for the purpose of preserving its remembrance."

If, then, for these reasons, no such fabrication could be put upon us as to Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain, how much less could it succeed, as to the monument in Gilgal? If, where we are ignorant of the true origin of a mere naked monument, such a sham origin cannot be imposed, how much less practicable would it be to impose upon us in actions and observances, which we celebrate in memory of what we actually know; to make us forget what we have regularly commemorated, and to persuade us that we have constantly kept such and such institutions with reference to something which we never heard of before; that is, that we knew something before we knew it! And, if we find it thus impossible to practise deceit, even in cases which have not the above four marks, how much more impossible must it be, that any deceit should be practised in cases in which all these four marks meet !

In the matters of fact of Christ likewise, 55. as well as in those of Moses, these four marks are to be found. The reasoning, indeed, which has been already advanced with re

spect to the Old Testament, is generally applicable to the New. The miracles of. Christ, like those of Moses, were such as men's outward senses could judge of, and were performed publicly in the presence of those to whom the gospel history of them was addressed. And it is related, that "about three thousand" at one time, (Acts ii. 41,) and about "five thousand" at another, (iv. 4,) were converted, in consequence of what they themselves saw achieved in matters where it was impossible that they should have been deceived. Here, therefore, were the two first marks.

And with regard to the two latter, baptism and the Lord's supper, were instituted as memorials of certain things, not in afterages, but at the time when these things were said to be done; and have been strictly observed, from that time to this, without interruption. Christ himself also ordained the Apostles, &c. to preach, and administer his sacraments, and to govern his church 66 unto the end of the world." Now the Christian clergy are as notorious a matter of fact amongst us, as the tribe of Levi were among the Jews; and as the era and object of their

even

appointment are part of the gospel narrative, if that narrative had been a fiction of some subsequent age, at the time of its fabrication no such order of men, deriving themselves from such an origin, could have been found, which would effectually have given the lie to the whole story. And the truth of the matters of fact of Christ, being no otherwise asserted, than as these were at that time, (whensoever the deists will suppose the gospel to have been fabricated,) not only public sacraments, but likewise a public clergy of his institution to administer them, and it being impossible, upon this hypothesis, that there could be any such things in existence, we must admit it to be equally impossible that the forgery could have been successful. Hence it was as impossible to have deceived mankind in respect to these matters of fact, by inventing them in after ages, as at the time when they were said to be done.

The matters of fact reported of Mahomet, and the heathen deities, do all want some of 56. these marks, by which the certainty of facts is established. Mahomet himself, as he tells us in his Koran, (see Sale, vol. i. c. vi. p. 175;

and vol. iii. c. xiii. p. 55,) pretended to no miracles; and those which are commonly related of him, pass even among his followers for ridiculous legends, and as such are rejected by their scholars and philosophers. They have not either of the two first marks; for his converse with the moon, his night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven, &c. were not performed before any witnesses and to the two latter marks they do not even affect to advance any claim.*

The same may be affirmed, with little variation, of the stories of the heathen deities, of Mercury's stealing sheep, Jupiter's transforming himself into a bull, &c., beside the absurdity of such degrading adventures. It is true, these gods had their priests, their feasts, their games, and other public ceremonies; but all these want the fourth mark, of commencing at the time when the things which they commemorate were said to have

* Even should the Koran and the ceremonies of Mahomedanism be considered as satisfying the third and fourth marks, it would only prove that such an impostor as Mahomet was successful, for purposes best known to God, but it would not invalidate the truth of the Old and New Testaments, which possess the four marks.-See Milner's History of the Church, vol. iii. p. 123. note.

been done. Hence they cannot secure mankind, in subsequent ages, from imposture, as they furnish no internal means of detection at the period of the forgery. The Bacchanalia, for instance, and other heathen festivals, were established long after the events to which they refer.

To apply what has been said, we may challenge all the deists in the world to show any fabulous action accompanied by these four marks. The thing is impossible. The histories of the Old and New Testament never could have been received if they had not been true, because the priesthood of Levi and of Christ, the observance of the sabbath, the passover, the circumcision, and the sacraments of baptism, and the Lord's supper, &c., are there represented as descending uninterruptedly from the times of their respective institution. And it would have been as impossible to persuade men in after-ages, that they had been circumcised or baptized, and celebrated passovers, sabbaths, and sacraments, under the ministration of a certain order of priests, if they had done none of these things; as to make them believe at the