"The historical teftimony we are poffeffed of is enough to fatisfy any candid man, that the miracles recorded in Scripture were act ally performed, and confequently that Christianity was at first founde by divine authority.

"The prophecies fince accompl' fhed, at the fame time that they add a new proof of the divine original of the Chriftian fcheme, and confirm that from miracles, prove farther, that the fame hand that first established ft 11 fupports it, and is continually advancing it towards that perfe&t ftate, when all its enemies fhall be vanquifhed, its promifes verified, and its ends fully attained."

After producing fome convincing arguments, and citing feveral paffages from the prophets, which reprefent Chriftianity as a progreffive fcheme, our author clofes his third difcourfe with the following juft and conclufive reflections.

"On the whole it appears, in whatever light we confier the matter, that the prophetic delineations of the new economy are intelligible and confiftent only on a fuppofition, that that scheme was not to be complete at once, but feiting out from fmall beginnings, to attain the full meature of its glory by gradual and progreffive fteps. The Jews, who themselves fo understood the most of these prophecies, could not (without departing from their own principles and their own fenfe of Scripture) reject any scheme that pretended to be the difpenfation foretold by the prophets, merely for want of a difplay of grandeur and magnificence in its first establishment, were there no other argument against it. Nay, the affectation of fuch difplay had alone been fufficient to have overturned the authenticity of any other pretenfions however specious. Yet at a certain period we find, that they looked only for a fign from heaven; à Meffiah attended with glorious appearances of heavenly majefty, to create a throne at Jerufalem, to which all the

powers of death fhould pay immediate fubmiffion. The prevalence of a prejudice fo contrary to the fpirit of their own Scriptures, may, in fome meafure, be accounted for from the circumstances of the time. The power of Rome was now in the meridian of its glory. The fame of her victories, and the fplendor of her triumphs, were the admiration of thofe people who had thereby been reduced to subjection. And as thefe were no where more confpicuous than in the eastern provinces, the Jews may well be fuppofed to have imbibed the common opinion, (of two different Mefiabs.) It was not unfuitable to their natural difpofition. They were addicted to externals, and fond of them. Add to this, that the privileges and fecurity which they enjoyed under the Cesarean fceptre, attached them not a little to that government. The family of David was overlooked and almost forgotten in its obicurity and, as if the authority of the prophets had been forgotten too, they poffeffed themselves willing to acknowledge no king but Cæfar. Through the medium of fuch prejudices, the most authentic marks of truth might appear like error, and the humility of the fan of man, though exprefly infifled on by the prophets

might become, as it was foretold it would, a ftumbling block and ftone of offence, alike to Sadducean. Scripture, and Pharifaical pride. The conduct and opinion of fuch men cannot be urged now as an argument of the true meaning of their law or their prophets; as it is plain they were inclined to accomodate both, in fpite of confiftency and common fente, to the corrupt maxims of the times. It is not to be imagined, that God, in his dealings with the world, fhould condefcend to footh or flatter the pride of man in any fhape. If any overweaning ambition, a fashionable love of oftentation and pageantry, led the Jews into dangerous errors, and inclined them to wreft the fword of God to their own destruction; neither are we free from danger of the fame fort. There prevails in these days a pride of philofophy more flattering to the human heart, and fo much the more prejudicial to the cause of truth. Of this, if we are as all would be thought to be, really lovers of truth, it behoves us to beware in all enquiries, but more especially in those which concern the ways of God and the explication of his word The Gospel is not the lefs true, nor lefs the word of God, merely because it was delivered to the world in a mode inconfiflent with the prepoffeffions generally entertained by the Jews. Neither is it the lets true, because it contains doctrines which do not fall in with the conceits of vain Theorists, nor even because fome of those doctrines are not to be fathomed by human reafon. It has been fhewn, that there are unequivocal marks of the interpofition of God; where these obtain therefore it matters not to our faith, whether he addrefs himself to us like a rushing mighty wind, or in a Still Small voice.

