference in the actual

56 Analogy the Mode of Connexion
developement of the theological truth, according
as it belongs to the system of nature or that of
grace, are taken into our consideration, the same
abstract truth emerges as the point of ultimate
coincidence. For if nothing appears to prevent
such an ultimate coincidence of a fact of nature
and a scriptural truth, but the peculiar circum
stances of the two systems to which they re
spectively belong, it is evident that the two may
justly be conceived as ultimately coinciding in
principle, since they then appear as therefore
only not coincident actually, because their cir
cumstances are not.
Hence, it is that the credibility derived to the
scriptures from the coincidence of their doc
trines and circumstances with the facts of na
ture, is that which belongs to the evidence of
analogy. For by analogical reasoning we are
enabled to make the requisite references to the
circumstances by which a general truth may be
variously modified, and to express the result of
such references in our conclusion. When we
argue by induction, the conclusion embraces

between Nature and Scripture. 57
all the circumstances belonging to the facts
upon which our observations have been made.
We reject and exclude all that are merely acci
dental, but we rigidly preserve in the general
proposition every particular which appears really
to belong to the effect produced. Whenever,
therefore, any circumstance really important is
varied, our former induction fails, and we must
then either repeat the experiment, or if actual
experiment be impracticable, we must have re
course to analogical reasoning ; that is, to a
mode of reasoning which affirms the conclusion
with such reserves, such alterations, or excep
tions, as may arise from any difference in the cir
cumstances to which it is extended. Without
indeed such a relative adaptation of the general
truth as obtained by induction to the altered
circumstances of the case, the inference would
be evidently unsound, as appears from this con
sideration alone — that, as every induction is re
lative to the circumstances under which it is
made, and as analogy is only a substitute for in
duction, so also must analogy express, or at least
imply, that relation to the altered circumstances.

58 Analogy the Mode of Connexion
which would have been expressed, had the con
clusion been directly obtained by induction. And
whether we are able to state exactly the effect
which these new circumstances may produce,
or can only allow for it by an implied reference
to them, the conclusion is equally logical ; since
in either case we do not proceed beyond the
limits of the premises *.
* A particular instance (or several instances) may be em
ployed for the purpose of deducing either a general or a parti
cular conclusion. In the first case we argue by induction, or
conclude concerning the whole class to which the instances ad
duced belong : in the latter case we argue by analogy, or con
clude concerning a different instance of the same class to which
the instances adduced belong. Examples, which differ from
instances in general only so far as they belong exclusively to
the subject of human life, are employed for either purposes, and
are accordingly either arguments by induction or by analogy,
in respect of the conclusion deduced from them. If we con
clude generally that some degree of civiUzation should precede
the reception of Christianity from the example of any parti
cular nation viewed at the time of its conversion to Christian
ity, we conclude by induction ; but if we argue from the same
example to the case of the Hindoos, or of any other people, we
conclude by analogy.
The form of every analogical argument may be thus stated :

between Nature and Scripture. 59
It remains, however, to ascertain, whether the
allowances which we make for the peculiarities
Whatever belongs to this particular (or to these several
particulars) belongs to any other particular of the same class.
This (some property inferred from observation) belongs to
this particular.
Therefore the same property belongs to this other particular
of the same class.
Or if we assume the same major premiss in each of the fol
lowing cases, the minor and the conclusion might thus be
stated. A design of tyranny is what belongs to this instance of
THE CLASS.

asking a body-guard. (Pisistratus at Athens, or Theagenes at
Megara.) Therefore such a design belongs to this other instance of

THE SAME CLASS.

asking a body-guard. (Dionysius at Syracuse.) Arist. Rhet.
p. 49. Buhle.
The quality of justice belongs to this instance of a

THE CLASS.

moral effect produced (where a human agent is concerned).
Therefore the same quaUty belongs to this other instance of

THE SAME CLASS.

the like moral effect produced (where a superhuman agent is
concerned). It appears, accordingly, that there are two requisites in

60 Analogy the Mode of Connexion
of each mode of divine instruction, in tracing
put by analysis the common principles into which
order to every analogical argument. 1st. That the two, or se
veral particulars concerned in the argument, should be known
to agree in some one point ; for otherwise, they could not be
referable to any one class, and there would consequently be no
basis to the subsequent inference drawn in the conclusion. On
this account it has been shewn at the outset of this inquiry,
that nature and divine revelation must contain some common
principles. 2dly. That the conclusion must be modified by a re
ference to the circumstances of the particular to which we
argue. For herein consists the essential distinction between
an analogical and an inductive argument. Since, in an inductive
argument, we draw a general conclusion; we have no concern
with the circumstantial pecuUarity of individual instances, but
simply vidth their abstract agreement. Whereas, on the con
trary, in an analogical argument, we draw a particular con
clusion, we must enter into a consideration of the circumstan
tial pecuUarity of the individual instance, in order to exhibit
the conclusion in that particular form which we would infer.
Whence it foUows, that, whilst by induction we obtain abso
lute conclusions, by analogy we can oiUy arrive at relative con
clusions, or such as depend for their absolute and entire va
Udity on the coincidence of aU the circumstances of the
particular inferred with those of the particular from which
the inference is drawn. Whence also it is, that analogy has
been explained as meaning " not the simUarity of two things.

between Nature and Scripture. 61
they are ultimately resolvable, may be identified
with those variations in the facts of each system,
but the simUarity or sameness of two relations." (Dr. Cople
ston's " Enquiry into the Doctrines of Necessity and Predes
tination." Notes to Disc. III. p. 122.) For the two parti
culars which are rightly connected in an analogical argument
appear only as coincident in one point — that in which they
are represented in the premises as belonging to one class : any
further coincidence is dependent on the coincidence of their
circumstances; and their actual or formal resemblance, conse
quently, is only of a relative nature.
Analogy is sometimes stated as an argument from species to
species. (Mr. Dugald Stewart's " Elements of the PhUosophy
of the Human Mind," Vol. II. Ch. IV. Sec. IV. p. 404, 8vo.)
And it may justly be so considered, if we regard the analogous
particulars as specific instances of the class to which they are
referred, which then becomes their genus — and if we are care
ful to distinguish such a genus from any supposition of homo
geneity in the nature of the particulars : since any agreement
in an external point of view suffices for such a classification ;
or, otherwise, the application of analogical reasoning must be
restricted to cases where we know beforehand that the parti
culars, about which it is sought to employ it, are of a kindred
nature ; a restriction which would render analogy compara
tively useless as an instrument of discovery. The mistake to
which this last observation refers, is akin to that which con
founds the relative resemblance of the particulars connected

62 Analogy the Mode of Connexion
which might be anticipated in reasoning by ana
logy concerning the truths of Scripture, from
in an analogical argument, with their absolute, in supposing
the latter to exist when only the former appears. Both errors
proceed on the false principle, that analogy, as an instrument
of investigation, gives us instruction respecting the intrinsic
nature of the particulars which it connects, instead of its
being, as it really is, only the means of classifying different
subjects, so as to extend inferences from the known to the
unknown. A human person, a picture, and a statue, are aU
analogous to each other, if they agree in presenting a certain
expression to the outward observation. This uniformity of
expression is independent of the different materials from which
it results, and it is on the ground of its existence, under the
diversity of materials, that we pronounce them to be likenesses
of one another.
There are some valuable remarks on analogy in Dr. Hey's
" Lectures in Divinity", Vol. I. p. 162. That exceUent writer's
account of analogy, however, is defective ; as he does not point
out the effect of a difference in the circumstances to which we
reason, in modifying the inference. He contents himself with
stating, that " when circumstances are changed, our analogy
how strong soever, instantly vanishes"; whereas it should
rather have been observed, that the analogy then assumed
another form. He asserts also, that " conclusions by analogy
are not properly reasoning"; which is not true. If we refer to
the observations on which an analogy is founded, we might then

between Nature and Scripture. 63
the data furnished by experience. For this is
necessary, in order to shew that the facts of na
ture, and doctrines of any particular revelation,
such as that of the Scriptures, are really analo
gous to each other. If the difference between
a scriptural truth and its counterpart in the
system of nature, were greater or less than such
as might be attributed to the difference of cir
cumstances, the scriptural truth could not in
such a case be regarded as a conclusion from ex
perience. Nor could the Christian Rehgion be
established as philosophically true.
The validity of every analogy being dependent
entirely on the accuracy with which the relation
to the peculiar circumstances of the case is con
sulted in the conclusion, it is important to our
purpose to point out, by some examples, the
various ways in which the effect of these circum-
say, it was not " properly reasoning", but in the act of stat
ing the analogy a process of reasoning is involved, and the
conclusion is a logical deduction from premises, as is shewn
above. (See Dr. Whately's Chapter on Induction, " Ele
ments of Logic ", p. 207-)

64 Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions.
stances may be stated, or implied, in a conclu
sion deduced by analogy.
The circumstances to which we reason may be
considered of threefold character. They are either
known, or unknown. If they are known, they are ;
— 1. Either such as we have no reason to think
different in any respect from those under which
our observations have been made ; or 2, Such as
differ in certain known respects from these last.
3. They are unknown, where we reason concern
ing truths of which, from the state of our pre
sent knowledge, from the nature of our faculties,
or from the accident of our situation as sojourn
ers upon earth, we are totally ignorant. Accord
ingly as the circumstances of the case belong to
one or the other of these three classes, the con
clusion deduced by analogy is variously modified.
1. When we reason from the past to the fu
ture, we infer an event exactly similar to that
which has preceded, because we constantly sup
pose a continuance of the same circumstances
as those under which our observations have been
made. Thus when we presume on the daily
rising of the sun, we conclude with reference

Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions. 65
to ourselves, by whom the observation of his past
rising has been made ; that is to persons situ
ated as we are on the globe. We see no reason
that any circumstance essential to the fact
should be varied on the morrow or on any follow
ing day, and therefore we conclude that the fact
will recur in the same form. But though we
have no reason to suppose that there will be any
variation, yet it is impossible for us to rely on a
future event with the same confidence as on the
past ; we know not whether something may not
intervene to disappoint our expectations ;
whether there may not be some error in the
supposition of an exact similarity of the cases
so brought together ; and analogy here requires
us to qualify the conclusion with that imperfec
tion which necessarily attends on all human an
ticipations. So also when we speculate on the
future conduct of individuals or bodies of men,
it is always the supposition of the known simila
rity of the circumstances which justifies the
similarity of the event inferred; whether we
argue concerning the same individual and the
same bodies of men, or from one individual to

66 Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions.
another and one society to another. The only
modification introduced here by analogy is, as
before, such as belongs to the contingency of
the future compared with the certainty of the
past.— To the same class of analogies may also
be referred those instances, in which we before
hand exclude from our consideration certain
known differences in the circumstances of two
subjects, and determine to draw an inference
from one to the other only concerning one point
in which they are supposed to agree, our argu
ment not being affected by their disagreement
in other respects. For example — colonization
was beneficial to Holland and Spain as maritime
powers ; therefore it will be beneficial to another
country considered merely as such a power.
The whole effect of colonization on the several
countries would require to be exhibited very dif
ferently, if the question were whether it were
generally expedient for another country to send
out colonies after their example ; but if we
were considering simply the improvement of the
marine of a particular state, we should need
only to look to the effect produced in that one

Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions. 67
point of view. Or, — if Paganism, as an esta
blished religion, promoted social order and hap
piness, so will Christianity, as such, promote the
same, — is an argument of the like kind. We stu
diously disregard the known differences, and our
conclusion is valid, as far as it extends, without
any reference to them. Still, as the cases con
nected in such arguments are really distinct
in themselves *, and that exact and entire
coincidence, which is necessary to justify us in
regarding each as a substitute for the other, is a
point assumed, the conclusion, though indis
putably true as to all practical purposes, yet,
in speculation, cannot be held as absolutely
true in itself t.
2. When we know some definite particulars
in which the circumstances to which we argue
* See Dr. Whately's " Elements of Logic", Chap. V. of
the Dissertation on the Province of Reasoning, p. 264 — ^269,
and the Appendix; article, " same".
t Such analogies are the foundations of arguments a for
tiori 5 such as, " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shaU your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him ? "
f2

68 Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions.
differ from those of the fact observed, the con
clusion is then stated with that variation with
which the known difference enables us to cha
racterize it. Thus, if we would apply our ob
servation concerning the rising of the sun to an
inhabitant of the polar regions, we introduce
the consideration of the known difference of la
titude into the conclusion, and infer the periodi
cal return of the sun at the interval of six
months, as the correspondent fact, in the altered
circumstances of the case, to that of his daily ^
return in our latitude. — When the Puritans
argued that the sacrament of the Lord's supper
ought not to be administered to each communi
cant separately, because sermons are delivered
to a whole congregation collectively ; and "that
the communicants ought to sit at the Lord's
table, because sitting is the proper posture at a
supper : their argument in both cases waS illo
gical, as the conclusion was not modified by the
known difference of circumstances. As to the
argument respecting the sacrament, an indi
vidual reception is here analogous to a collec
tive reception of the benefits of preaching, be-

Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions. 69
cause by an individual reception of it, the nature
of the sacrament, or the peculiarity of the case,
is respected ; the sacrament being by its nature a
specific application of the benefits of Christ's
death, in contradistinction to sermons, which
from their nature can only be a general applica
tion ofthe same benefits. " Equal principles",
as Hooker observes in touching on this point,
" do then avail unto equal conclusions, when the
matter whereunto we apply them is equal, and
not else."* The matter being here not equal,
the conclusion required to be varied by a corre
sponding inequality. As to the argument re
specting the posture at the Lord's table ; kneel
ing here is analogous to sitting at any common
supper ; because we must take into consideration
wherein the Lord's table differs from every other,
and consequently unite adoration with feasting.
When, again, the Papists argue the necessity of
an infallible living judge in religious controversy,
from the fact of a judge being employed as an
expounder of human laws ; the pretended ana-
* " Ecclesiastical PoUty ", V. 68. p. 343, 8vo.

70 Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions.
logy fails ; because the different nature of re
ligious truth, as compared with legal truth, is
entirely overlooked in the inference. If we con
sider this difference, the conscience occupies
that place in regard to religious truth, which the
living judge occupies in regard to human laws ;
the conscience being the authority constituted
by God as the ultimate interpreter of His laws,
as the living judge is the authority constituted
by the framers of human laws. — Again, the ana
logy between the different fine arts consists in
the modifications which they exhibit of the prin
ciples of taste common to all, according to the
materials employed by them in producing their
effect. Hence we account for the absence of
the eye in the sculptured form, whilst in a pic
ture it is the life and soul of expression. — And
thus Aristotle speaks of rhetoric as the counter
part of logic (ot,]/Ti(r7^o(pog); it agrees with logic,
in having no definite subject about which it is
conversant ; but the pecuhar rules of the two
differ as much as the subject-matter of an argu
ment differs from its^rwi.— Again, on the sup
position of a future life, the birth and death of

Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions. 7I
man are analogous events ; by each event we
are introduced into a new life ; and the different
nature of the future life, as an invisible state, is
strictly respected in the difference of the event
of death, as compared with the event of birth.
Lastly, those analogies which run through dif
ferent languages, and those which are the foun
dation of metaphor, may be adduced as in
stances of conclusions expressly modified by
known differences of circumstances. Thus, in
translating from one language to another, the
same thought is retained by an idiomatic varia
tion of expression, and not by an exact render
ing of word by word. And when we apply the
terms, iving and oar, metaphorically, each term
expresses that in its own circumstances which
the other stands for in its circumstances. The
wing is to the bird in the air what the oar is to
the vessel in the water*.
* Metaphors, so far as they are founded on correct analo
gies, have the nature both of arguments and of philosophical
truths : for the justness of the analogy is that which consti
tutes the exceUence of the metaphor ; and wherever there is a
just analogy there is a conclusion rightly drawn from premises.

72 Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions.
3. We come to the consideration of those
cases of analogy in which, from our ignorance
of the circumstances to which we argue, we are
unable to state in the conclusion those modifi
cations which arise from them. These are cases
in which we are most liable to fallacies in rea
soning by analogy, because the justness of the
argument depends on the tacit reference which
is made by the mind to such qualifications of
the fact inferred, as may be suggested by a con
sideration of our ignorance. If this implied
as weU as a detection of a point of agreement in different sub
jects, which is the work of philosophy. Their actual futility
as arguments, or deficiency in information as philosophical
truths, does not affect their nature in either of these points
of view. These circumstances depend on the nature qf the
observations from which the analogical inference is drawn. If
these are unimportant the conclusion wiU be unimportant.
That metaphors, and arguments founded on analogy, differ
only as to the points to which our observation is directed, is
shewn by the Provost of Oriel, in his admirable dissertation
on Analogy, p. 125, of his " Enquiry into the Doctrines of
Necessity and Predestination ", and his " Remarks upon the
Objections made to certain Passages " in that Enquiry,
p. 37.

Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions. 'J3
reference be not made in our estimate of the
force of the conclusion, the argument is illo
gical. Thus if the celebrated illustration of
the Athanasian Creed, in which it is said that,
*' as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man,
so God and man is one Christ", were under
stood to convey a notion that the union of
the two natures in Christ was exactly the same
kind of union as that of a human soul and
human body — the real force of the illustra
tion would be altogether destroyed. If, on
the other hand, we recollect that we are ar
guing to a case whose circumstances are past
our comprehension, and retract our assertion, as
it were, at the same time that we advance it,
within the limits of our knowledge ; we shall
understand it as meaning, that there is some kind
of inconceivable union of two distinct natures
in the person of Christ, as there is some kind
of inconceivable union of two distinct natures
in the person of a man. Of the kind of union
we venture not to pronounce, but we suppose
it to be as different from the fact adduced in il
lustration of it, as its relation to an unknown

74 Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions.
Being may render it ; and therefore the analogy
is justly asserted. Again, our Lord's illustra
tions of the powerful and secret agency of the
Holy Spirit by the invisible power of the wind,
and ofthe benefits of His death by the corruption
of " a corn of wheat" in order to its vegetation,
would be greatly perverted, unless the indica
tions from experience were qualified by a reserve
of the judgment in their analogical application.
We must guard against supposing, that the ope
ration of the Spirit is represented to us in its
mode, by the invisible force of the wind ; or that
the process of vegetation at all adumbrates the
work of redemption ; and remember, that the
two conclusions only hold good when the mys
teriousness ofthe subjects about which they are
conversant, is also strictly maintained in them.
Again, the beautiful allusion made by Addison *
* " With what astonishment and veneration may we look
into our own souls, where there are such hidden stores of vir
tue and knowledge, such inexhausted sources of perfection !
We know not yet what we shall be, nor wiU it ever enter into
the heart of man to conceive the glory that wUl be always in
reserve for him. The soul, considered with its Creator, is like

Various Forms of Analogical Conclusions. 'J5
to " one of those mathematical lines that may
draw nearer to another for all eternity, without
a possibility of toiiching it", in illustration of
the endless approach of the soul of man to the
perfections of its Creator, can only be regarded
as a very faint presumption of the fact ; as the
difference of circumstances is infinite between a
mathematical fact, the subjects of which derive
their nature from the definition of them, and are
therefore precisely ascertained, and a physical
one of those mathematical Unes that may draw nearer to an
other for aU eternity, without a possibiUty of touching it : and
can there be a thought so transporting, as to consider ourselves
in these perpetual approaches to Him, who is not only the
standard of perfection, but of happiness ? " Spectator, No. 111.
To the mathematician it is some drawback from the plea
sure which this Ulustration excites to know, that the fact,
though mathematicaUy true, is not physicaUy so; and that even
mathematicaUy considered, the asymptote approaches so near
to the curve as to be ultimately a tangent : for his mind wiU
revolt from the idea, that the created being, however subUme
in moral and inteUectual perfections, can ever so closely ap
proximate to the Creator. The general reader wUl not per
ceive this objection, and wiU therefore have a greater relish
for the iUustration.

76 Application of Analogy to Revealed Truths.
fact, conversant aboutsubjects whereof our know
ledge is scanty and obscure. All that it shews
is, that the two ideas of, an infinite approxima
tion, and an infinite distance, of two objects, are
not inconsistent in one case, and therefore may
not be in another; but the particular case ad
duced is so extraordinary, that the analogy
almost vanishes.
This last species of modification is that which
belongs to all speculations on the subjects of re
ligion. We may judge indeed, to a certain ex
tent, of the variation in the form of a general
principle, when that principle is transferred to
the circumstances belonging to a scriptural
truth, so far as the exclusion of the fnite may
help us in framing a just conclusion. Apart
however, from direct information from God
concerning the things of that His larger invisi
ble kingdom, wherein is comprehended that por
tion of it which is open to our observation, we
know nothing positively ofthe circumstances to
which we reason ; and we must, therefore, make
ample allowances for the real ignorance and in-

Application of Analogy to Revealed Truths. 77
competence under which we labour, in all our at
tempts to explore these untracked regions of
divine providence ; and be careful that we admit
nothing into our reasonings which would imply
our experimental acquaintance with them.
But, from the same cause, we are also bound
to admit any information concerning them, which
comes within the pale of our ignorance, and
which at the same time is authenticated to us
by adequate testimony, as an ingredient in the
conclusions deduced by analogy. For it is the
due consideration of our ignorance which renders
the conclusion valid in the former case, and it is
only a result of the same consideration that, in
the latter case, we actually qualify the observa
tions of experience with any particulars commu
nicated to us by express message from God.
Any particulars, accordingly, which the scrip
tures reveal, purely belonging to the unknown
invisible world, may be regarded as identified
with those variations of the fact observed in
nature, which we should argue,. by just analogy,
independently of the scriptural information.

78 Application of Analogy to Revealed Truths.
These revealed particulars, in fact, only enable
us to make more exact statements in the analo
gical conclusion, of the weight which our ig
norance ought to have in the argument. They
are amongst those reserves, exceptions, or al
terations, with which the truth, as learned from
experience, must be understood by us in our
uninformed state ; and therefore exist in the
conclusion, by implication, antecedently to the
views unfolded by the scriptures.
Any new form consequently which a law of
nature may assume, consistently with the scrip
tural views of the invisible world, (it being pre
sumed that the scriptures have their proper evi
dences of authenticity as records of truths pur
porting to be delivered by persons specially sent
from God,) is a valid extension of the induction
from experience. It is valid, as being an ad
herence in our conclusion to the confession of
our natural ignorance, which we are obliged
to make at the outset of our investigation.
To make it appear, then, that the doctrines of
Christianity are instances of truths relative to

Doctrine of a Future Life examined. 'JQ
the invisible world, capable of being regarded as
just conclusions in the way of analogy from the
data of experience, it will be useful to refer to
some particulars in which its correspondence
with experience is discernible.
First, let us compare the doctrine of a future
life, as it is scripturally revealed, with its counter
part, as it is made known to us by the course of
the world.
The scriptural doctrine of a future life coin
cides with the facts of nature in the two follow
ing general principles or laws of the divine
administration. 1. " That all things will continue as we ex
perience they are, in all respects, except those
in which we have some reason to think they will
be altered :" — 2. " that the same creatures,
the same individuals, should exist in degrees of
life and perception, with capacities of action, of
enjoyment and suffering, in one period of their
being, greatly different from those appointed
them in another period of it." *
* Butler's Analogy, Part I. Chap. I.

80 Scriptural Doctrine of a Future Life
The first of these laws is evidenced in every
thing that we observe around us, and is accord
ingly adopted by us as an indisputable axiom of
conduct. The philosopher assumes it as a cer
tain truth, when he lays it down as one of the
laws of motion, that a body at rest will continue
at rest, or if in motion wiU continue in motion ;
and the common man tacitly acknowledges his
conviction of it, whether he commits his seed to
the ground in the hope of a future harvest, or
trusts in the known veracity and honesty of
another person, or anticipates reward or punish
ment to himself at some future occasion for his
past actions.
The second law is evidenced to us in the va
rious instances which present themselves of the
same animals passing through different condi
tions of being — emerging from the worm, or the
shell, to the winged state ; in the transitions of
man himself from the womb to infancy, from
infancy to mature age.
Now the scriptural doctrine of a future life
coincides with the facts of nature in these two
general principles ; because it implies that we

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 81
shall preserve our personal identity after death,
that is, that we shall continue the same active
and percipient beings in a state after death (or
in a " posthumous life ", as Butler terms it),
that we were before death ; death having no
power to destroy us as active and percipient
beings ; and because, again, it implies that we
shall undergo a change in oi-der to qualify us
for our future existence, since " flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God." So far
then as the scriptural doctrine includes these
two notions respecting a future life, so far it
may be stated as exactly coincident with the
teaching of experience.
But the scriptures further tell us that the
state of being on which we enter after death is
imperishable and unalterable ; or rather, that it
is our final condition, there being no other ap
pointed to succeed it ; and, in regard to the
modification which our nature will receive, they
add that we shall rise again with our bodies, and
that our bodies will then be spiritualized ; and,
as to our whole nature, that it will be purified,
rendered like that of angels, and become sus-

82 Scriptural Doctrine of a Future Life
ceptible of a happiness utterly beyond our pre
sent capacities of enjoyment. — Are these addi
tions, we may inquire, such as may correctly
be admitted into our conclusion, in arguing to
the doctrine of a future life merely from the
data of experience ? This is the same thing as
to inquire, whether those general laws of the
divine administration, already adduced as points
of coincidence between the scriptural doctrine
of a future life and the facts of nature, being
regarded simply as conclusions from experience,
and extended by analogy to the larger scheme
of God's invisible providence, would lead us to
expect a future life such as that revealed to us
in the scriptures.
Now to establish this point it is evidently not
necessary that they should actually present the
same views of a future life which the scriptures
unfold ; — it is only necessary that they should
tend towards the scriptural views ; since, from
the considerations previously suggested, the
lessons of experience must naturally be supposed
inferior in distinctness and perfection of know
ledge to the wisdom which descends more imme-

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 83
diately from above. An approximation to the
full truth in the former method of instruction, is
equivalent to the full truth itself in the latter.
If we consider then our future existence in a
state of perception and action, as a truth in
ferred by analogical application of the above-
mentioned conclusions from the facts of nature
to the circumstances of the invisible world, we
shall find that, in allowing for our natural igno
rance of the peculiar case respected in the argu
ment, we should argue to a truth like that of the
scriptures. For whilst experience teaches us to
expect a continuation of our life after death
under some different modification of being, yet
if we look to experience alone without the re
quisite allowances for our ignorance in this case,
we should infer a continuation of life under suc
cessive varieties of condition and forms of being,
rather than that single, permanent, and invari
able state, of which the scriptures discourse to
us ; — since the argument for a future life, de
rived from those changes which we perceive
the same individuals undergoing and yet retain
ing their identity, in itself as much proves a suc-
G 2

84 Scriptural Doctrine of a Future Life
cession of different future states, as it proves that
there is another state beyond the present. Thus,
the Pythagorean metempsychosis may be con
sidered, in this respect, a literal adoption of the
teaching of experience. Or when the Platonist,
the Romapist, and the Socinian, assert the ex
istence of a purgatory, they may be said to
adopt a notion in exact conformity with those
facts of nature which evidence the law of suc
cessive variations of condition appointed to the
same individual creatures. But still the argu
ment derived from those facts, for either the Py
thagorean or Platonic doctrine, is fallacious, for
the conclusion does not embrace the circum
stances involved in the premises. The very ex
actness of the conformity, where we cannot
know how great the difference of circumstances
may be, shews that we have only copied ser
vilely from the book of nature, and not reasoned
from the data placed in our hands. For if we
reason from them as we ought, we shall forbear
to assert positively, in the absence of any ex
press information from God on the subject, any
thing respecting the nature of that future ex-

analogous to tlie Facts of Nature. 85
istence to which the facts of experience point.
It is enough for us to argue, that our life will be
continued through and beyond our death. Our
being possessed of our faculties of perception
and action up to the moment of our death, and
our having survived through other modes of ex
istence, shews demonstratively that we may live
beyond death. But here we must stop. To
proceed further, and to afiirm, that when we
die we pass into a particular state of being, or
have a succession of different states appointed
to us, is to omit entirely the requisite considera
tion of our ignorance concerning the circum
stances of the case. — And the reason of the dif
ference between our concluding from experi
ence simply that we may exist hereafter, and
concluding in this, or that way, respecting the
mode of existence is ; that, in the former con
clusion, we take up nothing that may be regard
ed as peculiar to the facts of experience. We
view them abstractedly, and thus obtain general
principles, in which the facts of God's invisible
providence may coincide under great actual di
versity of form. But, on the other hand, when

86 Scriptural Doctrine of a Future Life, 6^c.
we conclude any thing concerning the nature or
mode of our future existence, we multiply the
necessary points of agreement so far, that it is no
longer probable that the facts of the invisible
world should coincide with them to such ex
tent, — the supposition of such a coincidence be
ing contrary to the presupposed possibility of
an immense difference in the circumstances of
the case to which we argue. — We are there
fore open to receive any limitation of extension
of our conclusions from mere experience, which
a faithful messenger from God may suggest, by
the knowledge which he imparts to us of a state
after death. If he tells us accordingly that
having once passed through the change from
life to death, we shall die no more, but shall rise
with spiritual bodies, and live for ever — a future
state of such a kind is the real analogy to the
course and constitution of the world. If we
have argued correctly, independently of his in
formation, we have held our conclusion from
experience concerning the fact of our future
existence, with that reserve which leaves us at
liberty to superadd to it any detail of particulars

Doctrine of Retribution considered. 87
which his gifted insight into the Divine ways
may enable him to disclose to us.
Let us examine next that doctrine of the
scriptures, which affirms, that " they that have
done good shall go into life everlasting, and they
that have done evil into everlasting fire "; and
ascertain whether such a doctrine may be justly
stated as analogous to the facts of nature.
1. First then it is to be observed, that nature
presents indications of the truth of this doctrine,
in those facts which concur in establishing the
principle, " that the general method of Divine
administration is, forewarning us, or giving us
capacities to foresee, with more or less clearness,
that if we act so and so, we shall have such en
joyments, if so and so, such sufferings ; and
giving us those enjoyments, and making us feel
those sufferings, in consequence of our actions"* :
— such as are, the evident instances, ofthe preser
vation of our lives depending on our use of sus
tenance — of, advantages depending on our ex
ertions to obtain them, and of evils arising from
* Butler's Analogy, Part I. Chap. II. p. 48.

88 Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution
Our imprudence or neglect. This doctrine of
religion accordingly, inasmuch as it implies a
notion of God as a rewarder and punisher of
men, has, in this respect, a point of coincidence
with the facts of nature — being an instance of
the same law of responsibility of man to God,
which is evidenced in them.
2. Nature presents another point of coinci
dence with this doctrine in those facts which de
monstrate, that it is a principle of the divine pro
ceeding, that virtue should have the superiority
over vice ; such as are^ — 1st. Those instances al
ready referred to, as illustrative of God's natural
government over us ; for these are at the same
time instances of one species of virtue, pru
dence, obtaining the advantage over one species
of vice, imprudence. 2dly. Instances of the pu
nishments and rewards which take place through
the instrumentality of human governors. Sdly.
Instances, in which a sense of merit or demerit
in actions is felt to be a reward or punishment
by an individual in his own mind, or actuates
others towards him, 4thly. Instances, in which
we perceive accidental hindrances to a more

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 89
righteous distribution of rewards and punish
ments than is actually discerned. The scriptural
doctrine, accordingly, as implying the final tri
umph of virtue over vice, is an instance of that
natural superiority which it appears to possess in
the course of the world.
3. Another general principle in which this
doctrine coincides with the teaching of nature
is, that God has put our happiness and misery
in a great measure in our own power. This is
a law of the divine proceeding, deducible from
the same facts which declare God's natural go
vernment over us. For all those instances which
shew the necessity of our acting with a view to
the consequences of our actions, in order to ob
tain the advantages and avoid the evils of life,
shew also, by necessary implication, that our hap
piness and misery are appointed to depend, in
part, at least, upon ourselves.
4. Again, this doctrine of religion involves
another principle of the divine proceeding ; —
that God does not at once place us in that con
dition of happiness or misery for which we are
ultimately intended, but disciplines us before-

90 Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution
hand by a preparatory state of being, which is
our opportunity for securing the one, and avoid
ing the other. If we further interrogate nature
on this point, we shall find her unanimous in
proclaiming the same principle. For we find
that we are not ushered at once into the duties
of mature life, without a preliminary training
during the period of youth, wherein we gradu
ally and insensibly acquire the rules of conduct ;
and experience indeed in general shews us, that,
whilst we are naturally unqualified for any par
ticular station or employment, we are endued
with capacities of acquiring and forming a cha
racter in ourselves, which we had not before ;
and that a certain character, accordingly, is the
result of a previous discipline of habits leading
towards it. So that the fact, that our whole ul
timate condition of happiness or misery should
be appointed to follow as a consequence of our
conduct during a preparatory state of being, is
an instance of God's dealing with us in regard
to the scheme of His invisible providence, as He
has evidently dealt with us in the course of His
visible administration.

