A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation

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"I am perfectly reconciled and willing, however, that whatever is
truth should be true; and have not the least inclination, even if it
were in my power, to alter one truth respecting eternity. This is the
state of my mind exactly; a state into which it has been growing,
gradually, for many years; and, strange as it may seem to you, I can
assure you in the fear of that God before whom I stand or fall, and by
whom I have been supported hitherto, it is the most happy state of
mind in which mortals can be placed! "Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in
terra pax in homines benevolentia." Luke ii. 14, Beza.

"Whatever may be your opinion concerning miracles, I believe it must
be admitted that there was no more of a miracle in the production of
man, originally, than there was in the production of other animals;
and as nature has not provided man with clothing for the body, which
it does for other animals, especially those which inhabit cold
climates, it is evident that man was originally produced under the
torrid zone; and that he could not have lived in any other part of the
world, had it not been for art. What alteration the discovery of the
arts has made in the original constitution of man, it would he
difficult now to determine.

"What man must have been previous to the discovery and use of _fire_,
is difficult now to conceive. We can trace man down, however, from
grade to grade, until we are at a loss to determine whether such a
race of beings belongs to the human species.

"I have long desired, and should be glad if some one of sufficient
learning and skill would point out to me the line of demonstration
between the human and brutal creation; and say where the human ends,
and where the brutal begins!

"Naturalists take care to say but little on this subject, and I
believe the task would be more difficult than what people in general
imagine.

"Come then, ye learn'd, ye great and wise,
Unfold the soul to mortal eyes;
Say where eternal life shall end,
Or where eternal death begins!
For death eternal theirs must be,
Whose souls no future life shall see!
And why should mortals vainly weep
For creatures wrapt in endless sleep?
They've had their day, they've had their bliss,
Their life, their joy, and happiness,
And now must we forever mourn,
Because their life will not return!
"O foolish man! go, and be wise!
Learn where the source of greatness lies;
To be content is to be blest:
A cure for woes is endless rest.
If God be good to all the race
Of animals before his face,
Although the life of some be short,
(One day begins and ends their sport)
Shall we presume he is less kind
To human souls of nobler mind,
Unless he lengthen out their days
To endless years in future maze?
"It cannot be! His love is such,
Whate'er he gives, little or much,
Is always good: faith, hope, desires;
Or any grace which he inspires.
All, all are good: for man indeed,
(Whilst here) such gifts, such helps may need!
All bring him to his final goal,
Where nature's law winds up the whole!

"But you will say, does God inspire man with faith and hope barely to
deceive him; and does he not mean that he should ever realize the
'things hoped for?' which must be the case, unless the hope is founded
on a reality. Answer: Let us rather say, unless the _hope_ be a
reality. The hope of man is in fact a reality, as much so as any thing
else which exists. It is, however, what it is, i. e. _hope_; and not
what is not, i. e. the 'things hoped for.' But hope never deceives any
one, it continues as long as the creature has any use for it; and it
is never taken away from any (except a disordered mind, to which all
men are liable) as long as it can be of any service to the creature.

"That hope is given for thy blessing NOW."--_Pope_.

"Mankind, if ever, are very seldom made unhappy and wretched in
consequence of doubting the existence of a future state. Thousands, no
doubt, think they should be wretched in this condition: but, although
I have been acquainted with a number of this description, I never saw
one made unhappy in consequence. It is the _fear of endless misery_
which produces so much wretchedness in the world.--This idea, it is
true, beggars all description! It produces that fear which hath
torment. It disturbs the brain; destroys the mental faculties; and, by
distracting the imagination, fills the soul with horror! It is
infinitely more to be dreaded than _endless death_! But what fear or
dread can there be in the idea of _endless sleep_? Surely none. People
are too apt to confound the idea of the absence of immortality with
endless misery, believing this to be the only alternative. This is not
correct. Mortality and death are the only opposites to immortality and
eternal life. The former I know is true, and yet I am satisfied with
knowing, (i. e. for an absolute certainty) nothing further;
nevertheless, as I feel truly thankful for my present existence,
should I be so happily disappointed as to find all my doubts, founded
in error, I trust, as I should be inexpressibly happy, so I should be
inexpressibly thankful for a future life."

"Yours, &c.

A. KNEELAND."

* * * * *

LETTER VI.

