Euph. — O Alciphron^ if I durft follow my own judg- ment, I mould be apt to think there are noble beauties in the ftile of the Holy Scripture: In the narrative parts, a ftrain fo fimple and unaffected: In the devotional and prophetic, fo animated and fublime: And in the doctri- nal parts, fuch an air of dignity and authority, as feems to fpeak their original divine. But I fhall not enter into a difpute about tafte; much lefs fet up my judgment, on fo nice a point, againft that of the wits, and men of genius, with which your feci: abounds. And I have no tempta- [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 263 tion to it, inafmuch as it feems to me, the oracles of God are not the lefs fo for being delivered in a plain drefs, rather than in the enticing words of maris wifdom, Alc— This may perhaps be an apology for fome fim- plicity and negligence in writing.
VII. But what apology can be made for nonfenfe, crude nonfenfe? Of which I could eafily affign many in- ftances, having once in my life read the fcripture thorough with that very view. Look here, faid he, opening a bi- ble, in the forty-ninth Pfalm, the author begins very mag- nificently, calling upon all the inhabitants of the earth to give ear, and alluring them his mouth fhall fpeak of wif- dom, and the meditation of his heart fhall be of under- Handing.
S$uid dignum tanto feret hie promijfor hiatu P He hath no fooner done with his preface, but he puts this fenfelefs queftion. * Wherefore mould I fear in the ' days of evil; when the wickednefs of my heels mail * compafs me about?' The iniquity of my heels! What nonfenfe after fuch a folemn introduction!
Euph. — For my own part, I have naturally weak eyes, and know there are many things that I cannot fee, which are neverthelefs diftinc~tly feen by others. I do not there- fore conclude a thing to be abfolutely invifible, becaufe it is fo to me. And fince it is poflible it may be with my underftanding, as it is with my eyes, I dare not pronounce a thing to be nonfenfe, becaufe I do not underftand it, Of this paffage many interpretations are given. The word rendered heels, may fignify fraud or fupplantation: By fome it is tranflated, paft wickednefs, the heel being the hinder part of the foot •, by others, iniquity in the end of my days, the heel being one extremity of the body \ 264 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.]
by fome, the iniquity of my enemies that may fupplant me; by others, my own faults or iniquities, which I have pafled over as light matters, and trampled under my feet. Some render it, the iniquity of my ways: Others, my tranfgreflions, which are like flips, and Hidings of the heel.
And after all, might not the expreflion, fo harfh and odd to Englijh ears, have been very natural and obvious in the Hebrew tongue, which, as every other language, had its idioms? the force and propriety whereof may as eafily be conceived loft in a long tracl: of time, as the fig- nification of divers Hebrew words, which are not now in- telligible, though nobody doubts but they had once a meaning, as well as the other words of that language. — - Granting, therefore, that certain paflages in the Holy Scripture may not be under flood, it will not thence fol- low, that its penmen wrote nonfenfe: For I conceive non- fenfe to be one thing, and unintelligible another.
Cri.— -An Englijh gentleman of my acquaintance, one day entertaining fome foreigners at his houfe, fent a fer- vant to know the occafion of a fudden tumult in the yard, who brought him word the horfes were failed to- gether by the ears: His guefts inquiring what the matter was, he trariflated it literally, Les Chevaux font tombez en- femblepar les oreilles. Which made them ft are: what ex- preffed a very plain fenfe in the original Englijh^ being incomprehenfible when rendered, word for word, into French. And I remember to have heard a man excufe the bulls of his countrymen, by fuppofing them fo many literal tranflations.
Euph. — But not to grow tedious, I refer to the critics and commentators, where you will find the ufe of this remark, which clearing up feveral obfcure paflages you took for nonfenfe, may poflibly incline you to fufpecl: your own judgment of the reft. In this very pfalm you [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. tfs have pitched on, the goodfenfe and moral contained in what follows, mould, methinks, make a candid reader judge favorably of the original fenfe of the author, in that part which he could not underftand. Say, Alciphron, in read- ing the claflics, do you forthwith conclude every paflage to be nonfenfe that you cannot make fenfe of?
