plained in it, nothing capable of being contradicted or doubted; and every Part of the World must be put in Poffeffion of it. Now we find that this is not true of the Old and New Testament, and therefore some are inclined to queftion, whether indeed they are Gifts of God, er, however, Gifts of any extraordinary Value, But the fame Perfons might juft as well have suggested, that all the Knowledge he gives us by natural Means alfo must be eafily acquired, perfect and univerfal: which we experience it not to be. God hath provided Remedies for the Diseases of our Bodies: the greatest Blessing we have, next to thofe for the Wants of our Souls. But many of them were unknown to Mankind till very lately, are known but to few now, perhaps very many, that will be known, are not discovered yet. Multitudes have believed in Medicines and Methods of no Use at all: feveral of the best have been despised, rejected, ridiculed; fierce and long Disputes have arifen about the Nature and Benefit of others; and perhaps, after much Pains taken, much Uncertainty ftill remains: the most efficacious and approved are often difagreeable and difguftful; unfkilfully or dishonestly applied, they

4 See Bishop Butler's Analogy, p. 265, 266. .

have often very bad Effects, and oftener yet produce their good ones but flowly and imperfectly. Yet we cannot, and we do not, doubt, but there are fuch Things as real Remedies, which a kind Providence, deferving our fincereft Thanks, hath beftowed on us. And why then fhould we hefitate about the divine Original, or fovereign Usefulness, of the holy Scriptures, merely because they are attended with fome Difadvantages of the fame Sort? Indeed whatever Way of Reasoning would prove, that our Maker is obliged to relieve either our temporal or fpiritual Disorders in the Manner we could with, will prove equally that he is obliged to prevent both: the contrary of which we daily feel. Therefore fuppofe the Bible had such Imperfections in it, as it hath not, no more would follow, than that God had extended his Direction and Affiftance to the Writers of it only to a certain Degree: we could never conclude, that he had not directed and affifted them, as far as the Purpofes of Religion required. It may be faid he could have guarded it against all poffible Mifconftructions, and Objections. But perhaps not without making Man a different Creature from what he is; for weak Men will stumble, and wicked Men cavil, at

every Thing: or not without making Scripture fo different from what it is, that on the whole it would have anfwered the feveral Ends, for which it was defigned, lefs than it doth. It may be faid farther, that at least he could eafily havé guarded it against many of the Objections, which have been made. But perhaps he forefaw, that if he had, others would have been made in their Stead: or he thought fit to exercise the Industry of fome Perfons, and try the Uprightness of others. In fhort, we must suffer the all-wife God, both to govern his World, and to reveal his Will, in his own Way.

Butacareful and judicious Inspection will shew in his Word, as it doth in his Works, not only that Beauty and Use abound much more than was conceived at firft View; but that many imagined Deformities are real Excellencies; and many feemingly worthlefs or inconvenient Things, neceffary or beneficial; whereas the fineft Pieces of human Art feldom fail of finking in their Character upon accurate Examination and frequent Review. There are Paffages in Scripture fo lofty, that moft Eyes are unable, without Help, to fee their Meaning distinctly. And why should there not be Things above. Common Reach, to excite and reward the At

tempts

tempts of the able and diligent; to prevent their being fatiated with plain Doctrines alone, till they grow weary of them; and to give them the Pleasure of communicating, and others of receiving from them, the Discoveries they make: juft as, in worldly Affairs, God hath appointed, that some shall be rich and charitable, others poor and thankful; and thus hath provided in the best and wifeft Manner for All? There are again Paffages of fuch great Simplicity and Plainnefs, that they appear to fome low and flat. But then, not only different Subjects, and Manners of treating them, require very different Styles; but all Nations and Ages have their peculiar Forms of Expreffion, their Circumlocutions and Repetitions, which, however mean or tedious they may feem to others, yet seem to them graceful and proper: and fuch as endeavour to teach and influence them (as the facred Writers did the Jews and first Christian Converts,) do well to comply with eftablished Ufage in these Things, even though they could mend it. For this Reason the Authors of the New Testament, had they been Masters of the most elegant Greek, would have acted wifely in preferring to it that vulgar Kind, which the Perfons, to whom they wrote, or dinarily

6

dinarily used, and understood better. Befides, artless and unadorned Narrations and Exhortations are best suited to common Capacities; and carry in them fome Evidence, that they are not contrived to amuse and deceive: for in that Cafe they would have been more laboured and ornamented. We have no Cause therefore, from the Roughness and uncouth Prolixity of fome Parts, to think Scripture ill calculated for the Profit of its Readers; amongst whom its first Readers were first to be regarded: but we have much Cause from the Dignity, the Persuasiveness, the Energy of other Parts, to conclude it is the Power of God unto Salvation: for elfe, whence had thefe Men all thefe Things? We have no Cause in the least to blame it for what we do not comprehend; but abundant Cause to admire it for what we do; and to argue, like Socrates on reading the Works of Heraclitus: "So much "as I understand is excellent, and therefore I "believe the reft is fo too." We want to have the Bible, each according to his natural Difpo

* See Mofheim's Cogitationes de Interpretatione SS. litterarum, p. 176. where he defends the unpolite Style of Scripture, as moft intelligible to the Generality, and fupports his Defence by the Authority of Orig. contra Celf. I. vi. And Sext. Emp. lib. i. adv. Mathematicos feu lib. i. c. 10. adv. Grammaticos, §. 234. p. 265. Ed. Fabr, ↑ Rom. i. 16. 8 Matt.

xiii. 56.

fition,