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lished some years after, in 1705, intitled The Deist's Manual. It is observable, that the greatest part of this book is taken up in vindicating the doctrines of the existence and attributes of God, his providence and government of the world, the immortality of the soul, and a future state: and his reason for it was, as he himself intimates, because many of the deists, with whom he was well acquainted, did really deny those great principles which lie at the foundation of all religion, or at least represented them as doubtful and uncertain; and their not admitting natural religion in its just extent formed some of their principal prejudices against the Christian revelation.

The next writer of whom I shall give some account is Mr. Toland, who, though he called himself a Christian, made it very much the business of his life to serve the cause of infidelity, and to unsettle men's minds with regard to religion. There are many things in his writings which show, that he was very fond of asserting things that had an appearance of novelty, however destitute of reason or probability; a remarkable instance of which he has given in his strange attempt to prove that motion is essential to matter. See his letters to Serena, 'Letter III.* In another book, which he calls Pantheisticon, published in 1720, he has shown himself a favourer and admirer of the Pantheistic philosophy, i. e. that of Spinosa, which acknowledgeth no other God but the universe. The first thing that made Mr. Toland taken notice of, was his Christianity not mysterious; or, a Discourse showing, that there is Nothing in the Gospel contrary to Reason, nor above it, and that no Christian Doctrine can be properly called a mystery. This was published in 1696, and was animadverted upon by several writers of learning and reputation, as Mr. Becconsal, Mr. Beverly, Mr. John Norris, Dr. Payne, Mr. Synge, afterwards archbishop of Tuam, and Mr. Brown, afterwards bishop of Cork. In 1709 he published at the Hague two Latin dissertations. The first is intitled, Adeisidæmon, sive Titus Livius a superstitione vindicatus. In qua dissertatione probatur Livium historicum in sacris, prodigiis, et ostentis enarrandis, haudquaquam fuisse credulum aut superstitiosum ipsamque superstitionem non minus Reipublicæ (si non magis) exitiosam esse, quam purum putum atheismum. The second dissertation bears the title of Origines Judaica, sive Strabonis de Mose et religione Judaica historia breviter illustrata. In this dissertation he seems to prefer the account of this pagan author concerning Moses and the Jewish religion, before that which was given by the Jews themselves. These two dissertations were answered by Mr. la Faye, minister at Utrecht, in a book printed in 1709, and intitled, Defensio religionis, nec non Mosis et gentis Judaica, contra duas dissertationes Joannis Tolandi; and by Mr. Benoit, minister at Delft, in his Mélange de remarques critiques, historiques, philosophiques, théologiques, sur les deux dissertations de Mr. Toland, intitulées, l'un l'Homme sans superstition, et l'autre les origines Judaïques, printed at Delft in 1712.

*This is confuted in Dr. Clarke's Demonstration, &c. p. 21. Edit. 7th.

But what I shall here particularly take notice of, and by which he hath chiefly distinguished himself, is the pains he hath taken to invalidate the authority of the sacred Canon of the New Testament, and to render it uncertain and precarious. This seems to have been the design of the book he calls Amyntor, which he published in 1698, and in which he hath given a catalogue of books, attributed in the primitive times to Jesus Christ, his apostles, and other eminent persons," together with remarks and observations relating to the Canon of Scripture." He hath there raked together whatever he could find relating to the spurious gospels and pretended sacred books, which appeared in the early ages of the Christian church. These he hath produced with great pomp, to the number of eighty and upwards; and though they were most of them evidently false and ridiculous, and carried the plainest marks of forgery and imposture, of which, no doubt, he was very sensible, yet he has done what he could to represent them as of equal authority with the four gospels and other sacred books of the New Testament, now received among Christians. Christians. To this end he has taken advantage of the unwary and ill-grounded hypotheses of some learned men, and has endeavoured to prove, that the books of the present Canon lay concealed in the coffers of private persons till the latter times of Trajan or Adrian, and were not known to the clergy or churches of those times, nor distinguished from the spurious works of heretics; and that the Scriptures which we now receive as canonical, and others which we now reject, were indifferently and promiscuously cited and appealed to by the most ancient Christian writers. His design in all this manifestly is to show, that the gospels, and other sacred writings of the New Testament, now acknowledged as canonical, really deserve no greater credit, and are no more to be depended upon, than those books which are rejected and exploded as forgeries; and yet he had the confidence to pretend, in a book he afterwards published, that his intention in his Amyntor was not to invalidate, but to illustrate and confirm, the Canon of the New Testament.* This may serve as one instance, among the many that might be produced, of the writer's sincerity.