_Dear sir, and brother_,--In replying to your seventh number, I
propose taking the advantage which you have favoured me with, by the
division of your subject. I hope by this, to be able to compress my
remarks on your reasoning, and avoid any unnecessary protraction of
this epistle.

You allow, that a "general view of the whole ground" on which the
scriptures seem to rest, would be sufficient to support the truth of
divine revelation, were it not for the following considerations.

1. Mankind, in all ages of the world, have been, and still are prone
to superstition.

2. It cannot be denied, but that a part of mankind, at least, have
believed, and still are believing in miracles and revelations which
are spurious.

3. The facts on which revelation is predicated, are unlike every thing
of which we have any positive knowledge.

If I rightly apprehend your meaning of "the whole ground" in which the
scriptures seem to rest, a general view of which would be sufficient
to support a belief in revelation, were it not for the three
considerations above quoted; it occupies, at least, prophecies
concerning a Messiah and the fulfillment of those prophecies by a
Messiah, according to the account which we have in the New Testament.

As it will serve to circumscribe the bounds of our present reasoning,
it is thought best to direct our inquiry to the consideration of the
facts recorded in the New Testament, presuming if these be admitted,
the prophecies will not be denied.

But have I not occasion, sir, to be surprised to find your first
proposition adduced as evidence unfavourable to the christian
scriptures? Was there ever a time when the world of human kind, both
Jews and Gentiles, was more deeply involved in the darkness and
stupidity of superstition than when the Messiah entered on his public
ministry? If the doctrine of Jesus had been pleasing to the
superstitious Jews, if it had accorded with the idolatrous notions of
the Gentiles, (which was impossible) if his Messiahship had been
espoused by both, and by their consent and influence had been handed
down, and declared to have been evidenced by all the miracles recorded
in the four Evangelists, do you not see that your first proposition
would be of Herculean strength against this religion? On the contrary,
it being well established, from unquestionable authority, that as St.
Paul observed, Christ crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews, and
to the Greeks foolishness, the whole force of Jewish and Greek
superstition, as it opposed, serves to strengthen the evidences of our
faith.

Will you be so good as to read the account which is recorded of the
miracle which Jesus wrought in giving sight to the man who was born
blind, and inquire carefully from beginning to end for any thing that
looks in the least as if the writer was endeavouring to write a
falsehood in a way to have it deceive the reader. This request might,
as I humbly conceive, be made in respect to any of the other miracles;
but what I had in view, particularly when this subject came to my
mind, was the following words, spoken by the pharisees to him who had
been blind; "Thou art his disciple: but we are Moses' disciples. We
know that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow we know not from
whence he is." Is it not plain from this as well as from many other
scriptures, that in the same degree that the pharisees' superstition
run in favour of Moses, it operated against Jesus? I know the objector
may say, the Jews expected a Messiah; but then they did not expect
such a character as was Jesus. They also expected Elias to come first,
but they did not expect such a character as John. You, and all the
world know that the protestant clergy in Europe and America used to
pray for the downfall of the Pope; but when he was humbled, they all
joined in fervent prayer to set him up again. How did this
inconsistency happen? Answer: The way in which it pleased God to
humble the Pope, was not the way which clerical wisdom and prudence
had planned; and we all see now, that they are better pleased with the
Pope and the Inquisition, than they were to have him lose his power in
a way which endangered their own. Now, sir, if liberal principles do
obtain, and if the cause of civil and religious liberty should finally
triumph, in spite of popish and protestant clergy with monarchy
united, do you believe that this triumph will ever be imputed to the
superstition of king-craft and priestcraft? On the ground of your
first proposition this would be your conclusion. The pharisees and
those who adhered to them, built the sepulchres of the prophets, whom
their fathers killed, and said; "If we had been in the days of our
fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of
the prophets." These _holy_ men were sure that they were much better
than their fathers who persecuted the prophets; they had no
disposition to persecute; all the wealth in the world could not have
tempted these _godly saints_ to kill a prophet of God. However, St.
Paul writing to the Thessalonians, says, "For ye, brethren, became
followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus:
for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as
they have of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own
prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are
contrary to all men." But the Jews would not have put Jesus to death
if he had been a pharisee, and had not departed from their traditions
and superstitions. But he was not a pharisee, nor did he adhere to
their superstitions; and for this cause he was to them "a root out of
dry ground." To them, he had no form nor comeliness, no, nor had he
any beauty that they should discern him. Say, brother, is not this the
superstition which you are urging as unfavourable to the evidences of
christianity? And does not the passage above quoted from Thessalonians
go to prove what all ecclesiastical history as well as the New
Testament proves, that the Christians were persecuted by the Jews and
by the Gentiles? Did any thing but superstition ever persecute? It
surely does not aim to build up that which it persecutes: and
therefore in room of its being evidence against the genuineness of
what it opposes, is justly admitted as a valid evidence in its favour.
It is well known that our Christian doctors, clergy, and laity have
been long persuaded that a glorious day of universal peace and gospel
light is not only promised, but fast approaching; and if their prayers
have any influence, it is evident that the time is hastened by their
means. All this looks very well, and a man would be thought to be
impious, if not insane, who should intimate that these saints were
superstitous or illiberal, or that they possessed the spirit of
persecution.--But what has been their spirit for, say, twenty-five
years past towards a doctrine which teaches universal peace on earth
and good will towards man? Is there any thing bad which they have not
spoken against this doctrine? Have they not treated its preachers with
all the contempt and even ridicule of which they were capable? Have
they not used all their influence to keep the doctrine from being
preached in their meeting houses, and have they not dealt with church
members who have believed this benign doctrine of love, with
excommunications attended with as many aggravations as they could
invent? In a word, is there one bitter herb in all the ground which
was cursed for man's sake, that has not been used against what is
called the poison of this abominable heresy? If they had the power of
the pope, if the inquisition were at their command, would they let
such power lie dormant for want of zeal? Balaam smote his ass with a
_staff_, but said: "I would there were a _sword_ in mine hand, for now
would I kill thee."