Alc. — By no means: Difficulties mull be fuppofed to rife from different idioms, old cuftoms, hints and illu- sions, clear in one time or place, and obfcure in archer.
Euph. — And why will you not judge of fcripture by the fame rule? Thofe fources of obfcurity you mention, are all common, both to facred and profane writings: And there is no doubt, but an exa£ter knowledge, in language, and circumftances, would, in both, caufe diffi- culties to vanifh, like (hades before the light of the fun. Jeremiah, to defcribe a furious invader, faith: Behold, he Jhall come up as a Lion from the fivelling of Jordan againjh the habitation of the Jlrong. One would be apt to think this paflage odd and improper, and that it had been more reafonable to have faid, a Lion from the mountain or the defert. But travellers, as an ingenious man obferves, who have feen the river Jordan, bounded by low lands with many reeds or thickets, affording fhelter to wild beads, (which being fuddenly diflodged by a rapid overflowing of the river, rufh into the upland country) perceive the force and propriety of the comparison •, and that the difficulty proceeds, not from nonfenfe in the writer, but from igno- rance in the reader.
Alc. — Here and there a difficult paflage may be clear- ed: But there are many which no art or wit of man can account for. What fay you to thofe difcoveries, made by fome of our learned writers, of falfe citations from the Old Teftament found in the gofpel?
Euph. — That fome few paflages are cited by the writers of the New Teftament out of the Old, and by the fathers K k 266 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.} out of the New, which are not in fo many words to be found in them, is no new difcovery of Minute Philofo- phers, but was known and obferved long before by chrif- tian writers •, who have made no fcruple to grant, that fome things might have been inferted by carelefs or mifta- ken tranfcribers into the text, from the margin, others left out, and others altered; whence fo many various readings. But thefe are things of fmall moment, and that.,, M other ancient authors have been fubjecl: to; and upon which no point of doctrine depends, which may not be proved without them. Nay further, if it be any ad- vantage to your caufe, it hath been obferved, that the eighteenth Pfahn, as recited in the twenty-fecond chapter of the fecond book of Samuel, varies in above forty places, if you regard every little literal difference: And that a critic may now and then difcover fmall variations, is what nobody can deny. But to make the moll of thefe concef- fions, what can you infer from them, more than that the defign of the Holy Scripture was not to make us exactly knowing in circumltantials? And that the fpirit did not dictate every particle and fyllable, or preferve them from every minute alteration by miracle? which to believe, would look like rabbinical fuperftition.
Alc. — But what marks of divinity can poffibly be in writings which do not reach the exactnefs even of human art?
Euph. — I never thought nor expected that the Holy Scripture mould fhew itfelf divine, by a circumftantial accuracy of narration, by exactnefs of method, by {tricl- ly obferving the rules of rhetoric, grammar* and criticifm, in harmonious periods, in elegant and choice expreflions, or in technical definitions and partitions. Thefe things would look too like a human compofition. Methinks there is in that fimple, unaffected, artlefs, unequal, bold, figurative flile of the Holy Scripture, a character fingu- TDial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 267 larly great and majeftic, and that looks more like divine infpiration, than any other compofition that I know. But, as I faid before, I fhall not difpute a point of criti- cifm with the gentlemen of your feet, who, it feems, are the modern ftandard for wit and tafte.
Alc. — Well I (hall not inGft on frrcall flips, or the in- accuracy of citing or tranfcribing: And I freely own, that repetitions, want of method, or want of exactnefs in circumftances, are not the things that chiefly ftick with me; no more than the plain patriarchal manners, or the peculiar ufages and cuftoms of the Jews and firft chriftians, fo different from ours; and that to reject the fcripture on fuch accounts would be to act like thofe French wits, who cenfure Horner^ becaufe they do not find in him the ftile, notions, and manners of their own age and country. Was there nothing elfe to divide us, I fhould make no great difficulty of owning, that a popular uncorrect ftile might anfwer the general ends of revelation, as well perhaps, as a more critical and exact one. But the ob- fcurity ftill flicks with me. Methinks if the Supreme Being had fpoke to man, he would have fpoke clearly to him, and that the word of God fhould not need a com- ment.
