fition, or acquired Way of thinking, every where fublime, or eafy, or elegant, of me thodical, or copious, or concife. But God hath most wisely made it all Things to all Men": hath furnished it with the cleareft and most mysterious, the loftieft and most familiar, the closest and most diffufe, the beft connected and the abruptest Paffages, all perfectly fuited to his gracious Purposes: and it is monstrous Perverfeness in Us, to make each his own Capacity the Measure of the whole; reckon every Thing, that happens to rife above us, unintelligible; every Thing, that condefcends to thofe beneath us, contemptible; and fo on.

But then farther we ought to confider, that the latest Books of the Bible are near 1700 Years old, the earliest many Ages older ftill: both Parts of it written in Languages, that have long been out of common Ufe; and the firft in one, of which we have no other Remains approaching towards its Antiquity; and which therefore, were it ever fo accurate and beautiful originally, is incapable of being perfectly understood at prefent. Now thefe Things, and, what must accompany them, a great Diverfity of Customs, and Modes of speaking, from ours,

▲ 1 Cor. ix. 22.

without

without defeating, or obftructing, the general Design of Scripture, muft of Neceffity obfcure the Beauty, and even the Meaning, of particular Places; and prevent in fome Measure its appearing to Us what it is in itself. The fame is the Cafe of the ancient fine Writers among the Heathens. Yet none of Them was ever despised on that Account by Men of Judgement : but they are ftudied and illuftrated, and their latent Excellencies pointed out, with the greater Care; and perhaps the more admired, for being lefs obvious: and large Allowances are made for those Perfections, which must have been formerly visible, but are no longer fo. Now. furely we ought to judge of Scripture with equal Fairness and Regard.

Befides, as all ancient Books in the World have fuffered more or less by the Negligence of Transcribers, and the Injuries of Time, yet without the Lofs, or any confiderable Diminution, of their Usefulness by it; fo may the Bible, It is much better guarded against wilful Corruptions, and even casual Mistakes, in material Points, than any other old Record, by the vaft Multitude of Copies, taken early, difperfed every where, read in public, weighed in private, quoted in Sermons, Converfations, Books, and remaining

remaining in the Hands of all different Sects of Chriftians, who would of Courfe watch one another to prevent any Attempts of making Alterations. Accordingly we find, and have great Cause to adore Providence for it, that neither during the long Reign of Popery hath any Text been changed, whatever may have been tried, to favour their Tenets, nor do the various Readings of the Manufcripts or Translations of any Church upon Earth, affect any fingle Fundamental of Faith or Practice. But ftill even fmall Errors in copying may have rendered Paffages of lefs Moment, (for in these they would be likelier to escape Obfervation) defective, harth, contrary to Grammar, inexplicable; may have broken Connexions, that once were plain; raised seeming Inconfiftences, where at first there were none; but particularly may have altered Names, and increased or leffened Numbers, which in all Books are very apt to fuffer by tranfcribing. And the various Difadvantages, under which any Parts of Scripture may be justly supposed to lie, from fuch Accidents as these, muft in all Equity be charged, not on itself, but on the blameable Careleffness of Mankind. God was not obliged to work Miracles to prevent them: but we are obliged

to

to honour duly whatever comes from him, though we cannot enjoy it in its original Perfection. Length of Time hath not diminished at all in any Thing effential, nor very confidetably in any Thing elfe, the Usefulness of the facred Writings: which, I hope, hath now been fatisfactorily proved and vindicated.

But the Text afferts them, not only to be useful, but completely useful: that, by their Means, the Man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good Works: the Minifter of the Gospel fully provided with what he is to preach, the Believer with what he is to learn. I cannot enlarge on this Point, and furely I need not for the Proof is fhort, and the Objections easily obviated without naming them. If the Scriptures are inspired, what they say of, themselves is true; and they fay they are fufficient to Salvation, plainly in the Text and elfewhere, and imply it throughout. The Old Teftament was fufficient in its Time: how can we doubt, but the New is now? How can we imagine, that in a Volume of fuch Bulk written by different Perfons all under the Direction of God, profeffedly for inftructing Mankind in Religion, and containing fo many Difcourfes of Chrift and his Apoftles for that Purpose, any :. VOL. VI. Thing

G

But

Thing neceffary is omitted? Befides, we can know no more of Christianity with Certainty by any other Way, than we know by this. Oral Inftruction would anfwer the End very well for a Time, and did fo: and therefore St. Paul very properly directs the Theffalonians to hold the Traditions, which they had been taught, whether by Word, or by his Epiftle1. Things, delivered by Word of Mouth only, are foon loft or changed; and falfe and mifchievous Traditions rife up inftead of the true; as the Jewish Church had then experienced: and therefore the Chriftian Covenant was put in Writing by the firft Publishers of it, as the preceding was by Mofes. The Chriftian Writers, who fucceeded the Apoftles, were confeffedly fallible, and confequently unworthy of equal Regard with them: nor did they attempt to make any Additions to the Rule of Faith and Manners, comprehended in the Bible. On the contrary, they held, as we do, that all effential Articles are to be found there: and fo did the following Ages too: till at Length the Rulers of the Church of Rome, having fet up Notions and Practices, which the Scripture did not warrant, were obliged to pretend, (but very falsely) 2 Theff. ii. 15.

i

that