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 91
We have before us, accordingly, several points
of coincidence between the scriptural doctrine
of a final retribution and the course of nature.
We proceed to inquire, as in the former case
with regard to a future life, whether these ge
neral laws of the divine proceeding which con
stitute the points of coincidence, supposing them
to be conclusions from experience alone, would
suggest to us a religious truth, capable of being
identified with the doctrine of the Scriptures.
From having learned then by experience, that
God exercises a government over us in this
world ; that this government is moral, dispens
ing reward to virtue, and punishment to vice ;
that He has put our happiness and misery in our
own power, so far that our respective portion of
either is in a great measure dependent on our
conduct ; and that He disciplines us by a prepa
ratory course of action for performing our part
well in the various situations of life ; — what are
we to conclude respecting the circumstances
over which His invisible providence extends ?
We are only warranted then in concluding by
analogy, that God will continue hereafter to ex-

92 Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution
ercise that government over us which He now
does (or that He will hereafter render us ob
noxious to the foreseen consequences of present
actions) in a far more perfect manner, consist
ently with the enlarged scope of operation which
His government obtains in the world beyond our
view : that hereafter virtue shall be triumphant,
and vice shall be finally depressed ; for such a
conclusion is the just consummation, under the
invisible kingdom of God, of those beginnings
of a righteous administration, and those impeded
tendencies of virtue, which are discerned on the
narrow scale of His worldly providence : that
the happiness which is now hazarded on our
conduct, shall hereafter be obtained by us, or lost
beyond recovery; for what is now trial, diffi
culty, and danger, when referred to the invisible
world, becomes trial completed, or peace and se
curity on the one hand, and trouble and perdition
on the other : that as we are now undergoing a
moral discipline, we must be destined for a higher
condition of virtue and happiness in the invisible
world ; since what is now opportunity of moral
improvement, if we take into our view a larger

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 93
scheme of Providence beyond what actually ap
pears, points to a period hereafter, as the crisis
. of qualification, or disqualification, for that, for
which the opportunity has been vouchsafed.
Any one of these analogical inferences gives us
ground to look forward to happiness or misery
at some period after this present life ; and all,
taken together, excite a very forcible expecta
tion that it will ultimately, " on the whole, be
well with the righteous, and ill with the
wicked"*. But the state of retribution unfolded by the
scriptures, gives us a much greater insight into
the method by which the ways of God shall be
justified hereafter. They acquaint us that a dis
tribution of rewards and punishments, render
ing to all their dues, shall take place by the
sentence of a final judgment ; when "the dead,
small and great," shall " stand before God,"
and be "judged out of those things which are
written in the books according to their works " :
* See Butler's Analogy, Chap. II. III. IV. and V.

94 Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution
that the reward of the righteous shall consist in
their seeing God, and the punishment of the
wicked in their exclusion from His presence :
that both soul and body shall participate in the
alternative of reward or punishment : and that
the happiness or misery hereafter appointed to us
shall be without interruption and without end.
Now all these particulars, it must be acknow
ledged, are matter of express revelation from
God. They are peculiar modifications of the
general fact of retribution, arising from the pe
culiar circumstances of another state of things,
with which we are totally unacquainted by na
ture, and whose effect accordingly in varying
the conclusion as obtained from experience, we
must learn by direct information. The signs of
nature can lead us no further than to expect
that every man shall receive at some future day,
and in some more perfect manner, of the fruits
of his virtue, or the wages of his iniquity, — ^they
are misconstrued and perverted, when they are
made the basis of any hypothesis concerning the
time or the manner in which this retribution

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 95
shall be accomplished* . If we so apply them,
we cease to reason from them (as was observed
with regard to the indications of a future life) ;
forgetting that our conclusion is only valid, when
we understand it with that reserve which our
real ignorance of the nature of the case de
mands. If we suppose then these particulars imparted
by the scriptures concerning a state of retribu
tion, to rest on their proper evidence of authen
ticity, as parts of a divine message, we are bound
to accept them as legitimate modifications of
the inference from experience. And the doc
trine accordingly, in its full scriptural accepta
tion, is the true analogy to the course and con
stitution of nature.
So we might proceed with respect to other
doctrines. It might be shewn that the doctrine
* Here then we may again see the iUogical ground on
which the doctrine of purgatory in the absence of aU scrip
tural sanction rests, as weU as the faUacy of the notion held
by some Arian Presbyterians, of a temporary punishment of
the wicked to be terminated by annihUation.

96 References to Analogies
of the fall of man from a state of original per
fection, is analogous to that constitution of the
natural world, which exhibits the operation of
corruption even among the most perfect pro
ductions of nature *, — the operation of corrup-
* No fact appears to have been more strongly impressed on
the minds of heathen writers than that of the degeneracy of
the world. We perceive it in Homer's aUusion to a race of
men better than those oToi nt ^^oroi tiVt, and in the melancholy
tone of his poetry throughout. So in Herodotus we find
Solon observing to Croesus, that " man is entirely calamity ",
" that it is better for him to die than to live." (Clio. 31, 32.)
Thucydides attributes to Pericles the sentiment that " it is
the nature of all things to degenerate " ; (II. 64.) and in the
speech of Diodotus, where he repeats the sentiment more
pointedly (III. 45.) he supposes a better state of things in the
early ages, when punishments were Ughter : and Aristotle in
accounting for the cautiousness and despondency of old men,
ascribes it to their experience of the imperfection of human
things, observing that " most things are bad ", that " many
things turn out for the worse ", and he remarks " a dege
neracy in the famiUes of men similar to that of the productions
of the soU." (Rhet. II. 13 and 15.).
From an observed tendency in natural things to corruption,
we certainly could not correctly argue to a similar tendency in
such a being as man, any more than from the fading of the

in other Doctrines of Scripture. 97
tion as distinct from a tendency towards it ;
since the question then only is, whether the ac
tual deterioration of a nature perfect in its kind
is incredible, when there are visible instances of
such deterioration in many of the works of God:
or that the doctrine of man's future restoration
to happiness through the sacrifice of Christ of
fered once for all, is analogous to those facts
which shew in general that men are appointed
to depend in some measure pn the instrument
ality and cooperation of each other, in obtaining
not only the advantages but the common bless
ings of the present life ; or to such as shew that
bad consequences, which must inevitably have
leaf we could argue to the decay of the living principle in our
bodies : — in order to argue such a tendency in the moral and
inteUectual nature of man, we require an instance of such a
tendency in some other moral and inteUectual nature. The
fact, however, that a corruption exists in human nature is aU
that the scriptures assert ; and this is rendered credible by
parallel instances of corruption in other works of the Al
mighty hand. So far are the scriptures from asserting any
necessary tendency to corruption as belonging to a moral being,
that they imply the contrary in the account they give of
angels who kept their first estate of good. H

98 Analogies in other Doctrines of Scripture.
followed as far as our own ability to avert them
is concerned, have been often averted through
painful exertions voluntarily undergone by
others : or that the doctrine of the secret in
fluence of the Spirit is analogous to those mighty
effects which we observe produced in nature by
invisible agencies ; or to those instances which
evidence a tacit conviction of the Divine pre
sence in the heart of man ; when, for example, a
feeling of horror takes possession of the mind at
the thought of entire destitution and abandon
ment to itself, — that feeling so affectingly por
trayed in the agony of our Saviour on the cross,
when he cried out, " My God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me !" — which Cain reckoned as a
punishment greater than he could bear — ^and
which perhaps in every case is the principal bit
ter ingredient in the cup of remorse *, the iron
entering into the soul of the criminal apostate.
* It is beautifully depicted in the story of BeUerophon ;
" AAA oTE *)) xaniTtof aTri^^SETO wSiri SsoTo-it,
"Htoi 0 xaTTiriSioti to AXfov oio; »XaTo,
"Ov ^Vjjuiit xecTiSiim itarot av^^wTrun aKn'ivuv." Iliad. Z. 200.

Character of Scripture Truths considered. 99
Or, if we look to the circumstantial character
of our scriptural instructions, (since it is in this
point of view that a comparison is open between
Christianity and nature, as well as in the doc
trines themselves,) here also we may detect just
' analogies. Take that circumstance belonging to the
scriptural truths, their connexion and mutual
relation to each other in one scheme : — since it
is evident that all have a reference to one end,
the salvation of man by a Divine Person, the
Messiah ; and from their reference to this one
end necessarily results their combination in that
mode to which we give the name of a scheme or
constitution. It is not their logical connexion
which is here meant, or their implication of each
other, as when we deduce the doctrine of a fu
ture life from that of a present state of trial and
discipline ; for this suffices merely for the pur
pose of forming human schemes of theology, or
systematic arrangements of scriptural doctrines.
But it is the simple union of those truths, as they
have been brought together by the Divine
Mind — as they tend, by mysterious ties of bro-
H 2

100 Scripture Truths as a Scheme
therhood with each other, to renovate the faded
irnage of God in the soul of man, and to make
him one with Christ even as the Father and
Christ are one — ^which we now consider; and in
respect of which we would trace a correspond
ence in our instructions by nature.
Now the facts of the natural world are evi
dently combined in a vast scheme or constitu
tion, and a constitution of the like kind to that
which we observe in scriptural truths ; inasmuch
as the only account we can give of it is, that the
facts are so connected with each other as to tend
to one common result, without our being able to
discern the whole scope of that connexion or
its necessary links. We can distinctly perceive,
that it is a general fact of the divine proceeding
in the world; that events are not absolute and
independent of each other, but that by their
" reciprocal correspondences and mutual rela
tions, every thing which we see in nature is ac
tually brought about."* Upon the general
estimate, all the events of nature appear, as far
* Butler's Analogy, p. 173.

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 101
as we can trace them, to have some reference to
the natural good of man. Part of this reference
is the wonderful connexion observable between
physical and moral causes *, both thus consti
tuting one great natural system, in which means
are progressively carried on for the melioration
of the condition of man in the world. Or if we
look to more particular instances, we find parts
of this great system in themselves composing
minor systems in conformity to the plan of the
whole — in like manner as each planet in itself,
then the planets with their satellites in the solar
system, and the solar system amidst the hosts of
the constellated universe. For instance, that a
man should act on some occasion in a particular
way is dependent on his character, and the op
portunity, or some casual infiuence which has
prevailed over his ordinary judgment, — his cha
racter has been, formed by his previous habits,
* As the improved cultivation of the soil, and abundance of
the necessaries of life, resulting from improved civiUzation and
knowledge in a country ; and, vice versa : — the effects of cUmate
and great national visitations, such as wars and pestilences,
as modes of discipline to the moral character of a people.

102 Scripture Truths as a Scheme
those previous habits by his early education and
associates; and so on: each circumstance in the
inquiry leading us to some other connected with
it, until, in the process of exploring, we lose
ourselves in a labyrinth of antecedents and con
sequences. From this principle thus illustrated in nature,
we might argue, that if God should impart to
us any knowledge of the facts of His invisible
providence by a special revelation, the truths so
communicated would, in like manner, be reci
procally connected with each other, and tend to
some general result. But the kind of connexion
to which we should thus argue analogically, may
be as different from that observed in nature, as
the different circumstances of the theological
truths may cause them to be. Here in the
world, events appear to arise out of one another
according to uniform laws, and in the way of
antecedents and consequences, and we see often
their immediate subserviency as means by which
some particular end has been attained. But
there may be no such apparent connexion in the
facts of the invisible world of Providence ; the

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 103
laws of their connexion may be entirely beyond
our powers of perception ; where the notion of
time vanishes, the succession of antecedents and
consequences also vanishes ; and the means by
which the several particulars contribute to their
common end, may appear disproportioned and
desultory; or there may be something funda
mentally wrong in our very notion of them as
means and ends *. The connexion of them
may be simply revealed to us without our being
able to discern it : as for instance, the connexion
between the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart
and the sacrifice of the Son of God in order to
the salvation of mant ; or the relation of each fact
separately considered to that end ; whilst we are
left in ignorance as to the mode of connexion or
relationship. So that, whether the scriptures
explain to us more or less of that constitution
or scheme of truths which they announce, the
state of mystery in which they may leave the
* See Butler's Analogy, Part II. ch. iv. p. 267.
+ " It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not
away, the Comforter wiU not come unto you; but if I depart,
I wiU send him unto you." John, xvi. 7-

.104 Scripture Truths as liable to Objections
subject, is what may justly be conceived to arise
from the peculiar case of those truths ; and that
constitution which belongs to the scriptural doc
trines may be regarded as the proper counter
part of that which belongs to the facts of nature.
Take again another principle of the divine
procedure involved in the circumstantial cha
racter of the scriptural truths ; that important
facts are made known to us, repugnant to the
anticipations of speculative reason ; and that we
are required to believe them without having
been endued with capacities or principles for
judging of them a priori*. Let us examine,
therefore, whether nature does not lead us to
suppose that, in the event of a supernatural re
velation being vouchsafed to us, the truths so
imparted would be greatly different from the
anticipations of reason, or such as we might
* Butler's Analogy, Part II. ch. iii. The term anticipa
tion seems more properly to denote opinions founded on as
sumed principles, and expectation to denote such as are founded
on analogies. Bacon appUes anticipatio mentis to the old philo
sophy, as distinguished from his, which is inlerpretatio naturce.

analogous to tlie Facts of Nature. 105
fancy liable to great objections, if we judged of
them otherwise than by the analogy of nature.
It is of consequence to observe, that expectations
founded on the analogy of nature are not to be
confounded here with the opinions of specula
tive reason, for to such expectations legitimately
deduced from clear facts, it is impossible that an
authentic scriptural revelation can be really re
pugnant, however it may appear so on a super
ficial survey; so that no objections against well-
authenticated doctrines can ever be founded on
real analogies ; whereas mere assumed principles
must be pregnant with strong objections against
such doctrines, for this very reason, that they are
assumed. But the fact that such principles do
fail us in nature, is what we are now examining.
Is it not apparent then that facts present
themselves to our observation} under the na
tural providence of God, repugnant to the an
ticipations of speculative reason ? Consider the
instances — of our knowledge of comparative dis
tances from the joint operation of the senses of
sight and touch — of single vision with two eyes
—of our perception of erect objects from objects

106 Scripture Truths as liable to Objections
represented invertedly on the retina of the eye
— of the power of the will over the limbs of the
body — of the knowledge which brutes obtain,
by means of instincts and propensities, and that
acquired by mankind, by these together with
reason *, considered either separately or in com
parison with each other — of the dispensation of
gifts in general, and in particular of knowledge
and talents, out of that order in which they ap
pear most important to us or most properly be
stowed; as in the earlier advancement of the
science of astronomy compared with that of me
dicine, and the union of great talents with im
morality in some individuals — of the diffusion of
knowledge being made to depend on so imper
fect an instrument as language — of improve
ments in arts resulting from so capricious a thing
as sudden invention—- of late discovery of im
portant remedies of diseases, and their uncer
tain and imperfect operation when known —
and numberless other instances which must rea
dily occur to every thoughtful person — and the
fact must be acknowledged, that many of the
• Butler's Analogy, Part II. ch. iii.

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 107
phenomena of the natural world are such as are
greatly repugnant to principles by which we
might endeavour to judge of them a priori, and
are really objectionable therefore when we view
them by the light of these principles. For might
we not argue, that it is impossible that the senses
of sight and touch could be so conjoined as to
produce a common result ; that from a twofold
representation of objects, a twofold vision must be
produced ; and from an inverted picture of an
object, a perception of the object inverted ; that
it is absurd to suppose that thought could have
any influence on the body, since its nature is
such that it cannot act on matter ; that instinct
in brutes was incapable of producing those effects
which we observe it produce in informing and
preserving them ; or of at once effecting in them,
in some instances, what in the case of mankind
is only gradually learned with the additional aid
of reason, or what mankind with reason super
added cannot accomplish at all, or not so per
fectly ; that from our notions both of the wisdom
and goodness of God, and of the subjects which
would naturally first solicit the attention of man-

108 Scripture Truths as liable to Objections
kind, it must follow that sciences most important
to the preservation of human life would precede
in the order of discovery — that great talents and
great knowledge must always be united with
great moral worth — that God would more effec
tually provide for the communication of know
ledge than to leave it to the uncertainty of hu
man language — that He would take care that
every discovery important to man should be
made by regular process of inquiry, and known
early — and that the remedies to diseases should
never fail ?
If then we follow nature as our guide, we may
well calculate on finding many scriptural truths
very different from the anticipations of specula
tive reason. If, however, the sceptic further in
sists, that the irreconcileableness of scriptural
doctrines with certain principles is still stronger
than that which is apparent between the like prin
ciples and facts of experience — that it extends
to more particulars — or that they are not merely
irreconcileable,but disagreeable and unwelcome,
exacting a self-denial of the intellect which
would receive them, as well as of the heart

analogous to the Facts of Nature. 109
which would embrace them ; — we may reply,
that the analogy which we assert between nature
and scripture is not violated, but established by
this very peculiarity. It is that which renders
the analogy just and valid in this point. For
that the case of the scriptural truths should ex
hibit greater eccentricity from the orbit which
reason would mark out for them, and that they
should more peremptorily disclaim to be mea
sured by the rules of arbitrary hypotheses, is
what may reasonably be attributed to the illimit
able regions in which they expatiate, wherein we
vainly attempt to track them, "as a ship that
passeth over the waves of the water, which when
it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found,
neither the pathway ofthe keel in the waves."
But as Christianity is not a simple revelation
grafted immediately upon the instruction of na
ture ; but, so far as it is a particular religion, was
preceded by the Patriarchal and Jewish dispen
sations, whilst, in that sense in which it compre
hends them all, it is the one only true religion
of the world ; it will more fully illustrate the

110 Analogy the Connexion between
point here insisted on, viz. — that any two conse
cutive revelations of divine truth will be con
nected in the way qf analogy, — if we extend our
survey to some points of coincidence between
Christianity and the elder associated revela
tions. God has manifested himself as the same Lord,
by exhibiting evidences of the same laws of di
vine administration under all three dispensa
tions ; but we may observe, that the forms which
those laws assume, or the points of view to which
the faith of mankind is peculiarly directed, are
characterized by the circumstances belonging to
the religion in each case.
What the extent of the knowledge of divine
things, possessed by our first parents in their
Paradisiacal state, was, we their degenerate de
scendants can form no satisfactory conjecture.
Possibly, when the image of God was as yet un
sullied in man, when all the principles of our
nature were in their due proportions, and natural
and moral effects were perfectly coincident, that
fulness of light concerning the ways of God,
which it required a succession of inspired mes-

Christianity and its included Dispensations. Ill
sengers, and a period of four thousand years,
afterwards to introduce to the world, was shed
abroad at once upon their hearts, and they were
enabled to worship God in the spirit and truth
of Christianity. Our estimate, however, of the
Patriarchal religion must commence from that
state in which it was modified by the fall of man,
when the heart and the intellect of the disobe
dient children of God were disturbed from their
original rectitude, and had unlearned those
hymns of praise which the diviner revelations of
Eden may have inspired. Man then appeared
first in that relation in which he stands towards
God as a suppliant for pardon; and, thencefor
ward, the measure of the revelation vouchsafed
was regulated by the occasions presented in the
course of the world, for a disclosure of the coun
sels of God in regard to the grant of that pardon.
Then began that special display of the Divine
Being as a. gracious' God, which terminated in
the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, and
the consequent effusion of the Spirit, in the lat
ter days; when the full truth concerning the
designs of God towards man was expanded, and

112 Analogy the Connexion between
the concentrated light of all the various mani
festations of His will revealed the Trinity in
Unity*. Now the truths concerning God which would
be suitable to the earliest revelations, are such
as relate to the self-existence, spirituality, unity,
power, wisdom, and goodness of God. These
are the grand truths upon which all more inti
mate knowledge of the Deity must be founded.
The knowledge of the mystery of the Trinity
evidently presupposes them as known, since it
is an addition of the notion of personality to
* Eusebius is fond of representing the Patriarchal reUgion
as Christian in its institution and mode of holy living.
ToiOUTOf OE ItztpViViV 0 ITPOq TOV "ZbJT^^O^ VjAUV IvilTOV JCpiO'TOV VEVOfJLoQerVJ-
fcEvo; »0|[iOi; te xa) |3iof, ti)» 7ra?\,aioraTm xa) ic^taQvrl^a.i Maa-iag
tvatGiiav ava'ioijjiisoi, xaS m o Seo^iAjj; 'AQ^aafA,, xa( oi toutou
wjoTraTogE; diixvvnai WEWoXiTEUftEvoi. EiyoM \ii\i)(7eia(; Toii ri Xpio--
rtavuv Pioii, xai rnv iito lau X^nrrov ttSo-ik eGi'eo'i xaraSsSTaifjiiviiii
SioaiSiiav a-vtB^iraaai tu m^dica rSv ajji^l tov 'Nopaajji, \it euo-e^eiu
xa( SixatoavnY) jj.tij.a^Tuf'iijji.huv, ha xal Toii avToi Eugio-fi;. Euseb.
Dem. Evang. Lib. I. cap. v. p. 9. He is fundamentaUy correct
in this statement, but he does not make sufficient aUowance
for the distance of time at which the Patriarchs Uved under
a scheme of reUgion gradual in its developement.

Christianity and its included Dispetisations. 113
what we naturally conceive to be the essential
discriminative character of Divinity. And not
only are they required as the ground-work of a
higher theology, and therefore proper at the
commencement of the scheme of divine inter
positions, but the deficiency of natural instruc
tion concerning God from the want of expe
rience in the beginning of the world, indicates
the need of express revelation on these points at
such a period, and consequently their appro
priateness as the themes of the Patriarchal re
ligion. To enforce these truths, accordingly, —
the sanctification of the seventh day, — the ex
pulsion of our first parents from Paradise, —
the denunciation of woe on the murderer Cain,
— the translation of the righteous Enoch, — the
preparation of the ark, — the flood, — the re-ap
pearance of the dry land after the flood, and con
tinuance ofthe order of nature, — the prohibition
of eating blood, with the accompanying declara
tion of divine vengeance on the manslayer, —
the confusion of tongues at Babel, and conse
quent dispersion of mankind, — the call of Abra
ham, — the destruction of the cities of the plain.

114 Analogy the Connexion between
with the rescue of Lot from the general over
throw ; and the pillar of salt, that standing me
morial of the necessity of immediate, unhesi
tating, unreserved obedience to the divine com
mands, — the commuted sacrifice of Isaac, — and
all the various emergences in which God ap
peared counselling and helping the appointed
instruments of His mercy to mankind, — were
especially directed.
But though the character of God was thus
principally developed to the Patriarchs in such
particulars as belong to the fundamental notion
of Him, and illustrate more especially the pro
vidence of nature ; still there were some indica
tions also of that sublimer knowledge of Him
which results from a survey of the providence
of grace. Whatever of compassion, whatever of
forbearance, whatever of love, appeared in the
primeval revelations,- — from that it might have
been inferred, that there was an invisible scheme
begun, in which some more recondite truths con
cerning God were involved. These imperfect
signs, viewed in connexion with the express pro
mises of one who should " bruise the serpent's

Christianity and its included Dispensations. 115
head", and of a blessing which should extend to
" all the families of the earth ", were the faint
outlines of those mysteries which were after
wards declared in the events of the gospel. They
are such approximations to the doctrines ulti
mately revealed in the Christian dispensation, as
may be justly attributed to the simple and ele
mentary nature of the Patriarchal religion ; and
are therefore, so far as they are discerned, in
stances of an analogy subsisting between the two
systems. Had mankind advanced in moral and intel
lectual improvementproportionably to the divine
instruction with which they were favoured, it
might have been expected that God would have
lifted up the light of His countenance upon them
with continually increasing brightness, and the
stream of revelation would at once have widened
more and more as it proceeded in its course.
But the fact is otherwise. In vain had the earth
been purified by the waters of the deluge. Apos
tasy had desolated its regions with the overflow
ings of ungodliness, and swept down all the
I 2

116 Analogy the Connexion between
landmarks of ancient piety and wisdom. It be
came necessary, consequently, to renew, and to
redeliver in a more striking and palpable man
ner, those very truths which had already been
promulgated to the w^orld in the first revelation.
Instead of an enlargement of the knowledge
vouchsafed to the Patriarchs, we find accord
ingly the following revelation immediately con
versant about the facts of natural providence,
and busied in retracing the obliterated vestiges
of its predecessor. And, as in the outward as
pect of the world at the time of its delivery, it
was a difficult, if not an impossible, task to dis
criminate, amidst the moral chaos, between the
apparent course of things, and their real order
as proceeding from the hand of God, a revela
tion was needed, which should point as it were
with its finger to the agency of God, and com
mand the attention of the world. Such, we ob
serve, was the character of Judaism. It exhibited
a restoration of that union between natural and
moral good, and between natural and moral evil,
which the corruption of the world had entirely

Christianity and its included Dispensations. II7
obscured, and presented clear and indubitable
phenomena from which a true notion of the
Deity might be obtained.
From the peculiar circumstances, according
ly, in which the Jewish revelation was vouch
safed, resulted that peculiar form which theolo
gical truth assumed in it. It expressly repeated,
indeed, the principles of the Patriarchal religion,
for it embodied them in its records as con
nected with its own origin ; but, so far as it was
a new and distinct revelation, it modified them
by a reference to its immediate end ; the rees-
tablishment of the visibility of Divine Provi
dence. So also it continued to expand the de
signs of God towards mankind beyond the ho
rizon of the Patriarchal religion, and to usher in
the dayspring from on high ; but with a subdued
tone, and an immersion of its rays in the sha
dows, which its connexion with a temporary
purpose threw around it. In both cases, all
truths concerning the Deity were represented
in subordination to that of a particular super
intending Providence.
Thus, the unity of God is inculcated through-

118 Analogy the Connexion between
out the Jewish revelation, as well in strong ex
press declaration, as by the tenour of the narra
tive ; but if we look to the first commandment,
in which the truth is stated as it peculiarly be
longed to Judaism, we find it proclaimed, not in
the terms which belong to universal religion,
but as connected with the display of a special
Providence. It was the Lord who brought the
Israelite forth out ofthe land of Egypt and out
of the house of bondage, besides whom he was
forbidden to have any other God. So, again,
when the observation of the sabbath is enjoined ;
though in the fourth commandment it is ground
ed on an universal principle — the rest of God
after the work of creation— the duty is after
wards placed on the peculiar ground of Ju
daism*. In relation to the peculiarity of the
religion, may be interpreted also that account of
* " And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of
Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence
through a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm ; there
fore tb^e Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath
day." Deuteronomy, v. 15.
See Mede's Works, Vol. I. p. 74, foUo, 1664.

Christianity and its included Dispensations. 119
the character of God, which it presents in de
scribing Him as a jealous God, visiting the ini
quities of the fathers upon the children ; as well
as that peculiar view of His moral government
which it exhibits in the exact dispensation of tem
poral rewards and punishments. If we inquire
what account Judaism gives of the appointment
of a Mediator, we again find the nature of the
religion checking the full developement of the
doctrine, and overlaying the sacred truth with
temporal promises and ceremonial observances
connected with the pecuhar institution*. The
doctrine of a future life, in like manner, was
but faintly and obscurely intimated under that
system ; sufficiently indeed to kindle the hopes
* " Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the
way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not ; for he
wiU not pardon your transgressions : for my name is in him.
But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak ;
then I wiU be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary
unto thine adversaries. For mine angel shall go before thee,
and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites :
and I wUl cut them off." Exodus, xxiii. 20 — 23.

120 Analogy the Connexion between Christianity, ^c.
ofthe devout believer, though not as an express
object of his faith ; whilst, on the contrary,
length of days on earth, and continued posses
sion of the land of their fathers, were held out
to the Children of Israel as the proper induce
ments to obedience*.
It would however too much interrupt the di
rect course of the present inquiry, to touch on
these points with that distinctness and fulness
of illustration, which both their importance and
their interest demand t. It is enough for our
* " And Moses made an end of speaking aU these words to
aU Israel : and he said unto them ; set your hearts unto aU
the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shaU
command your children to observe to do, aU the words of this
law. For it is not a vain thing for you ; because it is your
Ufe : and through this thing ye shaU prolong your days in the
land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it." — Deuteronomy,
xxxii. 45-47. This passage is particularly cited, among a
great many others to the same purport, from its emphatic force
as the conclusion of the recapitulation of the law.
t It belongs also to this subject to point out how the suc
cessive revelations during the Patriarchal age of reUgion ; as
weU as those of Judaism considered as including, not only the
dispensation of the law of Moses, but the subsequent interpo
sitions during the continuance of that law ; were modified bv

Evidence resulting from Analogy. 121
purpose, to see that other revelations, whose
truth is implied in the truth of Christianity, may
be shewn to correspond with it in the way of ana
logy ; and reverting accordingly to the position,
that Christianity and the instruction of experience
exhibit proper correspondences in their respec
tive systems, we next inquire what is the degree
of evidence resulting from such an agreement.
The nature of the credibility, obtained to the
scripture revelation from its agreement with the
voice of experience, being then the correspond
ence of analogous facts in the two systems of
divine instruction, — we shall readily estimate,
from this account of its nature, the force with
the occasions,' as far as our knowledge of them extends. But
such a discussion would lead us into a very wide field of in
quiry. The Discourses on Prophecy of Mr. Davison may be
referred to, as affording ample evidence of the fact. By the
masterly view presented in that work, of the progress of
the prophetic light, we are enabled distinctly to trace the Di
vine wisdom adapting its successive partial communications to
the condition of man, untU, as Mr. Davison beautifuUy ex
presses it, prophecy " expired with the gospel upon its
tongue."

