Let there be light, to the "imperative manner of fpeaking used by a conjurer."* This writer has given us no example of the bombaft from Ifaiah. Bombaft is that fpecies of writing in which great fwelling words are used to convey little ideas. But is it thus in the writings of Ifaiah? And one cried to another, faying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hofts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Who hath meafured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the pan, and comprehended the duft of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in fcales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being his counfellor, hath taught him? With whom took he counfel, and who inftructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and fhewed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small duft of the balance: behold, he taketh up the ifles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not fufficient to burn, nor the beafts thereof fufficient for a burntoffering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him lefs than nothing and vanity. Are the ideas too little in thefe inftances for the words? The prophets wrote in a poetic ftyle; and how could they write otherwife? Poetry is the language of paffion; and fuch as theirs, of paffion raised and inflamed by great and affecting objects. Their language is not that of commor poetry, but, as an elegant writer expreffes it, "It is the burst of inspiration.'

As to the objection against the sublimity of the paffage in the first chapter of Genefis, it is fuffi

Age of Reafon, Part II. p. 105. Note.

cient to obferve that there is nothing, be it ever fo majestic, and worthy of God, but a profane and ludicrous imagination may diftort it. A rainbow may be compared to a fiddlestick: but it does not follow that it is an object of equal infignificance. Thunder and lightning may be imitated by a character not lefs contemptible than a conjurer; but should any one infer that there is nothing more grand, more awful, or more worthy of God, in these difplays of nature, than in the exhibitions of a country show, he would prove himself to be poffeffed of but a fmall portion of either wit or good sense.

*

I do not pretend to any great judgment in the beauties of compofition: but there are perfons of far fuperior judgment to this writer who have expreffed themselves in a very different language. The late SIR WM. JONES, who for learning, and taste, as well as character, has left but few equals, thus expreffes himself: "I have regularly and atten"tively read thefe Holy Scriptures, and am of opi"nion that this Volume, independent of its divine

origin, contains more fublimity and beauty, more

pure morality, more important history, and finer "ftrains of poetry and eloquence, than can be "collected from all other books, in whatever age 66 or language they may have been compofed."

The acknowledgments of ROUSSEAU, likewise, whofe tafte for fine writing, and whofe freedom from prejudice in favour of Chriftianity, none will call in question, will ferve to confront the affertions of Mr. Paine. After declaring that as there were fome proofs in favour of Revelation which he could not invalidate, so there were many objections against it which he could not refolve; that he neither admitted, nor rejected it; and that he rejected only

the obligation of fubmitting to it; he goes on to acknowledge as follows. "I will confefs to you far"ther, that the majefty of the Scripture ftrikes me "with admiration, as the purity of the gospel hath "its influence on my heart. Perufe the works of << our philofophers, with all their pomp of diction "-how mean-how contemptible-are they, com"pared with the Scripture! Is it poffible that a "book at once fo fimple and fublime, fhould be

merely the work of man? Is it poffible that the "facred perfonage whofe hiftory it contains fhould "be himself a mere man? Do we find that he af"fumed the air of an enthufiaft or ambitious fecta

ry? What sweetness, what purity in his man"ners! What an affecting gracefulness in his deli"c very ! What fublimity in his maxims! What "profound wisdom in his difcourfes! What pre"fence of mind! What fubtilty! What truth in "his replies! How great the command, over his "paffions! Where is the man, where the philo"fopher, who could fo live and die, without weak"nefs, and without oftentation?-Shall we fuppofe "the Evangelic Hiftory a mere fiction? Indeed, my "friend, it bears not the marks of fiction. On the

contrary, the history of Socrates, which nobody "prefumes to doubt, is not fo well attefted as that "of Jefus Chrift. The Jewish authors were inca"pable of the diction, and strangers to the mora"lity contained in the gospels; the marks of whose "truth are fo striking and invincible, that the in"6 venter would be a more aftonishing character "than the hero."*

Rouffeau's praises of the Scriptures remind us of

* Works Vol. V. pp. 215–218.

the high encomiums beftowed by Balaam on the Tabernacles of Ifrael. It is no unusual thing for

men to admire that which they do not love.

Let us examine a little more minutely the fpirit in which the Scriptures are written. It is this which conftitutes their holy beauty, that diftinguishes them from all other writings, and that affords the strongeft evidence of their being written by infpiration of God.

In recording hiftorical events the facred writers invariably eye the hand of God: in fome inftances they entirely overlook fecond caufes; and in others, where they are mentioned, it is only as inftruments, fulfilling the divine will. Events that came to pass according to the usual course of things, and in which an ordinary historian would have seen nothing divine, are recorded by them amongst the works of the Lord. The Lord was very angry with Ifrael, and removed them out of his fight-And the Lord sent against Jehoiakim bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and fent them against Judah to deftroy it, according to the word of the Lord which he fpake by his fervants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his fight, for the fins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and alfo for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon.*

In their prophecies, while they foretold the heavieft calamities upon nations, their own and others, and viewing the hand of God in all, acquiefced in them; as men they felt tenderly for their fellow

2 Kings xvii. 18. xxiv. 2, 3, 4,

:

creatures, even for their enemies. My bowels, my borvels; I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard 0 my foul, the found of the trumpet, the alarm of war.—O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy fcabbard, reft and be ftill.* When Ifrael was expofed to calamities, all the neighbouring nations, who hated them on account of their religion, exulted over them but when the cup went round to them, the prophets who foretold it were tenderly affected by it. I will bewail with the weeping of fazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Hefbbon, and Elealeh: for the fhouting for thy fummer-fruits, and for thy harvest, is fallen. And gladnefs is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no finging, neither fhall there be fhouting: the treaders fhall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made fhouting to cease, wherefore my bowels fhall found like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-baresh.†

The miracles which they record are distinguished from the figns and lying wonders of following ages, in that there is always to be feen in them an end worthy of God. The far greater part of them were works of pure compaffion to the parties; and the whole of them of benevolence to Society.

There is nothing in the fcriptures adapted to gratify prefumptuous fpeculation or idle curiofity. Such a fpirit, on the contrary, is frequently checked, and every thing is directed to the renovation or improvement of the heart. The account given of the creation of the fun, moon and stars, is not intended,

Jer. iv. 19. xlvii. 6.

+ Ifai. xvi. 9-II.