those articles? he can only mean by our most holy religion, our belief of the Christian doctrine and concerning this belief we are told, that it is founded on faith, not on reason; that is, our faith is founded on our faith; in other words, it hath no foundation, it is a mere chimera, the creature of a distempered brain. I say not on the contrary, that our most holy religion is founded on reason, because this expression, in my opi nion, is both ambiguous and inaccurate; but I say that we have sufficient reason for the belief of our religion; or, to express myself in the words of an apostle, that the Christian, if it is not his own fault, may be ready always to give an answer to every man, that asketh him a REASON of his hope. So far therefore am I from being afraid of exposing Christianity by submitting it to the test of reason; so far am I from judging this a trial, which it is by no means fitted to endure, that I think, on the contrary, the most violent attacks that have been made upon the faith of Jesus, have been of service to it. Yes: I do not hesitate to affirm, that our religion hath been indebted to the attempts, though not to the intentions, of its bitterest enemies. They have tried its strength indeed, and, by trying, they have displayed its strength; and that in so clear a light, as we could never have hoped, without such a trial, to have viewed it in. Let them therefore write, let them argue, and, when arguments fail, even let them cávil against religion as much as they please: I should be heartily sorry, that ever in this island, the asylum of liberty, where the spirit of Christianity is better understood (however defective the inhabitants are in the observance of its precepts) than in any other part of the Christian world; I should, I be sorry, that in this island, so great a disservice were done to religion, as to check its adversaries, in any other way, than by returning a candid answer to their objections. I must at the same time acknowledge, that I am both ashamed and grieved, when I observe any friends of religion, betray so great a diffidence in the goodness of their cause (for to this diffidence it can only be imputed) as to show an inclination for recurring to more forcible methods. The assaults of infidels, I may venture to prophesy, will never overturn our religion. They will prove not more hurtful to the Christian system, if it is allowed to compare small things with great, than the boisterous winds are said to prove to the sturdy oak. They shake it impetuously for a time, and loudly threaten its subversion; whilst, in effect, they only serve to make it strike its roots the deeper, and stand the firmer ever after. say, One word more with the essayist, and I have done. "Upon "the whole," says he, "we may conclude, that the Christian "religion, not only was at first attended with miracles, but ❝even, at this day, cannot be believed by any reasonable per. Mere reason is insufficient to convince "son without one. us of its veracity; and whoever is moved by faith to assent "to it ;" that is, whoever by his belief is induced to believe it, 4 is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, "which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and "gives him a determination to believe, what is most contrary "to custom and experience." An author is never so sure of writing unanswerably, as when he writes altogether unintelligibly. It is impossible that you should fight your enemy before you find him; and if he hath screened himself in darkness, it is next to impossible that you should find him. Indeed, if any meaning can be gathered from that strange assemblage of words just now quoted, it seems to be one or other of these which follow: either, That there are not any in the world, who believe the gospel; or, That there is no want of miracles in our own time. How either of these remarks, if just, can contribute to the author's purpose, it will not, I suspect, be easy to discover. If the second remark is true, if there is no want of miracles at present, surely experience cannot be pleaded against the belief of miracles said to have been performed in time past. Again, if the first remark is true, if there are not any in the world who believe the gospel, because, as Mr. Hume supposeth, a miracle cannot be believed without a new miracle, why all this ado to refute opinions which nobody entertains? Certainly, to use his own words, "The knights-errant, who wandered about to clear the world "of dragons and giants, never entertained the least doubt concerning the existence of these monsters*." Might I presume faintly to copy but the manner of so inimitable an original, as the author hath exhibited in his concluding words, I should also conclude upon the whole, That miracles are capable of proof from testimony, and there is a full proof of this kind, for those said to have been wrought in support of Christianity; that whoever is moved, by Mr. Hume's ingenious argument, to assert, that no testimony can give sufficient evidence of miracles, admits for reason, though perhaps unconscious, a mere subtilty, which subverts the evi dence of testimony, of history, and even of experience itself, giving him a determination to deny, what the common sense of mankind, founded in the primary principles of the understanding, would lead him to believe. See the first paragraph of Essay 12. Of the academical or sceptical philosophy. THE END. INDEX: to Lectures. ABBOTS Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, cited, judged, and deposed by the pope 208 272 Alexandria, the first place where every church had one presbyter Altensfaig, quoted Ambrosiaster 133 154 116 Ammianus Marcellinus, quoted Anchorets 200 284 Appropriation, what heinous crimes Apostles, what Apostolical constitutions, the Archbishop, use of the term Archdeacons Arian controversy Asceticks, Angels, meaning of the term Apiarius, declared innocent by two popes, though convicted of the most Apocalypse, epistles to the Asian churches in the 82, 113 235 - 82, 87 75 193 134 146 139 218, 222 283 Athanasius condemned as a heretick Augustine, his sentiments respecting episcopal jurisdiction Authority, just, supported by knowledge 328 Bingham, criticism on SSS 189 78 149, 351 148 219 167 11 12. 16 163 6 ib. 88, 112 240,297 248 Bishops, their juridical authority, established by Constantine Augustine's sentiments concerning it Page 34 36 ib. ib. 37 primitive signification of the name 66 not successours of the apostles 75 nature of their office in the second and third centuries 90 Blasphemy, what 356 Bona, cardinal, quoted 147, 154, 335, 339 See Winfrid. Burn's ecclesiastical law Books, too many, detrimental to a student first formal prohibition of mutilated and adulterated by the Romish hierarchy Bossuet, stricture on Bower quoted Britain, conversion of Byel, Gabriel, quoted 248 315 9 344 349 374 218, 257, 350 271 133 339 A Celedonius, consequence of his appeal from a synod to the pope Canons of a cathedral Christian temperance and self-denial, essay on Christianity, study of the biblical records necessary for its confirmation 392 16 138 146 318 133 236 235 198 127 138, 139 130, 141 399 6 ib. 7 24 47 114 21 22 24 24, 97 26 46 50 50, 127 61 90 100, 105 137, 162 209 213 |