122 Evidence resulting from Analogy.
which the evidence of the natural world acts as
a means of substantiating the truth revealed.
Now, every analogy implying a coincidence
only in some general principle common to the
different facts which it compares together, it
follows, that where by virtue of such a coinci
dence the existence of one of the analogous facts
is argued from the known existence of the other,
there is always more inferred than is actually
warranted by experience. The fact so inferred
accordingly, whilst the analogy is justly asserted,
may at the same time not be true, or, in other
words, amounts only to a presumption.
Analogous facts, when employed in argument,
may be compared to two witnesses agreeing in
some one point of their evidence, of whom one
is known to be worthy of credit, but the other
is either altogether unknown or less known.
We can only then be sure that the unknown,
or less known, witness has spoken truth, as to
that single point ; but at the same time, the co
incidence of his testimony on this point is a
strong ground for believing his evidence to the
whole extent. — So, the doctrine of an atoning

Evidence resulting from Analogy. 123
Saviour agrees in evidence with those particular
facts of experience, which shew that vicarious
punishment is a law of the Divine administra
tion in the present world : — this general truth is
the point of evidence in which such facts and
the scripture doctrine agree; — so far then we
may be sure that the doctrine in question has
spoken the truth ; not only verisimile, but verum :
— but finding it actually true thus far, we have
ground for believing the whole complex notion
of an atonement in its scriptural acceptation ;
the whole taken together is, as if it were true, or
verisimile. Now, if two witnesses were capable of attest
ing the same truth throughout, and still only
agreed in one point; such a coincidence, so
far from being a ground of belief to either,
would throw discredit at least on one of the two.
But if, on the contrary, their circumstances are
such, that no coincidence could be expected but
in that single point in which they do agree ; then
is this limited coincidence a stronger ground of
inference to the belief of the less known witness
than if they had agreed further. — This is pre-

124 Evidence resulting from Analogy.
cisely the case with the conspiring evidence of
two analogous facts. They cannot be supposed
to agree beyond a certain point ; — they can only
generally agree ; because some difference be
tween them is always, either known, or supposed
possible. The difference between the whole evi
dence contained in the unknown fact, and the
known fact with which it partially agrees, is
such as is conceived to result from the pecu
liarity of the subject ; and this consideration, ac
cordingly, renders such difference more credible
than a more perfect agreement would be in such a
case. — The doctrine ofthe Atonement evidences
the general principle of vicarious punishment ;
but the addition to this evidence made by the
scriptural intimation, — that Christ has oncefor all
atoned, by his death and sufferings, for the sins of
the whole world, — ^is only such a variation from
the evidence to the same point given by the facts
of experience, as the different circumstances of
the scriptural truth may naturally impose, — and
it is therefore in its subject more credible than a
more complete agreement would have been.
The credibility thus obtained to any doctrine

Evidence resulting to particidar Doctrines. 125
of scripture, is capable of being increased in two
different ways : either by the simple repetition
of analogous instances in the course of nature,
all illustrative ofthe same general principle : or
by the variety of instances in which, as com
pared with one another, different general prin
ciples are contained ; each of them however
coinciding in some point with the religious
truth. The doctrine of a future life, for example, as
we have seen, may be argued simply from those
facts of nature, which agree in shewing, that
existence ofthe same individuals, under different
modifications of being, at different periods, is a
general law of nature ; and, the more frequently
that such facts have occurred to our observa
tion, the stronger, of course, is the evidence to
the law itself, and consequently to the doctrine
in which it is involved. Or we may appeal to
another class of observations from which we in
fer, that it is a law of nature, that existence
once begun is continued, where there is no suf
ficient impediment to such continuance ; and a
future life, being also coincident with these

126 Evidence resulting to particular Doctrines.
observations in this point, is further confirmed
by a various and independent evidence.
On the other hand, the credibility of any doc
trine from analogy, may be diminished by in
stances apparently illustrative of the contra
dictory of some principle implied in that doctrine.
For example, the improveableness of man by ha
bits, — ageneral fact, taught by experience and im
plied in the scripture doctrine of Retribution, —
may appear to be contradicted by those instances
which shew that improvement beyond a certain
degree is not attainable in our present condition ;
as when the strength of an individual is over
wrought, or the powers of the mind are ex
hausted by too intense exercise. Such in
stances constitute exceptions to the general ob
servation founded on those which indicate the
constant improveableness of our nature : and the
analogy consequently to the doctrine of scripture
is to be estimated with allowances for such mi
litant instances. If the last should prepon
derate in the scale, the analogy would be alto
gether destroyed.
The credibiUty, however, derived to Christi.

Evidence resulting to Christianity as a Whole. 127
anity as a whole, from its analogy to the course
and constitution of the world, is to be estimated,
not only by the coincidence of its particular truths
with particular facts of nature, but from the
combined weight of such coincidences consider
ed as illustrative of the general theory of the re
ligion so revealed. For any religion, abstractedly
viewed, may be stated in the form of a general
theory * by which the phenomena of the moral
world may be solved ; and under this point of
view, each analogy of nature in which we be
hold a counterpart of any particular doctrine, is
an evidence of the general credibility of the
theory deduced from a collective survey of all
the doctrines. And the religion, consequently,
as a whole, though some of its doctrines may
not be discerned in their analogy to facts of the
natural world, is capable of being confirmed by
the test of experience. As it appears indeed,
that in each truth of revelation which has its
counterpart in nature, there is more than is ac
tually verified by the corresponding matter of
fact, and that this excess obtains a credibility
* See p. 99.

128 Evidence resulting to Christianity as a Whole.
from its being only such an enlargement of the
truth experienced as may be required from the
nature of the subject to which we transfer it : so
it may be argued, that even such truths of the
Christian revelation, as, while they are not con
tradicted by experience, do not appear to have
any counterparts in nature, are yet rendered
perfectly credible by means of the observed
correspondences in other truths belonging to it ;
and from the same reason, that they may be re
garded as an excess of information attributable
to the peculiar subject.
For though it is necessary, that there should
be some evident agreement between the truths
natural and revealed ; it is not necessary, that this
agreement should hold in every particular
point *. It is only necessary that there should

» ct

For there is no presumption at aU from analogy, that
the whole course of things, or divine government, naturally
unknown to us, and every thing in it, is Uke to any thing in
that which is known; and therefore no pecuUar presumption
against any thing in the former, upon account of its being un-
Uke to any thing in the latter. And in the constitution and
natural government of the world, as weU as in the moral go-

Evidence resulting to Christianity as a Whole. 129
be no contradiction in any one point. And an
agreement may still subsist in many points in
which we have not yet discovered it.
At the same time it clearly follows that, the
more numerous are the particular analogies, the
greater is the force of the general analogy re
sulting from the fuller induction of facts ; not
only from the mere accession of particulars ; but
from the additional strength which each particu
lar derives by being surveyed jointly with other
particulars, as one among the correlative parts of
a system. All the doctrines of scripture being
associated, either by their reference to a common
vernment of it, we see things in a great measure unlike one
another ; and therefore ought not to wonder at such unlike-
ness between things visible and invisible." Butler's Ana
logy, Part II. Chap. II.
Hence even the apparent unlikeness of a scriptural fact to
the course of nature, amidst a general conformity of their re
spective truths, might be argued to be a presumption in its fa
vour ; according to that topic of probabiUty which Aristotle
has expressed in these lines of Agatho :
Tapj av Tt; £1x05 auTo tout livai Xsyoi,
BfoTortrt TTo^Aa Tfy^avEiy ovx uxoTa.
Rhetoric. II. Cap. xxiv. p. 296. Buhle.
K

130 Evidence resulting to Christianity as a Whole.
end, or by their implication of each other ; it
follows that an evidence to the truth of any one
is in some degree an evidence to the rest. — Pre
sumptions, for instance, of the doctrine of the
Atonement are indirect presumptions of other
doctrines, — such as, the efficacy of prayer, and
the influence of the Holy Spirit, — not intrin-
sically connected with each other to our appre
hension, — ^yet bearing on the same end, — ^the final
salvation of man. Again, a future state implies
the moral government of God ; or the moral
government of God impHes a future state — trial
and moral discipline are also included in the
notion of moral government — and so on, as to
other doctrines. Analogies, consequently, point
ing out the probabiHty of a future state, are in
direct illustrations of the truth of any of these
other doctrines, with which it appears to be so
intimately connected. — Christianity indeed, to
be rightly appreciated, in its evidence, no less
than in its interpretation, must ever be regarded
as a religion coherent in all its various parts,
and entirely harmonious with itself. This ad
mirable coherence, this divine harmony, ob-

Argumentative Force of the Evidence. 131
^ervable throughout it, is in itself a powerful ar
gument of its truth ; but it is of peculiar im
portance in the comparison of the religion with
the course of experience ; for it is in conse
quence of it, that any single proof from matter
of fact is increased an hundred-fold, by the mul
tiplied lights reflected from every other link of
the chain of evidence.
III. But this leads us to the consideration of
another division of our inquiry — the Importance
of the credibility thus derived to a scriptural re
velation. I. And first, under this head, its argumenta
tive force demands to be considered : — or how far
a supernatural revelation thus correspondent with
the experienced course of nature, may be spe
culatively concluded to be divine in its origin.
It is evident, agreeably to what has been al
ready stated *, that the argument now under our
review, can only be demonstratively conclusive
on the negative side. — Where, instead of cor-
* Page 11.
K 2

132 Argumentative Force of the Evidence.
respondences with the course of nature, real
discrepancies were perceivable in any assumed
revelation, there we might positively decide that
the pretensions to inspiration are false ; and that
the miraculous evidence, presumed as the basis
of the whole inquiry into the truth of the reve
lation in question, in reality never occurred.
The wisdom with which it professes to enlighten
us, is not the same kind of wisdom with that
which we have already known as divine ; and
therefore we cannot believe that the divine
power could have been associated with prin
ciples so discordant.
On the other hand it must be conceded, that
ia revelation may exhibit many points of coinci
dence with experience, and at the same time be
false. Indeed,' without some conformity with
experience, it seems impossible that any religion
could obtain even a temporary currency in the
world. A system of unmixed absurdity, which
recoiled from all contact with the reality of
human life, would carry too palpable a refuta
tion of itself on its own front, to be received
and embraced to any extent among mankind.

Argumentative Force of the Evidence. 133
There might be some fanatical devotees to
whom the very extravagance and unreality
would be the strongest lure to its reception ; but
if we survey mankind extensively, the laws of
nature will be found to exert their paramount
ascendancy, so far as not to admit of an entire
detrusion from their throne, though in some de
gree they may seem to compromise their right,
and admit unworthy compeers within their pro
per dominions. Thus we find, even in those su
perstitions which are mbst revolting to common
sense, some countervailing truths, which have
both softened and recommended the associated
mass of error, otherwise too grossly repulsive
for the heart of man ever to have admitted.
But the application of the argument is at
once reduced into the narrowest compass, by
stating that it is altogether irrelevant, where any
assumed revelation, to which it may be attempt
ed to apply it, does not rest on the primary evi
dence of miracles. It is an accidental confirma
tion fi-om nature of that which is essentially
established by miracles.

134 Argttmentative Force of the Evidence.
The power of God being premised in a given
revelation, it then becomes a question ; what
signs there may be in it of a wisdom and a good
ness, such as may correctly be associated with
this presupposed attribute : but, without this
preliminary characteristic of divinity, there is no
antecedent presumption that any revelation has
been made, and no call for the comparison of
the pretended revelation with the unwritten
truths of nature. Mahometanism accordingly
contains many truths which are part of a real
revelation ; since they have been adopted into
that system of imposture fi:om the authentic
page of the Bible. Mahometanism, so far then
as it contains such truths, symbolizes with the
teaching of nature ; and may seem therefore to
have the evidence of the voice of nature in its
ifiivour : but these coincidences amount to no
proof of the reality of the inspiration of the
Koran; since Mahomet made no pretension to the
power of working miracles. What is professedly
estaiblished by man, can never be argued subse-
quewtly to be more than human. The internal
marks of truth may be copied from some pre-

Argumentative Force of the Evidence. 135
vious true revelation ; when the external, that
which appeals to the eye and ear, cannot be
pretended to have occurred, in the absence of
all proof, or pretension of proof, at the outset*.
* Mahomet evidently felt the want of miraculous power
to secure a reception to his pretended revelations as di
vine ; and hence propagated the beUef that he was an UU-
terate person, calUng himself " the ilUterate Prophet " : that
the Koran might thus be a standing miracle in itself A pas
sage cited from the Koran (chap, xxix.) by Dr. White in his
Bampton Lectures (p. 203, note) to this effect, is : " Thou
couldest not read any book before this ; neither couldest thou
write it with thy right hand : for then had the gainsayers
justly doubted of the divine original thereof." This mode of
miraculous pretence was perhaps suggested to him by that
passage of St. John ; " And the Jews marveUed, saying, how
knoweth this man letters, having never learned.''" Chap. vu.
15. It is remarkable however, as a point of contrast, that
Jesus does not take to himself personaUy, as Mahomet did, from
this circumstance, any merit of the doctrine which he taught.
Instead of taking advantage of the impression produced by his
doctrine, so as to insist on the intervention of miraculous
power in that particular respect, he caUs upon the Jews in his
answer, to practise what he taught in order to judge of the
divimty of his doctrine : — for the internal proof of its divinity
he sends them to their own hearts ; for the external, properly so
caUed, to the external works which he had wrought in their sight.

136 Argumentative Force of the Evidence.
Further : — the confirmation of revealed truth
from its analogy to nature, will depend on the
importance, and extent, and variety, of the cor
respondences which hold between the two classes
of facts. It will not be enough, that a con
formity should appear only in a few points, or
that the points of agreement should be of se
condary importance. The confirmation must
be strong and extended.
It is also material to observe, that whilst an
agreement holds between the doctrines of a re
velation and the facts of nature — the differences
which they present must, in order to a just ana
logy, be no other than such as are refer
able to the peculiar circumstances of the invi
sible world. This consideration at once shews
the futility of the Mahometan doctrine of a
future state ; — since, though as an intimation of
our existence after death, it essentially agrees
with the facts of nature no less than the
Christian doctrine ; yet the additions introduced
into the general truth, are evidently the borrowed
colouring ofthe scenes of oriental life *, and do
* This is only one absurdity of the Mahometan future

Argumentative Force of the Evidence. 1 37
not leave the subject in that state of indefinite
ness, in which, as a revelation of a great mystery,
it must ever be left to the mind of man, whilst he
is an inhabitant of this lower world, even though
illumined with knowledge from above. There
is a want of keeping in that picture of a future
state ; a distinctness of outline which brings the
objects out of their proper distance. Possibly
indeed, (for let us beware of saying that the
Father of lights is limited as to the degree of
wisdom which He may impart to our present
feculties,) we may have been instructed as to
many other particulars of a future life beyond
those contained in the scriptures ; and yet the
state of our knowledge concerning it may have
remained in perfect consistency with the teach
ing of experience*. It must only be observed
state. In another point of view it is a wide deviation from
the estabUshed course of providence, by exhibiting happiness
in connexion with sensual gratification, and not as the conse
quence of virtue. On this account it is irreconcileable with
the principle of God's natural government.
* " And as the works of God and his scheme of govern
ment are above our capacities thoroughly to comprehend^ so
there possibly may be reasons which originally made it fit

138 Argumentative Force of the Evidence.
that the particulars added by Mahometanism no-
longer permit us to regard the doctrine of a fu
ture life, in its Mahometan form, as analogous ta
the course of the natural world.
1. To come then to the particular application
of the argument to a written revelation, such as
that of Christianity substantiated by miracles*
How forcible the confirmation to the truth re
vealed is in such a case, will appear, from con
trasting the two forms of instruction which are
thus brought to bear on the same points. On
that many things should be concealed from us, which we
have perhaps natural capacities of understanding; many
things concerning the designs, methods, and ends of Pro
vidence in the government of the world. There is no manner
of absurdity in supposing a veil on purpose drawn over some
scenes of infinite power, vvdsdom, and goodness, the sight of
which might some way or other strike us too strongly; or that
better ends are designed and served by their being concealed,
than could be by their being exposed to our knowledge. The
Almighty may cast clouds and darkness round about Him, for
reasons and purposes of which we have not the least glimpse
or conception." Butler's Sermon " Upon the Ignorance of
Man."— Works, VoL II. p. 266.

Argumentative Force of the Evidence. 139
one side, we have a voice not of the world, pro
claiming the truth taught, to be divinC' — on the
other, we have the voice of nature, answering as
it were to the challenge, and confirming the pre
vious annunciation from heaven. We find two
communications from the Deity to man, totally
distinct in form, and yet closely agreeing in sub
stance — the one, made known to us by the ex
perienced course of the world in which we live —
the other, accredited by an infringement of that
course, and yet addressing us by the established
signs of human intercourse. — This is a confirma
tion of a much stronger kind, than that derived
to the theories of common sciences, from their
correspondence with the facts which are the
subjects of them. In all such cases nature fur
nishes the principles, and nature presents the
tests of their truth. But when we have the
truths of religion before us, written by the finger
of God's special messengers, and altogether un
connected in their origin with the course of ex
perience ; the correspondence, which we then de
tect between them and the facts of the world,
cannot but strike the minds of all who reflect on

140 Argumentative Force of the Evidence.
the different circumstances of the two things
compared, as a very firm ground of conviction.
The difference between the two forms of divine
instruction must be conceded to be immense.
The credibility consequently, obtained to the
revelation from its analogy to nature, is
strengthened, in proportion to the evident dif
ficulty to mere human inventors, of nicely ad
justing to each other, the results of such he
terogeneous materials. It may be pronounced
as morally impossible, if the assumed re
velation were not really the authentic inditing
of that Spirit which in the beginning animated
the present order of the universe, that such a
wonderful sympathy should be traced between
its expressed dictates and the silent eloquence
of nature. The experimental test to which the
scriptures are thus submitted, would be too se
vere an ordeal for the pretensions of imposture.
For what Bacon observes respecting experi
mental science in general, may well be transferred
to the comparison between revealed reHgion and
experience. " Quemadmodum enim in civili-
bus,_ ingeniutn cuj usque,, et occultus. animi af-

Argumentative Force of the Evidence. 141
fectuumque sensus, melius elicitur, cum quis in
perturbatione ponitur, quam alias ; simili modo,
et occulta naturae magis se produnt per vexa-
tiones artiura, quam cum cursu suo meant." *
By resorting to such a comparison we view
the truths revealed, altogether detached from
their own sphere. We place them as in a
situation of disturbance, where no hypocritical
disguises can avail ; and where a native unso
phisticated strength of character alone can
suffice for a triumphant display of their divine
pretensions. 2. If, moreover, there be any thing in the inter
nal character of the revelation in question which
particularly invites to a comparison of this kind;
if, instead of resting exclusively on its divine at
testation, it call upon us to examine, whether it
be of God, by the test which the actual occa
sions of human life afford; and is willing to stand
or fall by the rigid criterion of experience :
then we must acknowledge, that a discernment
of its analogy to the course and constitution of
* Nov. Org. I. Aph. 98.

142 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
the world becomes most indispensable to the es
tablishment of its truth ; and by satisfying the
adventurous claim of the revelation must place
its credibility beyond all reasonable doubts
Such then is the case with regard to Christi
anity. It expressly refers us to experimental
proof of its divine origin ; it directs us by the
mouth of its great Agent and Interpreter, to "do
the will" of God, if we would "know of the doc
trine, whether it be of God"; by which pre
cept, we may understand the necessity of ex
amining the truth of that scheme of knowledge
which it unfolds, by the test of its accordance
with our nature and condition. For however
this text of scripture* may be interpreted, as im
plying the necessity of a holy life in order to
the right apprehension of the sacred truth ; if
we further consider the way in which a holy life
thus contributes to the reception of Christian
* See the admhable sermon of Bishop Taylor on this text,
entitled "Via InteUigentiae".— Works, Vol. VI. p. 373.
Also Archbishop TUlotson's series on the same. Vol. I. p.
235, foUo.

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 143
4ioctrine, we shall trace it to an agreement be
tween the right conduct of ourselves as rational
beings, and the righteousness which is by faith ;
and such an agreement implies an identity of
truth pervading both the systems of grace and
nature. 3. But even if Christianity contained no such
express intimation of its close connexion with
the natural world, we should find ample autho
rity for adopting this argument in the tenor of
those instructions which it conveys. It is a re
velation of practical utility. It is " profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be per
fect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
It holds out to us no expectation of that happi
ness, which it is its object to effect, from the
mere intellectual possession of its heavenly
stores of wisdom ; but it sets forth that happi
ness as the consequence of acting up to the light
vouchsafed — calling upon us to walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith we are called ; to work
put our salvation ; to make our callipg and elec-

144 PecuUar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
tion sure. On the whole, it exhibits the business
of life, as immediately subordinate and instru
mental to the bliss which it promises ; not, like
all false religions, leaving a wide chasm between
this world and the next; but pointing out a con
necting path, the narrow but sure way, which
leads through the wilderness of the world to the
land of promise : appointing the present state of
being, as the field on which our moral strength
must do valiantly, and on which the laurels of
spiritual victory must be won, that the mansions
of heaven may open their everlasting doors to our
triumphant ingress in the train of the great
Captain of Salvation. It evidently claims to
be regarded, not only as the truth from above,
but as a saving truth ; not the light only, but the
life of man. It therefore professedly adapts its
information to the existing state of things.
Having a direct subserviency to human con
duct, it proclaims its glad tidings to us in a
lively and energetic tone of practical exhorta
tion. — But this practical character of the
Christian revelation would be rendered altoge
ther absurd,, if the principles which it inculcated

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 145
were such as were not echoed by the heart of
man *. Accordingly, the very nature of Christi
anity directs us to seek proofs of its truth, by
examining how far the actual constitution of
ourselves has been respected in it ; whether it
exhibits a conformity to those active principles
implanted in us by the Creator, which it is its
express object to employ.
4. In subservience to this general observation
on the practical nature of the Christian religion,
it may be added, that it is a revelation which de
scends to particularities. It accompanies us,
hand in hand, through the daily transactions of
life, and mingles in social intercourse with us, as
a companion and a guide, and a familiar friend.
False revelations either presume, with bold cal-
* ToT^ ilaayovai x^ttrtv otxatav Qsov awoxExAEijrro ai/ tj liri ToTq
ajj,apTasojji,iiioii dixvi, fj-vitasTCPt ^x,'"'^'^'' "*''¦'* '''"f xomai;. imtai; wpo-
T^Yl-^m iyi? ¦jnpl tov iOixoD rotrov ^lOTTEp oihv Sai/jMaso-Toi/ tov avToii
Qsot, aVia ISiSa^s Sta tSv '7t^o(pviTuv xa\ tov SuT?go;, lyxaTia-'irafxivai
Tati airavrm aiB^muii ¦^vy(a~i! >•-• T. ^. Orig. COU. Cels. I. p. 6.
"Opcc ^e El j/zn Ta tS; wis-TEWf yijMv, Ta~q xoti/a~; Ivvoiai; a^^wm
f /rt \./s/ --/
^vvayopivo'iTa, f/.^TaTiovia't Tovq Evyvu[j,ot/tiiq axovoi/Ta? Tuv AsyOjXEvwi'.
Idem, Lib. in. p. 135. Ed. Spenc-

146 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
culation on the sequacious credulity of man
kind, to transport us into scenes whose proper
glories must ever be hidden from the inquisitive
eye of man, so long as he dwells within the veil
of mortality, or, with the lurking timidity of a
conscious imposture, indulge only in general de
scriptions, which scarcely admit of any test of
contradiction from the particular facts of our
experience *. But where such pretended reve
lations are silent, or deliver their instructions
only in a secondary tone of importance ; there
the more-authentic shrine of Christianity delivers
its oracles in clear and unambiguous and pe
remptory language. " This do, and thou shalt
live," is the characteristic tone of all its sacred
intimations. It never leaves us or forsakes us ;
but whether we " walk by the way, or when we
lie down, and when we rise up," we still find our
monitor by our side; ever prompting to some
act of duty, however insignificant in the view of
the world; or warning from some temptation to
criminal excess, though the occasion be appa-
At« TO oAoi; eAosttov Eivtxi ajiu^Yif/M, dia tuii ysvuv tow vpay-
liXTOf >Ayov(rtt oi fjuiniii. Aristot. Rhet. III. C* V. p. 328. Buhle.

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 147
rently the most trivial. Like the luminary of
the natural world, it sheds an irrespective illu
mination on little objects, as well as on the
greatest ; diffusing the animation and warmth of
its moral lustre, amidst the lowliest, as well as
the most splendid and joyous scenes — on the
vales of human life, as well as on its high places,
— on the quiet paths of private and domestic vir
tue, as well as on the ostentatious career of public
exertion. Nothing is concealed from its search
ing eye — nothing is too mean to attract its vigi
lant superintendence. — A revelation, thus con
descending to human wants in the minuteness
of its application, must be continually exposed,
if unfounded in the Divine wisdom, to receive a
shock in some part of its system from the course
of the world. Inasmuch as it professes to ac
commodate itself to the various emergencies of
our earthly condition ; its efficacy may be con
stantly called in question, by the numberless oc
casions which are momentarily arising in the
current of human affairs, under every different
form, to cope with it, and to try its strength and
skill. It becomes therefore highly important, to
l2

148 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
examine, and disclose to view, its suitability to
the circumstances of human life. It is important,
— as well for the purpose of obviating imaginary
objections, derived from any supposed incon
gruity in its system with the actual state of the
world, by shewing how it aids, and conspires
with, the natural and proper tendencies of
worldly things to produce the good of man ; — as
to illustrate that individuality of character which
it claims to itself, as a revelation conversant
about particulars, and admitting the utmost spe
cific application to the occasions of life.
5. It should further be remarked, that Chris
tianity is a revelation, which, far from offering
its healing aid to mankind, as if it were endued
with some mysterious charm, — producing in
stantaneous relief to the distempered soul,
without any apparent connexion between the
means employed and the result,— achieves its
benevolent object of promoting human happi
ness, by the regulated instrumentality of human
sentiments and actions. It presumes to disturb
nothing, either in the mind of man, or in the

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 149
world, which is of natural appointment. It as
sumes all things to be good so far as they pro
ceed from the same Divine Author, whom itclaims
as the inditer of its holy truths, — and it there
fore affects not to undo, or dispense with, any
thing which bears the real impress of his work
manship *. It aspires only to be the universal
rule — to moderate and to conduct, towards its
due perfection, that constitution of things which
we find existing in nature. We learn from it,
indeed, that the natural man cannot please God;
and it insists on the necessity of an inward change
by the work of the Spirit — ^regenerating us in
the holy dews of baptism, and transforming us
by the continued renewing of our minds — to
render us meet for the inheritance of the saints
in light : — but it is the natural man, as he is per
verted by inbred corruption and by habitual sin
— that adscititious temperament of soul now be-
* Gen. i. 31 . " And God saw every thing that he had
made ; and, behold, it was very good."
OwTs yao tpva-iv tpav?\.ii]/ o ©eoj s^yacraTo^ aids ye -^v^^ oitriav
ayaQitJ ya^ ovdiv 9r^)?i' aya9a ojjjiAiotfgyet'v Se^»5" aya&ov ^e 9rav o, t»
xaTa (pvatv. Euseb. Prsepar. Evang. Lib. VI. p. 250.

150 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
come our second nature — which Christianity re
quires to be changed ; not the principles them
selves given us, as it expressly alleges, after
God's own image. The obliquity of these prin
ciples it would counteract — their unnatural dis
tortions it would symmetrize — their defilements
it would utterly cleanse : but, like the wise mas
ter builder repairing the dilapidations of some
stately edifice — the remnant of the magnificence
of other days — it discerns in the ruins the monu
ments of a venerable taste, and accomplishes its
work of restoration by a faithful adherence to
the original design of the fabric. As there
fore it thus preserves in its system a scrupulous
regard to the economy of the world — as it thus
studiously designs to reform and improve, and
not to reverse our nature — ^it may be regarded
as tacitly acknowledging itself, by this its pur
port, amenable to the trial of its correspondence,
with those principles of our nature, and those
circumstances of our condition, which it assumes
as the line of its operation, and as the points to
which its scheme of moral improvement is di
rected.

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 151
6. Christianity again implicitly connects our
present and our future happiness. It pro
claims, that " godliness is profitable unto all
things, having promise of the life which now
is, and of that which is to come "* : a declara-
* " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteous
ness, and aU these things shaU be added unto you." Matt. vi.
33  " Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left
house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or chUdren, for the
kingdom of God's sake, who shaU not receive manifold more
in this present time, and in the world to come life everlast
ing." Luke xvUi. 29, 30. Also Matt. xix. 29.
In the paraUel passage of St. Mark x. 29, 30, there is an
important addition in the latter clause of the sentence. It is
there said, that the recompense in this world shaU be accom
panied " with persecutions." If we connect this with what
our Lord elsewhere says : " Think, not that I am come to send
peace on earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword," &c.
Matt. X. 34. and " I am come to send fire on the earth ",
Luke xii. 49, and with 2 Tim. ui. 1 2, " Yea, and aU that vriU
live godly in Christ Jesus shaU suffer persecution": — we shaU
perceive with what Umitations these accounts of the temporal
prosperity of Christianity are to be understood; namely,
that the happy temporal result, though flowing from the nature
of the reUgion, wiU be produced so far as the circumstances
of the world wiU admit of it. The counteracting tendency

152 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence:
tion, which must be construed as teaching, that
the same institution of life under the Christian
discipline, which carries us forward towards an
eternity of bliss in heaven, enables us also to
perform our part well on the transient stage of
our existence in this world, and consequently to
obtain all thepeace, and satisfaction of mind, and
real enjoyment, which the world is capable of
affording amidst its manifold disorders and in
terruptions. It is not then the commencement
of a new system of virtuous enjoyment which it
proposes to us, but the perfecting of that which
is already begun here on earth, however incom
parable it may be in degree with the glory which
shall be hereafter. It is this corruptible, in a
spiritual, as well as a natural sense, which shall
put on incorruption. It is this mortal, not only
as to the grosser material part of our nature, but
as to our capacities of virtue and happiness,
of the world must also be taken into our consideration, in
order to obtain the actual external result. In the case of
Judaism, the untoward circumstances of the world were over
ruled, and the temporal good effect of a true reUgion conse
quently took place invariably when that reUgion was obeyed.

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 153
which shall put on immortality. We learn, ac
cordingly, from Christianity, to regard this
present life as containing those germs of feli
city, which shall grow up to their maturity, and
blossom with unfading fruits, in the kindlier
soil of the paradise of God. Now, therefore, if
its system be founded in truth, must be disco
vered the efficacious working of those principles
of religious belief and action, which are here
after to obtain their full display and consumma
tion : now must they be seen, at least, as in an
adverse twilight,struggling with the surrounding
darkness of the world, and faintly scattering
their rays on the face of nature. Hence, we
must resort to our experience, to examine
what indications it possesses of the beneficial
operation of Christian principles — to see whe
ther those views of future happiness which
our religion teaches us to adopt, have any real
subserviency to the present state of things :
whether they be not capable, in some degree at
least, of acting with transforming power on the
condition in w^hich we are now placed, and of
originating, however imperfectly, that happiness

154 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
on earth, to which they point in the world
beyond our view.
7. We may also argue the importance of the
evidence from the analogy of nature to the Chris
tian revelation, from the character of the in
struction contained in the Bible.
It is easy to say that theology is the subject of
the sacred volume ; but under this term we may
greatly misconceive the nature of the instruc
tion which the Bible gives us. The theology
which it teaches, is, as Bishop Taylor well ex
presses it, " a divine life, rather than a divine
science ", — that is, it does not so much satisfy
our curiosity concerning God, as it enables us
to be conformed to Him in heart and conduct.
The student in Christian theology is no inquirer
into the nature of the Deity *. How far mere
* The nature of Christian theology is very happily de
scribed by Eusebius in the following passage. . . . tixe; S' iitAET;,
xai 57ro7o{ o Tut toiwvJe T^iyut te xa) juaOti^aTuv At^ourxaXoi^y
ccvTo^ 0 SwTijp xai Kv^toq rt^uti Iijcrovf o XpttrToj tov ©eow, o Tm
xami Tavrr,) xal HANAPETON HOAITEIAN xa^ o'Xou toD
¦KO(XfA,ov i7Uo'T))0'a/A£»os" uo'Ti ToiavTa fieiii^amv, xal tpiXog'o^iXi, ^ii

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 155
information concerning God is from being the
purpose of the scriptures, is sufficiently evident
from the disappointment experienced by those
who approach the study of them with the eye of
the mere philosopher or critic ; and the conse
quent errors of misbelief or infidelity, in which
their sinister inquiry terminates. Whereas,
had they looked upon the scriptures as a code
of necessary information concerning the duty of
man, they would have been led to perceive its
clear adaptation to this end ; and, admiring the
marvellous light which it casts upon the whole
condition of our being, have probably been in
duced, however reluctantly, to bestow an entire
credit on that volume which so sagaciously un
folded to them the true moral of life *.
jtAOvov avSpa^f «XA« xai yvvoixaqj irXovaiovi; te xai WEyjiTctj, xat Sov-
;iou; ajA.a ha-mTaii. Demoust. Evang. Lib. I. Cap. vi. p. 24.
* Hence the declaration of Justin Martyr, who had been
successively a Stoic, a Peripatetic, a Pythagorean, and a Pla
tonist. After relating his accidental conversation with a
venerable old stranger who had convinced him of the error of
Platonism, he observes : 'E/«o2 ^e ira^a^gni/.a icv^ h t? ^v^
avri^^Tif xai tpui e^ei f/.e Tm TF^otpViTUVj xai Tui a^Spuv Ixiivuti oL tWi
XfiiTToS tpiXoi' diaXoyiCpjiviii Ti •rr^oi; (jj,avTuv Toy? >.ciyovi; avTov,

1 56 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
The Bible indeed, considered as an historical
work, differs not from any other history as to its
subject-matter. Man and his condition are the
subject about which its narrative is conversant.
But in this respect its history differs from
all other histories, that it exhibits man and
his condition, in those relations in which they
stand towards God. Thus the origin of the
world in which we are placed, as it came from
the hands of God, and as it is a part of the uni-
versal creation, is expressly revealed to us : —
thus the primeval state and the fall of man ; —
the fortunes of those individuals and of that
nation, for whom, as the instruments of man's
future restoration by a Redeemer, God espe
cially interfered in the course of the world, — are
prominently noticed and recorded as memorable
TavTW fjiovnv i'v^io-xov (i)lAO'ZO<i>T AN AS<1)AAH TEx.aiSYM(l)OPON-
ovTai Jij, xa) Jta TavTa, (piWoipo; lyti. Dialog, cum Tryph. Jud.
p. 225, Op. 1686.
DaiUe, in his work on the Fathers, p. 518, as quoted by
Dr. Hey, Lee. in Div. Vol. I. p. 146, refers to this character
of our scriptural instruction. " La sagesse exquise, et I'ln-
estimablebeaute, de la discipUne meme de Jesus Christ, est (je
I'avoue) le plus fort, et le plus siir argument de sa verite."