But after all that has been said and done against this doctrine of
universal benevolence and grace, its progress confounds its enemies,
encourages its friends, and calls to mind the parable of the mustard
seed. Suppose for a century to come it should continue its advances
according to what it has gained for the twenty-five years above
mentioned, is it not evident that the knowledge of God would cover the
earth as the waters cover the sea? But would any body then, being
acquainted with the history of these times, think of making use of the
superstition of our clergy to oppose the evidences of this doctrine?
Would such a one say, it is probable that in those times of
superstition, the clergy who had great influence with the common
people, might alter many passages of scripture, and in room of using
the word _elect_, interpolate the words _all men_? If I understand
your argument, this is the use you make of superstition. But, sir, I
am satisfied that the superstition of our times will be sufficient
proof to future ages, that the scriptures which so abundantly prove
the doctrine of universal salvation, were not the production of a
superstitious clergy who were known to oppose this doctrine with all
their learning and influence.

Now if you please, you may indulge in strengthening your hypothesis,
and prove by the faithful histories of different nations, that Jews,
Greeks, and Romans were most stupidly superstitious. Also that India,
Turkey, and Arabia are now groaning under the ponderous weight of this
vanity. Go on and enlarge on all that you have said, and point out all
the superstitions of which we read or know; show how powerful this
superstition is in the human heart; how it renders its votaries blind
to reason and the principles of moral truth; show how hard it is to
break in upon this almost invincible phalanx; but consider, sir, the
blacker you represent this cloud, the brighter you render the
evidences of the religion of Jesus.

You need not be informed, what the Christian world all knows, that the
doctrine of Jesus Christ, founded on the miracles recorded in the four
Evangelists and in the Acts of the Apostles, was propagated among Jews
and Gentiles, whose superstitions, though various, rendered them both
hostile to this new religion, and incited them to persecutions which
subjected the "weak and defenceless disciples of the meek and lowly
Jesus" to trials and sufferings, fears and temptations of which we can
have but a faint conception.--The grand hypothesis on which the gospel
was advocated, and by which it succeeded in obtaining vast multitudes
of Jewish as well as Gentile converts, was the resurrection of Jesus,
who was publicly executed on a cross by the Roman authority instigated
by the rulers of the Jews. All this must be accounted for in a
rational way. The facts are as well attested as any thing of which
history gives any account. The four gospels have been commented on,
and quoted, and adverted too by a greater number of controversial
writers, than any other book of which we have any knowledge. The
epistles of St. Paul when compared with the Acts and with each other
have all the necessary characteristics of being genuine, and of
relating nothing but realties.