"As to the fubject matter of revelation, whatever God reveals must be true. God may reveal any thing that is true; and any thing may be true that doth not imply a contradiction. Man's faculties are limited; of things therefore within his comprehenfionhe may poffibly be able to pronounce whether they are true or falfe but of things beyond the bounds of his understanding, from the nature of the things themselves, he can have no criteria to pronounce any thing. To reject a revelation, therefore, merely because it contains things above our comprehenfion, is, in fact, to refuse to receive instruction from God, for this very extraordinary reason, because his wifdom is infinite, and ours is not. But farther, befides the mode and matter of revelation, the propriety of making any revelation at all is a point on which a finite dependent being cannot, on the principles of human reason, previoufly decide in the negative. Surely if there be a God, and we be his creatures, whether he fhould fpeak to us at all, what, at what time, and in what manner, must be for his wisdom to determine. It is our part to lock up to him with hope and confidence, and to receive all the difpenfations both of his word and providence with meeknefs, humility, and refignation."

The conclufion of the above extract contains an excellent Jeffon for fome of our arrogant modern philofophers.

Our

Our author having in his fourth difcourfe fpoken of the human birth of the fon of David, as determined by the prophets, he next proceeds to confider a more exalted character, which is attributed to the fame perfon, viz. that he is the Son of Gol. His argument is this: he adduces proofs from Scripture to fhew that the name Jehovah is incontrovertibly given to the Meffiah, which is a name expreffive of the proper exiftence, eternity, and immutability of the divine nature; a name never ufed in Scripture but for the God of Ifrael, and that in all cafes abfolutely, and declared to be his diftinctive and peculiar name. And to carry the argu

ment ftill farther, he obferves, that

"It is the very first principle of the Jewish, and indeed of all true religion, that God alone is to be worshipped; yet is divine worship, a worship of faith and reliance, a worship of prayer and bumiliation, of praise and thanksgiving, continually mentioned as due to the Meffiah in these very Scriptures, the firft object of which was to claim it to God alone as his peculiar right, and to recover a part at least of mankind from idolatry and polytheism, to teach men to distinguish properly between the creature and the creator; between fuperftitious rites and rational adoration. The angels themselves, and all nations of the earth, are enjoined this fervice; and that we may not think fuch worship an act of mere civil revesence or veneration, it is attributed to him as the Lord, as Jchoah. But what will put the matter out of all doubt is, that the temple itself is appropriated to him (Mat. iii. 1) confequently all the fervice there offered, whether praife, facrifice, or prayer, was offered to him whofe the temple was, to the redeemer of Ifrael."

Dr. Bagot further obferves, that the interpretation of the paffages referred to in his argument, and the doctrine derived from it, does not folely rest on the authority of chriftian commentators; but that it is the genuine fenfe adopted by the ancient Jewish church, who explained after this manner thefe very Scriptures, before Chrift's miniftry was begun upon earth. The teftimony of Philo, he fays, is full and infuperable. The Logos is called by him the firft begotten; the eternal fon of the eternal God, Jehovah the Shekinah; and he afcribes to him the creation of all things, together' with the various deliverances of Ifrael, both paft and future. The remains of the ancient targums and paraphrafes per-. fectly agree with the fentiments of Philo.

6.

"But it is true," fays the Dr. fome of the modern Jews have departed from the fenfe of their fathers; but that in fo doing they were not actuated fo much by an ingenuous love of truth as by the spirit of party and oppofition, may be concluded from the in cautious confethions of fome of them. They allow, for inftance, that the fecond pfalm was anciently understood of the Meffiah, and

that, as including expreffions that implied a proper divinity. But they think it fafer now to abandon fuch a fenfe, and to apply the whole of this pfalm and others to David in his own perfon and for the avowed reafon, that they may have the better ground whereon to oppofe the heretics: by which word heretics they conftantly mean the Christians."

In the concluding paragraph of this difcourfe, our author justly maintains, that the fair confequence deducible from the whole, is this.

"That the perfon described by the prophets as to be born a man upon earth, of the family of David, was not to begin his existence at that future period when he should become man; but did then actually exift when the Prophets fpoke, and had exifted from everlasting the proper fon of God; therefore himself God; eternal, therefore God; the authorised object of divine worship, therefore God; the creator of the world, therefore God; Jehovah, therefore the one true God, the God of Ifrael, whose name alone is Jehovah, the most high over all the earth."

