phaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shubite, and Zo phar the Naamathite, went, and did according as the Lord commanded them: the Lord alfo accepted Job.** The objections which are now made to the facrifice of Chrift, equally apply to all expiatory facrifices; the offering up of which, had not the former fuperfeded them, would have continued to this day.

If an innocent character offer to die in the room of a guilty fellow-creature, it is not ordinarily accepted, nor would it be proper that it fhould. For he may have no just right to dispose of his life; or if he have, he has no power to resume it: there may likewife be no fuch relation between the parties, as that the suffering of the one fhould express displeasure against the conduct of the other. Befides this, there may be no great and good end accomplished by fuch a fubftitution, to fociety: the lofs fuftained by the death of the one might be equal if not fuperior to the gain from the life of the other. If the evil to be endured might be furvived; if the relation between the parties were fuch, that in the fufferings of the one mankind would be impreffed with the evil of the other and if by such a proceeding great advantage would accrue to fociety, instead of being accounted inadmiffible, it would be reckoned right, and wise, and good. If a dignified individual, by enduring fome temporary severity from an offended nation, could appeafe their difpleafure, and thereby fave his country from the deftroying fword, who would not admire his difinterested conduct? And if the offended, from motives of humanity, were con

• Chap. xlii., 7-9.

;

tented with expreffing their displeasure by tranfferring the effect of it from a whole nation to an individual who thus ftepped forward on their behalf, would their conduct be cenfured as "indif criminate revenge ?" The truth is, the atonement of Chrift affords a difplay of juftice on too large a fcale, and on too humbling a principle, to ap prove itself to a contracted, felfifh, and haughty mind.

CHAP. V.

The confiftency of the Scripture Doctrine of Redemption with the modern opinion of the Magnitude of Creation.

IT is common for Deifts to impute the pro

grefs of their principles to the prevalence of true philofophy. The world, they fay, is more enlightened; and a great number of difcoveries are progreffively making, which render the credibility of the scriptures more and more fufpicious. It is now a commonly-received opinion, for inftance, among men of fcience, that this world is but a point in creation; that every planet is a world, and all the fixed ftars fo many funs in the centres of fo many fyftems of worlds; and that as every part of creation within our knowledge teems with life, and as God hathmade nothing in vain, it is highly probable that all thefe worlds are inhabited by intelligent beings, who are capable of knowing and adoring their Creator. But if this be true, how incredible is it that fo great a portion of regard fhould be exercised by the Su

preme Being towards man as the fcriptures reprefent; how incredible efpecially it muft appear to a think ing mind that Deity fhould become incarnaté, fhould take human nature into the most intimate union with himself, and thereby raise it to fuch fingular eminency in the scale of being, though compared with the whole of creation, if we comprehend even the whole fpecies, it be lefs than a neft of infects compared with the unnumbered millions of animated beings which inhabit the earth.

*

This objection, there is reafon to think has had a very confiderable influence on the fpeculating part of mankind. Mr. Paine in the Firft part of his Age of Reafon, has laboured after his manner to make the most of it, and thereby to difparage Chriftianity. "Though it is not a direct article of "the Chriftian fyftem, he fays, that this world "which we inhabit is the whole of the habitable "creation; yet it is fo worked up therewith from "what is called the Mofaic account of the creation, "the story of Eve and the apple, and the counter66 part of that ftory, the death of the Son of God, "that to believe otherwife, that is, to believe that "God created a plurality of worlds, at least as nu

merous as what we call ftars, renders the Chrif"tian fyftem of faith at once little and ridiculous, "and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the "air. The two beliefs cannot be held together in "the fame mind; and he who thinks he believes "both has thought but little of either."+

Again, Having difcourfed on the vaft extent of creation, he afks, "But in the midft of thefe re"flections, what are we to think of the Chriftian

" fyftem of faith, that forms itself upon the idea of "only one world, and that of no greater extent than "twenty-five thousand miles ?" "From whence "could arise the folitary and ftrange conceit that "the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equal

ly dependant on his protection, fhould quit the 66 care of all the rest, and come to die in our "world, because they say one man, and one wo66 man had eaten an apple? And on the other "hand, are we to fuppofe that every world in the "boundless creation had an Eve, an apple, a fer"6 pent, and a Redeemer? In this cafe, the perfon "who is irreverently called the Son of God, and "fometimes God himfelf, would have nothing elfe "to do than to travel from world to world, in an "endlefs fucceffion of death, with fcarcely a momentary interval of life."*

To animadvert upon all the extravagant and offenfive things even in so small a part of Mr. Paine's performance as the above quotation, would be an irkfome task. A few remarks however may not be improper.

First, Though Mr. Paine is pleased to say in his usual style of naked affertion, that "the two beliefs "" cannot be held together; and that he who thinks *" he believes both, has thought but little of either;"

yet he cannot be ignorant that many who have admitted the one, have at the fame time held fast the other. Mr. Paine is certainly not overloaded with modesty when comparing his own abilities and acquifitions with those of other men; but I am inclined to think, that, with all his affurance, he will not pretend that BACON, or BOYLE, or NEWTON,

P. 46.

to mention no more, had thought but little of philosophy or Christianity. I imagine it would be within the compafs of truth were I to fay, they bestowed twenty times more thought upon both these fubjects than ever Mr. Paine did. His extreme ignorance of Christianity, at least, is manifeft, by the numerous grofs blunders of which he has been detected.

Secondly, Suppofing the fcripture account of the Creation to be inconfiftent with the ideas which modern philofophers entertain of its extent; yet it is not what Mr. Paine reprefents it. It certainly does not teach "that this world which we inhabit "is the whole of the habitable creation." Mr. Paine will not deny that it exhibits a world of happiness, and a world of mifery, though in the career of his extravagance he seems to have overlooked it.

Thirdly, If the two beliefs, as Mr. Paine calls them, cannot be confiftently held together, we need not be at a lofs to determine which to relinquish. All the reasoning in favour of a multiplicity of worlds, inhabited by intelligent beings, amounts to no more than a ftrong probability. No man can properly be faid to believe it: it is not a matter of faith, but of opinion. It is an opinion too that has taken place of other opinions, which in their day were admired by the philosophical part of mankind as much as this is in ours. Mr. Paine feems to with to have it thought, that the doctrine of a multiplicity of inhabited worlds is a matter of demonftration: but the existence of a number of heavenly bodies, whofe revolutions are under the direction of certain laws, and whofe returns therefore are the objects of human calculation, does not prove that they are all inhabited by intelligent beings. I do not deny that

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