VIII. Euph. — You feem, Alciphron> to think obfcuri- ty a defeat; but if it fhould prove to be no defect, there would then be no force in this objection.
Alc. — I grant there would not.
Euph. — Pray tell me, are not fpcech and ftile inftru- mental to convey thoughts and notions, to beget knowledge, opinion, and affent?
Alc. — This is true.
Euph. — And is not the perfection of an inftrument to be meafured by the ufe to which it is fubfervient?
Alc. — It is.
268 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.]
Euph. — What, therefore, is a defect in one inftrument, may be none in another. For inftance, edged tools arc in general defigned to cut; but the ufes of an axe and a razor being different, it is no defect in an axe, that it hath not the keen edge of a razor: Nor in the razor, that it hath not the weight or ftrength of an axe.
Alc. — I acknowledge this to be true.
Euph. — And may we not fay in general, that every inftrument is perfect which anfwers the purpofe or inten- tion of him who ufeth it?
Alc. — We may.
Euph--— Hence it feems to follow, that no man's fpeech is defective in point of clearnefs, though it fhould not be intelligible to all men, if it be fufficiently fo to thofe, who he intended, mould underftand it: Or though it fhould not in all parts be equally clear, or convey a perfect knowl- edge, where he intended only an imperfeet hint.
Alc. — It feems fo.
Alc. — It feems fo.
Euph. — Ought we not, therefore, to know the intention of the fpeaker, to be able to know whether his ftile be ob- fcure through defecl or «|fen?
Alc — We ought.
Euph! — But is it pofiible for man to know all the ends and purpofes of God's revelations?
Alc — It is not.
Euph. — How then can you tell, but the obfcurity of fome parts of fcripture may well confift with the purpofe which you know not, and confequently be no argument againft its coming from God? The books of Holy Scrip- ture were written in ancient languages, at diftant times, on fundry occafions, and very different fubjeclis. Is it not therefore reafonable to imagine, that fome parts or pafia- ges might have been clearly enough underftood by thofe, for whofe proper ufe they were principally defigned, and yet feem obfcure to us, who fpeak another language, and [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 269 live in other times? Is it at all abfurd or unfuitable to the notion we have of God or man, to fuppofe that God may reveal, and yet reveal with a referve, upon certain remote and fublime fubjects, content to give us hints and glimpfes, rather than views? May we not alfo fuppofe from the rea- fon of things, and the analogy of nature, that fome points, which might otherwife have been more clearly ex- plained, were left obfcure merely to encourage our dili- gence and modefty? Two virtues, which, if it might not feem difrefpectful to fuch great men, I would recom- mend to the Minute Philofophers. Lyficks replied, this indeed is excellent: You expect that men of fenfe and fpirit mould in great humility put out their eyes, and blindly fwallow all the abfurdities and nonfenfe that mall be offered to them for divine revelation.
Euph. — On the contrary, I would have them open their eyes, look fharply, and try the fpirit, whether it is of God: and not fupinely and ignorantly condemn in the grofs, all religions together, piety with fu perdition, truth for the fake of error, matter of fact for the fake of fic- tion: a conduct, which, at firft fight, would feem ab- furd in hiftory, phytic, or any other branch of human in- quiry! But to compare the chriftian fyftem, or Holy Scriptures, with other pretences to divine revelation, to confider impartially the doctrines, precepts, and events therein contained; weigh them in the balance with any other religious, natural, moral, or hiftorical accounts; and diligently to examine all thofe proofs, internal and external, that for fo many ages have been able to influ- ence and perfuade fo many wife, learned, and inquifitive men: Perhaps they might find in it certain peculiar cha- racters, which fufHciently diftinguifh it from all other re- ligions and pretended revelations, whereon to ground a reafonable faith. In. which cafe I leave them to confider, whether it would be right to reject with peremptory fcorn, 27<5 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.]