We will clofe our account of these learned and fenfible Difcourfes on the Prophecies with our author's addrefs at the conclufion of his performance.

"I would now, in the last place, remind you, that I have endeavoured, in the progrefs of thefe Difcourfes, to lay before you what the main articles are in which the faith of a Chriftian fhould confift; and at the fame time to derive from the Prophecies, both of the Old and New Teftament, an argument that may ferve as a firm and rational bafis for fuch a belief. In fo doing, I apprehend, I have not departed from the fcope and intention of that inftitution under which I have been employed. Faith or belief must be the

refult of conviction by fome means or other. The objects of a Christian's faith are revealed by God, and must be known from his word. Were men allowed to fabricate a religious belief to themselves, it is natural to imagine it would be fuch an one as would leave them in quiet poffeffion of their favourite paffions and prejudices; and confequently produce a life in which thofe paffions and prejudices fhould be indulged to the utmost. And this in fact hath ever been the cafe in all human religions. But the faith of a Christian strikes at the root of these in the first instance; and at the fame time that it preferibes a rule of conduct, it furnishes both motives and powers to live up to it, though in direct oppofition to the bent of our own depraved affections. It is of confequence, therefore, that the faith of a Chriftian be first fet right whenever a man, profeffing to be a Chriftian, is in any circumftance of his life habitually deficient in purity of manners, it will always be found that in fome refpect he has fwerved from the faith; that fome other principle, unallowed by his religion, has been fet up in his breaft; and that he has perfuaded him elf, that the whole doctrine of the Gofpel is not indifpenfably neceflary to his falvation. Hence, the lives of wicked men, who call them

:

felves

felves Chriftians, but are not, can be no argument against either the purity or power of that faith which, in fact, they do not hold. The truth of what is here advanced is unhappily too well confirmed by the state of things in the world at this day; when an open difavowal of the great doctrines of Chriftianity is universally attended with a proportional neglect of its great duties. Depend upon it, the likelieft way to live as we ought is, first to believe as we ought. Our faith, whatever it be, will always influence our conduct. It is to our conduct, therefore, that we are referred, as the proper criterion of the rectitude of our faith: Hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. Faith, as I faid, is the refult of rational conviction. In the fubject we are confidering it has been made to appear, that God hath provided and fubmitted to us fuch means of conviction as are adapted to our faculties, fuch as we admit on all other occafions, fuch as can never be withstood on any principles of found reafoning.

"This is that foundation laid by the Prophets and Apoftles, Jefus Chrift, (the fubject of all they have written) being the chief corner-ftone whereon if we build our faith, we have his word who cannot lie, bis who fpake by the Prophe's, and verified their fayings through a long fucceffion of ages: That the gates of hell shall never prevail against us. Here then let us humbly rest our hope and only confidence, and run with patience that race which is set before us: knowing thefe things affuredly, that our religion is not on ourselves, but on God's help and mercy; that the wages of fin is death; but the gift of God everlasting life, through Jefus Chrift, our only Saviour and Redeemer."

0.

Biographia Britannica: or, the Lives of the most eminent Perfons who have flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest Ages to the prefent Times, collected from the beft Authorities, printed and manufcript, and digefted in the Manner of Mr. Bayle's Hiftorical and Critical Dictionary. The fecond Edition, with Corrections, Enlargements, and the Addition of new Lives; by Andrew Kippis, D. D. F. R. S. and S. A. with the Affiftance of the Rev. Jofeph Towers, L. L. D. and other Gentlemen. Vol. 2. 11. 11s. 6d. Folio. Bathurst.

"We have now," fay the authors of this entertaining work, in their preface," the pleasure of prefenting our reade s with a fecond volume of the enlarged edition of the Biographia Britannica. Should it be thought that the publication of it appears rather later than might have been expected, it may be answered, that there hath been fome delay in confequence of perfonal and profeffional obligations and engagements, which were deemed of an indifpenfable nature. Interruptions of health may likewife occur in the

courfe