was also written by a learned lay-man, Sir George Littleton. It is entitled, "Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul, in a Letter to Gilbert West, Esquire, London, 1747." The great advantage of this performance is, that the evidence for Christianity is here drawn to one point of view, for the use of those who will not attend to a long series of argument. The design is to show, that the conversion and apostleship of St. Paul, alone considered, is of itself a demonstration sufficient to prove Christianity to be a divine revelation. This design is very happily executed. He first considereth the account St. Paul himself hath given of the miraculous manner of his conversion; and thence argueth, that it must of necessity be, that the person attesting these things of himself either was an impostor, who said what he knew to be false, with an intent to deceive; or he was an enthusiast, who by the force of an over-heated imagination imposed upon himself; or he was deceived by the fraud of others; or lastly, what he declared to be the cause of his conversion, and to have happened in consequence of it, did all really happen; and therefore the Christian religion is a divine revelation. That he was not an impostor, he proves, by showing, with admirable clearness and strength, that he could have no rational motive to undertake such an imposture; nor could possibly have carried it on with any success by the means we know he employed. With equal evidence he showeth that St. Paul was not an enthusiast; that lie had not those dispositions which are essential ingredients in that character; and that he could not possibly have imposed on himself by any power of enthusiasm, either with regard to the miracle that caused his conversion, or to the consequential effects of it, or to some other circumstances which he bears testimony to in his Epistles; especially the miracles wrought by him, and the extraordinary gifts conferred upon him, and upon the Christian converts to whom he wrote. To suppose all this to have been only owing to the strength of his own imagination, when there was in reality no such thing at all, is to suppose him to have been all this time quite out of his senses; and then it is absolutely impossible to account, how such a distempered enthusiast and madman could make such a progress, as we know he did, in converting the Gentile world. He next proceeds to show, that St. Paul was not deceived by the fraud of others; if the disciples of Christ could have conceived so strange a thought as that of turning his persecutor into his apostle, they could not possibly have effected it in the manner in which it was effected, with the extraordinary consequences that followed upon it. It is evident, then, that what he said of himself could not be imputed to the deceit of others, no more than to wilful imposture, or enthusiasm; and then it followeth, that what he relateth to have been the cause of his conversion, and to have happened in consequence of it, did all really happen, and therefore the Christian religion is a divine revelation. He concludeth with some good observations to show, that the mysteries of the Christian religion do not furnish any just reason for rejecting the strong and convincing evidence with which it is attended; that there are several incomprehensible difficulties in deism itself; such as those relating to the origin of moral evil, the reconciling the prescience of God with the free-will of man, which Mr. Locke owns he could not do, though he acknowledged both, the creation of the world in time, or the eternal production of it. And yet no wise man, because of these difficulties, would deny the being, the attributes, or the providence of God. But it is time to conclude this long epistle; and here I intended, as you know, to have closed my accounts of the deistical writers. But as you insist upon it, that, in order to complete this design, it will be necessary to take a more particular notice than I have done of Mr. Chubb's Posthumous Works, this will engage me to continue my correspondence on this head for some time longer. LETTER XIII. An Account of Mr. Chubb's Posthumous Works; his specious Professions, and the advantageous Character he gives of his own Writings-He doth not allow a particular Providence, or that Prayer to God is a Duty-His Uncertainty and Inconsistency with Respect to a future State of Existence, and a future Judgment-He absolutely rejects the Jewish Revelation—His Objections against it briefly obviated — He expresses a good Opinion of Mahometanism, and will not allow that it was propagated by the Sword--He seems to acknowledge Christ's divine Mission, and sometimes gives a favourable Account of Christianity; but it is shown, that he hath done all he can to weaken and expose it, and to subvert its Credit and divine Authority. SIR, AMONG the deistical writers of this present age, Mr. Chubb made no inconsiderable figure. He was, though not a man of learning, regarded by many as a person of strong natural parts and acuteness, and who had a clear manner of expression. He was the author of a great number of tracts, in some of which he put on the appearance of a friend to Christianity; though it was