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    and more ^ ffectual ^ when it was observed that the Israelite nation prospered or declined in proportion as they adhered to , or swerved from this grand and fundament

    tal principle , . It may be added , that this constitution of things was peculiarly well adapted to the infant state of the world , when the human intellect being little exercised in abstract speculation , the minds of men would be more

    forcibly impressed by motives irru mediately addressed to their senses , than by such as derived their efficacy from a certain degree of comprehension of mind which the faculties of man had not theu attained . \

    Though I do not accede to the opinions of those learned men who think that the books of the Old Testament contain no allusion to

    the doctrine of a future life , yet I must admit that it is a difficulty not easily explained , that a doctrine of such importance , in which all men of all a < res ftnd countries

    are so deepl y interested should be so obscurely hinted at in a pro- ' fessed divine revelation . But there is nothing in this contrary to the analogy of the divine government , or which should constitute an

    objection to the divine authont } ' of the Hebrew prophets . If it is asked why were not the Israelites better instructed upon this subject ; it may with equal reason be inquired wh y were not the heathen nations also better informed

    upon it . And this again resolves itself into the general question , wh y are not the creatures of God made more perfect than they arc ; and wh y are intellectual and mo * iftl advantages unequally distributed . These are facts , which Jio one can deny , and difficulties

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    which few sober and judicious reasoners will undertake fully to explain . The third question is , u Why the writings of the Old and New kJ Testaments should be so

    ambiguous as to produce among mankind spch a variety of opinions respect , iqg the true interpretation of them . ' ** This question resolves itself into

    two cases : first , why are the scriptures ambiguous upon the subject of revealed truths ? And secondly , why are they ambiguous upon other subjects ?

    To the first I reply with a direct denial of the fact assumed . That cannot be a revelation from God which requires another revelation to explain it . And in- my judgment the catholic criterion of revealed truth is the only correct one : Quod semver * cniod ubique .

    quod ab omnibus . No Jew ever disputed the Unify ot God . No Christian ever called in question the doctrine of a Future Life . These doctrines cannot be rejected without at the same tiaie rejecting the divine mission of Moses

    and of Jesus . These therefore are the only fundamental truths of the Jewish and the Christian revelation . And in my estimation to affirm of any doctrine that it is controverted is the same as to affirm that it is not a revealed truth . . For on these points the scriptures are not

    ambiguous . As to the second question , why arc the scriptures ambiguous m things not revealed : it is of little consequence—it is the same a ^» to ask why has not God revealed a greater number of truths ; which indeed would be equivalent to the inquiry ^ why he has not

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    Jlfr . Belshem on the Conw&ttncy and Truth of Divine Revelation . 5 S 3 -

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 583, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/7/