"This, you may say, is visionary indeed. And you may wonder how I can doubt of the truth of miracles, if I can believe in such a chimerical idea as this!
"But stop, my dear sir, you believe in such a power some where or other; for without it there could be no such thing as prophecy, and if such a power exist, even in the universe, why may it not exist in man? For myself, I cannot account for the spirit of prophecy in man, (and it must be in man, or else men could not be prophets) in a more rational way. I should not be disposed, however, to consider such a power, sense, faculty, or by what other name it might be called, any more supernatural than the organs of sight and hearing. If the natural eye is so formed that objects may be painted on it, simply by the action of vision, to the immense distance of the fixed stars, so that we are enabled to behold them, why may not the mental eye be so constituted as to bring future events present to the mind with equal certainty?
"If such a power, however, were once known to exist, it would be likely to be counterfeited; and hence we may suppose, arose that horde of impostors, by the name of soothsayers, sorcerers, necromancers, magicians, &c.
"But even where this power exists, if it be a natural power, it must have its limits, and some may have it to a greater degree than others, and also some may make a good use of it, and others bad.
"Accounting for prophecy in this way, you will readily perceive that it is no certain evidence of a future state; for although the time may come when all creatures in all the vast dominions of God may be made happy in the enjoyment of his blessings, yet it does not necessarily follow that you and I shall exist at that time! i.e. in conscious identity!
"If I am asked why I wish to explain every thing upon natural principles, without admitting the immediate agency of the Deity, my only answer is, because to my understanding it is more rational, and of course more likely to be true.
"That men could divine, or foretell future events, or declare present things which are beyond their sight by intuition, all of which seems to be embraced in the word prophecy, is an idea which has existed perhaps from time immemorial; and however unaccountable it may seem, yet, to a certain degree, at least, we are obliged to admit the fact; but whether, after all, this is any thing more than the effect of that kind of foresight or ratiocination, which all men (idiots excepted) have to a greater or less degree, but some much greater than others, is still a question. But should I be obliged to admit the truth of prophecy, in the sense in which it is generally understood, I should account for it in the way you have seen.
"I do not perceive, at present, how a revelation could be made to the understanding of any man only through the medium of the operations of nature. Unless it were made to some of his outward senses, how could he know whether it was any thing more than a chimera of his own brain? If there were any faculty in his mind by which he could view these things over and over again, (the same as we look at the heavenly bodies) and did he always behold them in the same light, then he would feel safe in declaring that such things did exist; and unless the prophets had some such criterion by which they could determine on the truth of their predictions. I do not see how that even they, and much less we, should feel safe in placing any real confidence in them.
"The prophecies of our Saviour, however, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, are more clear and striking than any thing else we have of the kind; and if it were certain that these were written before the event took place, it would be a very strong proof of something more than what any one can suppose could have been the result of human foresight. There must, at least, on such a supposition, have been a faculty of seeing which we do not possess. These predictions, however, if made by Jesus, must have been made in the hearing of John, as well as Matthew; and of course, he must have known them with more certainty than Mark or Luke; who, in consequence of not being personally acquainted with Jesus, could have known them only from hear say; and as it is pretty generally agreed, that John wrote his gospel more than twenty years after the event took place, it is very remarkable that he should be entirely silent on this subject! John, as we must suppose, knowing of this prediction; knowing also that it had been recorded by all three of the other Evangelists, (though Luke is not very particular on the subject) and knowing also that they had all written before the event took place; and he living to see the whole verified, and then wrote his gospel afterwards, how natural it would have been for him, first to have recorded this prediction, at least, in substance, and then to have mentioned its fulfillment, as a confirmation of the prophecy! But not a word on the subject.
"This, however, is no evidence that Jesus did not deliver those predictions, and that they were not written by Matthew and Mark, and also hinted at by Luke before the events took place; yet still it raises a doubt and a query in the mind whether these are not interpolations, or else the books wholly written after the events took place, and of course these predictions put into the mouth of Jesus by the historian. When the copies were few in number, and those kept by the Christians only, interpolations might have been made without much danger of detection. The heretics were early accused of interpolating, altering, and forging the scriptures; and although they, i. e. the majority of the believers, as it is likely would be very careful to detect any thing which contradicted their views in point of doctrine, yet whether they would be equally careful respecting those interpolations which favoured the Christian faith is a question worthy of consideration.