mously transmitted to us by the Primitive Church, which was beft qualified to judge of them. But even this teftimony of the primitive Church is not the principal, nor the only ground we have to believe their infpiration; for our Author Jays down three marks as characteristical of the Divinity of a book and concludes, that the book which has all, or any of these marks, is to be accounted Divine.-These are, I. MIRACLES.-Thus "The book which is written by one who pretends, that "either all his writings, or, at least, this in particular, are divinely inspired, and corroborates fuch pretence by Mi"racles, is to be accounted divine.' 66 66 II. PROPHECIES FULFILLED.-Thus, "When a book which pretends to be divine, contains "circumftantial Prophefies, which have been fulfilled, and not a fingle falfe Prophefy can be fhewn therein, that book must "be received as Divine, unless it contradicts Natural Re❝ligion." III. THE UNANIMOUS TESTIMONY OF THE PRIMI- "As the primitive Church was better qualified to judge "which books were Divine, which not, than we; it fol"lows, that the teftimony of the primitive Church is of great weight, if we find nothing material that contra"venes it." 66 All the three above-mentioned Criteria he applies, at large, to prove the Divinity of the books of the New Teftament; but as we cannot make room for an abftract of what he fays upon all thefe points, we fhall felect part of his explanation of the fecond Propofition, which may ferve as a specimen of his ftile, and method of argumentation. 2. The Prophefy I mean, is not of a single point, but a • circumftantial Prophecy.' 3. But as it is poffible that many circumftances might accidentally come to pass, the Characteristic of a Prophet is, that not one of the circumftances he foretold, remains unaccomplished. For if this should be the cafe, he would stand convicted of a falfhood, and therefore could not be a Mef• fenger from God.-It is not neceffary, indeed, that all the Prophecies of a divine book should have been already ful • filled; filled; for they may be, fulfilled hereafter. But if a Prophecy, which ought to have been already fulfilled, remains unfulfilled, we have a right to reject the Prophet. • Upon these conditions, I affert, that Prophecies fulfilled are a very probable evidence of the Divinity of a book. It cannot be denied, that many future events depend upon fo many thousand unknown caufes, and may be prevented, or changed, by fo many unexpected incidents, that no one is qualined to foresee them with certainty, except only that Great Being who furveys all the innumerable minutia of the world, which are interwoven and intangled with each other. I do not except the greatest Angel; for whilst he is a finite Spirit, he cannot furvey the whole world, which • would require faculties that are infinite. What Spirit, for inftance, was great enough, and wife enough, to know for certain, in the time of Ifaiah, that Cyrus would be born, and would be a Prince of fuch fuperior understanding, without accurately knowing the moft minute circumftances both of body and mind of his then ancestors, and without know⚫ing the reasons why the father of Cyrus, who was not then born, would marry his mother, in preference to fo many • other women? For had he married another woman, or fhe ⚫ another man, or had the fingle Concubitus, in which Cyrus was begot, proved unfruitful, Babylon would never have been taken by Cyrus. What finite Spirit could foreknow, that among fo many millions of darts as were fhot at the army • of Cyrus, and whofe line of direction depended upon fo many • imperceptible minutiæ, and fometimes even upon a breath of air, not one of them should hit Cyrus, and thereby convert • the Prophecy of the conqueft of Babylon into a Fable? But it is very incredible, that a circumftantial Prediction fhould come to pafs, in all refpects, without exception, by • mere accident. If I foretell any thing accidental, without • being inspired by God, there is, in the first place, against me, the hazard of its not coming to pass, which is at leaft equal to the chance of its coming to pafs. If I add ten cir• cumftances, any man of understanding will admit, that • each circumftance may eafily be changed a thousand ways; and each of thefe poffible changes is as probable as the cir<cumstance I foretel. Confequently, there is, in each cir<cumstance, the chance of a thoufand to one that my Prophecy will not be fulfilled; and in the whole, it is ten thoufand to one that I prove a false Prophet; and this upon a < very moderate computation. But as it is poffible that no < part of the event foretold may come to pafs, it is not even <fo probable that my Prophecy will be fulfilled, as that by REV. Oct. 1759. X • having having a Ticket in a Lottery of ten thoufand Tickets, I fhall win the greatest Prize; for among the ten thousand one must have the Prize, but the event which. I foretel, may, with all its circumftances, fail to be accomplished. But as it is not abfolutely impoffible, or implies no contradiction, for a pretended Prophecy to be fortuitoufly accomplished, the Prophecies which have been fulfilled, are only a very probable, not ftrictly speaking, a certain evidence, of the Divinity of a book. If therefore the book contains any thing contradictory to Natural Religion, this • evidence becomes infufficient to prove its Divinity. For the doctrines of Natural Religion reft upon a certainty, which takes place of any thing only probable. Perhaps my Reader may wonder, that I fhould prove the Divinity of fome, or rather of a fingle book of the New Teftament, by an argument which I do not advance as certain, but only as highly probable.'