HARMONY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

PERMIT me to state to you, what would, in my opin ion, have been a better mode of proceeding; better suited to the character of an honest man, sincere in his endeavours to search out truth. Such a man, in reading the Bible, would, in the first place, examine whether the Bible attributed to the Supreme Being any attributes repugnant to holiness, truth, justice, goodness; whether it represented him as subject to human infirmities; whether it excluded him from the government of the world, or assigned the origin of it to chance. and an eternal conflict of atoms. Finding nothing of this kind in the Bible, (for the destruction of the Canaanites, by his express command, I have shewn not to be repugnant to his moral justice) he would, in the second place, consider that the Bible being, as to many of its parts, a very old book, and written by various authors, and at different and distant periods, there might probably occur some difficulties and apparent contradictions in the historical part of it.

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II. He would endeavour to remove those difficulties, to reconcile these apparent contradictions, by the rules of such sound criticism as he would use in examining the contents any other book; and if he found that most of them were of a trifling nature, arising from short additions inserted into the text, as explanatory and supplemental, or from mistakes and omissions of transcribers, he would infer that all the rest were capable of being accounted for, though he was not able to do it; and he would be the more willing to make this concession, from observing, that there ran, through the whole book, a harmony and connection, utterly inconsistent with every idea of forgery and deceit. WATSON TO PAINE.

IF a person should now say, (as many false prophets have said, and are daily saying) that he had a commission to declare the will of God; and as a proof of his verac ity, should predict that, after his death, he would arise

from the dead on the third day; the completion of such a prophesy would, I presume, be a sufficient criterion of the truth of what this man might have said concerning the will of God. Now I tell you, (says Jesus to his disciples, concerning Judas, who was to betray him) before it come, that when it is come to pass ye may believe that I am he. In various parts of the gospels, our Saviour, with the ut most propriety, claims to be received as the messenger of God, not only from the miracles which he wrought, but from the prophecies which were fulfilled in his person, and from the predictions which he himself delivered.

II. Hence, instead of there being no criterion, by which we may judge of the truth of the Christian revelation there are clearly three. It is an easy matter to use an indecorous flippancy of language in speaking of the Christian religion, and, with a supercilious negligence, to class Christ and his apostles amongst the impostors who have figured in the world; but it is not, I think, an easy matter for any man of good sense and sound erudition, to make an impartial examination into any one of the three grounds of Chris tianity, which I have here mentioned, and to reject it. WATSON TO PAINE.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE.

WHAT is it, you ask, the Bible teaches? The prophet Micah shall answer you; it teaches us-"to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God"-justice, mercy, and piety, instead of what you contend for-rapine, cruelty, and murder.

What is it, you demand, the Testament teaches us? I will tell you the lesson which it teaches to infidels, as well as believers; it is a lesson which philosophy never taught, which wit cannot ridicule, nor sophistry disprove; the les son is this "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live; all that are in their graves shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damna

tion."

II. The moral precepts of the gospel are so well fitted to promote the happiness of mankind in this world, and to prepare human nature for the future enjoyment of that blessed

THE READER want to 93
Know if is

hess, of which, in our present state, we can form no con-
ception, that I had no expectation they would have met
with your disapprobation.

You say, however-" As to the scraps of morality that are irregularly and thinly scattered in those books, they make no part of the pretended thing, revealed religion." "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so umen unto them." Is this a scrap of morality? Is it not rather the concentred essence of all ethicks, the vigorous root, from which every branch of moral duty towards each other may be derived Good Boy WATSON TO Paindi

YOU certainly have read the New Testament, but not, i think, with great attention, or you would have known whe the apostles were. In this place, you reckon Luke as one of the eleven, and in other places, you speak of him as an eye-witness of the things he relates; you ought to have known that Luke was no apostle; and he tells you himself, in the preface of his gospel, that he wrote from the testimony of others. If this mistake proceeds from your ignorance, you are not a fit person to write comments on the Bible; if from design, (which I am unwilling to suspect) you are still less fit; in either case, it may suggest to your readers the propriety of suspecting the truth and accuracy of your assertions, however daring and intemperate.

