Sections 1 THE OLD TESTAMENT It has often been said that any thing may be proved from the Bible; but… 2 It is not the antiquity of a tale that is an evidence of its truth; on the contrary, it is a… 3 I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges universal consent… 4 The greatest part of the other ancient books are works of genius; of which kind are those… 5 The evidence that I shall produce in this case is from the books themselves; and I will… 6 This interchange of speakers occurs four times in this book: from the first verse of the… 7 The writer of the book of Deuteronomy, whoever he was, for it is an anonymous work, is… 8 This writer has no where told us how he came by the speeches which he has put into the mouth… 9 I come now to speak of the historical and chronological evidence. 10 To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to chapter xviii. 11 Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any past events, the… 12 It was with consistency that the writer of the Chronicles could say as he has said, 1 Chron. 13 Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have disgraced the name of… 14 But there are many other passages scattered throughout those books that unite in the same… 15 The writer, by way of proving the existence of this giant, refers to his bed, as an ancient… 16 In Joshua xxiv. 17 The time implied by the expression after it, that is, after that day, being put in… 18 This book begins with the same expression as the book of Joshua. 19 Having now shown that every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Judges, is without… 20 But if we go further into those books the evidence is still more positive that Samuel is not… 21 I have now gone through all the books in the first part of the Bible, to which the names of… 22 The chief use I shall make of those books will be that of comparing them with each other,… 23 Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would distinguish any nation of… 24 One would think that such an extraordinary case as this, (which is spoken of as a… 25 The history in the books of Kings and of Chronicles is brought forward, as I have already… 26 The evidence I proceed by to substantiate this, is regular, and has in it but two stages. 27 earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in… 28 Either this story is broken off in the middle, or it is a story told by some Jewish… 29 But whoever will take the trouble of casting up the several particulars, will find that the… 30 I have seen the opinion of two Hebrew commentators, Abenezra and Spinoza, upon this subject;… 31 That the Jews did translate the literary productions of the Gentile nations into the Hebrew… 32 We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called) was before the time of… 33 The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to Solomon, and that with much… 34 It should also have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did write, the book of… 35 I have already shown, in the instance of the last two verses of 2 Chronicles, and the first… 36 Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. 37 Here then is the whole story, foolish as it is, of this child and this virgin; and it is… 38 As to the authenticity of the book, it is only necessary to read it in order to decide… 39 But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of Jeremiah, which has no… 40 In 1 Samuel, xvi., it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled Saul, and that his… 41 But the instance in the last chapter (lii.) is still more glaring; for though the story has… 42 In chapter xxxiv. 43 In the former part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ 44 But, besides this general character of all the prophets, they had also a particular character. 45 Ver. 46 Had the numerous commentators and priests, who have foolishly employed or wasted their time… 47 As to the romantic interpretations and applications, wild as the dreams and visions they… 48 Jonah is represented, first as a disobedient prophet, running away from his mission, and… 49 Jonah then received a second mission to Nineveh, with which he sets out; and we have now to… 50 As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; for as certainly as a…
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