§ 16.

Evidence of the divinity of the Scriptures, derived from personal experience.

Persons not religiously disposed, may, prior to any examination into the truth of the christian doctrines, be prejudiced against them, by the fear of condemnation from them, John 7: 7. 3: 19 &c. But whoever strives to live to the glory of God, and so as to meet the divine approbation (1), will be kept from such a premature condemnation of christianity (2), by the consideration, that its precepts offer him a prospect of becoming better acquainted with the will of God. He will be willing to examine christianity closely, because he expects, that if it be of divine origin, it will approve his zeal in the cause of virtue, and stimulate him to greater exertion, John 3: 21. Nor is the hope a delusive one. For, the more he studies and follows in his practice the doctrines of christianity, the more will he find by his own experience, that he is advancing in the knowledge of that truth which makes him happy, which gives peace to his mind, and meliorates his heart. And thus will his own experience satisfy him of the divinity of the doctrines of christianity, John 7: 17; or of the truth of the account which its first teachers give of its origin. I should, indeed, hesitate to infer, merely from the salutary influence of the doctrines of christianity on the mind, that they were promulgated by the extraordinary and direct agency of God (3); for I fear I should be unable to render this proof sufficiently evident to others (4). Nevertheless, it is undeniable, that

the credibility of the declarations of Jesus and his apostles, (which is the general ground for belief in the divine authority of the doctrines of christianity, and of the holy Scriptures generally,) is greatly corroborated and rendered in a high degree probable (5), by the following considerations: first; all who make a conscientious use of the christian doctrines, experience precisely those effects from them, which a divine revelation must produce; or, in other words, the Bible accomplishes precisely what we have a right to expect from a divine revelation (6). Secondly; a conscientious use of the doctrines of christianity, must excite a feeling of high reverence for the expanded views and the great piety of the persons (7) who first published these doctrines. And those who, by such an intimate acquaintance with christianity, have become the subjects of this feeling of high reverence (8), will be impressed with the thought, that such doctrines could not have originated from these men, who were nearly all totally void of education, John 7: 15. Acts 4: 13. And this consideration will add to the credibility of their statement, that they had the assistance of God in publishing these doctrines. Or at least, it will appear unwarrantable to charge men so far surpassing the best and most learned teachers of their age, with such a degree of enthusiasm or villany (9), as must be ascribed to them, if their pretensions to a divine influence were either a delusion or an imposture.

36

ILLUSTRATION 1.

The religious man, a more impartial judge of revelation, than the irreligious.

John 3: 21, ὁ ποιων την αληθειαν-εν θεα εστιν ειργασμένα (τa ɛoya avrov) " He who endeavours to live uprightly and conscientiously, will have a regard to God in all his conduct, will strive to do the will of God, and to promote the divine glory; in short, he will endeavour to conduct himself in a religious manner." Пouw, (exercere, colere,,) is used to denote the acting out or manifesting of an attribute or quality of the mind, in other passages also; as is proved in the Dissert. de sensu vocis dixalos, Note 36; see Luke 1: 72, 51. Gen. 24: 12. Andela signifies integrity, uprightness; see 1 Cor. 13: 6, where it stands opposed to adinia; and also Prov. 28: 6. Εργαζεσθαι τα εργα εν θεῳ may signify 1) to have a regard to God in what we do; see εv in Matth. 23:30. Luke 16: 10, 12. 2 Cor. 8: 18. 2) to do things for God's sake; Matth. 6: 7. 12: 5, ev to iɛow for the sake of the temple; see Dissert. I. in librorum N. Test. aliquot loca, p. 34. (Ev dɛw is sometimes used for the simple dative 9;1 as in 2 Cor. 5: 11, ev tais ouvεidnoεow, which words correspond to the simple dative &ɛ; and in 8: 1, εν ταις εκκλησίαις, in stead of εκκλησιαις; and in Acts 4: 12, δεδομενον εν ανθρωποις, for ανθρωποις. In such cases, the dative has these two significations: in reference to, as 1 Cor. 14: 20, τη κακια.—2 Cor. 11: 6, τῳ λόγῳ, τῇ γνωσει.— Rom. 6:20, dinaioovvy.- 1 Cor. 9: 21. and on account of; as in Rom. 14:6, xvoto.-1 Cor. 9:22, rois пaoi.2) 3) agreeably to the will of God; see Kypke on Rom. 14: 7. and 4)

1 See Schleusner's Lex. voc. εv, No. 24—27.

2 Compare the passages from Euripides, which are adduced by Kypke, in his Comment. on 2 Cor. 10: 12, p. 266.

to the glory of God; 2 Cor. 5:13. The same signification sometimes belongs to the preposition us, as Kypke (on Luke 12:21) has shown, from the phrase εis dɛov.1

ILLUSTRATION 2.

The reader may consult, on this subject, the Dissertation on the Object of the death of Jesus, attached to the (author's) Commentary on the Hebrews, p. 684 &c.

ILLUSTRATION 3.

The nature of the extraordinary agency of God, in the publication of the Old and New Testaments.

It is to a conviction of the extraordinary agency of God in the promulgation of christianity, that Jesus refers, when he asserts (John 7: 17), that those who strive to perform the will of God, shall know, that he did not derive his doctrines from himself (ε§ avrov); and that they are not so much his doctrines as God's (v. 16, comp. § 6); that is, that they are in the strictest sense divine. Those who infer the divinity of the doctrines of Jesus, solely from their accordance with the dictates' of reason; and regard them as of divine origin, in no other sense than that in which all truth is of God; not only make a false appeal to the declarations of Jesus, who asserted the divinity of his doctrines in quite a different sense (John 7: 17); but they also entirely change the point in question. For when, in the discussions of doctrinal theology, we examine the divine origin and authority of the doctrines of Christ, we are not inquiring concerning the truth of the particular doctrines which can be comprehended and proved by human reason; but we are inquiring concerning a special aid and influence of God, which it is con

1 See Schleusner, on the preposition &us, No. 24. and Kuinöl, Comment. on John 3: 21.

tended that Jesus possessed above all other teachers; an influence, of such a nature as to form a distinct ground of credibility, independent of the visible truth of the doctrines themselves. The question is not, shall we believe the doctrines of Jesus, under the same conditions that we believe the declarations of any other teacher, namely, provided our reason discovers them to be true; but the question is, shall we believe the instructions of Jesus, under circumstances in which we would not credit any other teacher, who was not under the special influence of God; that is, when we cannot be convinced of the truth of the doctrines from visible marks of truth upon them, independently of the authority of the teacher.1 It is useless to speak of a Revelation, if we attribute to Jesus no other inspiration, than what the naturalist will concede to him, and which may just as well be attributed to the Koran, and to every other pretended revelation; nay, to all teachers of religion; that is, if we receive only those doctrines whose truth is manifest to the eye of reason; and call them divine, only because all truth is derived from God the author of our reason. It is not a mere mediate revelation, but an immediate and supernatural one, which is here the subject of inquiry; and the existence of such a revelation must be either asserted, or unconditionally denied. For, to retain the name of Revelation, and yet to believe only in such a mediate revelation as the naturalist will admit, is nothing else than a covert denial of all real revelation. The question is not, whether the doctrines of christianity can be comprehended and proved by reason; but, whether the origin of christianity is divine, in such a sense, that the truth of the christian doctrines can be inferred from the divinity of their origin, no matter whether they can be comprehended by reason or not.2 For

1 See Observations on Kant's religious philosophy, Note 339.

2 Kant's Religion innerhalb den Gräntzen der blossen Vernunft, S. 217.