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Situation in Life. The Discoveries, which he hath made in Scripture, are progreffive; fome to one Age, greater to the next: and thofe, which he hath decreed to be made by natural Reason, are in this Respect of the same Kind. Every Generation goes off unacquainted with a Number of defirable and beneficial Things, which the fucceeding ones come to know familiarly.

It is farther alledged, that we read in the Bible of very bad Actions, done by such as are called very good Perfons: and Men are in Danger of being misled by them. But are they not in almost equal Danger of being misled by seeing good Perfons do bad Actions almost every Day? And if this is no Objection against the Providence of God, why is the other against his Word? Sometimes the Connexion of the Story requires them to be told: and they are seldom, if ever, told without a Censure, either expreffed or visibly implied, unless the Sin be so very notorious, as to need none. At least the Precepts of the facred Books are a Guard, more than sufficient, against the ill Influence of any fuch Hiftories: which will never do Harm, provided we remember but this one plain Rule, that nothing contrary to moral Virtue is or can be de

figned to be taught there. On the contrary, they may serve to various ufeful Purposes. Recording the Sins of thofe, who in the main were eminently pious, is one Proof, amongst many, of the Impartiality of the Writers; and furnishes every Reader with strong Motives, to Circumfpection, lest He also fall; to Repentance, when he hath fallen; to Humility in thinking of himself, to Charity in Respect of others, who are overtaken in Faults".

There are likewise, it must be owned, Actions not only related in Scripture, but related with the Appearance, nay with Expreffions, of Approbation, and even faid to be commanded by God, that seem at the first View liable to great Objections in Point of Morality. And thefe are pleaded by fome against its Authority, by others against its Ufefulness. But then it must be observed, as to fuch Commands, that God hath a fovereign Right to difpofe of all his Creatures as He pleases; that he may have many Reafons for his Pleasure, of which we are ignorant; that he may as allowably appoint any Person or People to execute it, as the civil Magiftrate may appoint an Executioner of common Juftice; and that by Virtue of fuch Divine

" Gal, vi. t.

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Appointments, well proved, as thofe in Scripture are, Things may be very lawfully done, which otherwife would be very unlawful; and which therefore were not intended, (nor can eafily be mistaken, if we will use our Underftandings at all) for Patterns to be followed where no Revelations are given; and in our Days none are to be expected. Such, for Inftance, was the Command to Abraham for facrificing his Son; to the Jews for destroying the Canaanites; and to other Perfons on other Occafions. Again, fometimes God is reprefented by the facred Writers not only as commanding, but as doing himself, Things hard to reconcile with his Attributes. But then plainly on several Occafions Scripture seems to fay, that he doth, what it only means to say, that he permits: because nothing is done without him, and every Thing is over-ruled by him to his own good Purposes. Time will not permit me to enter into every Particular: and therefore I must be content to add in general, that if we bear always in Mind, as we ought, the abfolute Sovereignty of God, and the unsearchable Depths of his Wifdom; if we allow for Circumstances, probably well known when the Hiftory of thefe Facts was written, and

therefore

therefore less needful to be related; or indeed if we only pay due Regard to Circumstances, which are related, in that very Part of Scripture, or fome other; we fhall either find the Means of clearing up the Difficulties of this Nature which occur, especially by calling in proper Help; or however we shall perceive it to be likely, from the Discoveries which have been made already, that they will be cleared up hereafter. And reflect, I entreat you, what can we say more than this, concerning several Parts of God's Creation, which feem to be noxious instead of beneficial, and of his Providence, which feem hurtful to the Interefts of Piety and Virtue; and yet undoubtedly proceed from him, and are worthy of him? To one Ufe at least, and that of the greatest Moment, all fuch Things are adapted, to teach us, from a Sense of our own Ignorance, deep Self-Abasement, and implicit Veneration for the Lord of All.

Another Part of Scripture, pretended by fome to be unprofitable and unaccountable, is that, which lays before us the ceremonial Precepts of the Jewish Law. But no Wonder, if when we are not bound to practise any of them, we are not able to account for all of them. Some,

which appear to the illiterate very strange, are proved by the learned to be wife Prohibitions. of the Superftitions and idolatrous Rites of their heathen Neighbours; and others to be equally wife Compliances with, or Accommodations to, their innocent Customs. And how do we know, at such a Distance of Time, what a Number more there may have been of this Kind? Some again feem defigned to convey, under their literal Senfe, figurative moral Inftructions; That being a Method of teaching anciently admired, and therefore proper to be imitated". Not a few were plainly contrived to give Intimations beforehand concerning the Facts and Doctrines of the Gofpel: very comfortable at the Time, though obfcure, as God faw fit they should be; very useful now, by proving, what was always the Divine Intention; and particularly useful against the Jews, who thus bear Teftimony to the very Books, that confute them. Befides, it might be, independently on all this, extremely neceffary for that carnal People to be employed in a pompous Form of Piety with many Ceremonies which,

Concerning fymbolical Laws, and the Unfitnefs of requiring to know the Reasons of ancient Inftitutions, fee Authorities of the Pandects, and Paffages of Heathen Writers, in Taylor's Elements of Civil Law, p. 45, 46, 47.

however,

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