one could contradict me, as to the mark of cutting off a joint of the finger; which therefore would prove the whole to be falfe.

II. Let us now come to the fecond point, to fhew, that the Matters of Fact of Mofes, and of Chrift, have all thefe Rules, or Marks before-mentioned; and that neither the Matters of Fact of Mahomet, or what is reported of the Heathen Deities, have the like; and that no impofture can have them all.

1. As to Mofes, I fuppofe it will be allowed, That he could not have perfuaded fix hundred thousand men, that he had brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea; fed them forty years, without bread, by miraculous manna, and the other Matters of Fact recorded in his books, if they had not been true. Because every man's fenfes that were then alive, must have contradicted it. And therefore he must have impofed upon all their fenfes, if he could have made them believe it, when it was falfe and no fuch things done. So that here are the first and fecond of the four Marks.

It was equally impoffible for him to have made them receive his five Books, as truth, and not to have rejected them, as a manifeft impofture, which told of all these things as done before their eyes, if they had not been fo done. See how pofitively he' fpeaks to them, Deut. xi. 2, &c. "Know ye this day, for I fpeak not with your children, which have not known, and which have not feen the chaftifement of the Lord your God, his greatnefs, his mighty hand, and his ftretched out arm, and his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midft of Egypt, unto Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and unto all his land, and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horfes, and to their charicts; how he made the water of the Red-Sea to overflow them as they purfued after you; and how the Lord had deftroyed them unto this day: And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the fons of Eliab, the fon of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houfholds, and their tents, and all the fubftance that was in their poffeffion, in the midst of all Ifrael. But your eyes have feen all the great acts of the Lord, which he did, &c."

From hence we muft allow it was impoffible that thefe Books of Mofes, (if an imposture) could have been invented and put upon the people who were then alive, when all these things were faid to be done.

The utmost then that can be fuppofed is, that thefe books were wrote in fome age after Mofes, and put out in his name. But if fo, it was impoffible that those books fhould have been received, as the Books of Mofes, in that age wherein they are supposed to have been firft invented. Why? Because they speak of themfelves as delivered by Mofes, and kept in the ark from his time. "And it came to pafs, when Mofes had made an end of writing the words of this Law in a book, until they were finished; that VOL. XIX. Jan. 1796.

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Mofes

Mofes commanded the Levites who bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, faying, Take this book of the Law, and put it in the fide of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee," Deut. xxxi. 24, 25, 26. -And there was a copy of this book to be left likewife with the king. "And it fhall be, when he fitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he fhall write him a copy of this Law in a book, out of that which is before the Priefts the Levites: And it fhall be with him, and he fhall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this Law and thefe ftatutes to do them," Deut. xvii. 18, 19.

Here you fee, this book of the Law speaks of itself, not only as an history or relation of what things were then done: but as the ftanding and municipal Law and Statutes of the nation of the Jews, binding the king as well as the people.

Now, in whatsoever age after Mofes you fuppofe this book to have been forged, it was impoffible it could have been received as truth; because it was not then to be found, either in the Ark, or with the king, or any where elfe: for when firft invented, every one must know, that they had never heard of it before.

And therefore they could lefs believe it to be the book of their Statutes, and the ftanding Law of the land, which they had all along received, and by which they had been governed.

Could any man at this day, invent a book of Statutes or Acts of Parliament for England, and make it pafs upon the nation as the only book of Statutes that ever they had known? As impoffi ble was it for the books of Mofes (if they were invented in any age after Mofes) to have been received for what they declare them felves to be, viz. The Statutes and. municipal Law of the nation of the Jews and to have perfuaded the Jews, that they had owned and acknowledged thefe books, all along from the days of Mofes, to that day in which they were firft invented; that is, that they had owned them before they had ever fo much as heard of them. Nay, more, the whole nation muft, in an inftant, forget their former laws and government, if they could receive these as fuch. And they could not receive them otherwife, because they vouched themselves fo to be. Let me afk the Deifts this fhort queftion: Was there ever a book of fham-laws, which were not the laws of the nation, palmed upon any people, fince the world began? If not, with what face can they fay this of the book of the Laws of the Jews? Why will they fay that of them, which they confefs impoffible in any nation, or among any people ?