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 157
facts in the page of inspiration. And thus, in
general, those circumstances of mankind at dif
ferent periods of the world, which have, either in
themselves or by their connexion with other
events, presented striking occasions for the mani
festation of the Divine Being, according to that
measure of knowledge which man is fitted to
receive, are the themes on which the Bible di
lates. Hence there is but little comparatively
of theological matter simply didactic in the
volume of scripture. The body of divine truth,
strictly relating to the Deity, is historical. The
mode in which that divine truth is conveyed is
for the most part indirect, being imparted in
cidentally whilst some events — either actually
passing, or prefigured in the shadows of pro
phecy, or sublimed into celestial visions, — are
the obvious and immediate business of the nar
rative. If we consider in what manner we arrive
at the scriptural truth of a Trinity in the Unity of
the Godhead, it will serve to illustrate these ob
servations. If we except the controverted text
ofthe Heavenly Witnesses *, — if controverted it
* 1 John, V. 7-

158 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
may be justly called with so strong an evidence
against its authenticity, — we shall find that this
doctrine is not dogmatically revealed to us in
any express sentence setting it forth to our be
lief in so many formal terms * ; but results rather
* The baptismal form has the appearance of being a dog
matical assertion of the doctrine of the Trinity ; but is it not
so to us, because we connect it with the whole informa
tion of scripture ; of which, when so understood by us, it forms
the only consistent summary ? — " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord ;" Deuteronomy, vi. 4. is indeed a strong ex
press affirmation of the Unity of the Godhead ; but this form
of its annunciation may be referred to the pecuUarity of Ju
daism, as a more positive institution of religion than Christi
anity, and its essential nature as opposed to polytheism and
idolatry : or the account of it may be, that this truth does not
admit of being clearly revealed in any other form.
The beginning of Saint John's Gospel, and of the Epistle
to the Hebrews, and certain passages of the Apocalypse, in
which the humble reader of scripture discerns evident intima
tions of our Saviour's divinity, may perhaps be regarded,
(especially the first,) as dogmatical assertions of that doctrine.
But this view of these texts would not invalidate the general
assertion, that Scripture truths are not dogmaticaUy revealed.
For it is evident that these texts imply certain transactions on
the part of the sacred Person whose nature they unfold, and are
meant to guide our conceptions of Him in his office of one sent

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 159
as a real truth of revelation, from the concur
rent evidence of a variety of passages, in which
the Deity is represented as performing offices
for the good of man under three distinct hy
postases or persons *. A doctrine established
on a footing of this nature, it is important to
observe, rests on the most immovable basis.
For a single passage, or even several detached
passages, expressly asserting any particular doc-
to enUghten and redeem the world. And they cannot there
fore be regarded as absolutely resting theological truth on
mere abstract naked declaration.
* " Ecce dico aUum esse Patrem, et alium Filium, non di-
visione aUum, sed distinctione." TertuUian. contra Prax. cited
by Hooker: Eccles. Polity, V. 56, Vol. II. p. 227, note, 8vo.
" The profession of a Trinity in Unity is opposed to all
who held three Gods, or one God with three names ; or who
held the Son to be a mere man, or inferior to the Father as
to his divinity. The word ." Person " is not to be understood
in its usual sense, but as a term borrowed from common lan
guage, and used in a sense not very remote from its usual
sense, to express a distinction which must be expressed in
some way, and of which we have no clear comprehension."
Hey's Lectures in Divinity, Vol. II. p. 243.
See also Justin. Martyr. Qusest. et Resp. ad Orthodox. Qu.
XVII. Op. p. 400.

160 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
trine, may be interpolated, — may be cavilled at,
— may be explained away ; — but a truth, to the
establishment of which the whole tenour of a
volume conspires, cannot be overthrown, with
out the destruction of the sense of the whole
volume itself. Its existence, as a revealed truth,
is then inseparable from the existence of the
book, which professes to be a record of di
vine truth. This remark may shew, that it is
no imperfection in the scriptures, — as the vain
speculatist may suppose, demanding that the
doctrines of religion should be established with
a degree of evidence which Almighty Wisdom
has not judged it necessary to afford, — to convey
their divine knowledge in this indirect manner,
but rather a valid criterion of the soundness of
the instruction so conveyed.
Had the Bible been a treatise on the nature
of the Deity, the reverse of that which has been
here observed respecting the doctrine of the
Trinity, it may justly be supposed, would then
have been the case. This divine truth might
then naturally have assumed a dogmatic form in
the very scriptures themselves, and have been

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 161
inscribed on the vestibule of their school of sa
cred lore — instead of being slowly developed,
as it is, through a series of progressive dispensa
tions, ultimately converging their light in it as
in their focus.
Hence it is, that whilst the mysteries of
Christianity contain so much that exceeds and
baffles our comprehension, yet they have all a
subserviency to that moral instruction with regard
to human life, which, we infer, must be a charac
teristic of the sacred writings — a subserviency,
which renders them at once both intelligible *
and practical to us. Being constantly enforced
as a sublime lesson from some circumstances of
human nature, they readily combine with our
ordinary conduct, as motives and incentives to
duty; and at the same time bestow an elevation
* Dr. Hey sometimes speaks of Christian doctrines as " un
intelligible "j when surely he ought rather to use the word in
conceivable. If by a doctrine we mean a truth of Christianity
expressed in a proposition, it must be so far intelUgible to us
as the terms employed are understood ; — but as it respects
things to which those terms are only analogicaUy applied, it
must, at the same time, contain inconceivable truth. M

162 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
on those thoughts of the human heart and those
events of life, which they consecrate to the de
velopement of the divine doings.
Let us only remember the . animated apos
trophe of SL John, — founded on that compre
hensive designation ofthe mystery of redemption ;
" God is love" : — "Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another!" First,
we observe, the notion of parental love is trans
ferred from man to the Deity : and then, an in
ference is drawn from it thus transferred, to the
enforcement of mutual benevolence among men.
Here then we have a sublime doctrine of scrip
ture, impressed on a sentiment of the human
heart ; and the practical use which the Apostle
makes of it, is, — that we ought, from the very
incorporation of this sentiment with the sacred
mystery, still more to love one another. That
the appeal is irresistible, we cannot but acknow
ledge. The sentiment of the human heart, thus
adopted in the divine communication, re
verts with a supernatural force, and a purer
flame, to those circumstances of human life from

Peculiar Cllaims of Christianity to the Evidence. 163
which it was taken. — Or if we look to the pre
cept; "Be ye holy, for I am holy"; here we
find a rehgious truth with its accompanying
moral obligation, expressed under ideas which
can only belong properly to man ; ideas belong
ing to an act of religion ; since holiness implies
the setting apart, or devoting, of ourselves, — our
persons, our actions, our thoughts, — to the ser-
vice and glory of God. God is pleased here to
inform us, that He is to be regarded as one so set
apart, exempt from all common objects of our
use or service, and consecrated to religion ; and
that we must consequently set apart and devote
ourselves to God exclusively, in imitation of that
transcendental sacredness, which we are taught
to ascribe to Him. And how forcibly does this
sentiment of man, thus elevated, and canonized
amidst the band of the divine perfections, call
upon us from its seat in the bosom of
God, to come forth from the pollutions of
the world, — to make clean the heart, — to pre
sent ourselves to God without spot or blemish,
as those who have been redeemed, not only
m2

164 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
ii'om the punishment of iniquity, but from iniquity
itself.? Regarding, then, the scriptures, as engaged in
revealing to us the true moral of our present
circumstances, and not as an attempt to de
lineate to us " things which eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man to conceive" ; we must expect
to find in them a ready solution of the diffi
culties of our situation in the world, so far as
those difficulties have respect to conduct, — a safe
and unerring guide to our feet through the mazes
of that labyrinth, in which the conflicting pas
sions of our hearts, and the disorders of the
world, have involvedus. A volume of revelation,
thus professedly adapted to our wants and infir
mities, directs us to an experimental test of its
divine philosophy. Did it fail in this test, we
should rightly judge, that it had deserted us
in that very point, where we expected that its
hand would have stayed us, and its consolations
have refreshed the anxious, drooping spirit. We

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. 16S
might then justly say of it, as was said of the
mere oratorical philosopher : " Artem vitae pro-
fessus, deUnquit in vita." *
More especially, too, when we recollect, that
it is from the inefficient conduct of its profes
sors that our religion receives the greatest
wounds to its credit t ; that the inefficiency of
* Cicero, Tuscul. Disput. II. 4.
" The book which unfolds it [the Christian ReUgion]'
has exaggerated its comprehensiveness, and the first distin
guished Christians had a delusive view of it, if it does not ac
tuaUy claim to mingle its principles with the whole system of
moral ideas, so as to impart to them a specific character; in
the same manner as the element of fire, interfused- through
the various forms and combinations of other elements, pro
duces throughout them, even when latent, a certain important
modification, which they would instantly lose, and therefore
lose their perfect condition, by its exclusion.
" And this claim to extensive interference, made, as a
matter of authority, for the Christian principles, appears to be
supported by their nature. For they are not of a nature
which necessarUy restricts them to a pecuUar department, Uke
the principles which constitute some of the sciences," &c.
Foster's Essays, p. 382—385.
t " They had also a strong presumptive proof of the truth
of it, perhaps of much greater force in way of argument than
many think, of which we have very Uttle remaining ; I mean.

166 Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence.
the nominal Christian is perverted into a charge
of inefficiency against the religion itself, it is im
portant to call experience to its aid and con
firmation, — to appeal from Christianity perverted,
to Christianity in its integrity and native beauty
of holiness, — and to shew, that, however the out
ward aspect of some cases may disparage or
contradict its sacred truths ; however its con
fident promises of victory over the world, and
of assistance through its various trials, may ap
parently be thwarted by the malignity of unto
ward circumstances ; it still is such as to effect
all that it holds out in expectation to the world :
— that, as an emanation from the fountain of
light, though discharging itself into the tide of
human affairs, it yet mingles not with the
troubled stream ; but flows on, preserving the
sanctity of its origin unpolluted in its course *.
The result of these considerations is, that to a
the presumptive proof of its truth, from the influence which
it had upon the Uves of the generaUty of its professors."
Butler's Analogy, Part II. Ch. vi. p. 301.
* Homer, in describing the fabled course of the river Tita-

Peculiar Claims of Christianity to the Evidence. \&]
religion of such a nature as Christianity, the ap
plication of the evidence of the natural world
is strikingly appropriate and needful. The re
Hgion itself calls for the trial, — it challenges the
strictest scrutiny into its sublime philosophy ;
and therefore has a peculiar right to the argu
ment derived from the concurring evidence of
experience. If, as will fully appear to all who
study "The Analogy" of Bishop Butler, or who
prosecute the inquiry by their own observa
tions on the course and constitution of nature,
the challenge is satisfied by the result — the co
incidence of truth thus disclosed between the
systems of nature and grace, can no longer be
regarded as something fortuitous ; but has evi
dently been foreseen and contemplated in the
very texture of the religion : and therefore must
resins, presents us with a' beautiful imaginary representation
from nature of this moral phenomenon :—
ol T i»f*ip' i/J.EgTOj TiTagitaiov i^y Ihe^ojto,
"O5 ( e; Hij^iEiov TTpoiEi xaXXifpoov vou^'
CuJ' oyi Hiji/Eia; avfi,j/itTyiTai a^yv^oSUri,
'ATi^a TE ftix xa9t!w£§SEV imppeci, ipT t7\aiof
"Opxov yuq Sunv STUyoj uJusto; eo'TW eertoppu^. lUad. B. 751.

168 Indirect Force of the Evidence
be received as a coincidence, not simply of re-
sult, but of antecedent design — a design, too, of
such a magnitude, and so peculiar in its cha
racter, that no other designer but He who or
dered the course of nature. He from whom are
the outgoings of all things, can have projected it.
Nor is it only, by the force of direct argu
ment, that a philosophical view of Christianity
brings conviction to the religious inquirer ; but
its indirect aid, in clearing away obstructions,
and opening a free passage for the entrance of
the truth, cannot be too highly estimated. The
inquirer is enabled by means of it, to see that
many of the things, objected against in Christi
anity, are paralleled in nature by facts con
taining like objections ; and is thus forced to
acknowledge, that, these facts of nature being
real, independently of such objections, the
truth of the corresponding assertions of the
scriptures, is independent of the objections
with which they are accompanied. And
though the objections against the Christian
truths may be stronger in degree than those

in repelling Objections. 169
against the parallel facts of experience ; yet, as
the real obstacle to the reception of the Chris
tian doctrine is, that there should be any ob
jection whatever against it; its truth cannot
afterwards be impugned on account of the mag
nitude of the objection, when the assumed
ground for denying the doctrine has been once
shown to be untenable*. If, however, the scep
tic should perversely maintain that the difference
* '' Now the observation, that, from the natural constitu
tion and course of things, we must in our temporal concerns,
almost continuaUy, and in matters of great consequence, act
upon evidence of a Uke kind and degree to the evidence of re
ligion, is an answer to this argument ; because it shows, that
it is according to the conduct and character of the Author of
nature to appoint we should act upon evidence Uke to that,
which this argument presumes He cannot be supposed to ap
point we should act upon : it is an instance, a general one
made up of numerous particular ones, of somewhat in His
deaUng with us, similar to what is said to be incredible. And
as the force of this answer Ues merely in the paraUel, which
there is between the evidence for reUgion and for our temporal
conduct ; the answer is equaUy just and conclusive, whether
the paraUel be made out, by showing the evidence of the
former to be higher, or the evidence of the latter to be lower."
Butler's Analogy, Part II. Ch. via. p. 389.

170 Indirect Force of the Evidence
in degree, whilst the same thing in kind holds
both in nature and religion, renders the objec
tion more conclusive against the truth of religion
than against the analogous fact of nature ; it is
easy for the Christian advocate to perceive, that
the very nature of analogy requires greater con
cession to be made to religion, on the score of
objection, than to a fact of nature confessedly
more limited in its extent. — For example, does
the sceptic object to the doctrine of everlasting
punishnients, as repugnant to his notions of the
Divine goodness : — the fact, that punishments
by disease, ignominy, and death, are final to in
dividuals in this world, is open, in some degree,
to the same objection. Why, may we ask, is
not repentance in all such cases available to the
suspension of the punishment ? Why is it, that
there is a time when it is too late ; when after the
neglect of all admonitions from conscience, from
providence, from revelation, the criminal is at
length sentenced beyond the possibihty of a re
prieve?* It must be confessed, that there is a
difficulty here in the course of natural provi-
» Butler's Analogy, Part I. Ch. ii. p. 56—61.

in repelling Objections. I7I
dence which we cannot entirely remove ; it may
be infinitely less than the difficulty belonging to
the corresponding doctrine of religion, but still
it remains a difficulty of the same kind. And
while the analogous fact in nature remains in
any degree unaccountable, the doctrine of re
ligion cannot be rejected, becatise it is unac
countable. But, if it be urged that the diffi
culty is incalculably increased, when we try to
account for everlasting punishment ; it may be
replied, that, by the nature of analogy, everlasting^
punishment is as credible, under that large
system of the divine economy of which the
Christian religion treats, as final punishment is in
regard to this world ; and that the aggravation
of the objection, accordingly, is only what might
be expected from the peculiar nature of the
subject respected in the argument. Or it may
be sufficient to state, as a general principle ap
plicable, not only to cases in which greater ob
jections are perceived, but to those too in which
we discover no parallel in the course of expe
rience, that subjects of reHgion must be, by their

172 Indirect Force of the Evidence
very nature, more liable to objections, than
matters of fact*.
This mode of neutralizing the objections
brought against Christianity, may little gratify
the pride of a speculative cariosity, intruding into
mysteries which surpass even angelic intuition ;
but it is precisely that which will comfort the
heart of the humble-minded Christian. He re
gards objections to his religion as temptations
to disbelief ; and is anxious to find some expe
dient, by which he may bring the thoughts of
his heart into obedience to the doctrine of Christ.
To such a person it is all-important to be en
abled to see that the objections, with which he
may be disquieted, do not tend to irreligion, —
that they may be allowed to stand in all their
force, and yet the religion, which they appeared
to threaten, remain true and obligatory on the
conduct. It shews that the challenge is absurd
and unreasonable, which calls upon the believer
in the scriptures to produce an answer to every
objection which may be proposed to him. — The

• Page 96.

in repelling Objections. 173
demand indeed might be argued to be absurd
from this principle ; that " to answer an objec
tion is a process of discovery"*; and, in re
ligion, of discovery of divine things, which the
believer altogether disclaims. — But this argu
ment will not so readily quiet the heartfelt fears
of the Christian for the safety of his religion, as
to find, that the objections, though unanswer
able, are really harmless. Every one perhaps
has felt the strong antagonist force of an ob
jection, when he has not had a ready answer
to it at his command. However strong our
previous conviction may be, it throws a baneful
suspicion over all the deductions of our reason.
It is so easily grasped too, and recollected in
itself, that, with a perverse importunity, it is
ever recurring to the mind;— it haunts us at
every step ; and seems to require exorcism,
rather than argument, to lay its mischievous
spirit. Here, then, a philosophical view of our
religion admirably succours us in this state of
* At jixEC ovv airo^iai ToiavTai Tiys^ a'V[jt,haiyova-i' TOfTwy oe Ta /xec
aj/E^Etn ^T, Ta Je xaTahtireTf ii ya^ hv<n( T?5 «7rogi«;, il^ea-ii; iaTi.
Arist. Ethic, vii. 2.

174 Indirect Force of the Evidence
perplexity, and restores our confidence in the
truth already embraced. It exonerates us from
the painful task of racking our ingenuity for a
solution of the difficulty in question. Objections,
though unanswered, are removed as objections
to a supernatural revelation, by appearing also
to hold against the creed of the Deist Let
them be insuperable, when separately regarded
in their bearing on the facts of the scriptural
revelation ; by their joint application to both
classes of truths, — they are completely neu
tralized. They resemble the testimony of no-
torious calumniators, which cannot be admitted
to the disparagement of a character reputed for
sanctity and worth. So important is the discern
ment of the coincidence of the systems of grace
and nature, if it were only to expose the fallacy
of all speculative objections against the truth of
revealed doctrines,-— thus, to hold -^up a shield
from which the fiery darts of the enemy may
recoil with idle impetuosity. As the kingdom
divided against itself cannot stand ; so it shews
that, if reason employs such weapons against re
velation, reason is divided against herself, and

in repellkig Objections. V]5
cannot stand ; that, while she is sending her
forces abroad for the reduction of a distant
territory, she is exposing her own frontier to
similar incursions, and the heart of her empire
to faction and civil disturbance ; — that the same
arms, which lay waste the scene of her invasion,
will be found effectual to spread the contagion
of" spoil and desolation at home.
The force with which this evidence of Chris
tianity acts in dissipating speculative objections,
has induced some writers to depreciate its ge
neral importance as an evidence of the religion ;
and to consider it more as an engine of defence
to the scripture revelation, than as a positive
auxiHary in the sacred cause*. But though it
* Mr. Dugald Stewart, in his " Elements of the PhUosophy
of the Human Mind" (Vol. II. p. 423, note, 8vo.), refers to
the opinions of Dr. Reid, and Dr. CampbeU, on the subject of
analogical reasoning, and expresses his " doubts, whether both
of these ingenious writers have not somewhat underrated the
importance of analogy as a medium of proof, and as a source
of new information." " I acknowledge at the same time," he
proceeds to remark, " that between the positive and the ne-

176 Indirect Force of the Evidence.
is impregnable only in this point of view ; let us
not therefore slight its aid as a direct persuasive
to the reception of Christianity. If it were only
for its use in correcting our hasty anticipations
concerning the truths of religion, by simply
leading us into the right track of inquiry, it
would deserve to be enrolled among the strongest
confirmations of the direct proofs. But it has
been already shewn that it does much more
than this — inasmuch as it is, in each single in
stance, — ^in which an analogy is discernible be
tween a doctrine of scripture and a fact of
nature, — a direct presumptive evidence of the
scriptural truth ; and, in its cumulative applica
tion, is a very powerful argument to the divine
gative applications of this species of evidence, there is an es
sential difference. When employed to refute an objection, it
may often furnish an argument irresistibly and unanswerably
convincing. When employed as a medium of proof, it can
never authorize more than a probable conjecture, inviting and
encouraging further examination. In some instances, how
ever, the probabiUty resulting from a concurrence of different
analogies may rise so high, as to produce an effect on the belief
scarcely distinguishable from moral certainty."

Practical Force of the Evidence. 177
origin of the whole revelation : and it will further
appear, under the next head of our inquiry, to
be precisely that kind of evidence, which ought
to have an immediate influence with creatures,
sent into the world, to act, rather than to know
and to debate.
II. We are come, in the next place, to the
consideration of the practical importance of dis
cerning a coincidence between scriptural truth
and the natural world. — Hitherto we have only
estimated the force of such coincidence, as part
of the general argument on which an opinion
of the truth of the Christian revelation is found
ed. If this, however, were the whole amount
of that force, it would not have that com
manding efficacy in bringing men to a sincere
conviction of the .scripture truth, to which a
reference has been made in the concluding
observations on the last head; and which a
further examination of its nature will fully dis
close. It might be evaded, as all arguments
for religion may be which are merely specula
tive, with the plea of Agrippa, in his answer
N

1 78 Practical Force of the Evidence.
to Paul ; " almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian." Its claims may be deemed worthy
of attention, while that attention is postponed
and altogether neglected. In all practical mat
ters, indeed, a speculative view of the subject
is in itself insufficient and nugatory. Men
will not be satisfied to perceive on which side
of the question the truth lies, but they must
also be induced to adopt it in action by its con
nexion with the practical principles of their na
ture. — Religion, especially, as the grand moving
power of human life, — though it must be adopt
ed in sincerity of faith, and on the purest mo
tive of giving glory to God, — looks with such
an anxious eye to the conduct of men, that it
willingly enlists into its service any argument,
which tends, however imperfectly, to make con
verts to its saving doctrine. It says, in the ac
cents of its Divine Founder ; " whoever is not
against us is for us "; — and it rejoices over even
such disciples, of whom it can pronounce no
more, than that they are " not far from the king
dom of heaven"; — indulging the charitable and
reasonable hope, that those who have in any de-

Practical Force of the Evidence. 179
gree experienced the delights of its converse, —
who have been only within its outer courts, —
will not, without some reluctance, fall back from
their course ; but will be induced to proceed on
ward, and eventually to become its disciples in
deed. — Hence it by no means disclaims the em
ployment of arguments, grounded on its expe
diency, and accommodation to the principle of
rational self-love. And consequently it demands
to be set forth, not only as true, but as practicable
— not only as what we have the strongest reason
to assent to and believe, but what we have also
the strongest reason to act upon and obey.
1. To accomplish, then, this practical aim of
religion, a proof of its truth, derived from matter
of fact, is of much greater force than- the most
elaborate and accumulated speculative argu
ments. However deficient such a proof may be,
in not giving a full verification of the paraUel
doctrines of religion, when those doctrines are
regarded only as so many speculative tenets of
Christianity — it is decisive as to the adoption of
that line of conduct, which the doctrines pre-
N 2

180 Practical Force of the Evidence.
scribe, considered as practical principles. For the
correspondences of experience exhibit the prin
ciples themselves of the doctrines in actual ope
ration : and, practically to embrace the doctrines
revealed, therefore, w^e have only to believe and
to act, as we have believed and acted on former
occasions in worldly matters. — For example, the
sacred truth of Christ's mediation, if it be re
garded simply as a speculative tenet of Christi
anity, is only partially verified by experience.
We find that, in general, we obtain the advan
tages of life, and relief from its evils, through the
cooperation of others— and we can, upon the
evidence of this observed fact, readily credit the
corresponding grand and consolatory truth of
revelation, in that divine acceptation in which it
is the object of our faith ; though it so far tran
scends its counterpart in the constitution of na
ture. But if we look to the practical efficacy of
the doctrine — the act of reliance on our all-
powerful Mediator — then is the observation of
experience, that we are continually placing re-
Hance on the exertions of others in our behalf,
unanswerably decisive of the expediency of

Practical Force of the Evidence. 181
adopting the doctrine as a rule of life. So again,
with respect to the doctrine of a future life: —
Compare it with experience, and a speculative
doubt may remain whether it be true — ^but, prac
tically, there can be none : as rational beings we
cannot but act as if it were true : — ^because all
those instances by which it is confirmed, are in
stances of our practically depending on such a
continuance of being as a future life is supposed
to be.
Whatever then may be the speculative diffi
culties attached to any particular truth of
Christianity, these difficulties vanish, when the
truths themselves are brought home to our
bosom, and the question is put to the con
science, " What shall I do to be saved ?" They
cannot for a moment be suffered to interfere,
and to check the course of our action, when this
course of action, consequent on the reception of
the doctrines, is no other than that on which
we have already proceeded. An elevation of
thought, and a refinement of motive, may be im
parted to our actions ; — they may be performed
on a far rnore magnificent scale, and with far

182 Practical Force of the Evidence.
nobler views ; — but consistency of conduct re
quires them to be done religiously, as well as na
turally — ^with a view to everlasting happiness, as
well as to temporal advantage ; and their actual
duty remains unaltered. Their nature may be
changed, by the different nature of the end to
which they are directed, when they are done
from motives of religion ; but their expediency
remains the same.
2. As the expediency of acting upon the in
structions of reHgion, is enforced by a discern
ment of their conformity with experience, — so
also the practicability of those instructions is
strikingly demonstrated by this test of their truth.
— To detract from the novel and unusual aspect
of an action is no inconsiderable inducement to
its performance. There are cases indeed where
the novelty itself of a pursuit strongly stimulates
to action : but these are cases, where the work
may be adequately performed by sudden and de
sultory effort — where the force of impact is re
quired, rather than that of regular and continued
pressure. Widely different from these is the case

Practical Force of the Evidence. 183
of our religious duties. These are persevering
exertions ; to which it belongs to be strengthened
by exercise, and matured by habit. These re
quire to be so ingrained in the character of the
agent, that they may seem to be a part of his
very nature, and not to have been forcibly su
perinduced. — This then is an object towards
which this evidence of religion excellently con
spires. It removes from the mind the disrelish
which might arise against commencing the pur
suit of Christianity, as a matter altogether new
and unknown to our practice. It shews the re
ligion to be, by no means a setting forth of
strange and unheard-of things, but only a con
tinuance of what we have already begun, — an
extension of a system of conduct which is already
in operation. Thus it imperceptibly allures us
to the practical adoption of Christianity even
amidst our misgivings and hesitations. We find
that, whilst we thought we were pausing on the
threshold of the Faith, — weighing the value of
objections, — and disputing every inch of our
way, — all our scrupulous caution has been su
perfluous ; since we are in fact already obedient

184 Practical Force of the Evidence.
to the principles which our religion calls upon
us to embrace and pursue ; — that we have been
its disciples in a manner, whilst we were uncon
scious of it ; and whilst we debated it in words,
already confessed it in our lives. From such a
discovery, the transition is comparatively easy to
the hearty reception of the religion in all its spi
ritual energy. It is not beginning anew. It is
but to repeat, in order to our eternal happiness,
what we have been doing through our whole pre
vious life, in order to our temporal interests. It
is but to carry forward the wisdom of the chil
dren of this generation, to the condition of the
children of Hght,
3. The practical cogency of this evidence of a
revelation is not, however, to be attributed exclu
sively to the appeal which it makes to our ha
bitual system of conduct : it is also owing, in a
great measure, to the strong personal application
ofthe religious truth which it suggests to us. —
The Christian religion, when thus depicted to
our view, appears no longer simply, as the re
ligion of the universe at large, — as the senti-

Practical Force of the Evidence. 185
ments towards the Deity, which belong indis
criminately to all intelligent creatures of every
order throughout the boundless creation, — but
as that part of the general tribute of praise and
glory due to the common Father, which is pecu
liarly appropriate to, and incumbent on man.
A distinct and definite character is given to that,
which otherwise, in its infinitude, would surpass
our reach ; or, in its indiscriminateness, might
afford a plea of evasion to the generality of man
kind, who are little disposed to do what is not
personally and immediately their concern. Chris
tianity, by the organ of our experience, tells us,
that we are they by whom its duties are to be
performed ; that we are the creatures of God to
whom its message is sent ; that it is our light,
our life. By its adaptation in all its detail to
our circumstances, it powerfuHy persuades us,
that it is designed for our use and advantage. It
awakens, accordingly, under this point of view,
that active interest which naturally belongs to
any thing which appears strictly and peculiarly
our own. — The prevailing power of such an in
terest is strikingly displayed under the partial

186 Practical Force ofthe Evidence.
system of the Jewish dispensation. The great
argument for gratitude and devotion to God,
which Judaism addressed to its votaries, was,
that God had a favour to them above all other
nations of theworld; that he was the God of their
Fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob ; the Lord who brought them forth out of
the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bond
age : and the sanctions with which it enforced
its precepts were, national and personal prospe
rity on the one hand, national and personal" af
fliction on the other*. The religion was thus
made to the Children of Israel eminently their
own : precepts were enjoined imperative on
themselves alone : and they were stimulated to
their performance, not by those transcendant
and general views of heaven and eternity, which
they would have participated in common with
the rest of mankind, but by promises peculiar to
themselves, as a chosen race and a peculiar peo
ple. And may we not reasonably conceive, that
this appropriation of their religion is one among
the causes of the inflexible adherence of the
* Page 118.

Practical Force of the Evidence. 187
Jewish nation, both in ancient and modern times,
to their prescribed institutions ? the personality,
if it may be so expressed, of their system of faith,
rendering them loth to exchange it for another
confessedly more comprehensive and irrespec
tive ; which, however attractive in its noble uni
versality, yet to one nurtured in Judaism seems
probably, in contrast with his religion, a vague,
and cold, and uninteresting creed*. — But to
those who can dispassionately consider it, the
interest of Christianity is similar in kind, though
it embraces a much larger sphere, as the religion
of mankind. When contemplated in its con
nexion with the state of things in which we have
our being, it appears invested with a peculiar
commission from on high, to call us to a con
sideration of the ways in which we are walking.
It then, to adopt the language of the Prophet,
draws us, " with cords of a man, with bands of
love" t. And in thus surveying it, we are tempt-
* The spread of Calvinism has probably been aided by a
similar feeUng; as well as that of the belief that there is no
salvation for any out of the pale of a particular communion.
t Hos. xi. 4.

