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prefent establishment, may be eafily apply'd to other conftitutions, fome of which extend their claim to a jus divinum farther than the Church of England does.

The feveral parties that divide us, feem to agree in nothing fo much as in expreffing a great vehemence against Popery: Therefore it will not be amifs briefly to confider what advantages this licentiousness in opinion, fo much in vogue, affords to that very caufe, which it declaims against with so much fiercenefs.

First of all, nothing gives so plaufible a colour to the Popish boasts of unity and infallibility, as to fee men that pretend fo much zeal against it, fall off from the common principles of Chriftianity, and difcard all certainty in matters of religion.

In the next place, fuperftition and profaneness are not fo far afunder as fome may imagine: One extreme doth

doth ufually produce another; and when men have for fome time bewilder'd themselves in the maze of fcepticism and infidelity, and can find nothing whereon to fix, they will be ready to hearken to the Popish pleas for the infallibility of the Church, or to any thing else that may put a ftop to their endless wanderings, and give reft to their weary fouls.

Add to this, in the third place, that hearty zeal for religion, tho' it proceed upon falfe principles, will in the end get the better of a luke-warm and indifferent temper, which not only makes people fufpect that the cause which is fo coldly maintain'd wants truth to fupport it, but likewife that the abettors of it do not believe themselves.

.

To recover the fpirit of piety, which is fo vifibly decay'd, and almoft extinguifh'd amongst us, I can't but earnestly recommend to all that are fincere lovers of truth, the careful reading of the holy Scrip

tures,

tures, which will afford to all that feriously peruse them, fo many internal arguments of their divine authority, as cannot be withstood by an ingenuous mind, viz. fuch as are taken from their general scope and defign, and the harmony of the several parts compar'd with each other; which proofs have this peculiar advantage, that they may be difcern'd by an ordinary judgment without the help of human learning.. "Tis the principal defign of the following papers, to confider the force of thofe arguments which arise from the very frame and contexture of the holy Writings. And I heartily pray to God, that the feveral treatifes, which have of late been written upon this and fuch like fubjects, the publishing whereof is so neceffary in this age, may, by his bleffing, become in fome measure ufeful for the convincing gainfayers, and confirming well-difpos'd perfons in their holy faith.

THE

That the feveral Parts of Scripture were accommodated to Mens Ufe, with a regard to their feveral Capacities; which appears by the different Subjects therein treated of, and the different Styles wherein the feveral Parts of Scripture are written

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The Reafon of the different Styles us'd in the feveral Parts of Holy Writ The Ufe that unlearned Perfons should make of of this difference

CHA P. II.

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Two Prejudices which hinder many from the careful reading and Study of the Scriptures, the first of them, relating to the Style and Method of thofe holy Writings, confider'd The peculiar Advantages of receiving, Instruction from the Scriptures themselves A defence of the Scripture Style comprized in four Particulars,

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