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Doc. 259.] REV. T. HARTLEY’S TESTIMONY. 507
borg’s Letter to a friend [Document 2], giving a particular
account of himself and family, annexed to that work, is sub
joined to this Preface, the original of which is in my hands.
16. "The same question that will be asked here, has been
briefly noticed already, viz. If a testimony to so extraordinary
a dispensation does not require the extraordinary seal of
miracles to render it credible ? To which be it further answered,
that many of the prophets worked no miracles, and yet were
believed upon their own private testimony; and that we
believe many things of the highest consequence in religion
upon human authority, where the persons transmitting and
delivering them appear properly qualified and circumstanced
to give credibility to what they relate. But this argument
has been considered in the Preface to the Treatise on the
Intercourse between the Soul and the Body [see no. 14] , before
mentioned; and from the reasons adduced, and such as are
ready to be further produced if called for, we look upon our
author’s testimony as worthy of our acceptation in this matter,
and venture to rely on his own integrity and piety, and his
disinterested and indefatigable labours to instruct the world
in the most important truths relating to salvation, at the
expense of his fortune, and the sacrifice of all worldly
enjoyments, during the last thirty years of his life. And if
we further reflect, that the whole scope and tendency of his
writings is to promote the love of God and of our neighbour ;
to inculcate the highest reverence for the Holy Scriptures ; to
urge the necessity of practical holiness ; and to confirm our
faith in the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:
these considerations, I think, may be allowed to be sufficient
credentials (as far as human testimony can go) of his extra
ordinary mission and character, and as convincing marks of
his sincerity and truth ; especially as we have to add, upon
the credit of two worthy persons, (one ofthem a learned
physician [Dr. Messiter²] who attended him in his last sickness),
that he confirmed the truth of all that he had published
relating to his communications with the world of spirits, by
his solemn testimony, a very short time before he departed
this life, in London, anno Dom. 1772.
17. " Reader, might it not seem a wonder, if a person of
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