You, sir, allow that the authority on which this religion rests, would
be sufficient to support it, if it were not for the consideration of
your three propositions, the first of which, I trust, you will
acknowledge stands in its vindication.

Your second proposition may now be noticed.

That part of mankind have believed and still are believing in miracles
and revelations which are spurious, we have no interest in denying,
but we feel under no obligation to admit this fact as any evidence
against Christianity, or of any force to counterbalance the evidences
which stand in its favour. What would you think of such kind of
reasoning as should contend, that as it is evident that many have
been, and still are imposed on by counterfeit money, it justifies
serious doubts whether there ever was any true money in the world?
Would you not reply, that as the counterfeit is entirely dependent on
the true for its imposition, in room of being evidence that there is
no true money, it demonstrates that there is?

It being well known, nor ever doubted by the friends or enemies of
Christianity, that its founder and his apostles proved the divinity of
their missions by miracles alone, it was nothing more than might be
rationally expected, that impostors would rise up under those sacred
pretensions, with a view to establish themselves. But if this religion
of Jesus Christ, had not at first been built upon this foundation,
impostors would never have thought of imposing on people with such
pretensions. Impostors, therefore, together with all their deceptions,
cannot, as I humbly conceive, be admitted as evidence _against_ the
genuineness of the gospel, but in _favour_ of it.

As to Mahomet of whom you speak, I have always understood that he made
no pretensions to miracles. He pretended to hold correspondence with
the angel Gabriel, and to receive revelations from God in this way;
but he never attempted to sanction his divinity by miracles; and
indeed there was no need of this, for he declared he was commissioned
from heaven to propagate his religion by the sword, and to destroy the
monuments of idolatry. His kingdom was of this world, therefore did
his servants fight; but they did not fight always alone, for he fought
at nine battles or sieges in person, and in ten years achieved fifty
military enterprizes. He united religion and plunder, by which he
allured the vagrant Arabs to his standard. He asserted that the sword
was the key of heaven and hell; that a drop of blood shed in the cause
of God, a night spent in arms are of more account than two months of
fasting and prayer. He assured those who should fall in battle, that
their sins should be forgiven at the day of judgment, that their
wounds would be resplendant as vermillion and odoriferous as myrrh,
and that the loss of limbs should be supplied by the wings of angels
and cherubim. But what you can find in Mahometism which in the least
militates against the evidences of Christianity I know not. It is
affirmed by writers, that he collected his ideas of God and of morals
from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

From Mahomet you go to the conversion of Constantine, taking
particular notice of the account given of his seeing the sign of a
cross in the sun, &c. And as we are now on the subject of miracles, we
must not forget the miracles of the _Shakers_ which seem to _shake_
your faith! Two _notable_ miracles you have honoured with a place in
your epistle, or honoured your epistle with them, which, I shall not
undertake to determine. A bridge fell with a horse on it, which fell
with the bridge; the rider was a woman; by the fall several of her
ribs were broken, and she was otherwise bruised; but she was
miraculously recovered so as to be able to dance in one evening. A boy
cut his foot, the wound bled profusely; the boy was miraculously
healed in a few hours. These are the miracles; but whether mother Ann,
or some of her elders performed these miracles you do not inform me.
It seems to be allowed that _most_ of these Quaker miracles are
inferior to the miracles recorded in the New Testament, but not more
inferior to them, than they are to the miracles of Moses.

Doctor Priestley, with his usual candor, endeavours to assign a
natural cause for what Constantine saw, and you are inclined to his
opinion, to all of which I have no objections to make; and I am by no
means certain, that a proper attention to the pretended miracles of
the Shakers, might not issue in assigning a natural cause for them.
But however this may be, I cannot see how the matter affects our
belief in Jesus Christ. Do you not discover a difference too wide
between the case of Jesus and his doctrine, and Ann Lee and her
principles to admit of the comparison which you seem inclined to make?
You have also mentioned the case of Mrs. A----'s seeing her husband
and talking with him after he was dead, which you would draw into the
same comparison. That Mrs. A---- may have satisfactory evidence of her
having seen and conversed with her husband since his death, I am not
at all disposed to dispute; but here the matter ends. God has not seen
fit to endue her with the power of working miracles. If this woman
should come into a public assembly and work astonishing miracles
before all the people as an attestation of her having seen her
husband, and you and I should be present, and see these marvellous
things with our own eyes should we doubt the woman's testimony?

