Let. 2. Lord HERBERT of Cherbury. 27

from heaven, directing him what to do, or ſignifying an appro- bation of his deſign. He only maketh mention of a noiſe that ſeemed to him to come from heaven. He giveth no particular account what kind of noiſe it was, but only that it was loud and yet gentle, and that it camæ from heaven, for it war like nothing on earth, that it was in a ſorene ſky, and that to his thinking he ſau the place from uhence it came. In this ſituation of his mind, any noiſe that happened at that preciſe juncture, and which had ſomething unufual in it(and it is eaſy to ſuppoſe ſe- veral things of this kind) might be apt to make an impreſſion on his imagination. Iſhall only put one ſuppoſition, and it is this, that at that time it might happen to thunder a a diſtance, which might well be in ſummer-time, though in that part of the ſky which was within his view there was no cloud to be ſeen, and all ſeemed perfectly ſerene. And the noiſe&f thunder heard re- mote(to uſe Milton's phraſe) coming at that inſtant, when the ſoul was filled with expectation of ſomething extraordinary, would undoubtedly greatly affect him, and might be regarded as a ſign of approbation from heaven, which was what he ſought for. And then no wonder that it comforted and cheared him, as his Lordſhip obſerves it did.

It is, I muſt confeſs, a great ſatisfaction to me to reilect, that the evidence of the Chriſtian revelation doth not depend upon ſuch equivocal ſigns as this. The atteſtations given to the firſt preachers and publiſhers of the Goſpel wereof ſuch a kind, that ſuppoſing them to have really happened they could not reaſon- ably, or with the leaſt appearance of probability, be aſcribed to any thing but a divine interpoſition; and therefore mighrt juſtly be regarded as marks of the divine approbation of the Chriſtian ſcheme.

Upon this occaſion I cannot help drawing ſome kind of pa rallel in my own mind, between this incident that happened to this noble Lord, and that extraordinary appearance from heaven which St. Paul gives an account of, and which, with what fol- lowed upon it, had ſuch an effect upon him, as to conquer bis obſtinate prejudices, and to engage him to profeſs and preach that faith in Chriſt, which he himſelf had zealouſly perſecuted before. I believe the warmeſt advocates for Chriſtianity would be ready to own, that if that great apoſtle had had no better account to give of the reaſons and motives of his converſion, than ſuch a ſign from heaven as Lord Herbert mentions, this would have been a very ſlender foundation, either for himſelf or others, to go upon, in receiving the Chriſtian doctrine as of divine original. But the ſlighteſt compariſon of the caſes may

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