no difficult matter to discern that his true intention was to betray it. One of the most remarkable of these tracts was his "True Gospel of Jesus Christ asserted ;" in which, under pretence of asserting the gospel of Christ in its genuine simplicity, he really endeavoured to subvert and expose it. This was answered by Mr. Joseph Hallet, in a valuable tract, entitled, "The consistent Christian; being a Confutation of the errors advanced in Mr. Chubb's Book, entitled, 'The true Gospel of Jesus Christ asserted, relating to the Necessity of Faith, the Nature of the Gospel, the Inspiration of the Apostles, &c.' with Remarks on his Dissertation on Providence, 8vo. 1738." Another noted tract of Mr. Chubb's was, his "Discourse on Miracles, in which he proposed to give a representation of the various reasonings that relate to the subject of miracles. But it is manifest, that his intention was not to clear, but to perplex the subject; and to show, that the proof from miracles is not at all to be depended upon. To this there was a solid and full answer returned by Mr. Abraham Le Moine, which was published at London, 8vo, 1747. Several of Mr. Chubb's tracts were also answered by Mr. Caleb Fleming; but his answers I have not seen. What I propose to consider are those that are called his "Posthumous Works," some of which were printed in his own life-time, and the rest carefully corrected and prepared by himself for the press, and published after his death, in two volumes, 8vo, London, 1748. The first volume begins with a short tract, entitled, "Remarks on the Scriptures." But the far greater part of this volume, and the entire second volume, is taken up with what is called "The Author's Farewell to his Readers, comprehending a variety of Tracts on the most important subjects of religion." It is divided into eleven large sections; and the principal design he appears to have had in view is, to destroy, as far as in him lay, the credit and authority of the Christian revelation. I know of no answer that has been published to this book, and therefore shall be more particular in my remarks upon it, to obviate in some measure the mischief it is fitted to produce. It is plain, from several hints which he hath given us, that he looked upon himself to be a writer of no small importance. He declares, that he hath treated the several subjects he has " discussed with plainness and freedom, and of course must have ministered to the pleasure of the intelligent part of mankind, whether they approved his sentiments or not."* He begins the first section of what he calls his Farewell to his Readers, with expressing his hope, that his "correspondence with them by writing for many years past, has been not altogether useless nor unacceptable to them." And in the last section of his Farewell, which he calls his Conclusion, he expresseth himself as one that in these his last writings, was leaving a very valuable legacy to the world. I know few authors, who have taken leave of their readers with a greater air of solemnity than he has done. He calls God to witness to the goodness of his intentions; and declares, that in what he has offered to the world, he has "appealed to the understanding, and not to the passions of men :" That with sincerity and truth he can say, he has had a real concern and regard to the present well-being of his fellow-creatures, as well as to their future happiness :" And that as he was "in the decline of life, and perhaps not far from the conclusion of it, and being in the full exercise of his intellectual faculties, which are not in the least clouded or impaired, he chose to take his leave of the world as a writer, hoping, that what he has offered to public consideration has had, and may have, some good effect upon the minds and lives of his readers." And he concludes the whole with again assuring his readers, that he has laid before them, in the plainest Ibid. vol. ii. p. 354, 355, Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 64, 65. + Ibid. p. 97. manner he was able, both in this discourse, and in what he had before published to the world, those truths which he thought to be of the highest importance. And so, saith he, "I bid you farewell, hoping to be a sharer with you of the divine favour, in that peaceful and happy state, which God hath prepared for the virtuous and faithful, in some other future world." Who that considers these solemn expressions, would be apt to suspect, that this very author, in these his farewell discourses, has not only used his utmost efforts to expose Christianity and the holy Scriptures, but has endeavoured to weaken some of the most important principles of natural religion? He had, in one of his tracts formerly published, shown himself to be no friend to the doctrine of a particular providence; and there are several passages in his " Posthumous Works," which look that way. He plainly intimates, that he looks upon God as having nothing now to do with the good or evil that is done among mankind; and that men's natural abilities or endowments of body or mind, their fortunes, situation in the world, and other circumstances or advantages by which one man is distinguished from another, are things that entirely