a revelation fo diftinguifhed and attefted, upon account of obfcurity in fome parts of it? and whether it would feem beneath men of their fenfe and fpirit to acknowledge, that, for ought they know, a light inadequate to things, may yet be adequate to the purpofe of Providence? and whether it might be unbecoming their fagacity, and cri- tical fkill, to own, that literal tranflations from books in an ancient oriental tongue, wherein there are fo many peculiarities, as to the manner of writing, the figures of fpeech, and the idioms fo remote from all our modern languages, and in which we have no other coeval writ- ings extant, might well be obfcure in many places, efpe- cially fuch as treat of fubje&s fublime and difficult in their own nature, or allude to things, cuftoms, or events, very diftant from our knowledge? And laftly, whether it might not become their character, as impartial and un- prejudiced men, to confider the bible in the fame light they would profane authors? Men are apt to make great allowance for tranfpofitions, omiflions, and literal errors of tranfcribers, in other ancient books, and very great for the difference of (tile and manners, efpecially in eaft- ern writings, fuch as the remains of Zoroajler and Confucius, and why not in the prophets? In reading Horace or Perfiusy to make out the fenfe, they will be at the pains to difcover a hidden drama, and why not in Solomon or St. Paul? I hear there are certain ingenious men, who defpife king David's poetry, and yet profefs to ad- mire Homer and Pindar, If there be no prejudice or af- fectation in this, let them but make a literal verfion from thofe authors into Englijh profe, and they will then be better able to judge of the pfalms.
Alc — You may difcourfe and expatiate; but notwith- standing all you have faid, or mall fay, it is a clear point, that a revelation which doth not reveal, can be no better than a contradiction in terms.
[Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. %1x Euph.-— Tell me, Alciphrony do you not acknowledge the light of the fun to be the mod glorious production of Providence in tl^ natural world?
Alc. — Suppoie I do.
Euph. — This light, neverthelefs, which you cannot deny to be of God's making, fhines only on the furface of things, fhines not at all in the night, fhines imperfect- ly in the twilight, is often interrupted, refracted, and obfcured, reprefents diftant things, and fmall things du- bioufly, imperfectly, or not at all. Is this true or no?
Alc. — It is.
Eupk. — Should it not follow, therefore, that to expect in this world a conftant uniform light from God, with- out any mixture of fhade or myftery, would be departing from the rule and analogy of the creation? and that con- fequently it is no argument the light of revelation is not divine, becaufe it may not be fo clear and full as you ex- pect; or becaufe it may not equally fhine at all times, or in all places.
Alc — As I profefs myfelf candid and indifferent throughout this debate, I muft needs own you fay fome plaufible things, as a man of argument will never fail to do in vindication of his prejudices.
IX. But, to deal plainly, I muft tell you once for all, that you may queftion and anfwer, illuftrate and enlarge forever, without being able to convince'me that the chrif- tian religion is of divine revelation. I have faid feveral things, and have many more to fay, which, believe me, have weight not only with myfelf, but with many great men, my very good friends, and will have weight, what- ever Euphranor can fay to the contrary.
Euph, — O Alciphron! I envy you thehappinefs of fuch acquaintance. But, as my lot fallen in this remote corn- er deprives me of that advantage, I am obliged to make a7* MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VLJ the mod of this opportunity, which you and Lyftcles have put into my hands. I confider you as two able chirurge- ons, and you were pleafed to confider me as a patient, whofe cure you have generoufly undertaken. Now a pa- tient mult have full liberty to explain his cafe, and tell all his fymptoms, the concealing of which might prevent a perfect cure. You will be pleafed, therefore, to under- ftand me, not as objecting to, or arguing againft, either your {kill or medicines, but only as fetting forth my own cafe, and the effects they have upon me. Say, Alciphron, did you not give me to underftand, that you would ex- tirpate my prejudices?