Several good answers were returned to Toland's Amyntor. Mr. (afterwards) Dr. Samuel Clarke published a small tract in 1699, intitled, Some Reflections on that part of the Book called " Amyntor," which relates to the Writings of the primitive Fathers, and the Canon of the New Testament. In this he gave an early specimen of those talents which he afterwards employed to so great advantage in the defence of Christianity. The same book was afterwards answered by the ingenious Mr. Stephen Nye, in his Historical Account and Defence of the Canon of the New Testament, in Answer

* See Toland's preface to his Nazarenus, p. 9. This very odd book was well answered by Mr. (afterwards) Dr. Mangey, in his Remarks upon Nazarenus; on which Mr. Toland made some reflections, in a Tract he called Mangoneutes. Mr. Paterson also published his Anti Nazarenus, in answer to Mr. Toland's book. And Dr. Thomas Brett took some notice of it in the Preface to his Tradition necessary to explain and interpret the Holy Scriptures,

to" Amyntor"; and by Mr. Richardson, in his Canon of the New Testament Vindicated, whose work hath been justly and generally esteemed, as executed with great learning and judgment. To these may be added, Mr. Jones, who hath considered this matter distinctly, and at large, in his New and Full Method of settling the Canonical Authority of the New Testament, which was published at London in 1726, in two volumes 8vo. ; to which a third small one was afterwards added, published in 1727, but left unfinished by reason of the author's death.

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These learned writers have plainly shown Mr. Toland's great unfairness and disingenuity in his whole management of the argument: That he has frequently imposed upon his readers by false quotations, or by grossly misrepresenting the authors he cites: That he has been guilty of great blunders and ridiculous mistakes: That several of the writings he produces, as having been written in the apostolic age, were forged so late as the third or fourth century: That by far the greatest part of those writings, of which he hath given so pompous a catalogue, and which he would put upon the world as most ancient and apostolical, are expressly rejected by the authors whom he himself refers to, as spurious and apocryphal, or even as absurd and impious forgeries: That as to those few of them which are not expressly rejected and condemned by the writers who have mentioned them, it doth not appear by any one testimony, that they were ever generally received and acknowledged in the Christian church, or equalled with the books of the sacred Canon and that even those authors who have been thought to quote some of them with approbation, yet expressly declare, that none but the four gospels were received in the Christian church, as of divine authority: That though some of the false gospels, that they might the better pass upon the people, were compiled out of the genuine gospels, with such additions, omissions, and interpolations, as might best answer the design of the compilers, this did not hinder their being generally rejected; whereas the four gospels, the same which we now receive, were generally acknowledged from the beginning: That these and other sacred books of the New Testament were, even in the earliest ages, spread into distant countries, and were in the possession of great numbers of persons, and read in the churches as divine And finally, that several of the genuine writers of the three first centuries have left us catalogues of the sacred books of the New Testament, but in none of these catalogues do any of the apocryphal books appear.

To set this whole matter in a clearer light, Mr. Jones has given us a complete enumeration of all the apocryphal books of the New Testament, and made a critical inquiry into each of these books, with an English version of those of them which are now extant, and a particular proof that none of them were ever admitted into the Canon; and he hath distinctly produced and considered every testimony relating to them that is to be found in any Christian writer or writers of the first four centuries after Christ.

Upon all that hath been written on this subject, it is a just and natural reflection, that as the number of spurious gospels which were rejected by the primitive Christians shows, how scrupulous they were not to admit any books as canonical, but those of whose truth and authenticity they had sufficient proofs; so their admitting and receiving with so general a consent, the four gospels which are now in our hands, affordeth a strong argument, that they had undoubted evidence of the genuine truth and certainty of the evangelical records, which fully satisfied them who lived nearest those times, and who had the best opportunities of knowing; and that to this it was owing, that these, and no others, were generally received and acknowledged as of divine authority.