188 Practical Force ofthe Evidence.
ed to exclaim ; " Lord, what is man that thou
art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou
so regardest him !" or to say with the child
Samuel ; " Speak, Lord, for thy servant beareth."
4. There is still another circumstance belong
ing to this evidence of Christianity, which renders
it powerful as a practical evidence of the truth
revealed. We bear it about with us, as derived
from the principles of our own nature ; so that it
is ever at hand to reinforce our belief, and suc
cour us against the assaults of doubt and incre
dulity. It requires no labour of recurrence to
learned authorities, or of recollection of various
arguments, for the establishment of our conclu
sion. It requires only that we should pause to
ask ourselves, how we should think, and how we
should act, if an ordinary occasion of human life
were the matter in deliberation ; and what na
tural prudence would suggest, is an unanswer
able evidence for the prudence of our decision
in the question of reHgion. Thus, to recur to an
instance already frequently referred to; — if we
are incHned to hesitate respecting the truth of

Practical Force ofthe Evidence. 189
the revealed doctrine of a future state; we have
only to reflect with ourselves, — that our opinion
in things of the world is, that they will continue
to exist through successive alterations, where
there is no adequate impediment to such con
tinuance, and that we constantly act upon this
opinion. How can we evade then the argument
thence arising, that it is prudent to think and act
in the same way in regard to this fact of religion ?
This is a kind of evidence which is precisely
adapted to the rapid flux of human life. We
must continually be acting on one presumption,
or the other, respecting religion ; either upon
the presumption of its truth or of its falsehood;
and little time is allowed us for the process of
antecedent deliberation. A reHgion, accord
ingly, upon which it is expedient to act, is true
to every practical purpose ; human life not ad
mitting of those checks and balancings of judg
ment which are within the province of abstract
contemplation. A religion, on the contrary,
upon which it is inexpedient to act, is false to
every practical purpose ; for, either the religion,
or the constitution of things to which it is applied.

190 Practical Force ofthe Evidence.
must be absurd ; the evident incongruity shew
ing that there is a faultiness in one or the other* :
and our inference, of course, must be, that it is
the proposed religion which is wrong. So that
the evidence to the prudence of acting upon any
given religion, is a sufficient test of its speculative
truth to beings, situated as we are, whose life
consists not in contemplations but inactions; a
test which every one bears about with him, as a
present help against the perplexities of doubt —
an antidote, existing in the mind itself, to neu
tralize the poison of speculative infidelity.
. In point of fact, it is the argument on which
the belief of the generaHty of mankind is exclu
sively founded, and to which the conviction of
the learned ultimately appeals. — For "to the
poor the Gospel has been preached", no less in
its evidence, than in its consolatory truths.
There is no man who cannot appreciate the value
of that which consults his wants — his feelings —
his desires — his hopes — his fears. And they, who
* To d a^riSEj eh toT; ir^axToti Ix rut i^yut xa) to? jSi'ou x^tnTar
£» TODToi? yaj TO xufio*. Aristot. Eth. X. 8.

Practical Force of the Evidence. 191
will but give a calm hearing to the religion of
Christ within their hearts, find that it does so, —
that it is precisely that which their nature re
quires, — and that, in accepting its instructions,
they are accepting truths, to which their hearts
respond yea and amen. They do not, perhaps,
state thus much to themselves in words ; they are
not perhaps aware that such a decision in favour
of the truth of their religion has been pro
nounced by their judgment; but the judgment
is nevertheless implied in this silent process of
inquiry, and the acceptance of the religion so
examined is no less sincere and valid, than where
it is formally declared by the conclusions of the
methodical and learned inquirer. — As to the
learned, though these may explore the regions
of history, and bring forth the latent evidences
of a revelation from every track of inquiry ; yet,
after all their labours, they must confess, that,
without some evidence more immediately touch
ing themselves, and saying as it were to them
personally, " O fools, and slow of heart to be
lieve !" the mere historical assent extorted from
them would be but a cold and inoperative belief.

192 Practical Force of the Evidence.
The formal examination into the question of
the truth of Christianity, tends only to a general
decision respecting its merits. The student rises
from the discussion, convinced that the religion
is worthy of all acceptation ; but if he confines
his inquiry to such a process alone, his heart re
mains unmoved, and he straightway forgets what
manner of religion that is, whose authenticity he
has explored *. For, splendid as the apparatus
of miracles and prophecies may be, by which its
divine origin is established; numberless as the
arguments may be, from considerations of the
nature of human testimony, and from collateral
proofs; there is nothing in all such evidences
which wins the individual attention of the in
quirer. It is charity towards man which must ap
pear, as a characteristic of a divine revelation, to
render the religion proposed in it a personal ap-
AXA Oi woXXoi TavTa ^ji.iy oi ir^aTTova-iV, iiti oi tov Xoyov xa-
Ta<ptuyoyTi^ oi'ojTai ipiAoo-oipEi'v, xa) ovToiq Eo-EcrSai o-'irovSaToi' ofiLOiOii
Ti iroiovvTii; ToT; xajj.nvB-iii, oi tus iar^uy axovov<7i /aev eVi^eASj, ttoi-
ova-i S ovSiy Twy TC^oa-TaTTOjjLisay "tlain^ oly oiS" s'xETvot iv 'i^ovtrt
TO a-Ufi.rc, ovTiii Bs^avEVou.ivof oiS' o5to> ttiv -^v^viy, o'vToi ^tMa-o^ovy-
te;. Aristot. Eth. ii. 4.

Practical Force of the Evidence. 193
peal to each man individually. And, if it may
be allowed so to apply the words of St. Paul, it
may be said, that, though it spoke with the
tongues of men and angels, though it had the
gift of prophecy, and understood all mysteries
and all knowledge, — ^yet if it had not charity, it
would be nothing. We must feel ourselves to be
the objects of the religion's care ; as the persons
for whom it especially provides. And the learn
ed, no less than the simple and unlearned, must
discern this provision in their religion. Whilst
it is necessary, for the general defence of it,
that they should thoroughly know the strength
of the position which it occupies in the histo
rical world, — that they should have gone round
the towers, and have marked well the bulwarks of
their Sion, — it is necessary for their own instruc
tion, and comfort, and discipline in righteous
ness, that they should be inwardly sensible of
those numberless ties, by which their creed, if
freely admitted into the heart, entwines itself
with their affections.
III. Thus far the importance of the coinci-
o

194 Illustrative Force of the Evidence.
dence between the doctrines of scripture, and
facts of nature, has been considered under those
points of view in which it appears strictly as an
evidence to the truth of the scriptures. — Another
light, in which its importance will further appear,
is, its illustrative application.
It is obvious to remark, that a supernatural
revelation must, above all things, stand in need
of illustration, — as being conversant about mat
ters confessedly above the reach of human inves
tigation, — and as being altogether different, in
the mode of imparting its truths, from our ordi
nary means of knowledge. Many things must
naturally appear in it hard to be understood ;
many things irreconcilable with themselves and
with our previous ideas. For the absence of
mystery is one of the strongest proofs of the
mere human origin of any presumed revelation.
That such a result should be produced, shews,-
that human art has been employed in smoothing
down inequalities, and obviating future objec
tions ; whereas, in a true revelation, there will
be a bold irregularity, corresponding to that

Illustrative Force ofthe Evidence. 195
which characterizes the face of the natural
world — a sort of careless contempt of the little
prejudices and short-sighted cavils of those to
whom it is presented. Those only who survey it
not with a religious eye, — which in matters of re
velation is the eye of true taste, — will wish to see
its valleys exalted, and its mountains brought
low, and the crooked made straight, and the
rough places plain ; and the whole reduced to
one unvaried mass of level uniformity ; not per
ceiving that it is this very picturesqueness of
form which speaks the operations of the great
Artificer of nature. It is, as in judging of the
works of art. Those who are uninformed in
the principles of painting, or deficient in taste,
will admire those parts of a picture, in which
they perceive an exact resemblance to some
well-known object; and either overlook, or even
blame, those parts in which the mere work of
imitation is less conspicuous. And yet it is in
such parts often that the genius of the painter
has exerted its fullest power ; and distinguished
the picture, as the offspring of a mind, tran
scending the barriers which mere art interposes,
o 2

196 Illustrative Force ofthe Evidence.
and stamping an image of itself on the material
employed. But while mysteries must exist in a divine re
velation, and be attended with difficulties which
the most gigantic powers of human intellect can
never master — still, much may be accomplished
towards the alleviation of these difficulties' by a
process of illustration, which, without attempt
ing to explain the mysterious, shall open the
mind to a reception of it.
Nor is it only on account of the real mystery
coUtained in the matter of revelation, that re
course must be had to illustrative reasoning : —
but there is moreover a false mysteriousness
which accompanies the objects of faith as they
appear to the naked eye of reason — ^an unreal
cloud, which conceals from our view their true
form, and invests them with the air of phantoms
of darkness. We come to the consideration of
the divine truths unfolded in scripture, in a state
of excitement, and with a sensitiveness of feel
ing, which is naturally awakened by subjects of
such awful and overpowering interest. Hence
it is, that we cannot at first duly apprehend

Illustrative Force of the Evidence. 197
them : — in some cases we are disposed to ex
aggerate the wonder; — in other cases, to recoil
from their real and spiritual acceptation, as con
veying a knowledge too wonderful for man.
Thus we find, in some persons, the mysterious
nature of divine doctrine leads to its enthusiastic
perversion — in others, to its virtual rejection
from their creed, by the freedom of rational
explanation. The same cause acts in contrary
ways, according to the peculiar temperament
of the mind on which it acts. Where the mind
is imbued with a false philosophy, and im
pressed with a fond conceit of the abilities of
human reason, — there it produces a rejection
of vital religion, under the various shades of
the liberal, the rationalist, the sceptic, and the
infidel. Where the mind is uncultivated, or na
turally ardent and susceptible, or unaccustomed
to a severity of control in its imaginative
powers, — there we observe its effect in the en
thusiast — the mystic — the fanatic — and the su
perstitious. The former class, when any mys
tery of revelation is proposed to their accept
ance, are ready to ask with Nicodemus — " How

198 Illustrative Force of the Evidence.
can these things be?" — The mystery appears to
their eye greater than it really is ; because they
reflect back on it all their own misconception
and ignorance, and thus behold its outline at
once magnified, misshapen, and obscured, by
the shadows which they have cast around it.
So it was, that the doctrine of Christ crucified
appeared to the heathen philosopher, foolishness,
— and so it is, in these days, that the same doc
trine is so extenuated and explained away by
some professors of Christianity, as to lose all
its sublimity and all its consolation. By the
latter class the sound of a mysterious doctrine
is only heard to awaken the key-note of their
minds, — ^they eagerly surrender themselves to
the impulses of awe and admiration, which be
come to them the standards of spiritual truth,
and rest satisfied with no view of sacred mystery,
which does not dilate it to the vagueness of their
own extravagant conceits. " Credo quia im-
possibile est," is the characteristic language of
such interpreters of scripture. Witness, to this
effect, the manner in which Christ's simple ap
pearance in the world was received by the Jews.

Illustrative Force ofthe Evidence. 199
" As for this man", said they on one occasion,
" we know whence he is, but when Christ
cometh, no man knoweth whence he is." Again,
they observed concerning him ; " Is not this the
carpenter's son ; is not his mother called Mary ;
and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon,
and Judas ; and his sisters, are they not all with
us? Whence then hath this man all these
things? And they were offended in him." They
would have liked a more mysterious personage :
there was indeed enough of mystery to the eye
of rational faith, in his wonderful appearance in
the world — though he " came not with observa
tion"; — but they were offended, because the
mystery did not correspond with their enthusi
astic expectations. Witness the same fact, in the
many perversions of the Christian faith which
ecclesiastical history exhibits ; — perversions, in
some instances, resolving the plainest intima
tions of scripture into mysterious meanings ; in
other instances, overcharging the truth, suffi
ciently awful in its simple dignity, with a terror
which is not of the Lord.

200 Illustrative Force of the Evidence.
To dissipate, therefore, an undue estimate of
sacred truth, whether tending to an excess or
defect of faith, and to produce a truly rational,
and, at the same time, an animated sense of
scriptural doctrine, a reference to experience
cannot but be highly subservient. Its tendency
must be to disenchant the religious inquirer from
that spell, by which the corrupt imaginations of
the human heart chain down the intellect, and
paralyse its energies. The philosophic dispu
tant it recals to a more accurate examination of
the ground, on which he professes to argue
against Christianity, and thus combats him with
the choice weapons of his own armoury. The
forward zeal of the enthusiast and the supersti
tious it represses, by shewing them, of what
manner of spirit the religion which they distort,
is — producing undoubted facts as a counterpoise
to their unsubstantial opinions, and circumscrib
ing their wild views within some more definite
boundaries. This illustrative application of the evidence
derived to revealed religion from the course

Illustrative Force of the Evidence. 201
and constitution ofthe world, arises, partly from
the nature of analogy in general, as a connect
ing principle between different facts ; and partly
from its particular application in the subject of
religion. But, before we proceed further in pointing
out the illustrative force of this evidence, it may
not be unnecessary to premise, that analogy, as
a ground of illustration, is not essentially dis
tinct from analogy as a ground of reasoning.
For some may be disposed fully to concede the
illustrative use of an appeal to the natural world,
as a means of conciliating a favourable hearing
to religion, but dispute the argumentative va
lidity of such an^appeal. It should be observed
then, that, unless that which purports to be an
illustration of any thing has a real foundation in
nature for the comparison instituted, it cannot
throw any real light on the subject to which it
is applied. If the point of comparison is as
sumed, the application of the proposed illustra
tion is only hypothetical, and the subject, in its
proper nature, is rather obscured, than enlighten-

202 Illustrative Force of the Evidence.
ed, by the false representation of it. Such, in
deed, is the actual effect produced hy fanciful
analogies ; — they darken the subject itself to
which they are applied, whilst they diffuse over
it their own specious colouring : and hence
the use of such analogies in ennobling and beau
tifying subjects which require dignity or orna
ment. — An instance indeed, on which a just
analogy is founded, may in itself be fictitious —
as in the employment of parables and fables, or
in putting a supposed case, — but such instances
are just analogies, because they are instances of
some real principle obtained by previous induc
tion, or actual observations embodied in some
arbitrary form. They are, in fact, latent induc
tions, or philosophical truths divested of their
proper evidence. — The real difference then be
tween an argumentative and an illustrative ana
logy, each being considered simply as such, con
sists in the form in which they are discerned. If
each of several particulars analogically compared
is otherwise known, and they are only brought
together by analogy, then they are illustrations
only of each other. But if certain particulars

Illustrative Force of the Evidence. 203
only are known, and these are employed for the
investigation of another particular, then are the
known particulars arguments to the unknown
one. But the process of detecting the justness
of the analogy is the same in each case. If two
or more particulars are illustrative of each other,
they must be such as might be argued by ana
logy from each other*. The analogies, accord
ingly, between natural and scriptural truths, are
either arguments or illustrations, according to
the view we take of scriptural truths. If we
consider the scriptural truths as unknown, and
consider what they are likely to be, as counter
parts in their system to certain facts in the sys
tem of nature, every analogy is then an argu
ment ; — if we consider the scripture truths as
already established in our belief by other ar
guments, and as real facts no less than those
of nature, — then, by detecting just analogies be
tween them, we illustrate, at every step, the less
familiar by the more familiar, — the more secret
indications of the divine wisdom by its more
open and public manifestations.* See p. 71j note.

204 Illustrative Use of Analogy in general.
1. Now, analogy is in all subjects the life and
soul of illustration. It presents to us the same
general truth under different points of view.
This property of analogy is in itself a fruitful
source of instruction. For though the facts
themselves which it connects, may be equally
knowable in themselves, it does not follow that
they are equally so to different minds. The
truth, which casts no direct ray to a particular
mind, may be powerfully reflected to it from
another truth, to which its peculiar habits of
thought have suitably disposed-it. — The poet or
the orator will more readily perceive the pro
priety and beauty of a particular effect in paint
ing, or sculpture, or music, if the principle of
taste involved in that effect, be illustrated to him
in some parallel effect in his own art. — To im
press us with some idea of the loveliness of
wisdom, or of virtue, the ancient philosophers
tell us, that " if wisdom and virtue could be
seen with the eyes they would excite an ardent
love of themselves"*; — thus referring us to our
conceptions of material beauty to illustrate a
* Cicero De Fin. ii. 16. and De Offic. i. 5.

Illustrative Use of Analogy in general. 205
parallel fact in a moral or an intellectual sub
ject. — Here also may be mentioned the peculiar
interest belonging to that kind of biography which
exhibits parallel lives; — for, by such compari
sons, the points of character, which perhaps in one
ofthe individuals are not sufficiently prominent,
in a separate view, are often seen more distinctly,
under a different modification, in the other.
2. Often, too, it is not satisfactory to us to see a
truth unfolded to our apprehension, in a single
instance only ; but, from a tacit conviction ofthe
uniformity of truth, we desire to perceive the in
struction, conveyed by any particular fact, de
picted also in another instance,' differing in some
respects from that already before us ; so that,
from the various lights of different facts con
centrated on the point in question, we may form
a correct judgment, whether the conclusion ob
tained from the first instance be a real principle
of nature. If, for example, any truth of ana
tomical science collected from observation of
our own species, were discerned also in the
structure of the lower animals, we should be
sure that it was a general principle ofthe science,

206 Illustrative Use of Analogy in general.
since we found that it held also, where the pecu
har circumstances, in which it was first observed,
were wanting.
3. Or again, where there are principles, asso
ciated with the real cause of any effect in one
instance, which may erroneously appear to be
part of the cause ; the evidence of another in
stance, in which the same effect is produced,
without the concurrence of the principles be
longing to the former one, is important to the
forming of a right conclusion. — For example, —
the presence of thought, and care, and self-love,
in the case of our own preservation, may lead
us into the gross error of supposing, that the fact
of our preservation is attributable to these prin
ciples of our nature, and not solely to the un
seen hand of Divine Providence. But let us
look beyond our own selves, — let us only con
sider the lilies of the field how they grow ; " they
toil not, neither do they spin, and yet Solomon,
in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of
these." Immediately we observe the same re
sult produced, independently of those principles
of our nature, which seem to produce it in our

Illustrative Use of Analogy in general, 207
case ; but which are thus eminently shewn to
be only subordinate and cooperating causes,
whilst the real cause must be traced to a parti
cular, superintending, Providence. — Hence,
among the different classes of instances to which
Bacon directs the attention of the investigator of
nature, he enumerates " instantias conformes, sive
proportionatas " (which, he says, he otherwise
terms " parallelas, sive similitudines physicas"');
and, having adverted to the practice of former
philosophers in noting and explaining the accu
rate differences among natural productions, as
of little real use in constituting the sciences, he
requires, that pains should be bestowed rather
in inquiring into, and noting, the similitudes and
analogies of things : adding, at the same time,
the just caution, that the similitudes should not
be fortuitous and fanciful, but be "real and
substantial, and merged in nature."*
* " Itaque convertenda plane est opera ad inquirendas et
notandas rerum simiUtudines, et analoga, tam in integraUbus,
quam partibus : Ulae enim sunt, quae naturam uniunt, et cour
stituere scientias incipiunt.
" Verum in his omnino est adhibenda cautio gravis et se-

208 Illustrative Use of Analogy in general.
4. Or, lastly, the variety which is introduced
into any subject by analog! cal argument, is in
itself greatly serviceable to the business of
instruction, as giving an attractiveness to the
subject, and thus alluring the attention of the
learner. For example, in the analogy just ad-
vera ; ut accipiantur pro instantiis conformihus et proportiona-
tis illse, quaj denotant similitudines (ut ab initio diximus)
physicas ; id est, reales et substantiales, et immersas in na-
tura ; non fortuitas et ad speciem; multo minus superstitiosas
aut curiosas, quales naturalis magise scriptores (homines levis-
simi, et in rebus tam seriis, quales nunc agimus, vix nomi-
nandi) ubique ostentant ; magna cum vanitate et desipientia.
inanes similitudines et sympathias rerum describentes, atque
etiam quandoque affingentes." Nov. Org. Lib. II. Aph. 27.
What are real instantice conformes, he shews in the instances
of an optic glass and the eye — the ear, and places returning
an echo — the gums of trees, and gems of rocks — the fins of
jfishes, and the feet of quadrupeds, or feet and wings of birds,
&c. A correspondence in the concrete form of the subjects
compared is aU that is required, according to him, to estabUsh
a real physical simiUtude — that is, an agreement of particular
phenomena in some general observation, or general principle
•discerned in them ; agreeably to what has been stated above
respecting analogy ; and not an agreement in some abstract
generic property belonging to the nature of the subjects.

Illustrative Use of Analogy in general. 209
duced, what a pleasing sketch have we from the
vegetable world there brought before the mind's
eye, and exhibited in friendly contrast with a
mysterious moral truth ! How different are the
analogous instances, and yet how harmonious !
The mind, thus led to the acknowledgment of
the truth, obtains, in the act of learning, a de
lightful relaxation from the continued pressure
of abstract doctrinal instruction, whilst it glances
off to the contemplation of the plant of the field,
and yields itself up a willing convert to the
truth, over which such loveliness is diffused.
5. Further, whilst analogy appeals so forcibly
to the pleasure of association, it also unites in
its effect, as a means of instruction, a pleasure
akin to that produced by imitation in the fine
arts. These accomplish their purpose, by ex
citing that admiration which arises from perceiv
ing some effect observed in nature attained
under an artificial mode of execution*. An
analogous fact may, in like manner, be considered
* See Dr. Adam Smith on the Imitative Arts. Works,
Vol. V. p. 243. P

210 Illustrative Use of Analogy in general.
as an imitation, under a different form, of an
other fact to which it is analogous. It is a
resemblance, as close as the nature of the
subjects, to which they respectively belong,
will admit. We are pleased, accordingly, with
the detection of such a resemblance, formed, as
it were, in spite of the real discrepance of the
subjects. The unexpected conformity of the
different instances excites our admiration, and
disposes us to a ready acquiescence in the truth,
whose identity stands forth to our view under
an actual variety of representation.
6. But perhaps that force of conviction which
analogy, when skilfully employed, brings with it,
is owing less to any other advantage involved in
its use than to this in particular, that it invests
the learner with the character of self-instructor*
It holds up to him some acknowledged fact, in
which, as in a mirror, he may behold the truth
in question; and leaves him to deduce it, almost
by observation rather than by reasoning, from
that which is brought before him. The mind
which is thus illumined, instead of being alien-

Illustrative Use of Analogy in general. 211
ated by the dogmatism of its teacher, or repelled
by an assumption of superiority on his part, re
cognizes in its own former conviction the truth
which is introduced under a new garb, and ac
cepts it as a just extension of a conclusion in
which it has already acquiesced. It seems in
deed to be exerting an act of recollection, in
stead of making fresh acquisitions of knowledge.
That pride, which recoils from the humiliating
confession of error, and renders the intellect ob
durate against the better reason, is then beguiled
into compliance with the arguments of an op
ponent: and the mind, thus relieved of the bur
then of resistance to the truth, seems to say in
secret to itself, (as Aristotle observes of the
effect of metaphor in some instances,) »? aX??-
^ug, iyu ^ !^ [/.a^roti* , recanting its error whilst it
confesses the truth.
Thus it was, that the discourses of Socrates pro-
* "EffTi ^E xai Ta aoTE~a Ta 'xXiTara Sta laeralpo^ai, xa) Ix tou
irpocTi^airaTay /iaXXon yaj yiyyiTat Sn^oy, oti CjUaQf va^a to
Tiiuj EpjEiv, xa) EoixE Ae'^eu « ¦^v^, " «{ aXJifloij, \yiii ^ fifcojTO
Rhet. HI. 11. p. 355.
P 2

El'<»>'«

212 Illustrative Use of Analogy in general.
duced a ready conviction on the mind of his
hearers : since it was his practice in any dis
cussion to lead on his inquirers to the point
which he wished to establish, by directing their
attention to the most acknowledged facts ; this
being i^ his judgment the sure method of argu
ment *. This mode indeed of teaching was with
him the natural result of that tenet of his phi
losophy, — that knowledge was nothing but re
miniscence — since, according to this opinion, it
was only necessary to put leading questions to
a learner to awaken the truth, already, as it was
supposed, existing in his mindt. — It is remark
able also, that the two great philosophers, to
whom science owes its chief advancement, have
frequently employed analogy, as a means of illus
tration, amidst their most serious discussions.
Both Aristotle and Bacon are singularly happy
in their use of it. — But the writer who deserves
* OwoTE dE avTO^ Ti TU T^oyu tiis^ioi, dta Twv fjt,aXiaTa oixoAoyov-
jityay E9ropEi/ET0, »0(*i^(uii Tairtiy t»i» ag-^aknay shai ?^yov. Xenoph.
Mem. Lib. iv. c. vi. p. 228. Schneider.
+ See the Pheedo.— .Platonis Op. Vol. I. p. 165. And the
Meno. Vol. IV. p. 352, Bipont. Ed.

Illustrative Use of Analogy in general. 213
particularly to be mentioned here, as one who has
employed analogical reasoning with great force in
vindicating the truth of Christianity, is Origen.
It is indeed an observation made by him, which
appears to have suggested to Bishop Butler the
line of argument pursued in " The Analogy" —
the observation quoted in the introduction to that
work — " that he who believes the scripture to
have proceeded from Him who is the author of
nature, may well expect to find the same sort of
difficulties in it, as are found in the constitution
of nature."* In several instances Origen has
exemplified the application of this general prin
ciple. Does he maintain the credibility of the
doctrine of Christ crucified for the sins of the
world ? He speaks of it as a fact, analogous to
the known instances of persons devoting them
selves to death in behalf of their country, " in
order to avert prevailing pestilences, or barren
seasons, or tempests of the sea"t; and asks,
whether such instances shall have occurred, and
the self-devotion of Christ for the destruction
* PhUocal. p. 23. Ed. Spenc.
t Con. Cels. Lib. i. p. 25. Ed. Spenc.

214 Illustrative Use of Analogy in general.
of the power of the prince of devils, shall be held
to have nothing credible in it. Are the desertion
and treachery of our Lord's disciples urged as
arguments against his divine authority ? Origen
reminds the infidel, that similar instances of
treachery among their foUowers have occurred
to human chiefs, and further shews, how the re
ceding from any teacher, was no proof of the
falsehood of his doctrines, by referring to the fact,
of Aristotle having left Plato after having been
for twenty years a hearer of that philosopher,
and of Chrysippus, in Hke manner, having left
Cleanthes*. Again, in refuting the objections
brought against Christianity from the existence
of heresies among its profesisors, he points to
the existing variations of opinions in philosophy
and in medicine, arguing that as neither philo
sophy, nor medicine, is rejected, as of no use
on that account, so neither should Christianity
be blamed on account of its heresies t. Many
other instances of this mode of arguing might
easily be adduced from his writings.
* Con. Cels. Lib. n. p. 67.
t Con. Cels. Lib. in. p. 118, 119.

Use of Analogy in the Subject of Religion. 215
7. Whilst analogy is the happy instrument of
conveying light into subjects in general, it is pe
culiarly so when employed in elucidating the
truths of religion. Here the force of contrast
with which it acts, is at the maximum. We bring
together the things of heaven and the things of
earth ; and bestow on the most remote and inac
cessible objects, some portion of that circumstan-
tial particularity which belongs to those present
and visible. To behold truths, in themselves so
high above our comprehension, in connexion
with those which are familiarly inculcated on us
by experience, must call forth our strongest ad
miration, and powerfully interest us in our reli
gion. Divine wisdom then descends from its
ethereal seat, as the assessor of the throne of the
Eternal*, and communes with us, face to face, and
hand to hand. We find that the subjects of which
scripture treats are not chimeras ; not creations
of the fancy, which have no substantial exist
ence ; but things which are — Iv oig ^Mfjt,sii t — in
which we live, and move, and have our being. It
* " Give me wisdom that sitteth by Thy throne." Wisd.ix.4.
t ^riTovvTif TE aAXo Ti, us CiViiy, >1 ly oT{ ^(uiny. . Thucyd. III. 38.

216 Illustrative Use of Analogy
no longer appears to us in the Hght of a scheme,
contrived in the bowers of philosophic seclusion,
and addressing itself only to the contemplative
and empassioned devotee ; like the day-dreams
of the Koran, emerging from the gloom and
solitude of the cave of Hara ; but it shines forth
conspicuously as an energizing principle ; as a
knowledge which is power; as a work of the
Lord, carried on in the passing scene, with which
we cannot help sympathizing, without dbing vio
lence to all the principles of our nature.
8. Further, by the discernment of their connex
ion with the facts of experience, revealed truths
are, in a manner, reduced to a scale to which we
are accustomed, and on which we can steadily
look without confusion of ^dsion. Transcendently
awful in their own sublimity, they dazzle the eye
which tries to explore them in their proper
sphere. But when shadowed out to our view in
the course ofthe natural world, they appear to
assume a f^iytSog slffvi/oTrov, — a magnitude which
the mind can comprise within its field of vision,
and by means of which it may direct its thoughts.

in the Subject of Religion. 217
as from a right principle, to that height of mys
terious wisdom, which is set before us in the dis
pensation of Christianity. Thus, the great mys
tery of the Gospel, — the salvation wrought for
mankind by the blood of a Divine Redeemer, — is
described to us as an atonement for the sins of
the world. Now experience instructs us that, in
general, continuance in a course of folly and
guilt, beyond a certain point, is irretrievable by
the guilty individual himself; but that the inter
vention, and severe personal sufferings, of others,
have often in such cases been the means, by which
he has escaped the extreme consequences of his
aggravated criminality. Here then we have an
opportunity of forming an estimate of the nature
of the universal atonement for sin, by that no
tion of atonement which is suggested to us on
the narrow scale of temporal things. And though
this parallel truth of nature is infinitely short
of the sublimity of the doctrine of Christ cruci
fied, yet how forcibly does this very diminution
under which we then contemplate the doctrine,
enable us to dwell upon it with accuracy and
steadiness of thought 1 It gives us something

218 Illustrative Use of Analogy
in hand, not indeed in which we may rest satis
fied as if we had the whole of the mystery, but
from which our minds may proceed to a more
adequate comprehension of it within the limits
prescribed to the human understanding.
9. Another cause of the illustrative force of
analogy in the subject of religion, is to be found in
that feeling of home, which the perception of a
coincidence between scriptural and natural truths
awakens in the human heart. Christianity is
thus brought into immediate contact with us ; and
whilst, we learn it in this manner, we seem to be
leaning on its bosom, and listening to its con
verse, as to the well-known accents of a friend.
Insignificant as the things of this world appear
to our mature reflection, we still grow up from
childhood, attached by numberless links to the
objects which surround us; and though often our
judgment in the severity , of its dictates would
tear us away from them, we are still found lin
gering on the threshold of the school which has
trained us up, and clinging with devoted fond
ness to the prejudices which early association

in the Subject of Religion. 219
has endeared*. " How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land ?" was a natural inquiry
from the lips of the captive exiles of Israel, when
they sat down by the waters of Babylon and
wept at the remembrance of Sion. For, so feels
human nature generally. The themes of reli
gion, though full of divine' consolation, lose their
charm to the mind of man, if separated from all
those tender associations which bind us to our
home in this world. Hence the prevailing an
xiety in the breast ofthe Christian, to know whe
ther he shall revive and perpetuate, in a future
state, those endearments of kindred and friend
ship, which have been the animation and the
solace of the days of his pilgrimage on earth :
— an anxiety, which sometimes exhibits itself in
an impatience of the scriptural grounds of ex
pectation on that point, rendering us too partial
* Kai Euj^EjEo-TEpoii ye anSgiuro; Tag iri^l oKha avySiia<i, xay Sua—
aTroairaa-Tw; airuy 'i)(ri, xaTa>.ii-^ai ay, )) Ta; TTEgi Ta Soyixara'
•jrXyiv oio IxETva £y;^E^wj ol cvyyi^Bn; irapopuaiy' ovTuq ova olxtag,
oiSl woPiEi;, ri xufiai, 'oih cvym^iii avSgw^roy;, li^ifu^ (3oiJXo»Tai xa-
TaMirCiv oi wgoJiij^SfxTE? avToXi. Origenes contra Celsum, i.
p. 40. Ed. Spenceri.