depend upon second causes, and in which providence does not interpose at all. And when he endeavours to show, that no proof can be brought for a future state from the present unequal distribution of things, his argument amounteth in effect to this, that providence hath nothing to do with these present inequalities, nor concerneth itself with some men's being in a prosperous condition or circumstances, and others in a calamitous or suffering state. He evidently supposes all along, that God doth not interpose in any thing where second causes are concerned :§ So that all agency of divine providence in disposing, governing, and overruling second causes, in which so much of the wisdom of God's providential administrations doth consist, is, upon his scheme, absolutely excluded. Agreeably to this, he discardeth all hope or expectation of divine assistance in the practice of that which is good; though he owns, that something of this kind hath been generally believed in all religions. This is the design of a considerable part of the first section of his "Farewell to his Readers;" which would deserve to be particularly examined, if this were a proper place for it. I shall only observe, that what he seems to lay a principal stress upon, to set aside the notion of divine influences or assistances, is, that we have no way certainly distinguishing them from the operations of our own minds; whereas, supposing this to be the case, all that it would prove is, not that there are no gracious assistances or influences communicated at all, but that they are ordinarily communicated in a way perfectly agreeable to the just order of our faculties, and without putting any unnatural constraint upon them. of • Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 127. + lbid. p. 225. Ibid. vol. i. p. 394, 395. § See concerning a particular providence, Woolaston's Religion of Nature delineated, p. 98, and seq. Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 114, and seq. And as he allows no particular interposition of divine providence in human affairs, it is not to be wondered at, that he has done what he can to show, that prayer to God is no part of natural religion.* He supposes it as a thing certain, that God doth not fulfil our requests by granting what we pray for, since things will go on in their natural course, whether we pray to God or not. He owns indeed, that prayer, considered as a positive institution, may be of use, by introducing proper reflections, and thereby proper affections and actions; and provided it be made use of only for this purpose, without expecting to obtain any thing from God in consequence of it, he thinks it cannot be said to be a mocking of God; but yet he apprehends that even in this case, there is still an impropriety in it, and puts the question, whether such an impropriety should be a bar to prayer, or whether it be displeasing to God; and he plainly intimates, that in his opinion it is so. I need not take particular notice of the objections he hath urged against the duty of prayer, which have been often sufficiently obviated; but I think it is evident, that there is little room left, upon this author's scheme, for what hath been hitherto looked upon by the wisest and best of men to be a principal part of true piety, or of the duty we owe to God, viz. a constant religious dependence upon his wise and good providence, a thankful sense of his goodness, and gratitude to him for the benefits we receive, a patient submission and resignation to his will under afflictions, an ingenuous trust and affiance in him, and a looking up to him for his gracious assistances to help our sincere endeavours. The doctrines concerning the immortality of the soul, and a future state of retributions, are justly regarded as important parts of natural religion, and have been acknowledged to be so by some of the deists themselves. Mr. Blount, in a letter to the right honourable and most ingenious Strephon, in the Oracles of Reason, says, "There are many arguments from reason and philosophy to prove the immortality of the soul, together with its rewards and punishments; but that there is no argument of greater weight with him, than the absolute necessity and convenience that it should be so, as well to complete the justice of God, as to perfect the happiness of man, not only in this world, but in that which is to come." Another deistical writer observes, that "to say, man's soul dies with the body is a desperate conclusion, which saps the foundation of human happiness." And one would think, by some passages in Mr. Chubb's book, that he was of the same opinion. He begins the first section of his Farewell with assuring his readers, that what he hath principally aimed at in all his writings, has been both to evince, and to impress deeply upon their minds, a just sense of those truths, which are of the highest concern to them; and one of those truths which he there expressly mentions is this, "that God will reward or punish + Ibid. p. 283, 284. * Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 287, &c. Religion of Nature delineated, p. 125, 126. and Benson's tract On the End and Design of Prayer. Letter to the Deists, p 25, cited by Halyburton. |