But the books of Mofes have a further demonftration of their truth, than even other Law-Books have: for they not only contain the Laws, but give an hiflorical account of their inftitution, and the practice of them from that time: as of the paffover in memory of the death of the firft-born in Egypt: and that the fame day, all the firft-born of Ifrael, were by a perpetual law, dedicated to God: and the Levites taken for all the firft-born of

the

the children of Ifrael. That Aaron's rod which budded, was kept in the Ark, in memory of the deftruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and for the confirmation of the priesthood to the tribe of Levi. As likewife the pot of manna, in memory of their having been fed with it forty years in the wilderness. That the' Brazen Serpent was kept (which remained to the days of Heze. kiah,) in memory of that wonderful deliverance by looking upon it. The feast of Pentecoft, in memory of the dreadful appearance of God upon mount Horeb, &c.

And befides thefe remembrances of particular occurrences, there were other folemn inftitutions in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt, which included all the particulars: as the fabbath. Their daily facrifices, and expiation; their new moons, and several feafts and fafts. So that there were yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily remembrances of thefe things.

And, not only fo, but the fame books of Mofes tell us, that a particular tribe (of Levi) was appointed by God, as his priests; by whom alone the facrifices were to be offered, and these folemn inftitutions celebrated. That thefe Levites were likewife the chief judges, even in all civil caufes. Now whenever it be fuppofed thefe books were forged, after Mofes, it is impoffible they could have been received as true, unless the forgers could have made the whole nation believe, that they had received these books from their fathers, had been instructed in them when they were children, and had taught them to their children. Moreover, that they had all been circumcifed, and did circumcife their children, pursuant to the command in thefe books; that they had obferved the paffover, the fabbath, the new-moons, with all the feafts, fafts, and ceremonies there enjoined: that they had never eaten any meats prohibited in these books: that they had a magnificent tabernacle, and a priesthood confined to the tribe of Levi. Now was it poffible to perfuade a whole nation, that they had known and practifed all these things, if they had not? Or, fecondly, to have received a book for truth, which faid they had practifed them, and appealed to that practice? So that here are the third and fourth of the marks above-mentioned, and thefe marks as much fecure any fuch Matter of Fact from being invented in any after age, as at the time when fuch Matters of Fact were faid to be done.

2. Therefore I come now to thew, that, all thefe meet in the Matters of Fact recorded of our bleffed Saviour. And my work will be the fhorter, because all that is faid before, of Mofes and his books, is every way applicable to Chrift and his Gofpel. His miracles are there faid to be done publickly, in the face of the world. It is faid, that three thousand at one time; and, that about five thousand at another, were converted, upon conviction of what was done before their eyes, wherein it was impoffible to have impofed upon them. Therefore here the twp firft rules hold. And as to the two fecond, baptifm and the Lord's Supper were inftituted as perpetual memorials of these things, at the very time

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when

when they were faid to have been done; and have been observed in the whole Chriftian world, all along, from that time to this. And Chrift himself ordained minifters to preach, and adminifter thefe facraments; and to govern his church, always, even to the end of the world. Accordingly they have continued to this day and, doubtlefs will while the earth fhall laft. So that the Chriftian clergy are as notorious a Matter of Fact, as the tribe of Levi among the Jews. And the Gofpel is as much a Law to the Chriftians, as the books of Mofes to the Jews: and it being part of the Matters of Fact related in the Gofpel, that fuch an order of men, were appointed by Chrift, to continue to the end of the world; confequently, if the Gospel was a fiction, invented after Chrift; then, at that time, when it was first invented, there could be no fuch order of men, which must give the lie to the Gospel, and demonftrate the whole to be false. But there ever hath been fuch an order of men, and facraments publickly administered by them. It was therefore as impoffible mankind fhould have been imposed upon in this matter, by inventing it in after ages, as at the time when those things were faid to be done.