220 Illustrative Use of Analogy
interpreters of every passage of scripture which
can be brought, however remotely, to bear on
the subject, — or sometimes, in a still more ex
travagant form, almost tempting the beHever to
slight the promised happiness of a future state,
if unassociated with this charm of the present
life. Of the real force indeed of this sentiment
in corrupting the purity of our theological
opinions, — in which influence, it becomes to the
soldier of Christ, as it were, a kind of maladie du
pays, seducing him from the ranks of orthodox
profession, — we have striking examples, in the
heretical doctrines of invocation of saints, — ve
neration of relics, — and prayers for the dead, —
doctrines, which, once introduced and hallowed
by religion, take the strongest hold on the affec
tions, so that they must first be torn from the heart
before they can be renounced by the judgment.
Nor is it always a sufficient counteraction to
the influence of our prejudices, that we see
their tendency to increase in strength, and the
mischief which they may hereafter produce by
long continuance in the mind. The present
harmlessness of an opinion beguiles us into an

in the Subject of Religion. 221
acquiescence in it, and a disregard of its future
consequences ; — we foster its infancy with unsus
pecting fondness, whilst it imperceptibly reaches
a degree of vigour which we can no longer
master *. — The sentiment is, *at the same time, to
a certain extent, just in the eye of Christianity
itself. For though it instructs us, that this world
is not our real home, but that our citizenship t
is in heaven ; yet, from the tenour of its pre
cepts, it evidently holds the present life so im
portant with regard to our eternal condition, that
* " Crescit occulto velut arbor aevo.'' Herat. Od. Lib. i.
12. See a beautiful adumbration of this moral fact in a
splendid passage of .^schylus : — ^"eSje^-ej ^e ^E'onTa, x. t. 7i.
Agam. 726—745.
+ 'Hjuwv yap to woXiTEUjua ey oi^awTi V'!ta^y(ii. — Philipp. iii.
20. Moyoy a^iui Tov wayyi^iov tov X^io-toD TroXiTEi/EO-SE. — Philipp.
i. 27. The full force of these passages of St. Paul is lost in
our translation, from their being rendered by the word con
versation, instead of citizenship. The allusion to Christianity
as a peculiar civil institution, was familiar to Greeks, as it was
also to, Jews; since the polities of the Greek legislators, as
weU as that of Moses, embraced religion. Hence its adoption
by the Fathers. The word elsewhere throughout the Epistles
rendered conversation is avao-Tfoipi or ayaaTpi<pofi,ai, except in
one place (Heb. xiii. 5,) where T^oTrof is so translated.

222 Illustrative Use of Analogy
it cannot discard from its use a natural senti
ment, which, though too often perversely in
dulged and abused, in opposition to its precepts,
serves to connect the two states of condition.
It is to this feeling then that the analogy be
tween scripture and nature strongly addresses it-^
self. It diffuses over the whole face of Christi
anity a character of pathos, such as that which
radiates from the sacred person ofthe Redeemer,
when we contemplate Him as the Son of God made
man. For, had he been manifested to us as God
alone, achieving our salvation by the arm of un
veiled omnipotence; howinferior, comparatively,
would have been the practical interest to us as men,
contrasted with that which is called forth, now that
we are enabled to regard him as the Word made
flesh, — as in all things made like ourselves, — as a
brother, by whom we have access to a common
Father. Or had he taken on him the nature of
angels, he would still have been too far removed
from us to admit of our sympathy with his per
son. Nothing, in short, but the persuasion, that
the Lord from heaven is the second Adam, could
have so closely interested us in the things

in the Subject of Religion. 223
which he has said and done in our behalf. And
so it is with regard to the whole substance of
the religion developed in the scriptures. If it
were simply divine in its nature, whilst it no less
inspired veneration and awe, it would be deficient
in that pathetic force, with which it addresses us
as a mixed revelation, — as a supernatural system
of faith in its origin, and the objects to which it
directs our views, — but natural, at the same time,
in its form of communication, and its appeal to
the intellect and the heart.
We shall not wonder, therefore, that not
only profane, but inspired writers also, have
had recourse to analogies in enunciating and en
forcing the truths which they taught : and that
even our Lord himself should have incorpo
rated, so far as we find he has, this method of
instruction, with the revelation ofthe mysterious
doctrines involved in his mission to the world.
So full indeed is the Bible of important applica
tions of analogy, that we need not look beyond
the sacred volume itself in quest of striking ex-

224 Impmtant Relation of the Evidence from
amples of the illustration obtained to revealed
truth, from its comparison with the experienced
course of nature.
10. Nor, moreover, should that important re
lation which the evidence, derived to Christianity
from its analogy to nature, bears to the essential
miraculous attestation, upon which the religion
must ultimately be received, be omitted in the
consideration of its illustrative use. The miracu
lous attestation, which to the eye-witness of it
carries its own conviction, imposes on the hearer,
or the reader, when it assumes a traditional form,
the necessity of coUecting the strongest probabi
lities from reason, as a counterpoise to its seem
ing natural incredibility. For, even among com
mon facts, that which when actually seen, or
heard, is perfectly credible, is often most incre
dible when narrated, and can only be esta
blished in general belief, by arguments drawn
from the known veracity of the narrator, and the
concomitant circumstances *. In examining
• Sj^Edov Traaay ia-ro^tay, xay aAijSxf ^, ^ovhia^ai xaraiTxiva^iiy

Analogy to the Miraculous Evidence. 225
into, accordingly, and determining the truth of
Christianity as a supernatural revelation, there is
this apparent anomaly involved in the process-
that we are seeking probable evidence for that,
which is confessedly improbable in its essential
nature. We are engaged in exploring some valid
reasons, from established principles, for a coUec-
tion of facts, which must ultimately, however, be
recognized as true in all their real improbability :
since, but for this improbability, the revelation
would cease to be a supernatural revelation. Now,
if the scriptural truths, considered as facts mira
culously imparted, be shewn to be the same, in
any degree, or to any extent, with those which
are made known to us in the ordinary way, by ob
is ysyeynjiivtiy, xal xaTa'kniCTiXtiy 9roi?<rai ffEgi auT?{ (^ayToaiay, tu»
tr^o^pa EO-Ti j^aAETTWTaTisiv, xal e'xioi; aivyaToy. Origeues COntra
Celsum, I. p. 32.
" There is a presumption of miUions to one, against the
story of Caesar, or of any other man. For suppose a number
of common facts, so and so circumstanced, of which one had
no kind of proof, should happen to come into one's thoughts ;
every one would, without any possible doubt; conclude them
to be false. And the like may be said of a single common
fact." Butler's Analogy, Part II. ch. ii. p. 231. Q

226 Important Relation of the Evidence from
servation and experience, their apparent historical
falsehood inay be considered as effectually dis
pelled. — Indeed, without this pioneering of the
way, the truth revealed meets with so great ob-
'struction in many minds, especially in those
trained to habits of ekperimental investigation,
that no argumettt, drawn immediately from our
abstract ilotions of God, or the weight of per
sonal testirnbny to the occurrence of miracles,
is sufficient to overcome that suspicion which
attaches to the account of its divine origin.
That fundamential principle of our nature — our
belief iii the continua.nce of the laws of nature
according to their present constitution and or-
dei-*, — is SO essential to all our actions, that it
is among the strongest ofthe principles by which
we are actuated. And hence the reluctance,
which all feel, to admit the fact of any interrup
tion in the observed course of things. That
habitual reliance with which we calculate on the
recurrence of known phenomena, would be
shaken, and perplexity would be introduced into
our whole conduct. If it were possible there-
* Page 5, note.

Analogy to the Miraculous Evidence. 227
fore, it would not be expedient, that we should
be otherwise than prejudiced against the ac
count of a miracle *. At the same time it is ne
cessary that prejudices of this kind should be
obviated in so important a case as that of a mes
sage sent expressly from God. And this can
not be done in a manner less injurious to the
security of our habitual confidence in the known
laws of nature, than by an evidence to the truth
ofthe scriptures, which shews that those laws are
rigidly maintained in the substance itself of the
revelation ; and thus exemplifies some portion,
at least, of that which is taught us by miraculous
* " And there wouli indeed be reason to wish, which, by
the way, is very different from a right to claim, that all irre
gularities were prevented or remedied by present interposi
tions, if these interpositions would have no other effect than
this. But it is plain they would have some visible and im
mediate bad effects : for instance,, they would encourage idle
ness and negligence ; and they would render doubtful the na
tural rule of Ufe, which is ascertained by this very thing, that
the course of the world is carried on by general laws. And
further, it is certain they would have distant effects, and very
great ones too ; by means of the wonderful connexions before
mentioned." Butler's Analogy, Part I. Ch. ii. p. 181.
q2

228 Important Relation of the Evidence, S{C.
interposition, as capable of being learned by us
from the teaching of experience. We then rise
from the credibility of the facts abstractedly
considered, to a conviction of their truth as mi
raculously established; without feeling our
selves committed to a belief in miracles unac
companied by the probability of other circum
stances essentially connected with them. Our
objection to miracles in general may still re
main in its full force, while it is removed as to
the matter of the revelation in question which
the miracles are intended to prove. The scrip
ture truths being acknowledged as internally
credible, it then appears irrelevant, to question
them on account of the mode of their convey
ance because it is miraculous. The disciple of
Christianity, and the advocate of the light of
experience, meet, as it were, on the neutral ter
ritory of a sound philosophy, and bind in holy
league their conflicting evidences : — miracles are
shewn to speak the language of truth and sober
ness ; and arguments of reason are converted
into tests of miracles.

Objections to the Evidence considered. 229
IV. Are there not however some objections
to the application of the analogy of the natural
world, as an evidence of the truth revealed ; and
objections of such importance, as to demand a
refutation, in order to the admission of the pre
ceding observations in their proper force ?
I. Now, with respect to any objection which
may be brought against the evidence as hypo
thetical and illogical, — this ground of exception
has already been considered in a former part of
this Essay ; where it has been argued, that there
must be some common principles, in which the
truths of any supernatural revelation, and the
facts ofthe natural world, coincide — which com
mon principles are the basis of the analogy in
stituted between them. There can be no ana
logy between subjects which have no one
common principle in which they may be said
ultimately to agree ; because, in such cases, no
allowances for actual discrepances of subjects
can ever reduce the propositions, belonging to
them respectively, under any general conclusion.
However we may abstract from their peculiari-

230 Objections to the Evidence considered.^
ties, there is no approximation to the same
theory, and no reason to suppose, therefore,
that there is any analogy between them : — since
analogy consists in the transference of some
conclusion into other circumstances from those
under which it was formed, with the requisite
allowance for the difference of circumstances.
For example ; there is no analogy between the
science of mechanics and the philosophy of the
mind, or between medicine and moral philoso
phy, or between mathematics and physiology,
— because we have no ground for supposing that
the two sciences, in either case, have any com
mon principle whatever in which they agree.
But the case is different with respect to the
truths of a scriptural revelation and the facts of
the natural world. Here the same laws of di
vine administration are involved in both systems
of instruction, and the two classes of truths are
analogous to each other, because they evidence
these laws only as variously, as may be the effect
of the peculiar circumstances under which they
are contemplated in each case.

Objections to the Evidence considered. 231
II. Another class of objections to the use of
this evidence, founded on its supposed insufr
ficiency, has been admirably refuted by Bishop
Butler, in one of the concluding chapters of
" The Analogy" : in which he shews ; that it is
far from being derogatory from the value of the
evidence, that it does not accomplish more than
it does, or come with irresistible force of con
viction to the mind ; — the question in religious
evidence being, not whether it be " satisfactory,
but whether it be in .reason sufficient to prove
and discipline that virtue which it presup
poses " * : — that, though it does not directly
clear up objections against the justice pr good
ness of God in the Christian scheme, it is a de
cisive answer to what is really intended by such
objections — the endeavour to prove that the
things obj,ected against are imredible :r-r-tk?A, if
it be sufficient to raise a doubting opinion of thp
truth of Christianity, this is enough to epgage a
prudent man on the affirmative side, in a cause
of such great importance t.
* Part II. Chap, viji- page 395.
t This is an argument used by Clarke also, in his " Evi-

232 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
There are stiU other objections ; proceeding
on the assumption, either that this evidence is ;
1. an unnecessary addition to the body of proof
obtained from the unimpeachable testimony of
the inspired writers : or that it detracts, 2. from
the necessity ; or 3. from the authority, of a
written revelation. These grounds of objection
wiU be considered in order.
III. We proceed then in the first place, to
the objection which depreciates the evidence as
unnecessary. It is presumed in this objection, that the clear
testimony, whether oral or recorded, to the oc
currence of miracles at the delivery of religious
truth, is sufficient by itself to induce a full be
Uef in the divinity of that truth. Therefore, it
is concluded, the argument drawn from the in
ternal character of the religion is superseded —
the mind having previously formed its decision
dences of Natural and Revealed ReUgion", Prop. xv. p. 297-
He cites Arnobius (adv. Gentes, Lib. 2.) to the same purport.

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 233
upon the merits of the oral or written testimony
presented to it.
Now undoubtedly the actual occurrence of
miracles proves with a conclusive evidence the
divinity of the doctrine which they attest ; and
if we are only fully convinced that miracles
have been wrought in confirmation of a doc
trine, we are bound to receive such doctrine,
without suspicion, as worthy of all acceptation.
But then we must not suppose that the de
cision, formed upon the evidence of miracles,
is exclusive of all argument from collateral con
siderations. On the contrary, it will be found
that, in estimating the fact of the miraculous at
testation, additional evidence is collected from
every point of view which the revelation pre
sents ; and that the assent given to that attesta
tion is the ultimate result of inquiries, which have
traversed a wide field of investigation *.
* On the relation between the miracles and the doctrine at
tested by them, Clarke weU observes : —
" From hence it appears how Uttle reason there is to ob
ject, as some have done, that we prove in a circle the doctrine
by the miracles, and the miracles by the doctrine. For the

234 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
Let US examine the case of an eye-witness of
a miracle performed in proof of some doctrine.
If it appears that even an eye-witness does not
give his assent to the divinity of the doctrine,
exclusively upon the strength of the appeal
made to his senses, but reasons in the very act
of his giving that assent, and only gives it ulti
mately, because every consideration, to which he
miracles, in this way of reasoning, are not at aU proved by the
doctrine ; but only the possibility, and the good tendency, or,
at least, the indifferency of the doctrine, are a necessary con
dition or circumstance, without which the doctrine is not ca
pable of being proved by any miracles. 'Tis indeed the mi
racles only, that prove the doctrine ; and not the doctrine that
proves the miracles. But then in order to this end, that the
miracles may prove the doctrine, 'tis always necessarily to be
first supposed, that the doctrine be such as is in its nature ca
pable of being proved by miracles. The doctrine must be in
itself possible, and capable to be proved, and then miracles
wiU prove it to be actuaUy and certainly true. The doctrine
is not first known or supposed to be true, and then the mi
racles proved by it ; but the doctrine must be first known to
be such as is possible to be true, and then miracles wiU prove
that it actuaUy is so,'' &c. to the end of the Section. Clarke's
" Evidences of Natural and Revealed ReUgion ", Prop. xiT.
p. 230, 8vo.

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 235
may resort, conspires with it, — it must be readily
conceded tha,t they, who receive the doctrine by
tradition, in forming a rational judgment of it,
look beyond the actual testimony to the oc
currence of the miracles, and take a survey
of the whole state of the case, before they assign
to the miraculous history its relative importance,
as the criterion of the divinity of the doctrine.
The difference between the assent given to
revealed truth by the eye-witness of the attest
ing miracles, and that given to the same truth
in its traditional form, — is more apparent than
real. We are apt to suppose, that it is enough,
to be simply a spectator of some sign from
heaven, and that the admiration which the event
produces, immediately and irresistibly com
mands our assent. And so we might suppose,
from the readiness with which we judge ofthe
relative distance of objects, that this judgment
was the simple result of vision alone, instead of
its being, as it really is, a compound process —
consisting of a comparison between the senses
of touch and sight, imperceptibly carried on in

236 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
the mind of the observer. But, in either case,
we should be equally mistaken, if the rapidity,
with which the result is attained, were concluded
to be a proof of the simplicity ofthe process.
Now, the same principle, which accounts for
the credibility of miracles as proofs of a divine
revelation, also renders necessary the concur
rence of other evidences of its truth in the act
of deciding upon their credibility. — For why is
the word of a teacher believed to be of divine
authority, because he is enabled to work a mira
cle? It is, because we have a natural convic
tion that all the attributes of God are insepara
bly united, — or rather, are only different ways
of conceiving the Supreme Excellence, whom
we cannot represent to ourselves in that perfect
oneness which belongs to His nature*. This
* " In very truth, aU the several attributes of the Deity
are nothing else but so many partial and inadequate concep
tions of one and the same simple perfect Being, taken, as it
were, by piecemeal ; by reason of the imperfection of our hu
man understandings, which could not fuUy conceive it aU to
gether at once. And therefore are they reaUy aU but one
thing, though they have the appearance of multiplicity to us.

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 237
principle induces us to think, that, wherever the
power of the Creator is displayed. His wisdom
and His goodness must also be present; and
that, therefore, the worker of a miracle must be
commissioned by God to instruct us, and that
for some good end. From the same principle,
any thing in the character of the teacher, or in
the object pursued by him, or in the tenour of
As the one simple light of the sun, diversely refracted and re
flected from a rorid cloud, hath to us the appearance of the
variegated colours of the rainbow." Cudworth's InteUectual
System, Book IV. Ch. iv. p. 652, fol.
" The Hght of the sun is not in- the orb itself what we see
it in the rainbow. There it is one candid, uniform, perfect
blaze of glory ; here we separate its perfection in the various
attributes of red, yeUow, blue, purple, and what else the
subtle optician so nicely distinguishes. But stiU the solar
Ught is not less real in the rainbow, where its rays become
thus untwisted, and each differing thread distinctly seen, than
whUe they remain united and incorporated with one another
in the sun. Just so it is with the divine nature ; it is one
simple individual perfection in the Godhead himself. But
when refracted and divaricated in passing through the human
mind, it becomes power, justice, mercy ; which are aU sepa
rately and adequately represented to the understanding." Bp.
Warburton's Sermons, 8vo, Vol. i. p. 38.

238 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
the instruction conveyed, which mihtated with
divine wisdom or goodness, — as in the event of
the teacher being an immoral person ; or of his
pursuing some end of private, or party, interest ;
or a destructive end ; or no end of any import
ant benefit to mankind ; or of his teaching evil
or absurd doctrines, — any thing of this kind,
so palpably irreconcilable wdth our notions of
God as an infinitely wise and good Being, would
compel us to mistrust the real presence of the
divine power, in so defective an instance of divine
pretensions. There would be an opposite and
conflicting evidence in the case. There is, in
fact, no greater reason for believing in the power
of God, disjoined from His wisdom and good
ness, than in believing in His wisdom and good
ness disjoined from his power. And if evidences
of His wisdom, or of His goodness, could be as
clearly set forth, and as readily estimated, as
evidences of Almighty power, they would as na
turaUy, and as fully, prove, in themselves, the re
ality of inspiration, as external miracles. Pro
phecy, when verified by the event, is an Ulus
tration of this remark ; for then we clearly dis-

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 239
cern a miraculous wisdom accompanying the
gift of the revelation. But this evidence is
only adapted to an age subsequent to the ac
tual delivery of the revelation ; and, in general,
it is evident, that neither the divine wisdom,
nor divine goodness, can be accurately dis
cerned by the hearer of- revealed truth, so as
that he may decide affirmatively from them, as
tests of the inspiration of the teacher, — These
evidences are the privileges, rather, of the pa
tient searcher of the scriptures. — In the morn
ing of revelation they are but as the folded buds,
waiting the advance of the day to expand in
their full-blown beauty. — On this account, we
must rather judge of a revelation, at its original
delivery, by their absence, than attempt to
judge by them as positive evidences of its divi
nity. If there be a satisfactory appearance of
Almighty power accompanying its delivery, and
nothing in itself, or in its circumstances, irrecon-
cUable with the other attributes of God, the mind
acquiesces in the demonstration of power as
real, and believes the teacher to be the accre
dited messenger of God. But this process of

240 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
examination is quickly and imperceptibly per
formed where a miracle is actually witnessed.
The pretender to inspiration is then before us
in his own person ; — his character, and his
words, are presented to our review at the same
instant; — and the circumstances, under which
the miracle is performed, are open to our inspec
tion. A witness, therefore, must be incompe
tent, either from gross ignorance, or the bias of
passion, who is not able to form a correct judg
ment on the instant, of the reality of a miracle
as an evidence of divine truth. Pretended mi
racles, exhibited for any other ostensible pur
pose than the establishment of divine truth, may
be rashly and foolishly believed : but the point
here insisted on is, that a miracle, done in proof
of a divine authority to teach, must be rigidly
scrutinized, as such, by the mind in the act of
believing it ; and that a rational belief in it is the
result of a judgment, formed upon the aggre
gate of such particulars, as either appear on the
face of the transaction, or are necessarily in
volved in it.
Many of the miracles recorded in the Bible,

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 241
certainly appear to have worked a conviction in
the witnesses of them, of the divine interposi
tion in the several instances, by their simple ex
hibition. We read, only, that Jesus " manifest
ed forth his glory, and his disciples believed on
him"; or, that when the men "had seen the
miracle that Jesus did, they said; this is of a
truth that Prophet that should come into the
world" ; or like expressions, signifying the rea
diness of the assent which the miracles ob
tained. — But, from the concise narrative of the
scriptures, we could not expect to find a de
tailed account of the impression produced on
the mind of the spectators. — There is, however,
one miracle, in which we have more particulars
recorded, than are given in general, of the mode
in which it operated in producing a belief of
the divine authority of the worker of it ; — the
miracle of the opening of the eyes of the man
born blind. Both, the Jews, who were unwilling
to believe the fact of the miracle having been
really performed by Jesus, and the cured
blind, who fully beHeved Jesus to be the worker
of it, — employ a reason — the former, to account
R

-^42 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
for their disbelief, the latter, to account for the
firmness of his belief in it. And the reason is
the same in both cases — that God beareth not
sinners. The Jews concluded, that Jesus could
not have been heard by God in the alleged in
stance, because, as they said, they knew him to
be a sinner*; — though, indeed, there was a di-
* " Therefore, said some of the Pharisees, this man is not
of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said,
how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles.'' And there
was a division among them." John, ix. 1 6. Just before this
miracle, he had made the assertion, " Before Abraham was, I
am"; which the Jews had understood to be an assumption of
the prerogative of .Jehovah, if not of that sacred incommu
nicable name itself; since they attempted to stone him for it.
On the occasion of another miracle, it is said : " Therefore
the Jews sought the more to kiU him, because he not only had
broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father,
making himself equal with God." John, v. 18. See also
John X. 33. In order indeed to obtain a sentence of death
against him, the Jews appear to have appealed to Leviticus
xxiv. 16, the law against blasphemy— but may it not be reason
ably supposed, that they were in their hearts offended at his
claim of equaUty with God, because it appeared to them
as an infringement of the Divine Unity, and therefore a sin
against the frst commandment ofthe Decalogue.^

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary, 243
vision among them, some arguing, as the sub-^
ject of the miracle did, that the worker of it
could not be a sinner. The man who had been
cured, avowed that he knew not, " whether Je
sus were a sinner or no " ; of this he was assured,
that he was really cured of a natural infirmity;
urging the result, as shewing, that any objection
to the reality of the miracle, arising from the
sinfulness of the supposed agent, did not apply.
in that particular case. Evidently, from the
tenour of his answer, it may be inferred, that,
had he known any thing in the character of Je
sus, to set against the appearance of superna
tural power, he would have felt a perplexity in
regard to the reality of the miracle, similar to
that which the Jews felt in consequence of their
prejudices against Jesus. Because he knew
nothing adverse to a favourable construction of
the act of Jesus, he regarded it as a real indica
tion of the presence of God with his healer.
The separation, indeed, of the miracles, from
the internal evidence of the religion, in favour
of which they are alleged, is to impute to them,
R 2

244 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
per se, a demonstrative force which they cannot
really possess. They are, at most, only highly pro
bable evidence of the reality of a divine commis
sion, even to the witness of them. For, first, and
directly, they prove nothing but power : — ^it is a
subsequent inference, — that the power so exhibit
ed is divine, — deduced from the consideration,
that no subordinate agent could interfere with
the order of the creation — that order which, we
must believe, to be not only instituted, but also
continually sustained by divine power — without
the sanction ofthe Creator: — and then, it is an
inference still more remote, that the words, which
the worker of the miracles declares, are the
words of God ; for we appeal to the principle,
that God would not delude his creatures by an
invincible temptation*, or appear to be with a
teacher whom he had not commissioned to
teach. So that the certainty of an inspiration,
vouched by miraculous evidence, depends, in
part, upon the certainty of the intermediate
principles, which we assume, in order to bring
* See Cudworth's InteUectual System, Book I. Ch. iv. p.
709, foUo.

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 245
that evidence home to the case in question:
and, as these principles are only highly pro
bable, itfollows, that the conclusion, — thatthe mi
racles, supposed real, prove the religion attested
by them — ^is in itself only highly probable : and
an evidence of such a nature, admitting of de
grees, requires to be substantiated by accompa
nying evidence, derived from the internal cha
racter of the religion, as well as by every colla
teral proof*.
It ought also to be observed that miracles must
not be regarded simply as acts of power, but as im
plying an n'^og, — a particular character, in the
doer of them. We might see works of power,
surpassing the ability of man, performed by in
animate agencies, as in the phenomena of electri
city, in which there is evidently nothing beyond
the physical result itself t. But it is not so, with
* See Archdeacon Powell's discourse on John, v. 36, ex
planatory of " the Use of Miracles in proving the Divine Mis
sion of our Saviour and his Apostles." PoweU's Discourses,
p. 102.
t There is no »So; in such pretended miracles as the Uquefac-
tion of the reputed blood of St. Januarius, annually exhibited

246 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
regard to a wonder wrought by the hand of
man. Here there is evidently, besides the phy
sical effect, an indication of a moral end. Awe
and veneration of the Creator and Governor of
the world are excited by it. — A miracle is a ve
hement prayer in act.— We behold a moral crea
ture engaged in a solemn appeal to the God of
heaven and earth. The person concerned in it
appears invested with a character of extraordi
nary piety. And we cannot look with indif
ference on so awful an intercession with the Deity.
at Naples. A chemical process alone is evidenced, and it is
no more adapted therefore to produce the proper effect of a
miracle on the mind, than any common experiment in natural
plul9Sophy. Origen, in refuting the cavUs of Celsus, refers expressly to
a connection between moral improvement and the gospel mi
racles : he admits that, without this accompaniment, the
miracles in themselves might not be distinguished from works
of magic : — T0T5 airo {/.ayiiai ojuoioi t« weji lyitrov ttrTopovjjiiya' xa)
rjy ay o^oia, ei l^sxi^ UTToSei^su; OjMOIws to7{ nayyayivovmil 'itp^aye
Se'i^af yvy) S\, x. t. A. Con. Cels. I. p. 53. The words of
Moses, Deuteronomy xiu. 1 — 5, " If there arise among you a
prophet", &c. refer the Israelites to a Uke criterion of the
force of miracles. And so in other places of scripture, we
find immoraUty of teaching connected with lying wonders.