Alc. — It is true: a good phyfician eradicates every fibre of the difeafe. Come, you mall have a patient hear- ing.
Euph. — Pray, was it not the opinion of Plato, that God infpired particular men, as organs or trumpets, to proclaim and found forth his oracles to the world? * And was not the fame opinion alfo embraced by others the greateft writers of antiquity?
Cri. — Socrates feems to have thought that all true po- ets, fpoke by infpiration •, and Tul/y, that there was no extraordinary genius without it. This hath made fome of our affected free-thinkers attempt to pafs themfelves upon the world for enthufiafts.
Alc — What would you infer from all this?
Euph. — I would infer, that infpiration fhould feem nothing impofTible or abfurd, but rather agreeable to the light of reafon, and the notions of mankind. And this, I fuppofe you will acknowledge, having made it an ob- jection againft a particular revelation, that there are fo many pretences to it throughout the world.
Alc. — O Euphranory he who looks into the bottom of things, and refolves them into their firft principles, is * Plato in lone.
[Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 273 not eafily amufed v/ith words. The word infpiration founds indeed big, but let us, if you pleafe, take an original view of the thing fignified by it. To infpire, is a word borrowed from the Latin, and, ftri£Uy taken, means no more than to breathe or blow in: nothing, therefore, can be infpired, but what can be blown or breathed, and nothing can be fo, but wind or vapour, which indeed may fill or puff up men, with fanatical and hypochondriacal ravings. This fort of hifpiration I readily admit.
Euph. — What you fay is fubtle, and I know not what efFecl: it might have upon me, if your profound dif- courfe did not hinder its own operation.
Alc. — How fo?
Euph. — Tell me, Alciphron, do you difcourfe, or do you not? To me it feems that you difcourfe admirably.
Alc. — Be that as it will, it is certain I difcourfe.
Euph. — But when I endeavor to look into the bottom of things, behold! a fcruple rifeth in my mind how this can be; for to difcourfe is a word of Latin derivation, which originally fignifies to run about; and a man cannot run about, but he muft change place, and move his legs; fo long therefore as you fit on this bench, you cannot be faid to difcourfe. Solve me this difficulty, and then perhaps I may be able to folve yours.
Alc — You are to know, that difcourfe is a word bor- rowed from fenfible things, to exprefs an invifible action of the mind, reafoning or inferring one thing from ano- ther: And, in -this tranflated fenfe, we may be faid to difcourfe, though we fit (till.
Euph. — And may we not as well conceive, that the term infpiration might be borrowed from fenfible things, to denote an action of God, in an extraordinary manner, influencing, exciting, and enlightening the mind of a prophet or an apoftle? who, in this fecondary, figura- tive, and tranflated fenfe, may truly be faid to be infpired, 274 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.]
though there (hould be nothing in the cafe of that wind or vapour implied in the original fenfe of the word? It feems to me, that we may, by looking into our own minds, plainly perceive certain inflincts, impulfes, and tendencies, which, at proper periods and occafions, fpring up unac- countably in the foul of man. We obferve very vifible figns of the fame in all other animals. And thefe things being ordinary and natural, what hinders but we may con- ceive it poflible for the human mind, upon an extraordi- nary account, to be moved in an extraordinary manner, and its faculties ftirred up and actuated by a fupernatural power? That there are, and have been, and are likely to be wild vifions, and hypochondriacal ravings, no body can deny: But to infer from thence, that there are no true infpirations would be too like concluding, that fome men are not in their fenfes, becaufe other men are fools. And though I am no prophet, and confequently cannot pretend to a clear notion of this matter; yet I fhall not therefore take upon me to deny, but a true prophet, or in- fpired perfon, might have had as certain means of difcern- ing between divine infpiration and hypochondriacal fancy, as you can between fleeping and waking, till you have proved the contrary. You may meet in the book of Jer- emiah with this paffage: * The prophet that hath a dream, 6 let him tell a dream: And he that hath my word, let * him fpeak my word faithfully: what is the chaff to the * wheat, faith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, c faith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the * rock in pieces?' * You fee here a diftin&ion made be- tween wheat and chaff, true and fpurious, with the migh- ty force and power of the former. But I beg pardon for quoting Scripture to you. I make my appeal to the gen- eral fenfe of mankind, and the opinion of the wifeft [Dial. VL] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 275 heathens, which feems fufficient to conclude divine infpi- ration poflible, if not probable, at leaft till you prove the contrary.