I have already, in a former communication shown that the declaration
of the apostles of the resurrection of Jesus, until it was accompanied
with power from on high, was never even communicated to the public, or
ordered to be communicated. But in fact the disciples were strictly
commanded to tarry at Jerusalem until the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Constantine would have had no occasion to depose under the solemnity
of an oath, concerning the sign of the cross, &c. if he had had power
to evidence his declaration by miracles. If Ann Lee's disciples will
heal the sick, restore the lame, and raise the dead in so public a
manner that the people at large may know these facts, then, sir, they
will no longer need to purchase poor children in order to increase
their societies. And if God should see fit to call me from my wife and
children by such evidences as these, I hope I should not disobey his
divine mandate.

But will you reply, that miracles having ceased, we have no right to
expect them? In return it may be asked, how we are assured that
miracles are not now necessary as they were twenty or thirty years
ago? Will you retort this question and ask why miracles are not now as
necessary to evince the truth of christianity as in the days of Jesus
and his apostles? To this we reply: the miracles on which the gospel
was founded, or propagated, were of the most extraordinary kind; they
were of extensive publicity, and of ocular notoriety; they were vastly
numerous, extending to the infirmed of all descriptions; and they were
continued long enough to answer the purpose for which they were
intended.

You will feel satisfied that the _enemies_ of Jesus and his apostles
knew for certainty, that those miracles wrought by them were
realities; and that they, in room of imputing them to the divine
agency, violated their own reason, by referring to an evil agent such
power and acts of goodness; I say you will feel satisfied of all this,
if you will set down and read all the accounts relative to this
subject, in the four gospels, carefully regarding this question: Do
these writers discover any marks of deception or fraud?

In no instance do the evangelists betray the least anxiety for fear
what they relate will not be credited. Even when they pen the
astonishing miracles of which they pretend to be eye witnesses, they
make no pause to clear up any thing; but tell the whole as if the
whole was publicly known. In a word, this history, this sacred
testimony, carries its own competent evidence within itself.

It has been noticed by those who have written on this subject, as
evidence that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the real authors of
those books which bear their respective names, that a great many
passages are alluded to or quoted from the evangelists, exactly as we
read them now, by a regular succession of Christian writers, from the
time of the apostles down to this hour; and at a very early period
their names are mentioned as the authors of their respective gospels;
which is more than can he said of any other historian whatever. See
Lardner and Paley. I will not call up Ann Lee in this place, but I
will suppose an attempt should be made now in New-England to convince
Trinitarians of the error of supposing there are three persons in the
Godhead. This shall be undertaken by men who are wicked enough to
attempt to deceive by pretended miracles. One is selected as a leader,
and the others to the number of twelve profess to be his followers.
The leader pretends to a revelation from God, the substance of which
is, that Jesus Christ is a created being and dependent on the Father.
This doctrine he preaches and directs his followers to go into every
town in New-England and proclaim this truth to the people, and exhort
them to repent of their former doctrine and turn to God. This impostor
pretends to work miracles in confirmation of his divine mission; and
also pretends to give his disciples power to work miracles. He informs
his friends that he is to lose his life and that they must lose
their's, in order to establish this doctrine. Stop, we have come to an
absurdity. Who would undertake to deceive their fellow creatures for
no other reward than the loss of their lives? But let us pursue on.
This leader pretends to give sight to blind people, to heal the sick
with a word, and to raise the dead. It is reported all round the
country that many such cases have actually taken place; that the blind
do receive their sight, the sick are raised to health at once, and one
man in particular who was dead four days, has been called out of his
grave. People now are waked up; many believe the reports; thousands
are flocking from place to place to hear this man and to see his
miracles. In this case who would be most likely to place themselves
very near to this pretender? Who would one expect to find near his
person? Answer, some of the Trinitarians; chosen ones too; men of
sound judgment, and who could be depended on as able to detect any
fraud. How long is it reasonable to suppose these pretensions could
possibly continue with any success? It may be asked likewise, whether
all honest, reasonable, and candid Unitarians would not express their
abhorrence of such pretensions? Are you, sir, of opinion that such a
fraud could possibly be managed in a way to insure success? A moment's
reflection is sufficient to put the question to rest.

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