-To this I may venture to answer upon logical grounds, that the highest degree of Probability differs very little from what is properly called Certainty; and that an argument which is in the highest degree probable, is even thought equal to a Demonstration, because our limitted understanding is not fo fubject to err in matters probable, which are generally objects of fenfe, as in an abstracted Demonstration. I know, for instance, • with Probability, that there was a King of France called Lewis the fourteenth, who waged great wars; and I know for certain, that the aggregate fquare of the two fides of a rectilinear right angled Triangle, is equal to the fquare of its Hypothenufe. Yet I fhould deferve to be confined as a Lunatic, if I entertained the least doubt that there was a Lewis the fourteenth; or if I do not as confidently believe this probable as the other certain truth.' He then applies this Criterion to the writings of St. Pa and St. John, in particular, by fhewing that there are Prophecies already fulfilled in the Epiftles of the former, as well as in the Revelation of the latter. As one of the most frequent seeming contradictions among the Evangelifts, relates to the circumftance of time, the fame fact being reported earlier by one than by another, he obferves, (fect. 85.) that this apparent contradiction arifes from hence, that they did not write in chronological order.-Upon which he justly remarks, that no Hiftorian is bound to relate every thing exactly in order of time, unless he is writing a Journal, which is the moft tedious and difagreeable kind of Hiftory. For, For, in writing a perfpicuous, and at the fame time an agreeable narration of facts, it is neceflary fometimes to relate, along with an event, its confequences in after-times, and when the Writer reaches thofe times, to return back to the fource of it; or he is obliged now and then to connect facts, which are fomewhat related, though in point of time, very far asunder.'-Upon the above, and fome other rational principles, he proceeds to fhew, (in the next section) how the feeming chronological contradictions in the writings of the Evangelifts may be removed, or reconciled: and then mentions fome of the most approved Authors upon this subject. But as The remaining part of the work contains the learned and ingenious Author's feparate Introduction to each individual book of the New Teftament, in which, he fays, he has endeavoured to be as concife and as ufeful as poffible. this article is already extended to a confiderable length, we must conclude it, by recommending the whole of this truly valuable treatife to the attentive perufal of every theological Student, especially thofe of the younger fort, for whofe ufe it was peculiarly calculated. P Differtations, Effays, and Difcourses. In Profe and Verfe. By Dr. Fortefcue. 2 vols. 8vo. 10 s. fewed. Dodfley. H WAVING, with fome labour, and much patience, perufed fo much of these volumes as might enable us to form a competent judgment of their Author's abilities, we made at length the discovery of a peculiarity in his literary Character, to which few befide himfelf can boaft pretenfi Almost every Writer we are acquainted with, has his forte and his foible; his ftrong and weak fide. The elegant Writer of Profe, is feldom excellent at Numbers; nor is it unfrequent to find Poets, who can entertain no idea of the harmony of Periods which do not end in a Jingle. Nay, fo confined are the talents of moft Authors, that the Bard who affects the ftile and dignity of Milton, and, like Moliere's French Cit, writes profe all his life, without knowing it, is frequently incapable of bringing words together, of a fimilar found, in the way of Rhime. Matter of an Epic Poem, an Epigram or a Sonnet would put him totally to a stand; while the Sonnetteer, who will play you at Crambo by the X 2. hour, hour, and find an hundred rhimes to every word in the Vocabulary, can discover no more music in Numbers without Rhime, than the former in Rhime without Numbers. It is otherwife, however, with Dr. Fortefcue, whose talents are fo general, and capacity fo extenfive, that he talks over the high and hobbling road of Blank Verse, with as much gracefulness and eafe, as if he were ambling through the flowery paths of Rhime, or plodding foberly along the beaten track of plain Profe. Whether he writes Profe or Verfe, blank or rhime; whether his writings be allegorical, fatyrical, defcriptive, or didactic; whether Ode, Fable, Sonnet, or Epiftle, it is all the fame to him. Whatever be his fubject, or whatever his manner, his merit is in all confpicuous, and in all perfectly equal. We, nevertheless, cannot help regretting this circumftance, notwithstanding all the honour it may reflect on the Author, fince in a work, where everything is of equal merit, the Reviewer is extremely at a lofs to make choice of fuch extracts as are neceffary to give the Reader an idea of the performance. The following fpecimens, however, we have selected as the eafieft detached, or the fhorteft; but not as the best or worst in this miscellany. As a fample of his profe, we fhall quote a paffage or two from this curious Writer's Differtations on Man, ་ · Of Laws for regulating and forming our Conduct. All laws are intended for thefe ends, viz. the peace, and the good of mankind; which are only anfwered when thofe laws are properly execut cc: and fuch governments are always the beft, which have made the beft provifions for their fubjects; and thofe fubjects will ever be found the beft, and maintain the beft order, who are early trained, by difcipline, to the love of good order: it is not the air of a country, or the foil, or the climate, which gives the characteristic to any nation: what has been obferved, of Cappadocia's formerly enjoying as good a natural quality, as it does now, is as true, of the country, and prefent ftate of the Moors. It was not the air, or the foil of thofe countries, which difpofed fome of them to be more flavifh, or others to be more dull, perhaps, than the inhabitants of other countries, and climates; but their indolent cuftoms, and the want of a proper inftitution, and proper means of industry, • and |