X. Alc. — The poffibility of infpirations and revela- tions I do not think it neceffary to deny. Make the bed you can of this conceflion.
Euph. — Now what is allowed poflible we may fuppofe in fa£t Alc— -We may.
Euph. — Let us then fuppofe, that God had been pleaf- ed to make a revelation to men; and that he infpired fome as a means to inftru£t others. Having fuppofed this, can you deny, that their infpired difcourfes and revelations might have been committed to writing, or that being written, after a long tracl: of time they might become in feveral places obfcure \ that fome of them might even originally have been lefs clear than others, or that they might fufFer fome alteration by frequent tranfcribing, as other writings are known to have done? Is it not even ve- ry probable that all thefe things would happen?
Alc. — I grant it.
Euph. — And granting this, with what pretence can you reject the Holy Scripture as not being divine, upon the account of fuch figns or marks, as you acknowledge would probably attend a divine revelation tranfmitted down to us, through fo many ages?
Alc— But allowing all that in reafon you can defire, and granting that this may account for fome obfcurity, may reconcile fome fmall differences, or fatisfy us how fome difficulties might arife by inferting, omitting, or changing here and there a letter, a word, or perhaps a fentence: Yet thefe are but fmall matters, in refpe£t. of the " much more confiderable and weighty objections I could produce, againft the confeffed doctrines, or fubjecl: matter of thofe writings. Let us fee what is contained i>)6 MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. [Dial. VI.3 in thefe facred books, and then judge whether it is prob- able, or poflible, fuch revelations ihould ever have been made by God? Now I defy the wit of man to contrive any thing more extravagant, than the accounts we there find of apparitions, devils, miracles, God manifeft in the fleih, regeneration, grace, felf-denial, refurreclion of the dead, and fuch like agri /omnia: Things fo odd, unac- countable, and remote from the apprehenfion of man- kind, you may as foon wafh a blackmore white, as clear them of abfurdity. No critical fkill can juilify them, no tradition recommend them, I will not fay for divine revelations, but even for the inventions of men of fenfe. Euph. — I had always a great opinion of your fagacity, but now, Alciphrony I confider you as fomething more than man: Elfe how mould \t be poflible for you to know, what or how far it may be proper for God to reveal? Me- thinks it may confift, with all due deference to the greateft of human understandings, to fuppofe them ignorant of many things, which are not fuited to their faculties, or lie out of their reach. Even the councils of princes lie often beyond the ken of their fubje&s, who can only know fo much as is revealed by thofe at the helm; and are often unqualified to judge of the ufefulnefs and tendency even of that, till in due time the fcheme unfolds, and is ac- counted for by fucceeding events. That many points con- tained in Holy Scripture are remote from the common ap- prehenfions of mankind, cannot be denied. But I do not fee, that it follows from thence, they are not of divine revelation. On the contrary, fhould it not feem reafona- ble to fuppofe, that a revelation from God fhould contain fomething different in kind, or more excellent in degree, than what lay open to the common fenfe of men, or could even be difcovered by the rr>oft fagacious philofopher? Accounts of feparate fpirits, good or bad, prophefies, miracles, and fuch things, are undoubtedly ftrange: But [Dial. VI.] MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 277 I would fain fee how you can prove them impoffible or abfurd.
Alc. — Some things there are fo evidently abfurd, that it would be almoft as filly to difprove them as to believe them: And I take thefe to be of that clafs.