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 247
It is therefore necessary that every circumstance
in his words and actions, should harmonize with
the impulse of devout admiration already given
to our affections. — Of the influence which such
conspiring particulars must have had in an esti
mate of the credibility of our Lord's miracles,
we, who only read the accounts of them, can
have no adequate conception. There are many
such particulars indeed incapable of being
handed down in any record. We should have
seen him going about doing good, and marked
the expression of his countenance, his gesture,
and his tone of voice. Had we beheld his tears
over the dead Lazarus, or heard the sigh
breathed from his soul when he opened the ears
and loosed the tongue of the deaf and dumb ;
we might have contemplated the miracles done
on those occasions, with an ardency of feeling
which is now utterly inconceivable to us.
Those holy individuals with whom he familiariy
conversed, enjoyed singular opportunities of ap
preciating the sublimity of thatamiableness which
resided in him, and must accordingly have been
the most fitly disposed for a right estiniate of

248 Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary.
his miracles. — But we are not left to learn the
moral character of his miracles merely by in
ference. That they were acts of devotion, he
has given express intimation by the prayer to
the Father, which introduced the raising of
Lazarus ; and by that remarkable declaration
to the disciples concerning the cure of the de
moniac child ; — " this kind goeth not out but by
prayer and fasting."
If, accordingly, it must be conceded, that an
assent to revealed truth, founded on the testi
mony of a miracle done before the eyes, in
volves an attention to the other circumstances
of the revelation ; such an examination becomes
still more necessary when the revelation assumes
a traditional or scriptural form. The way in which
it then presents itself to us, is not simply as the
word of God, to be beHeved on the sanction of
His power, but, collectively, as an account of a
special manifestation of all the divine attributes.
We are required, therefore, to decide, upon a
separate examination of each attribute as there
developed, whether the volume, containing such

Objection to the Evidence as unnecessary. 249
an account, ought to be received by us as the
gift of God. If, had we seen the miracles at
testing the Almighty Giver of the truth, we
must yet have glanced off from the CAddence
thus outwardly displayed, in order to guard
against a rash ascription of the event to the in
terposition of God — still more, when the mi
racles are not seen, but become matter of re
cord, must we beware, that we do not believe
them to have really occurred, without con
curring evidence of those other divine attri
butes, which must have been associated Avith the
display of miraculous power, if that power were
real. — And the argument accordingly derived
from the analogy of nature becomes indispens
ably necessary. It is an ingredient in our be
lief of the miracles themselves.
IV. But whilst this evidence may be allowed
to be necessary, as a means of preparing the way
for the due reception ofthe miraculous testimony,
yet it may be thought, that to accustom the
mind to dwell on it, as a valid criterion, in itself,
of a revelation from God, has a tendency, either

250 Objection to the Evidence as affecting
to weaken the conAdction of the necessity of a
supernatural revelation, and thus to undermine
one of the strong grounds of argument against
the infidel, — or to detract from the commanding
authority ofthe written word, and introduce a co
vert infidelity into the very sanctuary ofthe faith.
How little the necessity of an extraordi
nary revelation of the divine will is super
seded by this evidence, will appear, from re
flecting on the nature of it. As being only a
presumptive evidence of the doctrines reveal
ed in the scriptures, it points to the absolute
need of some divinely-commissioned Teacher, to
remove the vail upon the heart, and to sub
stantiate and perfect the system of natural the
ology. In reasoning by analogy to the doc
trines which may probably be found in any
authentic supernatural revelation, we confess, at
the outset of our inquiry, that the regions of
Divine Providence into which we attempt to
penetrate. He deeply embosomed in shadows im
pervious to human sight, and that our clearest
anticipations therefore of the things belonging

the Necessity of a Supernatural Revelation. 251
to them, must be pronounced with trembling
caution, and, it may be said indeed, with a
pious distrust. The Christian Philosopher ac
cordingly does not attempt to philosophize
independently of the Bible. He does not ven
ture to commit the frail bark of his reason to a
sea, wherein no mortal navigator has ever made
soundings, and to winds, to which " canvass
woven in earthly looms " has never been spread,
without taking with him the chart and compass
of the Divine Word, and steering by the faithful
observations there recorded. The book of na
ture he takes only as his " Principia " of divine
philosophy ; and endeavours to carry on the ele
mentary knowledge thence obtained, to the illus
tration of the more recondite truths of Christi
anity. " Verily, thou art a God that hidest thy
self", is a good confession of his Faith, which
he never practically forgets.
But does not a view of our reHgion, identify
ing to some extent its truths with those of na
tural theology, lower, in a great measure, the
value of its supernatural instructions, by suggest
ing the idea, that, if so much of revealed know-

252 Objection to the Evidence as affecting
ledge may be learned from the teaching of na
ture, we have sufficient light to guide us through
Hfe in experience alone ?
It is certainly a difficult task to divest our
selves of any particular portion of the know
ledge present to our minds, and to return to
that state in which we were previously to all ex
ternal and derived information. This difficulty
is perceivable in regard to the component parts
of our natural stock of knowledge. We are not
always able to distinguish between truths, which
we have acquired by our own observation, and
those communicated to us by others, or learned
from books. So it has happened in the com
parison of natural and scriptural theology. To
all who have been educated under the light of an
express revelation (and if the scriptures be true,
there has been in fact a supernatural revelation
from the earliest period of the world, so that no
portion of mankind, no age, however dark, has
altogether wanted the benefit of a direct instruc
tion from God), the highest truths of their
religion are made as familiar as the most
elementary, and are received into the mind upon

the Necessity of a Supernatural Revelation. 253
the same footing of authority. With each truth
imparted out of the mass of knowledge promis
cuously floated down the stream of human tra
dition, there is no accompanying specification
of the source from which it was originally ob
tained : — and it is the labour, accordingly, of sub
sequent investigation to discriminate, by refer
ence to the principles of our constitution,
between the possible discoveries of reason, and
the wisdom which has expressly descended from
above. Thus it is, that opinions have been dif
ferent respectingthe line of demarcation between
natural and scriptural theology. Each in its turn
has been represented as encroaching on the
other. By some, the basis of all evidence to the
truth of any scriptural revelation has been de
stroyed, by their denying to natural theology
even the most elementary truths of Divine
Science ; — whUst, by others, the light of natu
ral theology has been kindled with furtive
embers from the altar of the scripture-revelation,
and made to glow with a brightness not its own *.
* " For it is not to be imagined that men fail to profit by
the Ught that has been shed upon them, though they have not

254 Objection to the Evidence as affecting
But the labour of separating the truth, as if
belongs to the scriptures, from that which is
properly referable to the stores of nature,
must not deter us from the task, or induce us in
dolently to confound their respective claims.
If we closely attend to the principles of our
constitution, and thus learn what part of our
divine knowledge is properly natural to us, we
shall neither think that God has left Himself
without witness in the world, nor that He has
given us no reason to expect a further revela
tion of His Avill. Whilst we believe in Him from
the dictates of natural piety, we shall be in
clined to pray, that He would help our unbelief,
and guide us by His spirit into all truth.
Supposing, for example, that we concede the
always the integrity to own the source from which it comes ;
or may turn their back upon it, whUst it fills the atmosphere
around them ; no, not even if in a higher strain of malice, they
address the great luminary, only, as the apostate Spirit once
did, ' to teU it how they hate its beams.' The fact is not to
be denied ; the religion of nature has had the opportunity of
rekindUng her faded taper by the gospel Ught, whether fur
tively, or unconsciously taken." Davison's Discourses on
Prophecy, p. 8.

the Necessity of a Supernatural Revelation. 255
doctrine of a future Hfe to the discovery of un
enlightened reason, we shall be careful so to con
cede it as not to obliterate its Christian form and
expression. If we believe that natural theology
bids us hope for a life beyond the present ; we
must remember, , that it is Christianity alone,
which tells us, that both soul and body will
survive the event of our mortal dissolution,
and that death shall have no more dominion
over us : and thus, we shall maintain the full
importance of the scriptural information. For,
not to dwell on the comparative certainty of the
scriptural message, how great is the difference
introduced into the practical view of this doc
trine, by the addition of these two important
circumstances — the reunion of the soul and
body ; and the perpetuity of that reunion ? If
the body shall hereafter be raised again, the
body must be kept pure and prepared for its
spiritualized condition, as the incorruptible part
ner of a glorified soul. If there be no change
from that state of being which follows the present,
— awfully responsible is our present condition,
as relative to its unbroken, eternal, sequel ; —

256 Objection to the Evidence as affecting
how much must be done by us now, on this side
ofthe grave, — and with what seriousness — what
intensity of exertion — when our actions are ap
pointed to live beyond the fleeting moment of
their performance ; when their consequences ex
tend through an existence to Avhich we can as
sign no limits. — So that it is far from being
unimportant to us to have our thoughts elevated
to a future Hfe, in the full scriptural acceptation
of that doctrine. And, however confidently
therefore we may rely on the fact of our surviv
ing the shock of death, as a truth of natural
theology, we still see the necessity, in order to
a prudent conduct of ourselves, that a future life
should have been revealed to us through Him
who is the resurrection and the Hfe ; and who
thus appears alone to have brought life and im
mortality — life and immortality in their proper
relation to the creature interested in them— to
light by his Gospel.
The same argument, indeed, which would
lead us to conclude that Christianity is unne
cessary, — because we learn many of its truths
from nature, — would be equally conclusive

the Necessity of a Supernatural Revelation. 257
against it as the crown and consummation of
Judaism. For, as clearly as the prophecies, and
types, and precepts ofthe old covenant,were only
shadows of the good things to come under the
new covenant — the speculations and conjectures,
which reason forms from the facts of experience
concerning the things which belong to God's
invisible Providence, are only the shadows which
foreteU the rising ofthe sun of revelation. And
as the Jew, who devoutly bowed his neck to the
bondage ofthe Law, and yet aspired to the better
inheritance of another Canaan — even an hea
venly one, in which that bondage should be no
more, — was disposed, (as we behold the pious
Simeon,) to receive the salvation brought by
Christ, and no longer to rest satisfied with a
system of reHgion, whose independent obligation
had then passed away * : so the truly devout
Deist — he who has heartUy accepted the inform
ation which nature gives him concerning God,
and, at the same time, justly learns from her in-
* In reference to this point see the exceUent observations
of Mr. Davison, on the state of reUgion, as it was moulded
by the Law. Discourses on Prophecy, Disc. iv. p. 157 — ^212.
s

258 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
structions to hope for a clearer and more inti
mate knowledge of the divine doings, — is one
who will acknowledge, with humble gratitude,
the gift of an authentic supernatural revelation ;
and wUl thenceforward no longer regard his ex
perience as a self-sufficient and ultimate organ
of divine wisdom, Christianity certainly will not
appear necessary to those who are insensible to
their real want of it : — so neither did the Jew,
who blindly reposed in the privileges of Judaism,
and prided himself in his legal purity, feel the
necessity of embracing evangelical righteous
ness; and when Christ therefore came to his
own, — to those who were specially invited by a
preparatory religion, to expect him amongst
them, as " a minister of the circumcision for the
truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto
the fathers," — his own received him not — reject
ed that very person, to whom the whole provi
dential scheme of their religion expressly di
rected their view.
V. The last objection adverted to remains to be
examined ; namely, that the evidence here consi-

the Authority of Scripture. 259
dered has a tendency to impugn the paramount
authority of the scriptures, as a code of instruc
tion, from which there is no appeal, and whose
guidance we must implicitly follow.
It is very possible, that the application of this
evidence to the elucidation of scriptural truth
may be abused. Not to dwell upon the extreme
case of those who have interpreted Christianity
by the theories of an hypothetical philosophy*,—
* " Eodem etiam spectant (Ucet diverso modo) eorum com-
mentationes, qui veritatem Christianse reUgionis ex principiis
et auctoritatibus phUosophorum deducere et confirmare hand
veriti sunt ; fidei et sensus conjugium tanquam legitimum
miUta pompa et solennitate celebrantes, et grata rerum varie-
tate animos hominum permulcentes ; sed interim divina hu-
manisj imparl conditione, permiscentes." Nov. Org. Lib. i.
Aph. 89.
With these strictures on the injurious appUcation of phUo
sophy to Christianity, should be joined the foUowing passage
of the same author, setting forth the value of a faithful investi
gation of nature, in order to religious knowledge. — By natural
philosophy, it must be remembered. Bacon intends to express
the principles of aU science, as it is, according to him, " magna
scientiarum mater."
" At vere rem reputanti, phUosophia naturalis, post verbum
s 2

260 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
for such interpreters of the scriptures have no
concern with the argument drawn from the ana
logy of nature, — there may be some who carry
their philosophizing spirit so far, as to receive
nothing, as part of revealed truth, to Avhich they
cannot find actual confirmation from some fact
of nature. Thus they may proceed, not only to
curtail the scriptures of several of the doctrines
contained in them, but to limit and diminish
those doctrines which they do accept, upon the
principle of bringing scriptural truth to a more
philosophical standard. Those who thus handle
the evidence obtained from the facts of nature,
proceedindeedon juster grounds, when compared
with the Platonist and the Scholastic theologian ;
but by their abuse of those grounds, they render
their application of the evidence no less hypo-
Dei, certissima superstitionis medicina est ; eademque proba-
tissimum fidei aUmentum. Itaque merito reUgioni donatur
tanquam fidissima anciUa : cum altera voluntatem Dei, altera
potestatem manifestet. Neque enim erravit iUe, qui dixit ;
erratis, nescientes scripturas, et potestatem Dei : informatio-
nem de voluntate, et meditationem de potestate, nexu indivi-
duo" commiscens et copulans." Nov. Org. Lib. i. Aph. 89.

the Authority of Scripture. 261
thetical than the proceeding of the former. It is
mere hypothesis to assume that all the truths of
a supernatural revelation, must be capable of
being inferred by reason from experience, — or to
conclude that any particular doctrine cannot be
true, because we do not see, independently of
scripture, that it may be true. To attempt,
accordingly, to limit and explain away divine
truth by such a mode of reference to the facts
of experience, is not to philosophize rightly con
cerning it. And where we perceive the evi
dence so unfairly applied, we have only to ex
pose the futility of the pretension to its support,
by urging that, whilst we have sufficient data for
ascertaining the natural credibility of some doc
trines, the same data do not authorize us to de
cide on the limits of credibility. — The facts de
veloped by the scriptures and by experience,
being presupposed indeed to be equally taught
by God, and therefore of independent authority
in themselves — to apply the evidence of experi
ence to the purpose of assimilating the two classes
of facts, is contrary to the supposition on which
the inquiry proceeds ; as it is to assume, that a

262 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
supernatural revelation has no independent au
thority. But from such cases of its abuse, let us turn
to consider the effect which the right use of the
evidence has on our faith in the written word. —
The true Christian Philosopher wUl take the
facts of the scriptures, as they are written, with
out any exception, diminution, or alteration
whatever. He will not rashly assume to him
self any liberty as a reader of. God's word, which
the palpable nature of the case precludes his
venturing to assume as an observer of God's
works. As he cannot accordingly bend and
shape the facts of the visible world in con
formity with iany preconceived theory, or as the
capriciousness of fancy may dictate — but must
receive, and believe them, and reason from them,
as they really are, — he wUl in like manner con
sider the truths of the scriptures, as unsuscep
tible of any modification from his own mind —
as facts no less rigid than the phenomena of the
natural world ;— and receive and believe, and
reason from them, as they are written by the

the Authority of Scripture. 263
finger of God. — Hence, while the argument from
the analogy of nature, when rightly employed,
represses idle speculation concerning the truths
of religion beyond the actual evidence of ex
perience, it does not afford any just pretext to
the theologian, for limiting, or varying, any ex
press intimation of holy writ, so as to accommo
date it to that morbid fastidiousness of taste,
with which some persons regard every thing be
longing to supernatural revelation. It does not
send him to the natural world to learn a rational
interpretation ofthe scriptures,' — or to the scrip
tures to acquire elementary truths of theology,
which philosophy may afterwards carry forward
and perfect : — but, on the contrary, to the na
tural Avorld for the elements of Divine Science, —
to the scriptures for its ultimate and subHmest
truths;— to the study ofthe unwritten word of
God, that he may have a more lively perception
of the written word, as it is written.
The difference between the argument from
the analogy of nature, and that which is founded
on the reasonableness of revealed truths, has

264 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
been noticed in an early part of this Essay ; but
some further observations on this point seem to
be required here, in order to acquit the argu
ment from analogy, of that charge of encroach
ment upon the authority of scripture, which it
may incur from being confounded with the latter.
Now the credibility of Christianity as a collec
tion of facts is totally distinct from its reason
ableness as a system of religious truths. On the
whole indeed, if its particular facts be credible,
the general credibility resulting from thence
establishes the reasonableness of the religion. It
is shewn to be such as reason ought to accept.
But when we speak of the reasonableness of our
reHgion, we mean more particularly to assert
that it is such as is capable of being established
upon the principles of liberty and moral fitness.
Whereas its credibility is not at all dependent
upon its accordance with these principles, but
rests simply on its apparent truth as a matter
of fact. It may be credible and yet ap
parently repugnant to these principles ; for the
simple observation of similar facts in the course
of the world is all that is required, in order to

the Authority of Scripture. 265
its credibility : — but such an observation tells us
nothing respecting the nature of the religious
facts, and leaves any difficulty belonging to
them from abstract considerations of their na
ture altogether untouched *. It may again be
exhibited in accordance with the principles of
liberty and moral fitness, and thus be perfectly
reasonable and yet appear naturally incredible —
for, whilst we abstractedly argue its truth,
we only prove that it ought to be believed; we
produce no outward signs of its truth, — and the
non-appearance of any such signs leaves the
truth, however cogently inferred, in all its na
tural incredibUity. The difference, in short, be
tween the two lines of argument, lies in this
point. — When we argue the credibility of Chris-
* It is not only in reUgion, but in other subjects also, that
the reasonableness and credibiUty of a fact may be opposed to
each other : — a strong instance to this effect, is the omission
by the ancient Persians of parricide in their Ust of crimes, on
the principle that it was not in the reason of the thing (oi
\yap In ipaa-i oixof Ewai) that a father should die by the hand of
his own son, but that, in an apparent case of such a murder, it
Vould be found that the supposed child was not the real off
spring of the deceased. Herodotus, Clio, 137-

266 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
tianity, we shew its probable truth without, or
independently of, the reason of it. — When we
argue its reasonableness, we infer its probable
truth by the reason of it.
Both arguments thus terminate in probabUity ;
but it is a probability of a different kind which
properly belongs to each. Conclusions in fa
vour of the natural credibility of scripture truths
are of that kind of probability which is express
ed more appropriately by likelihood: whereas,
those which enforce the reasonableness of scrip
ture truths are probable, according to the pro
per sense of that term — such as, when contem
plated in themselves, are capable of being re
solved into principles which the understanding
approves, or are deducible from estabUshed
theories*, or are the logical consequences of
presupposed facts.
* The difference between the two arguments is that which
Aristotle has pointed out, as existing between eixo; and a-riji.i'ioy.
Arguments drawn from Ei'xoTa have nothing of the nature of
evidence in them ; whereas those which are drawn from o-njHEia
appeal to matter of fact, and are evidences more or less con
clusive, according to the nature of the facts adduced: (a-yi/^cioi
S\ /3oi/AETai Eivai ir^aTas-i? awoJeixTixi, riJuayxaia, ri E»5o|of), tha;

the Authority of Scripture. 267
To give examples of this difference of the
grounds of probability in regard to the same
species of them which he denominates tex^jj^ioh being unan
swerable proof. It is probable that a person has committed
murder, whether we argue from his passionate temper, or from
his being discovered with blood on his clothes : — but in the
first instance we argue from an eixo; ; we do not pretend to
offer a proof of the charge, but a reason, or ground of opinion,
that such a charge may be true ; — in the last instance we ar
gue from a crnfttioy ; we produce some fact as connected with
the event in question, and conclude the event to be esta
blished according to the apparent connexion between the fact
produced and the event in question. — Thus, Bacon in speak
ing of the defects of the old philosophy, first adduces the signs
of its imperfection — such as the people among whom, and the
age in which, it originated — the little fruits which it had
produced, &c. ; and then proceeds to the causes, or reasons, of
that imperfection — such as the shortness of the period out of
the past ages propitious to the advancement of science — the
comparative neglect of natural phUosophy, &c. — So, also, a re
velation is probable, whether we argue from the insufficiency
of natural light — or the goodness of God, — or the moraUty of
it,^-or the candour, patient endurance, &c. of its professed
messengers — aU which circumstances are EixoVa or grounds of
opinion concerning the truth of the revelation : — or, on the
other hand, it is probable if we argue from the previous re
velation of God in the natural world, as containing o-ij^Eia of

268 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
doctrine of scripture. — A future retribution may
be argued; either from those facts of nature, pre-
its truth, or facts which, as far as they go, demonstrate, or
rather indicate, the truth of it. See Analyt. Prior. II. Ch.
XXIX. p. 425, and Rhet. 1. 2.
Mr. Blanco White, in his " Practical and Internal Evi
dence against Catholicism ", has very clearly stated the
difference between the two" kinds of probable arguments.
"Now, the fact is", he observes, "that probable and likely,
though used as synonymous in common language, are perfectly
distinct in phUosophy. The probable is that for the reaUty
of which we can aUege some reason ; the likely, that which
bears in its face a semblance or analogy to what is classed in
our minds under the predicament of existence." To which
the foUowing remarks are subjoined in a note : " Likely is the
adjective of the phrase, like the truth, simile vero. It is strange
that -the English language should not possess a substantive
answering to le vraisemblable. The use of improbable to de
note what in that language is meant by invraisemblable is
incorrect. When the French critics reject some indubitable
historical facts from the stage, because they want vraisem-
blance (Ukelihood), they do not mean to say that they are im
probable, or deficient in proof of their reaUty ; but that the
imagination finds them unlike to what in the common opinion
is held to be the usual course of events."
Historical facts, however, it should be remarked, as such,
are neither probable nor likely. They are simply either true

the Authority of Scripture. 269
viously adduced in examining into the justness
of the analogy stated between this doctrine and
or false ; as matters of experience are simply real or unreal.
Aristotle, accordingly, does not Umit the imitation of the poet
to the description of those actions only which have likeUhood
in them, but only requires, generaUy, that the actions repre
sented should be probable. It is the part of the philosophical
historian to exhibit the facts which he relates, in their probable
light. But such a speculation does not belong to him pro
perly as an historian, in which capacity he only relates true
or false particulars. Aio xa) (PAoo-o^wte^ov xa) a-irov^aioTs^oy
vroificnz i£7T0pl«S saTiy.
The application moreover of a common term to, both kinds
of probabiUty is not peculiar to the English language, for
we find that even in the Greek the distinction adverted to by
Aristotle between eixo; and o-ij^eioj is not observed in general,
but Eixo; is employed to designate any probable argument,
whether derived from fact or from the reason of the thing ; —
and sometimes the characteristic expressions of each kind are
joined together, as in the phrase "¦jrii^ia-Bai toT^ clxoa-i tsx^jj^joij. '
Euseb. Dem. Ev. p. 133. Aristotle himself uses £<xo; in this
common sense, where he speaks of the events which are the
proper subjects of the poet's art, as being ola ay yiyoiTo, xaTo.
TO Etxo; ri TO ayayxaXoy : adding, that even though the poetshould
introduce real events, he would not be less the poet on that
account, since some real events may be such ola av eixo; yiyio-^ah.
Poetic. Buhle, 219.

270 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
the facts of nature*; or from reasons, which
would satisfactorily account for it, — derived
from the nature of virtue, and our notions of the
Divine attributes ; combined with the fact, that
these reasons do not take effect in the present
life. — By the first mode of argument we pass
on immediately from an evident sign, to that of
which it appears to be a sign — from what ap
pears, either the commencement, or part, of an
event, or in some way connected with an event,
to the same event in its complete and perfect
form. We do not resort to any recondite con
siderations, beyond those immediately suggested
to us by an accurate and comprehensive survey
of the facts themselves, on which our inference
of the future fact is founded. — But to argue to
the doctrine in the latter way, we must enter into
abstract disquisition into the nature of vir
tue, and shew its necessary connexion with hap
piness — and, as it evidently does not attain that
end in this life which properly belongs to it, we
may then conclude, that there must be another
state in which that end wUl be fully accom-
« Page 80, &c.

the Authority of Scripture. 27I
plished. Or, assuming, the divine attributes as
the ground of our argument, we may infer, that
those who endeavour to conform themselves to
the divine perfections, must, at some period or
other, be rewarded by a God of infinite wisdom,
goodness, and power, and, as the reward is not
dispensed on this side of the grave, it must be
reserved, in a state after death, for the holy and
obedient. And, in like manner, we should draw
opposite conclusions as to the ultimate end and
recompense of vice.
Sometimes, indeed, we find an attempt made
by writers to add to the evidence of a fact, by
an appeal to the mode of its existence ; and
thus to exhibit an analogical conclusion as cre
dible, from its agreement in the reason of it
with the reason of the fact from which it is
deduced : — as when Clarke introduces, after
Origen*, a probable account of the. resurrection
* The passage of Origen referred to by Clarke is the foUowing :
" 'H|CiET{ jHEV oily oi (paj/Ay to diaipGajEi' auj^a Ivayi^^ta^ai tit; Tm
e| apv^S (pvaty, ws o^oe Toy Sia^^a^zyTa xoxxoy tou o-iTOv ETra^E^^ecr-
Bai £»S Toy Koxxoy ToS u'iTov f<.iyoj/.(y yao ualtt^ E9r( To2 xoxxov tow
o-iTou lyii^irai a-ra}(vi;f ovTu Aoyo? t»s Eyx£(T«i Ta o'Uj/.aTi, ap 01/

272 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
of the body into the Ulustration of it from
nature, given in that passage of scripture, where
fxi (pBii^Ojjisyov lyti^tTai To trufia h a^Ba^tria. Contra Celsum,
Lib. V. p. 246. Ed. Spenc.
Origen, it wiU be perceived, simply says, that a principle of
preservation inheres in the body. Clarke however refines
upon this explanation, observing, " It may also be supposed
otherwise, not without good probability, that in Uke manner,
as in every grain of corn there is contained a minute insensible
seminal principle, which is itself the entire future blade and
ear, and in due season, when aU the rest of the grain is cor
rupted, evolves and unfolds itself visibly into that form ; so
our present mortal and corruptible body may be but the exu-
vice, as it were, of some hidden, and at present insensible
principle (possibly the present seat of the soul), which at the
resurrection shaU discover itself in its proper form." Clarke's
Evidences of Natural and Revealed ReUgion, p. 206.
It is curious to observe, in this instance, the coincidence of
argument between a defender of scripture indulging too freely
in speculation, and a professed infidel. The objection of the
infidel Paine — " that which thou sowest is not quickened ex
cept it die jiot" — is equivalent to this explanation of the
fact of the resurrection advanced by Clarke : and it is strange
therefore that Bishop Watson should have quoted this very
passage from Clarke, expressing indeed at the same time his
dissent from it, in reply to the absurd cavil of Paine. See
Bishop Watson's Apology for the Bible, p. 360.

the Authority of Scripture. 273
Saint Paul refers the sceptical inquirer concern
ing the resurrection of the dead, to the parallel
instance of — the corruption of the seed soAvn,
preceding its being quickened in the form of a
plant. This is to weaken in reality the evidence
obtained from the natural fact; as it is committed,
in some measure, on the truth of the speculation
associated with it ; and the unsatisfactoriness of
the explanation superadded excites a suspicion
against the validity ofthe proper conclusion from
the mere fact itself. The speculation here ad
vanced, moreover, if just, would altogether de
stroy the iUustration itself, with which it is con
joined ; since the evident fact of — a decay, and
a consequent restoration in nature — is what is
required for the argument, in favour of the re
surrection of the body, here employed : but, in
stead of our attention being fixed exclusively on
this point, it is diverted, by an explanation ob
truded on it, to the consideration of a supposed
subsisting principle of preservation. — Still, we
may discern a reason of a fact from which an
analogical argument is deduced, and employ
that reason in establishing the proof from the

274 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
fact ; so that the argument may involve, in the
prosecution of it, both kinds of probability, and
yet only indicate a likelihood in its result or ap
plication to the question in hand. Butler, for
example, shews, by reasoning from the constitu
tion of our nature, that virtuous habits are re
quisite to us, as finite beings endued with various
propensities, in order to the perfection and se
curity of our moral character; whilst he is point
ing out the fact, as the ground of his argument,
thatthe character of man is formed in the course
of nature by the discipline of habits. Had
Clarke, in like manner, brought some reason to
shew, that a process of corruption might be a
necessary stage, through which it is appointed
that natural things should arrive at their per
fect condition, — he would then only have con
firmed his conclusion, by asserting the reason
ableness of the fact on which his conclusion is
founded. But whilst both arguments may be brought
into the service of Christianity, we proceed on
much safer ground, when we appeal to real mat
ter of fact, however inexplicable to us, in con-

the Authority of Scripture. 275
firmation of its truth, than when we draw our
proofs from the reason of the thing. In the first
case, we produce our evidence for the truths on
which we insist, and it is of that palpable kind
that it cannot be rejected. In the latter case,
we produce considerations founded on abstract
principles, which are open to the denial of our
opponents in argument. No one, for instance,
whatever his speculative opinions may be, can
deny that there are signs of a moral administra
tion in the course of the world. But the advo
cate of the doctrine of necessity, or the philo
sopher who denies the fundamental existence of
right and wrong as elementary principles to
which all actions must be referred, is fortified
against the conviction resulting from the notions
of liberty and moral fitness.
It is not, however, to the more imperative na
ture of the argument drawn from the analogy
of the natural world, but to its sober and
cautious mode of proceeding, as distinguished
from all speculations concerning the reasonable
ness of religious doctrines, that our observation
must chiefly be directed, if we would remove
T 2

276 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
from it the imputation of infringing upon the
scriptural authority.
In forming an opinion concerning the reason
ableness of any particular doctrine of religion,
it is necessary to keep a constant check upon
ourselves, lest we deviate into presumptuous
speculation, and make theology the pastime, in
stead of its being the discipline, of the intellect.
We have need to restrain the extravagances of
curiosity by every barrier which a proper diffi
dence in our own conclusions can interpose.
Here particularly applies that saying of Bacon :
— " hominum intellectui non plumse addendse,
sed plumbum potius et pondera; ut cohibeant
omnem saltum et volatum ". How apt are we
peremptorily to pronounce, that this or that doc
trine of religion is inconsistent with Divine wis
dom, or goodness, or with both, because yve can
not reconcile it with our notions of those attri
butes, or make it appear to follow as a conse
quence of these notions; when perhaps, for aught
we know, the doctrine so objected against, is
an instance of the display of the very attribute
to which it seems repugnant, and would appear

the Authority of Scripture. 277
strictly to follow from it, if we could only enlarge
and correct our notion of it. Or even when we
argue with the most pious intention of vindi
cating a doctrine of religion, as it is in the scrip
tures, — as in shewing the reasonableness of the
doctrine of retribution ; — may we not be too
rashly concluding, that more is required to jus
tify the providence of God, than God has willed
to manifest of Himself; since what appears to
us an imperfect distribution of rewards and pu
nishments, may be nothing more than an imper
fect evidence of the Divine attributes, suited to
our present faculties and present condition of
being? And how great is the danger, conse
quently, which we incur in the use of such an
argument, of reducing the scripture-revelation
to the faUible standard of human reason, and,
whilst we impotently endeavour to make every
thing in it appear reasonable, of enervating that
authority on which our faith should implicitly
repose? But it is not so with regard to the argument
from analogy. The form, indeed, of the argu
ment is necessarily speculative, because, in order

278 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
to apply our experience as a test of revealed
truth, we are obHged to generalize our observa
tions, and reason from them, as from general
principles, to the particular facts which may be
contained in an authentic revelation, — since it
then foUows, that, if such facts be contained
in any given revelation, it may be said to
exhibit a general identity of truth, as compared
with the works of God : which identity is the
bond of connexion, and proof of the identity of
authorship, to the revelation in question, and the
course of nature. But it is not speculative in
its spirit and tendency *. By its very nature it
* " But if ourphUosophers have had Uttle success in search
ing for recondite senses of scripture, their mistakes are more
shameful and more dangerous, when they presume to judge of
the divine economy ; when they determine a revealed dispen
sation to be credible, or not, from preconceived notions of
fitness and propriety, of justice and impartiaUty, which they
boldly apply to the government of the Supreme Being. He
.cannot, they teU us, act in this manner ; it would be contrary
to his wisdom : nor in that ; it would be inconsistent with his
justice : one kind of degree of happiness he must be disposed
to grant ; another his creatures have a right to demand. But,
whilst they throw out these peremptory assertions, not war-

the Authority of Scripture. 279
represses curiosity, and silences the dogmatism
of arrogant speculation. Instead of ministering
to the pride of the human understanding, by
proposing the doctrines of religion to the appro-
ranted by the observable course of God's moral government,
nor by any known declarations of his wiU, they shew them
selves to be unacquainted with the fundamental rule of their
own science, and with the origin of all its late improvements.
They argue Uke men who Uved two centuries ago, inattentive
to the difference between hypothesis and experiment. If, from
a supposed character of the Deity, they undertake to derive
his acts, and to trace the order of his Providence ; however
ingeniously the system may be formed, and by whatever de
monstrations the several parts of it may be connected; yet
the whole, having no foundation, but a precarious and arbi
trary hypothesis, is easUy overthrown. True phUosophy would
have taught them to proceed the other way: to begin with ob
serving the present constitution of the world ; with consider
ing attentively, how God has made us, and in what circum
stances placed us ; and then to form a sure judgment, from
what He has done, what it is agreeable to infinite wisdom, and
the other divine perfections, that He should do. They might
thus have learned the invisible things of God, from those
which are clearly seen ; the things which are not yet accom
pUshed, from those which are." PoweU's Discourses, Charge
III. p. 342.

280 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
bation or disapprobation of reason — it humbles
reason to an acknowledgment of them in their
own mysterious character, by simply presenting
their real, indubitable, counterparts in the book
of nature. It sanctions no opinion relative to
the invisible things of God, which is not war
ranted by real experience of the course of His
visible administration. And if our opinions are
only so warranted, it forbids us to question fur
ther. WhUst indeed we view opinions so
formed, in juxta-position with corresponding de
clarations of scripture, we are effectually guarded
against the imputation of a speculative theo
logy. The correspondence itself in which the
whole effect of our conclusions lies, is an answer
to those who would accuse us as mere theorists
in reHgion *-.
* It is only in consequence of a Uke confirmation from an
independent source, that the theory of gravity is justly not
regarded in the Ught of mere theory. Thus Mr. Dugald
Stewart has observed : " In this argument, as weU as in num
berless others which analogy suggests in favour of our future
prospects, the evidence is precisely of the same sort with that
which first encouraged Newton to extend his physical specula-

the Authority of Scripture. 281
How sacredly the authority of the scriptures
is preserved in the just prosecution ofthe argu
ment from analogy, must appear to every atten
tive reader of Bishop Butler's admirable work.
There is nothing which this great master of di
vine philosophy more condemns, than an in
trusive spirit of speculation on religion from pre
conceived notions of the divine character. He ,
continually insists upon the fact of our igno
rance, by nature, of the ways of God, and the
consequent necessity of our attending to those
tions beyond the limits of the earth. The sole difference is,
that he had an opportunity of verifying the results of his
conjectures by an appeal to sensible facts : but this accidental
circumstance (although it certainly affords pecuUar satisfaction
and conviction to the astronomer's mind) does not affect the
grounds on which the conjecture was originally formed, and
only furnishes an experimental proof of the justness of the
principles on which it proceeded. Were it not, however, for
the palpable confirmation thus obtained of the theory of gra
vity, it would be difficult to vindicate against the charge of
presumption, the mathematical accuracy with which the New
tonians pretend to compute the motions, distances, and mag
nitudes of- worlds, apparently so far removed beyond the ex
amination of our faculties." Elements of the PhUosophy of
the Human Mind, Vol. II. p. 422, 8vo.

