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apparently miraculous, for the purpose of deluding us by a false show of divine revelation.
It may be said, that none but an evil and wicked spirit would avail himself of such a power to give a delusive sanction to erroneous and pernicious principles; and therefore the internal evidence, the intrinsic excellence of the system itself, as estimated by our own understandings, is conclusive proof of the reality of the miracle, and, consequently, of the divine authority of the message.
But may it not be supposed that good spirits, like some well-meaning but mistaken men, may seek to deceive us with a ‘pious fraud,’ in support of a system which, though without foundation, the wise and good might wish to be true?
The concession, therefore, is a most dangerous one; but, happily, neither the history of the world, nor the appearance of things around us, affords the smallest countenance to such a supposition, which is, besides, contradicted by the views that both nature and reason encourage us to form of the agency of the One Supreme, as bringing about, by its direct and immediate operation, the various phenomena which we behold.
In the succeeding chapter, the author vindicates the conduct of Divine Providence, in not making the Christian revelation universally known; shewing that this is conformable to what we see around us in the various distribution of the other gifts of his bounty; and, consequently, that any objection to revelation, proceeding upon this ground, would prove too much, since it applies equally to those advantages and benefits which the votary of natural religion, if he believes in a providence at all, cannot but ascribe to its agency.
In the