II. "Of the numerous priests or parsons of the present day, bishops and all, the sum total of whose learning" according to you, is a, b, ab, and hic, bac, hoc, "there is not one amongst them," you say, "who can write poetry like Homer, or science like Euclid." If I should admit this, (though there are many of them, I doubt not, who understand these authors better than you do) yet I cannot admit that there is one amongst them, bishops and all, so ignorant as to rank Luke the evangelist among the apostles of Christ. I will not press this point; any man may fall into a mistake, and the consciousness of this fallibility should create in all men a little modesty, a little diffidence, a little caution, before they presume to call the most illustrious characters of antiquity, liars, fools, and knaves. WATSON to PAINE.

THE New Testament tells us, that through the merciful dispensation of God, Christ hath overcome death, and restored man to that immortality which Adam had lost: this also, you refuse to believe. Why? Because you cannot account for the propriety of this redemption. Miserable reason! Stupid objection! What is there you can account for? Not for the germination of a blade of grass, not for the fall of a leaf of the forest-and will you refuse to eat of the fruits of the earth, because God has not given you wisdom equal to his own? Will you refuse to lay hold of immortality because he has not given you, because he, probably, could not give to such a being as man, a full manifes tation of the end for which he designs him, nor of the means requisite for the attainment of that end?

II. What father of a family can make level to the ap prehensions of his infant children, all the views of happiness which his paternal goodness is preparing for them? How can he explain to them the utility of reproof, correction, instruction, example of all the various means by which he forms their minds to piety, temperance, and probity.

We are children in the hands of God; we are in the very infancy of our existence; it may not be possible for the Father of the universe to explain to us (infants in apprehension) the goodness and the wisdom of his dealings with the sons of men. WATSON to PAINE.

A SHORT ADDRESS TO PARENTS.

TO you, who are parents, nature itself hath given you a tender concern for your children's we fare, as your own; and reminds you justly, that as you have brought them into the dangers of life, your business is to provide that they get well through them.

Now the only provision commonly attended to, of wealth and honours, can never produce happiness, unless the mind, on which all depends, be taught to enjoy them properly. Fortune, without this, will but lead them to more abandoned sallies of extravagance, and expose them

to more publick censure. Education, then, is the great care with which you are entrusted; scarcely more for their sakes, than your own. You may be negligent of your son's instruction, but it is on you as well as himself, that his ignorance and contemptibleness will bring both reproach and inconvenience. You may be regardless of his morals, but you may be the person who will at last most severely feel the want of them.

II. You may be indifferent about his religion; but remember dutifulness to you is one great principle of religion, and all the rest promote such habits as you may bitterly repent (when it is too late) your omission to cultivate in him; and you may live and die miserable on his account, whom timely care would have made your joy and comfort.

Therefore, in a case of such moment, let no false shame, nor favourite passion prevail over you, but "give your hearts wholly to the Lord who made you." Lay the foundation of your lives here, on the firm ground of Christian faith; and build upon it whatever is just and good, worthy, and noble, till the structure be complete in moral beauty.

III. The world, into which your children are entering, lies in wait for them with a variety of temptations. Unfavourable sentiments of religion will soon be suggested to them, and all the snares of luxury, false honour, and interest, spread in their way, which, with most of their rank, are too successful, and, to many, fatal. Happy the few, who in any part of life become sensible of their errors, and with painful resolution tread back the wrong steps which they have taken.

But happiest of men is he, who, by an even course of right conduct, from the first, as far as human frailty permits, hath at once avoided the miseries of sin, the sorrows of repentance, and the difficulties of virtue; who not only can think of his present state with composure, but reflect on his past behaviour with thankful approbation; and look forward with unmixed joy to that important future hour, when he shall appear before God, and humbly offer to him a whole life spent in his service. SECKER.

IT is to be wished that parents would consider what a variety of circumstances tends to render the evil reports of

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