what it is to doubt; and has perhaps been of fended at certain writers, who are incapable of owning or of feeling a difficulty, and who convince none, except thofe that ftand in no need of conviction, and to fome of whom it might be faid, Urbem proditis, dum caftella defenditis: but here is a prophecy, and here is a completion, to which if we can make no reasonable objection, we ought to admit the Gospel of Jefus Chrift, and to endeavour to know and to do his facred will, accounting this to be the beft foundation of our prefent hopes, and of our future happiness.

If the illuftrious and most important prophecy which I have confidered, and some others which fhall be mentioned, have been evidently delivered, and evidently accomplished; and if the miracles of Chrift and of his Apoftles may be proved, as I fhall endeavour to fhew; it is a fair confequence, that Christianity is a true religion, and that it cannot be made false, or ambiguous, by any arguments drawn from the notions or from the behaviour of believers after the times of the Apoftles.

Much may be faid, and fomething shall be offered in behalf of the Fathers and Chriftians of the three first centuries, who fuffered fo greatly for fo good a caufe, and whofe abilities, if they are overvalued by fome, are as much depreciated by others. No Chriftian would willingly give them up in any point, where there is room to defend them: but the imperfections and miftakes from which they were

not free, (and who is free?) and their credulity in fome things, and in ages which were not Critical, and a kind of credulity, to which an honest man, as fuch, is more liable than a crafty impoflor, can never invalidate the proofs. internal and external of the truth of Chriftianity.

The confirming and fettling these great points, upon which our faith is founded, without a view to any particular fyftems and controverfies, as it is the most agreeable employment to an ingenuous mind, fo is it ufually the most difinterested of all occupations. Whofoever is resolved to employ his hours and his labour in this manner, fhould confider himself as one who lays out his fortunes in mending the high-ways: Many are benefited, and few are obliged. If he efcapes obloquy, it is very well:

-Triumpho, fi licet me latere tecto abfcedere. I have only this to add concerning the prefent fubject, that Chrift having faid of the city and temple, one ftone fhall not be left upon another, learned men have taken pains to fhew. that this was exactly and literally fulfilled, either under Vefpafian, or under Adrian, or in the time of Julian.

If any one should be of opinion that they have not proved this point, I defire he would observe that the words are proverbial and figurative, and only denote utter ruin and defolation, and would have been truly accomplished, though every fingle ftone had not been over

turned

turned; as a houfe or city is faid nalaσxa@var, when it is destroyed, though its foundations be not digged up.

Malachi, foretelling the destruction of Jerufalem, fays, The day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly fhall be fubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, faith the Lord of Hofts, that it fhall leave them neither root nor branch. iv. 1.

This was truly accomplished, though every unconverted Jew did not perish in that general calamity. Proverbial fayings are not mathematical axioms.

Eufebius, mentioning the prophecy of Micah, Zion shall be plowed as a field. iii. 12. says, Εἰ γόν τι δύναται καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ισορία, καθ ̓ ἡμᾶς αὐτὲς τίω πάλαι βωομένω Σιων ζεύγεσι βοῶν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἀνδρῶν ἀρεμένω ὀφθαλμοῖς παρειλήφαμον, κ τώ Ιερεσαλήμ, ὡς αὐτό γέ φησι τὸ λόγιον ; οπωροφυλακίε δίκην ἀπολειφθένα, εν παελεῖ καλαςᾶσαν ἐρημία. Quod fi quidquam noftra quoque hiftoria valet, noftris ipforum temporibus, illam antiquitus celebratam Sion junctis bubus a Romanis viris arari, noftris oculis infpeximus, et ipfam Hierufalem, quemadmodum ipfum hoc ait oraculum, inftar pomorum cuftodia defertæ, ad extremam redactam folitudinem. Dem. Evang. v. 273.

Eufebius was Bishop of Cæfarea, and lived near enough to have frequent opportunities of viewing the ruins of Jerufalem, and in them the completion of Chrill's predictions.

The words eriga isopía mean, the knowledge and the teftimony of what we have feen our

felves; and the Latin tongue has no fingle word, which exactly answers to this fenfe of isogía.

Herodotus begins his Book thus, 'Heodorov Αλικαρνασή @ ἱσορίης Σπόδεξις ἥδε. which James Gronovius tranflates; Herodoti Halicarnaffenfis cura demonftratio hæc eft. But this interpretation ftands in need of another. Kufter thus explains the place; Notandum eft isogin non folum denotare hiftoriam, five rerum geftarum narrationem, vel defcriptionem; fed etiam, et quidem proprie, cognitionem rerum quas vel oculis ipfi luftravimus, vel ex aliis fcifcitando didicimus; vel ftudium res varias, eo, quo diximus, modo cognofcendi. Et quoniam primi et antiquiffimi Hiftorici vix alias res memoria prodere poterant, quam quas vel ipfi vidiffent, vel ex aliis fcifcitati effent, hinc recte et proprio fenfu dicebantur isogixoi. Postea vero latius, ut fieri folet, extenfa vocis ejus fignificatione, etiam quicumque alii rerum geftarum Scriptores eodem nomine fimpliciter appellari cœperunt. Proæmium Hiftoria Herodotea Latine fic verterim: Rerum ab Herodoto Halicarnaffenfi curiofe obfervatarum fpecimen hoc eft. Vel per longiorem periphrafin: Curiofitatis, quam Herodotus adhibuit, in rebus, quas narrat, vel luftrandis, vel fcifcitandis, fpecimen, vel argumentum, hoc eft.

Le Clerc thinks that ἱςορίης Υπόδεξις may be rendered: Quod in hiftoriâ præftitit. But, however, the observations of Kufter upon the word isogin are juft and true. See Le Clerc, Bibl. A. & M. V. 385. Ηροδότου ἱσορίης ἀπόδεξις ἥδε, ὡς

TE.-Herodotus res a fe obfervatas et investigatas edidit, ut neque &c.

I Now proceed to make fome remarks on prophecy in general, and then on the prophecies of the Old Teftament relating to our Saviour.

That God foreknows even all the future actions of men, is what the holy Scriptures moft evidently fuppofe and prove, and what the bulk of mankind in all ages have believed.

This opinion arose probably, not so much from arguments drawn from the Divine perfections, as from experience, tradition, and revelation.

It appears in facred hiftory, that God almighty from the most ancient times revealed himself to men by foretelling future events, which is prophecy.

The ufes of prophecy, befides gradually opening and unfolding the things relating to the Meffias, and the bleffings which by him fhould be conferred upon mankind, are many, and great, and manifeft.

1. It ferved to fecure the belief of a God and of a providence.

As God is invifible and fpiritual, there was caufe to fear that in the firft and ruder ages of the world, when men were bufier in cultivating the earth than in cultivating arts and fciences, and in feeking the neceffaries of life, than in the ftudy of morality, they might forget their creator and governor; and therefore God maintained amongst them the great article of faith