may be easily imposed on, a civilized nation will not believe without evidence. Those only who think they have truth on their side, will act in the manner the apostles did.

SECTION VIII.

The Apostles do not encourage the Prejudices, nor flatter the Passions of Men.

PREJUDICE is one of the grand instruments of human wickedness, and human misery. It is the chain by which the mind is prevented from going in quest oftruth. Men have their individual, their professional, their national, and their religious prejudices; and the more agreeable these are to their depraved dispositions, the stronger will they be. Those who wish to gain them, unless they respect their prejudices, can, humanly speaking, expect but little success. The heathen legislators acted on this principle; and we find Mahomet following their example. There is in his system a wonderful degree of accommodation to prejudices. We find something to please the Jews, something to win over the christians, and something to render his doctrine palatable to the pagan idolators. The apostles encourage none: they call men away from them all, as in numberless in

stances exceeding pernicious; and the least hurtful, as childish follies, unfitting the mind for the reception of truth.

How strong were the prejudices of the Jews in general, and of their different sects! The prejudices of the Gentiles were equally inveterate; and the rulers, the philosophers, the priests, and the multitude, had each their appropriate portion. A man of craft would have tried to attach them all by compliance: or he would have sought to secure a part on his side, and by their means to gain the rest. The apostles attack all; and shew themselves equally hostile to Jewish and Gentile prejudices, without regarding that vast strength which they had acquired by the growth of more than a thousand years. Their design certainly is not to deceive, but to reform and, instead of supple impostors, we have certainly before us men of staunch unbending integrity.

As they do not respect men's prejudices, they do not fatter their vices, and indulge them in their evil passions. When men wish to impose on others, they endeavour to enlist their passions on their side, and thus to win over their judgment. Every deceiver, without exception, has made this his aim. But the apostles of Christ know not what flattery means: it is not to be found in all the New Testament. While they discover the tenderest pity for guilty and miserable creatures, and shew the utmost conde

scension to human infirmity, they neither foster men's prejudices, nor give indulgence to any, even the least of their sinful passions.

They do not flatter the Jews, but reduce them to a level with the rest of human kind. They do not flatter the Pharisees, to gain the aid of their popularity to the cause of Christ; but accuse them of making the law of God of none effect by their traditions. They do not flatter the Sadducees; but charge them with infidelity and guilt. They do not flatter the priests; but address them as blind leaders of the blind. They do not flatter the multitude; but call them away from the commission of every sin, to the practice of every duty.

Nor do they flatter the Gentiles more than the Jews. They do not seek to ingratiate themselves with the magistrates, by a sacrifice of principles, and a support of their measures. They do not seek to win over the Heathen priests, by enjoining the people to pay them homage and submission. They court not the patronage of the philosophers by adopting the dogmas of their sect: nor do they strive to please the multitude by numerous festivals and a pompous ritual. They flatter neither friends nor foes; neither friends to procure their attachment, nor foes to avert their hatred; neither the Jews to gain their countrymen, nor the Gentiles, to allure them into the church.

Are these men impostors? Is it really their

intention to deceive? Will human policy act by this rule? Will it lead its votaries to expect success by such methods as these? There is something here above man. There is here a mode of conduct which must constrain every unprejudiced mind to acknowledge, that this is not the manner of men, when their object is to deceive; and that it presents every appearance of honesty, which words or actions can possibly give.

SECTION IX.

The high Tone of Authority which the Writers of

the New Testament use.

To the best judges of human nature, the writ ers of the New Testament will appear among the humblest of men. But here is a remarka ble phenomenon :-these humble men every where speak with the commanding tone of divine authority. Other authors who expect belief, reason, or record facts: these sometimes reason, often record facts; but, in addition, they reveal doctrines, and deliver precepts: and in all, demand credit and obedience in the name of God. This is not a paroxism of pride boiling over for a moment, and then subsiding; not a pretence for dominion, assumed for the oc

easion, and then laid aside it runs through the whole. Nor is it the case with one of the writers only, but with all. There is a perfect uniformity of character among them in this respect.

The more I consider this, the more striking it appears. There were eight men concerned in writing the New Testament. They wrote at a distance from each other: several of them, most probably, never saw what the others had done, till they had composed and sent forth their own part. If one, or two, or three of them were men, whose natural temper, or acquired disposition, led them to speak in an authoritative tone, the rest, we might suppose, would have conveyed their ideas in a different manner: but they do not. While there is that diversity in language and expression which may be expected from their various constitutions of mind, they all unite in speaking authoritatively in the name of God; and demand attention and obedience to their words.

There is another striking circumstance connected with this subject. I do not hear one of the writers of this book complain of want of ability; or beg the indulgence of his readers to his errors and imperfections, seeing he had undertaken to treat on subjects so exalted. In other writings this is common. One of the authors of the Apocrypha comes forward with this apology: "If I have done well, and as is