The Matters of Fact of Mahomet, or what is fabled of the Hea. then Deities, do all want fome of the aforefaid four Rules, whereby the certainty of the Matters of Fact is demonftrated, for Mahomet never pretended to miracles, as he tells us in his Alcoran, ch 6. &c. and thofe which are commonly told of him pafs among the Mahometans themselves, but as legendary fables; and as fuch are rejected by the wife and learned among them; as the Legends of their faints are in the church of Rome, [See Dr. Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, Page 34.]

III. To apply what has been faid. Let any Deift in the world fhew any fabulous action which has all these marks. No, it is impoffible.

I do not fay, that every thing which wants these four marks is falfe but, that nothing can be falfe which has them all.

I have no doubt that there was fuch a man as Julius Cæfar, that he fought at Pharfalia, was killed in the Senate-Houfe: Nor of many other Matters of Fact of ancient times, though we keep no public obfervances in memory of them.

But this fhews that the Matters of Fact of Mofes and of Chrift, have come down to us better guarded than any others whatsoever. And yet those who would laugh any man out of the world, that would offer to deny Cæfar or Alexander, Homer or Virgil, their public actions; do, at the fame time, value themselves as the only men of wit and sense, for ridiculing the hiftories of Mofes, and of Chrift, which are infinitely better attested, and guarded by infalli, ble Marks, which the others want.

To be concluded in the next.]

Anecdote

ANECDOTE of Dr. CONDER and an HIGHWAYMAN.

URING Dr. CONDER's refidence at Cambridge, having

DURING Dide to

Ꭰ taken a ride to Peterborough, for the benefit of the air, on

his return he saw a Gentleman, in a private lane, at fome diftance, standing by his horfe. As he approached, the fuppofed gentleman mounted, and coming up to him demanded his money. The Doctor immediately recognized him as a former inhabitant of Cambridge, but thought it prudent to conceal his knowledge. Not fatisfied with receiving all his cafh, to the amount of feveral guineas, the highwayman afked him for his watch. This being a family piece, he pleaded hard to retain it: But the man perfisting in a menacing tone, in his demand, he furrendered it, though not without strong symptoms of reluctance.

The Doctor was a man of tender fympathy. This amiable quality foon fuppreffed all concern for perfonal fafety, and the property thus violently wrefted from him, and led him to commiferate an unhappy man, whofe evil practices were leading him, in hafty ftrides, to the chambers of death, and to attempt to reclaim him. He immediately addressed him with great civility, inquired what way he was going, and propofed, if agreeable, to ride in company; affuring him at the fame time, that he need not entertain the leaft fearful apprehenfion upon his account. His obliging manner won upon the highwayman, and opened the way to a familiar converfation.

During the robbery itself, the man, with all his affumed courage could not conceal the agitation of his mind. From this circumftance, the Doctor took occafion to suggest, that his present mode of fubfiftence, separate from its moral turpitude, was both unwise and dangerous; as the fmall fums generally collected at one time, in these adventures, were inadequate to the risk, as they required the frequent exposure of his perfon, and must subject him to perpetual alarms. The robber urged the common plea of neceffity. The Doctor represented, that it was an unpleasant, and commonly a fatal neceffity, as it was not only a trefpafs upon the rights of fociety, and the authority of God, but would subject him to a dreadful penalty in the life that now is, as well as in that which is to come. Here he intreated him to defift from these pernicious habits-urged him to repentance, affuring him that there was forgiveness through Jefus Chrift, for the most atrocious offenders, and that he did not doubt, if he implored direction from above, but Providence would fo direct his way, as to enable him to "provide things honest in the fight of all men,"

This converfation appeared to make a deep impreffion, the immediate effect of which was, the robber took the watch and returned it to him, faying, "he conducted himself too much like a gentleman, that he could not think of retaining it." The Doctor replied, that he greatly valued the watch, and received it with

pleasure;