On this occasion it is proper to mention Dr. Lardner's excellent work of the Credibility of the Gospel History; in the second part of which, consisting of several volumes, he hath made a full and accurate collection of the passages which are to be found in the writers of the first ages of the Christian church, relating to the four gospels, and other sacred books of the New Testament. This he hath executed with so much fidelity and diligence, and with such exactness of judgment, that the English reader, who hath not opportunity to consult the originals, will be able to judge for himself, upon considering the passages of the original authors, which are very faithfully translated. This affordeth so clear and continued a proof of their having been generally received in the earliest ages of the Christian church, that one would hope it should put an end to this part of the controversy.

LETTER V.

The Earl of Shaftesbury, a fine and much admired Writer.-Not very consistent in the Account he gives of Christianity. He casteth Reflections on the Doctrine of future Rewards and Punishments, as if it were of Disservice to the Interests of Virtue. The contrary shown from his own Acknowledgments.-His Lordship resolves the credit of holy Writ wholly into the Authority and Appointment of the State. He frequently takes Occasion to expose the Scriptures, and represents them as uncertain, and not to be depended upon.-What he saith concerning Ridicule, as the Test and Criterion of Truth, examined. It is shown, that a turn to Ridicule is not the properest Disposition for finding out Truth; and that there is great danger of its being misapplied.—His Lordship's own Writings furnish Instances of such a wrong Application.-Authors mentioned that have written against him.

SIR,

It gives me a real concern, that, among the writers who have appeared against revealed religion, I am obliged to take notice of the noble author of the Characteristics. Some indeed are not willing to allow that he is to be reckoned in this number. Passages

are produced out of some of his writings, in which he expresseth very favourable sentiments of Christianity. This he doth particularly in a preface, which, and I believe justly, is ascribed to his Lordship as the author, prefixed to a volume of select sermons of Dr. Benjamin Whichcot, published in 1698. In that preface he finds fault with those in this profane age that represent not only the institution of preaching, but even the gospel itself, and our holy religion, to be a fraud. He expresseth his hope, that from some things in these sermons, even they that are prejudiced against Christianity may be induced to like it the better; and that the vein of goodness which appears throughout these discourses will make such as are already Christians prize Christianity the more; and the fairness, ingenuity, and impartiality, which they learn from hence, will be a security to them against the contrary temper of those other irreconcilable enemies to our holy faith. In 1716 some of his letters were published at London, under the title of Several Letters written by a noble Lord to a Young Man in the University, 8vo. In these letters, which were written a few years before the Earl of Shaftesbury's death, in the years 1707, 1708, 1709, there are excellent sentiments and advices, and some which seem to discover a real regard for the Christian religion.

It were greatly to be wished, on many accounts, that his Lordship had always expressed himself in an uniform manner on this subject. No impartial man will deny him the praise of a fine genius. The quality of the writer, his lively and beautiful imagination, the delicacy of taste he hath shown in many instances, and the graces and embellishments of his style, though perhaps sometimes too affected, have procured him many admirers. To which may be added, his refined sentiments on the beauty and excellence of virtue, and that he hath often spoken honourably of a wise and good providence, which ministers and governs the whole in the best manner; and hath strongly asserted, in opposition to Mr. Hobbes, the natural differences between good and evil; and that man was originally formed for society, and the exercise of mutual kindness and benevolence; and not only so, but for religion and piety too. These things have very much prejudiced many persons in his favour, and prepared them for receiving, almost implicitly, whatever he hath advanced. And yet it cannot be denied, that there are many things in his books, which seem to be evidently calculated to cast contempt upon Christianity and the holy Scriptures.

*

It is in the Characteristics that we are properly to look for an account of his Lordship's sentiments. They were first published in three vols. 8vo. in 1711; and the last part of his life was employed in revising them, and preparing for a new and most correct edition of them, which accordingly was published immediately after his death. In them he completed the whole of his works which he intended should be made public: and these books are so generally

* Characteristics, vol. iii. p. 221.

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