282 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
means of information, which are spread before
us, whether in the scriptures, or the book of na
ture. His is the true spirit of the philosophy of
Bacon applied to theology. For he calls upon
us to abandon our theories, — to curb our ima
ginations, — to lay aside our prejudices, — and to
come, as athletes, bared for the conflict of severe
inquiry into the truth, to the consideration of
what the constitution of nature in fact is, — and
accordingly to accept the conclusions to which
such an inquiry may lead us, however repugnant
to our antecedent Adews, — however unacceptable
to speculative reason. Thus, he blames those
who would form their estimate of religion, from
conceiving the character of the Deity to be that
of absolute benevolence : whereas the Divine
Goodness, with which we are apt to " make very
free in our speculations, may not be a bare single
disposition to produce happiness, but a dispo
sition to make only the good, the faithful, the
honest man, Happy " * : — and in the instance of
* Analogy, Part I. Chap. ii. p. 47-
" It is to be considered that Providence in its economy re
gards the whole system of time and things together, so that

the Authority of Scripture. 283
the doctrine of necessity, he points out the ne
cessary existence of some fallacy in concluding
against religion from that opinion,— shewing, by
an appeal to the course of nature, that religion
may be true, notwithstanding the opinion of
necessity were true, and consequently demon
strating the futility of the opinion. — The practi
cal object indeed of the whole work is, to incul
cate on us the duty of receiving with meekness
the engrafted word, — of girding ourselves with
that sword ofthe Spirit, which alone is of temper
we cannot discover the beautiful connexions between incidents
which Ue widely separated in time ; and by losing so many
Unks of the chain, our reasonings become broken and imper
fect. Thus, those parts of the moral world, which have not an
absolute, may yet have a relative beauty, in respect of some
other parts concealed from us, but open to His eye, before whom
'past', present, and 'to come', are set together in one point of
view : and those events, the permission of which seems now to
accuse His goodness, may in the consummation of things both
magnify His goodness and exalt His wisdom. And this is
enough to check our presumption, since it is in vain to apply
our measures of regularity to matters, of which we know
neither the antecedents nor the consequents, the beginning nor
the end." Spectator, No. 237.

284 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
proof against the temptations, and difficulties,
which beset the path of the religious inquirer ;
instead of vainly encumbering ourselves with
the heavy armour of human reasonings. It pre
tends not to give a rationalized view of scrip
tural truths, though it proves unanswerably that
the religion involved in the literal acceptance of
those truths is a reasonable service*. The
learning with which it would imbue the disciple
of Christ, is that learned at the feet of Prophets,
and Apostles, and Evangelists. The wisdom
which it recommends and enforces, is that which
has the fear of the Lord for its beginning —
which soars aloft on the wings of prayer — and
not that which unprofitably attempts to scale the
heavens by steps of argumentation t.
* See particularly " The Analogy", Part II. Chap. viii.
the paragraph beginning with — " The design of this treatise is
not to vindicate the character of God", &c. p. 389 — 393.
t How misplaced consequently is the sarcasm of BoUng-
broke against this immortal work, as if it were to be classed
amongst the reveries of speculative theologians ! — " She, Qhe
Queen,] studies with much appUcation ' The Analogy of Re
vealed ReUgion to the Constitution and Course of Nature.'
She understands the whole argument perfectly, and concludes

the Authority of Scripture. 285
It deserves also to be noticed, with what scru-
pulous care Bishop Butler abstains from the in
troduction of discussion purely speculative into
the argument of his work. The controversy
respecting the identity of the divine attributes,
as to their nature, with the human qualities of
the same names, had arisen before the publica
tion of his "Analogy"*: and yet we find an
with the right reverend author, that it is not ' so clear a case
that there is nothing in revealed religion.' Such royal, such
lucrative encouragement, must needs keep both metaphysics
and the sublimest theology in credit"; &c. BoUngbroke's
PhUosophical Works, Vol. I. p. 123, 8vo, 1754.
* Bishop Butler presented his "Analogy" to the Queen in
1736. Archbishop King's " Sermon on Predestination ",
which was the occasion of the controversy here aUuded to, was
pubUshed in 1709. The questioii, however, had been first
raised by Dr. Peter Browne, Bishop of Cork, in a Letter pub
Ushed by him in answer to Toland's " Christianity not Mys
terious", about ten years before the Archbishop's sermon. But
this Letter, being directed against the impugners of Christian
mysteries, did not, it seems, awaken any controversy within
the Church of England. It was the Archbishop's appUcation
of Bishop Browne's principles to the purpose of repressing
the dogmatism of the Calvinist, together, with some incau
tious statements which he had admitted in his argument, that

286 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
entire abstinence from it in the work. To have
entered into it would have been tb have de-
Adated fi:om the sound practical method of his
treatise, into a speculation remote from the in
terests of human life. The outward operations
of the Divine attributes, or their evident effects
in nature, are the points about which his argu
ment is concerned ; and the conclusions which
he deduces from these effects, are independent
of any theory concerning the Divine attributes
abstractedly considered. To have implicated, on
the contrary, any abstract opinion concerning
them with his induction of observed facts, would
have been to have argued from abstract notions,
and not exclusively from facts. Consistently with
this adherence to matter of fact as the ground
of his argument, he has detached the disserta
tions, on Personal Identity, and on the Nature
of Virtue, from " The Analogy", in which they
brought the question prominently into discussion. Bishop
Browne then resumed the subject in two .treatises, which he
successively pubUshed : " Procedure, &c. of Human Under
standing", m 1729, 2d Ed. : and " Things Divine and Super
natural Conceived by Analogy, &c.'' in 1733.

the Authority of Scripture. 287
had been originally inserted, and left them to be
considered as independent discussions. So also
he has avoided all inquiry into the imma
teriality of the soul, or into the nature of hu
man liberty.
It cannot then be truly asserted that to attri
bute real weight to the evidence of analogy in
accrediting our religion, exalts the authority of
reason to a rivalry with that of the scriptures.
Nay, the evidence itself compelling reason to be
a learner in the school of nature, and to collect
with patient and docile attention her faithful in
formation, — how much more must it suggest to
reason, the necessity of a devout submission to
the authoritative word of the scriptures — those
very instructors, to whose divine origination,
and ampler fund of divine knowledge, it bears
testimony ?
Much, indeed, of that misconception which
has arisen concerning what are called the distinct
provinces of reason and faith, would have been
avoided, had that faUacy been commonly guard-

288 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
ed against, which is involved in the use of the
word reason, to denote, at once, the knowledge
naturally acquired by the mind, and the faculties,
or principles, of the mind, by which it is ac
quired. We are apt, when we speak of any
truth as a truth of reason, to impose on our
selves by a tacit belief^ that it is a truth which is
taught by reason. Whereas, in reality, "it is
not reason, but experience which teaches us."
The mere exercise of the faculties can teach us
nothing. They may be employed indeed on
themselves alone, and need no external objects,
in such a case, as their material of instruction ;
but even then, it is from inward observation, or
experience of themselves as distinct, in respect
of their existence, from ' their mere exercise,
that they learn the truths relative to themselves.
A truth then becomes a truth of human reason,
when the evidence of it is simply perceived by
the mind ; whose reason is thus informed, en
lightened, and improved, as the recipient, and
not the vehicle of knowledge. If we were always
careful to preserve this distinction between our
knowledge, and the faculties whereby we are

the Authority of Scripture. 289
made capable of it, we should not need to dis
tinguish between the respective portions of our
knowledge, by saying, that this truth belongs to
reason, and that to faith. For it would then ap
pear, that what we learn by supernatural revela
tion, and what we know naturally, are in the same
sense truths of reason — truths, which reason ac
cepts on the perception of their evidence. — 'Thus
where Locke, contrasting reason and revelation,
observes ; " Reason is natural revelation, where
by the eternal Father of light and Fountain of all
knowledge, communicates to mankind that por
tion of truth which he has laid within the reach
of their natural faculties : revelation is natural
reason enlarged by a new set of discoveries com
municated by God immediately, which reason
vouches the truth of, by the testimony and
proofs it gives that they come from God," * &c.
: — not to dwell on the looseness with which the
terms reason and revelation are here employed t, —
* " Essay on Human Understanding", B. IV. Ch. xix. § 4.
He proceeds to contrast them, as the eye and a telescope.
¦t There is a similar confusion in the following remarks of
U

290 Objection to the Evidence as impairing
it would have been more correct to have stated
the same thing in substance thus ; that nature
Hume. " Our most holy religion is founded on faith, not on
reason . . . . " Of Miracles, Essays, Vol. II. p. 146.
" Divinity or theology, as it proves the existence of a Deity,
and the immortality of souls, is composed partly of reasonings
concerning particular, partly concerning general, facts. It has
a foundation in reason, so far as it is supported by experience.
But its best and most solid foundation is faith and divine re
velation.'' Acad, or Seep. Philosophy, Vol. II. p. 183.
So also Clarke fallaciously contrasts reason and revelation,
by representing that, to imagine them " at variance with each
other, is the like absurdity, as supposing the eye to see con
trary to what the ear hears, or that God should make one sense
or faculty to contradict another." Clarke's Serm. on 1 Cor. i.
22, 23, 24. Works, folio. Vol. I. p. 501.
It must at the same time be admitted that it is the practice
of the best theological writers to speak of reason and revela
tion, or reason and faith, as forming the two leading divisions
of human knowledge, — understanding by reason aU those
truths which are obtained by the exercise of our natural facul
ties, and by revelation, or faith, aU that is communicated to
us by express message of God. It is not intended then, to
object against such an employment of the terms, but merely
to express a caution against the faUacy involved in an appro
priation of them which use has estabUshed.

the Authority of Scripture. 291
and the scripture-revelation were equally the
appointed means of instruction from God, and
that reason was the receiver and interpreter of
both ; the facts of both with their proper evi
dences being submitted to its assent, — and the
assent consequently to a scriptural truth, how
ever remote that truth may be from probabiHty,
being as reasonable, where the proper evidence
of it is discerned, as an assent to the most com
mon fact of experience *.
Ahd here we may observe, the essential dif
ference between the philosophy of Christianity
and all other sciences. It is not to be sought
exclusively in the system of the religion itself t,
* See Bishop Taylor's "Ductor Dubitantium", Book I.
Ch. II. Rule 3. 20. Works, Vol. XI. p. 439—442.
+ It is to such exclusive research into theological truth that
the remark of the infidel, stigmatizing theology as a false
science, justly applies. " La superstition dominante epaissis-
soit les tenebres. Avec des sophismes, et de la subtilite, elle
fondoit cette fausse science, qu'on appelle thkologie, dont eUe
occupoit les hommes aux depens des vraies connoissances."
Raynal. " Histoire Philosophique et PoUtique," &c. Tome I.
p. 9.
u 2

292 Distinction ofthe Philosophy of
but in a comprehensive view of both dispensa
tions of God — the natural and the scriptural —
taken together as correlative parts of one great
system of divine instruction. PhUosophy, then,
when applied to religion, consists in the accu
rate generalization of particular instances of
theological truth communicated to us by an au
thentic express revelation from God ; so as to
exhibit them in theii; points of coincidence with
the facts of nature. It is, on the other hand,
the reduction of facts of the same kind to some
single principle, which constitutes the business
of all merely human philosophy. The logician,
for example, is occupied, in developing the
theory of reasoning, shewing how all particular
arguments are reducible to the principle of the
syllogism : the natural philosopher, in explaining
the phenomena of motion by the law of gravi
tation : the moral philosopher, in asserting some
theory of our moral sentiments, referring them
either to the principle of conscience, or pru
dence, or propriety, or sympathy, &c.
We may not, indeed, be able in many depart
ments of nature, to arrive at any single principle.

Christianity from other Sciences. 293
so as to solve by it all the phenomena in them.
All motion may not proceed from one physical
cause. The principle of magnetism may be es
sentially different from that of gravity. StUl it
may be maintained, that the effort of the mind
is to devise some one comprehensive theory by
which all phenomena of one kind may be united ;
and that, where it fails in obtaining such a theory,
it loses the full satisfaction of philosophy. It
only acquiesces in any result short of this, as an
approximation to the point which it desires to
reach. The pursuit of such a result appears to
be necessarily implied in those two fundamental
rules of philosophy ; " that not more causes of
natural things be admitted than are both true,
and suffice for the explication of their pheno
mena" : and, " that of natural effects of the
same kind, the same causes be assigned as far
as is possible."
The philosophy which the labourers in the
field of human science pursue is, accordingly,
an investigation of ultimate principles, — they en
deavour, not only to trace connecting principles
among the events of nature, but to simplify to

294 Distinction of the Philosophy of
the utmost the discerned connexions between
physical events. But in divine philosophy we
must repress this endeavour after simplification.
We must be content to hold all the truths which
are the subjects of it, as ultimate principles.
For we know nothing of them beyond them
selves, as a collection of attested facts present
ed simultaneously to our contemplation. We
have no knowledge of them as antecedents and
consequences, as we have of the facts of na
ture ; and therefore, as our only mode of judg
ing of the existence of necessary connexion
faUs us in regard to them, we have no reason
to suppose, that any one truth of scripture is
the grand antecedent of the rest, or the master
principle by which the whole congeries of scrip
ture-truths may be combined. Indeed, the ab
surdity of attempting so to combine them, is
demonstrated by the erroneous views of Chris
tian doctrine to which every such attempt in
variably leads. For instance, if we assume the
divine predestination as the great principle of
our theological system, we expose ourselves to
the absurdity of denying that God has bestowed

Christianity from other Sciences. 295
the gift of a perfect free-wUl on man ; — and we
destroy the moral force of God's promises set
forth in scripture, — and the efficacy of prayer ;-—
and, in short, we disparage the whole revelation of
Christianity, by subordinating it to an abstruse
metaphysical tenet*: — if we assume the Divine
benevolence as our principle, we perplex our
selves Avith difficulties concerning the punish
ments actually inflicted on men in this world, or
threatened in scripture : — if, again, we assume
the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit as the
principle, we impugn that law of Providence
which assigns reward and punishment to every
man according to his works, and weaken the as
cription of our salvation to the atoning efficacy
of the Redeemer's blood t: — if, lastly, we as-
* It is not strange therefore, that Calvin should have been
caUed upon to defend himself against a charge of Arianism,
and that his doctrines should have been suspected of an Uni
tarian tendency. See Dr. Miller's " Observations on the Doc
trines of Christianity in Reference to Arianism," p. 131, 150.
t Wesley carried his notion of the practical hoUness im
plied in sanctification so far, as even to profess " to regard the
atonement of Christ, as at length necessary only for procuring

296 Distinction of the Philosophy of
sume, as our ultimate principle to which every
other doctrine mast bend, the doctrine of justi
fication by the merits of Christ, we incur the
danger of Antinomianism ; and we impair, in
our exclusive zeal for the honour of God the
Son, the integrity of the doctrine of the Trinity ;
overlooking the equal importance of the rela
tions which we bear also to God the Father,
and God the Holy Ghost*. These instances
pardon of erroneous opinion occasioning erroneous practice ;
the true believer becoming, in process of time, incapable of
committing any more grievous offences." Id. p. 142.
The doctrine of imputed righteousness has a simUar ten-
dency. Here we may observe a theory of the mode in which
the benefit of the atonement operates, introduced to the de
struction, not only of other doctrines of scripture, but even
of that doctrine upon which it attempts to refine — for, the
righteousness of Christ being supposed transferred to man, the
necessity of a continued reUance upon the atonement made for
sin is superseded.
* Is not this, practicaUy, the effect of discourses from the
pulpit which are confined to a reiteration of the doctrine of
the atonement, to the exclusion of the coordinate topics in the
scheme of Christianity ? A beUef in the Trinity may be con
scientiously professed ; but at the same time, if the beUever, in
the cultivation of his reUgious principles, is taught to look

Christianity from other Sciences. 297
may well convince us, that,— however to superior
inteUigences the aggregate of religious doc
trines may appear true, from their agreement
with some one ultimate principle equally per
vading them all, — we can only know them as in
dividual facts connected with each other in one
scheme ; or as instances, for the most part, of
different principles of Divine Providence, which
it belongs not to us to reconcile with each other,
whilst they must be held by us in perfect con
cord*.
to the Second Person alone of the Trinity, he is led to act as
if the whole doctrine were not true.
* And yet, in creeds or articles of reUgion, certain points
may be selected as necessary to be beUeved, without disparage
ment of the integrity of scripture : for here the question is,
what things are necessary to be confessed in order to church
communion; it being impossible, from the nature of the case,
to comprise every point in such formularies. See StilUng-
fleet's Works, Vol. IV. p. 51. foUo; Powell's Discourses,
Charge I. p. 301 ; Balguy's Discourses and Charges, Disc. viii.
Vol. I. p. 113.
The Articles of the Church of England not consisting so
much of affirmations of scripture truth, as of negations of doc
trines unscripturally introduced into the body of the faith ; it is
evident, that their whole drift is, to maintain the exclusive au-

298 Distinction of the Philosophy of
If the integrity of scriptural truth had been
thus scrupulously respected by all expositors of
Christian doctrine ; what a legion of phantom
doctrines, which the spells of an unhallowed in
genuity have called into being, would have been
hushed in silence, and remained unknown in the
nothingness from which they came ? — If every
distinct intimation of scripture had been held as
a distinct principle of theological truth ; and —
however it may have been combined with other
thority of scripture, and not to limit it by selection. Upon the
same principle of excluding heretical opinions as they arose, may
be accounted for, the greater length of the two later creeds com
pared with that caUed the Apostles' Creed. And, though in
the Athanasian it is said, concerning the beUever, that " before
aU things it is necessary that he hold the CathoUc faith" —
which faith it explains to consist in a right notion of the Tri,
nity, — we ought not to suppose that it states one doctrine as
necessary above aU others ; or that certain niceties of discri
mination in our view of a particular doctrine, are essential cri
teria of a saving faith ; — but that the doctrine of a Trinity in
Unity, when disencumbered of its unscriptural additions — as
including all others, or as a comprehensive expression of aU
scripture-truth — is necessarily confessed in the true confession
of Christiaiiity.

Christianity from other Sciences. 299
truths with which it coalesced, yet, where it did
not so coalesce, — had been regarded, as admitting
of no compromise or diminution, in order to re
duce it to greater conformity, but as demanding
to be retained in all its repulsive inconformity ;
there would then have been no occasion for the
invention of hypotheses, to reduce into an ar
bitrary order the various declarations of the sa
cred volume : — but Christians would have im
plicitly followed its dictates ; and, in forming
their system of belief, would have invariably en
larged their theory, so as to embrace all the
facts developed in scripture, instead of cur
tailing the facts to the limits of their theory.
We should not have found some drawing dis
tinctions between doctrines, as necessary and less
necessary, or as speculative and practical, and thus
charging with superfluity the riches of the ora
cles of God: but whUst, in a systematic arrange
ment of the truths revealed, some were assigned
to the foundation of the building, and others to
the superstructure, they would have been care
ful to exhibit the whole edifice of religion, as it
stands in its fair proportions in the scriptures

300 Recapitulation.
themselves ; as scrupulously maintaining the ne
cessity and importance of the superstructure as
of the foundation.
The inquiry, which it was purposed to make,
has now been prosecuted in its several parts.
The grounds on which the philosophical truth
of Christianity may be established, have been
explored and shewn to be valid. For it has
been pointed out, that there must be certain
principles, or laws of the Divine administration,
common to the revelation of God contained in
his works, and that delivered by any authentic
messengers of his word. — The necessary exist
ence of such common principles has been argued,
from the impossibility of communicating to man,
as he is, even by an express revelation, any
knowledge of God essentially different fi-om that
acquired by experience ; and from the necessary
relation which all revealed truth has to human
conduct. — The nature of the credibUity de
rived to a supernatural revelation, from its
coincidence with nature in these common prin
ciples of the Divine administration, was then

Recapitulation. 301
shewn to be, that resulting from the evidence
of analogy : — since, both, from the form in which
the truth expressly revealed is conveyed, and
from the object to which it is peculiarly direct
ed, as contradistinguished from our natural
knowledge, it must differ from the latter, in the
degree in which it evidences these principles ;
and since, analogy is the mode of reasoning
which enables us to estimate an essential agree
ment in truth, under the different modifications
of it produced by difference of circumstances.
— And, as it is essential to a just analogy, that
the difference between the truths which it con
nects, should be only such as may be conceived
to result from the difference of circumstances
;respected in each, — it was further shewn, by
some examples, that the doctrines of Christi
anity may be regarded as identified, with those
modifications of theological truth, which result
from a reference of the general principles in
ferred from experience, to the circumstances
of the invisible world ; or, in other words, are
the true analogies to the course and constitu
tion of nature. — Hence it followed, that parti-

302 Recapitulation.
cular doctrines of Christianity are proved by
this Evidence to be, like known factsj or approxi
mations to the truth ; though not actuaUy veri
fied to their full extent, yet to be rendered cre
dible, as found in the volume of revelation ;
whilst, at the same time, from the confirmation
thus obtained to the theory of the religion, even
such doctrines as do not appear to have any
counterparts in the system of nature, participate
in the light of the Evidence.
From the consideration of the nature of the
credibility obtained from the Evidence to the
doctrines of scripture, we passed on to survey
its importance under the several points of view
which it presents : first, as a speculative ar
gument to the truth of a revelation ; secondly,
as a practical proof; and thirdly, as a ground of
illustration. As a speculative argument — it was shewn to
be demonstratively conclusive only, as a test for
trying the falsehood of a pretended revelation ;
but, in the case of Christianity, to be of peculiar
weight, as an answer to a challenge on the part
of the religion itself, and consequently a proof

Recapitulation. 303
of a coincidence of design, in the structure ofthe
religion, and the constitution of nature ; and,
that though it suggested no direct answer to
particular objections against Christian doctrines,
it removed them entirely as arguments against
the truth of Christianity.
As a practical proof — the Evidence in ques
tion has been pointed out, as demonstrative of
the expediency, practicability, and immediate
personal interest, of the religion which it ac
credits : — since it exhibits the principles of the
religion in actual operation ; and connects what
we are called upon to do, as believers, with our
business in famUiar life.
As a ground of illustration — its value in open
ing the mind to the reception of mysteries, and
in remoAdng vague prejudices, has been deduced ;
first, from the nature of analogy in general ; and
then, from the peculiar force of analogies connect
ing the things invisible with the things of the vi
sible world ; and from that important relation
which this kind of evidence, on the whole, bears
to the essential miraculous testimony — as coun-

304 The Evidence an Appeal
terpoising the natural improbability of a revela
tion by the proof of internal probability.
Lastly, such objections as appeared to mili
tate with the preceding observations, and to
throw suspicion over the application of the Evi
dence, have been considered, and, it is hoped,
have been satisfactorily refuted : — and, at the
same time, the refutation of such objections has
afforded an occasion for distinguishing the Evi
dence obtained to Christianity by this method
of inquiry into its credibility, from arguments
tending to establish the reasonableness of the
religion ; and for assigning to the philosophy of
Christianity its appropriate character.
But, after all that has been urged, the real
worth ofthe Evidence remains to be appreciated
by each person in his own couAdctions, from an
actual application of it. It is an evidence, whose
force cannot be fuUy argued out and placed be
fore the view. It must be felt, in order to be
rightly understood. For, it is the testimony of
the spirit of natural piety pleading the cause of

to the Principles of Human Nature. 305
the great Author, at once of nature, and of the
inspired word, to the heart of man. By those,
who would be acquainted with a series of
beautiful applications of it, and probe its lo
gical accuracy. The Analogy of Bishop Butler
must be diligently revolved : — but stUl, to
obtain that animated sense of the truth of our
religion which this Evidence is capable of af
fording, each person must explore it in the ob
servations of his own experience, and listen to its
dictates in the " still small voice" of conscience.
At the same time let it not be supposed, that it
appeals ultimately to the arbitration of so ca
pricious and fluctuating a thing as mere inward
sensation, which may, or may not, be real and
natural : — the appeal which it makes, (and which
is a sound and immutable criterion of religious
truth,) is to authentic principles of our nature, as
they have been implanted in us by the Creator.
A conclusion drawn from the perfect congruity
of any truth with these principles of our nature,
— with those of the heart as well as those of the
intellect, — (for our whole nature implies no
thing less than this ;) — though the process by

306 The Evidence an Appeal, <^c,
which we arrive at it be imperceptible to us,
and be incapable of being stated in words, is as
sound a logical deduction as one that is formally
obtained from stated premises *. If, then, these
inward principles start as it Avere into life, and
thrUl with the delight of kindred association, on
the perception of religious truths, — there is the
strongest testimony in these genuine emotions,
that the religious truths which awaken them,
are the words of Him who knows what is in
mant, — that the message, which thus fills us
with all joy and peace in believing it— lifting up
our hearts and understanding to God — forcing
us to " confess Him without confession ", and
to adore Him without adoration, — must be in
deed the voice of glad tidings, — the sounds of
" glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
good-wUl towards men." For these principles
of our nature stand as the last beacons, ap- ,
* One of the alternatives of the dUemma proposed by our
Lord to the Jews concerning the baptism of John, was an ap
peal of this kind : — " But if we shaU say, of men ; we fear
the people : for all hold .John as a prophet."
t See Mr. MiUer's Bampton Lectures, Lee. 4, 5, and 6.

The Evidence imperative on the Deist. 307
pointed to bear the immediate intelligence of a
true religion to the mind of man. Miracles,
and prophecies, and all the various argu
ments drawn from collateral considerations, are
but so many successive luminous points of trans
mission. But when these kindle up with bright
ness, they point to the unbroken line through
which the sacred light has been propagated, and
proclaim its authentic derivation from the Fa
ther of Lights himself.
If, now, so powerful an evidence to the truth
of our religion is couched under the circum
stances of the world in which we live, it is not
only against scriptural truth that the infidel is
found to harden his heart, but against the clear
admonitions of the voice of Nature. As our
Lord told the Jews, that, if they " had beHeved
Moses, they would have believed Him, for Moses
wrote of Him" ; — so may it be said to the in
fidel, that, if he believes the instructions con
cerning God which are contained in the na
tural world, he ought to believe the truth of
that supernatural revelation of God, to Avhose
x2

308 The Evidence imperative on the Deist.
authenticity the natural world gives its suffrage.
Otherwise, his only consistent refuge is in
mere speculative theism, or rather in athe
ism. For he must deny the voice of Nature, to
be the voice of God, if he would evade the in
ference necessarily resulting from such an ad
mission ; and thus impugn that very doctrine of
final causes, upon which the proof of the ex
istence of God mainly rests. Since — if he asserts
that a design to instruct cannot be argued from
the evident effects of such a design — there is no
greater reason in any other instance, that design
should be argued from its effects : and thus the
principal ground for supposing an intelligent
Author of the universe would be altogether re
moved. The only argument consequently that
would remain to him, would be that drawn from
metaphysical considerations, which, taken alone,
must by their nature be insufficient to any real
practical belief in a God. God must be dis
cerned as the actual governor of the universe, to
excite in us the sentiments of hope, and fear, and
love towards Him : — and what is a professed be
lief in Him without these sentiments ?

The Evidence a discipline to the Believer. 309
Indeed, the more strongly that any one ad
vocates the excellence of the light of nature,
the more irresistibly is he led by his own con
cession to the lamp of God shining in the scrip
tures. For, to him, to whom the light of nature
shines most vividly, the ways of God in the
world, as far as they are made known by that
light, must appear most conspicuously, unob-
scured by those mists of error through which
the less informed intellect surveys them. And
the person, accordingly, who really feels the
strength of uninspired reason in searching the
deep things of religion, must be excellently dis
posed by nature, for receiving that illumination
from heaven, which finds its chief obstruction in
the prejudices of our earthly imaginations.
The firm believer in Christianity may also
obtain a needful discipline to his mind, in cul
tivating an acquaintance with the philosophical
evidence of his reHgion. 'It is not sufficiently
attended to, in general, that our conviction ofthe
truth of our religion is an improvable talent —
improvable, not by the simple accumulation of

310 The Evidence a discipline to the Believer.
evidence only, but by the exercise and strength
ening of those principles of our nature, by which
the evidence is appreciated. From that cor
ruption, which has spread its canker to the very
Adtals of our reason, we are, naturally, slow to
believe, and incompetent to judge fairly of the
pretensions of a divine revelation. But this
slowness and incompetence may be overcome
by effort on our part ; and the task of thus pre
paring the way of the Lord, is no inconsiderable
part of our religious trial. It may not be in our
power, at any particular period, to estimate the
full force of the evidence with which religion
proposes itself to our belief; but it is always in
our power to cultivate, or neglect, those habits
of the mind which tend to form the right dis
position for religious inquiry. And the degree
of satisfaction, which we may attain in the in
quiry, will depend on the pains that we have
bestowed, and are continuing to bestow, in dis
ciplining ourselves beforehand — in clearing away
the prejudices ofthe understanding, and purify
ing the heart. — Now, in the process of collecting
evidence from the course of nature, we are

The Evidence a discipline to the Believer. 311
continually bringing into exercise those moral
and intellectual principles, whose healthful
energy is involved in the act of faith. AU other
evidences lead the mind to God only in their
result. We are busied chiefly, either in arguing
from human sentiments to the character which
must bglong to the oracles of inspiration,
or in estimating the weight of human tes
timony ; that we may ultimately infer a super
human origin to the religion of the scriptures.
But here, it is not only the result of the exa
mination which carries the mind to God, but, in
the process itself, we are immediately concerned
about the signatures of divine agency impressed
on nature, and approaching the Revealer of
religion at every step which we advance. We
are engaged in separating the things of the world
from their mere temporary uses, and referring
them to their grand and enduring purpose, —
that purpose which wUl continue to be accom
plished, when they shall have passed away them
selves, and time shall be no more, — the glory of
the Almighty Creator and Governor. We are
thus cooperating with the effect of religion, and

312 Conclusion.
are predisposing ourselves for the reception of
its influence. .
Dull and insensible must be that heart, which
does not feel itself softened and improved by
contemplations of this kind, — which does not
burn within, whUst it hears the Author of nature
thus graciously talking with it by the way, and
expounding to it the scriptures. The perception
of the CAddence demands no constitutional fer
vour, — no extraordinary power of mental ab
straction, — no solemn sequestration of the
thoughts and affections from the business of so
cial life, — no experience in the ecstasies of
fanatical empiricism. It presupposes only a
candid temper of mind — " intellectum abrasum
et aequum" — that simplicity which our Saviour
enjoins where he says, " if thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light " — which
heillustrates to usbythe example of children, and
commends in the person of the guileless Natha-
nael, — and which is mentioned as a characteristic
of the first Christian converts under the expres
sion of " singleness of heart." They who apply

Conclusion. 313
themselves with such a disposition to a contem
plation of the ways of Providence, have brought
their minds to that state, in which they corre
spond, at once, with the order of external na
ture, and the invisible economy of grace; and rea
dily interpret, therefore, what they see without
them, or hear of God, by what they are in them
selves. In such persons, the word of the Lord,
whether written "in the volume of the Book", or
indicated by signs in the visible world, wUl have
free course, and be glorified. As they enlarge
their observations, by unwearied habitual study
of both oracles of divine instruction, their in
crease in holiness and piety will be coincident
with their increase in knowledge — their minds
will be more and more conformed to the Di
vine image — and, to their purer view, apparent
anomalies in the course of the Divine pro
ceeding, will be gradually resolved into in
stances of that scheme of providence with which
they once seemed irreconcileable. Thus going
on from strength to strength, in cooperating
with that Spirit, which is the efficient cause of
all that is good, and wise, and powerful in man.

314 Conclusion.
through His graci|)us influence, the believer may
aspire to that height in the sublime philosophy
of Christianity, which is a demonstration of, its
truth, more divine than that resulting from mere
argumentative discussions ; where " perfect
love casteth out fear " ; where the disciple
becomes the saint ; and the docility ofthe child
of grace is consummated in the mature expe
rience, and the wisdom, of the man of God.

THE END.

C Woodfall, Printer, AngdCowt, Skinner Street, London.
t

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