left worth a wise Man's having. I believe, yea know there shall be a Way cast up, and it shall be called, the Way of the Holy One; and the Man of the (or that) Way, though among Fools, shall not err; for he shall hear a Voice behind him, saying, This is the Way, walk in it, Ifa. xxxviii. 5. 1 know there are spiritual, as well as natural Senfations; and it is utterly in vain, to perswade those that have felt them, that there is not; nor will what I have faid afford any fuch Inference. The Source of the Christian's Ideas, are the fame with other Mens; for though he sees Things in a new Light, and is in a new State, and can call God his Father, and Jesus Chrift his Redeemer, Advocate, &c. and the Holy Spirit his Guide, Counsellor, Sanctifier, &c. fo as other Men cannot; yet his Ideas of Father, are taken from the Compassions, Provisions, &c. of his, or a natural Father, and so of the rest. My Reader will observe, I don't doubt, that I make Sensation the grand original Source of all our Ideas, in the most unlimitted Sense imaginable, and extend it to Spirit, Space, (if there be any) Power, Thought, Time, Motion, &c. I do fo, and am ashamed to affront the Reader, or waste any more of his Time, in proving a Thing fo evident in itself; but if this be true, and the Soul be uncapable of receiving any Ideas, while in the Body, but from sensible Objects, and be thus absolutely limitted to the Sphere of Nature for the Origin of her Ideas; and that notwithstanding this, the may come at the Knowledge of spiritual Beings, and Things, by comparing those natural Ones with them: Of what Ufe then is the Bible? We may shut it up as a useless Book, and go to the Philosophers. Hold a little, for in answer to this, I say, If the Philofophers could give us the same plain, easy, accurate, and true Account of Nature, and direct us infallibly how

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how to carry up our Ideas from natural to supernatural Objects, as the Bible does, so we might : But none of the Philofophers yet have been able yot 3. to do this; fo far from it, that there is scarce any care can't Thing to be depended upon in their Writings. I myself have seen two Mathematical Demonftrations, the one to prove the infinite Divisibility of Matter, the other to prove the contrary: What such Demonstrations prove, I shall leave the Rea der to infer. If Mofes and the Prophets have any where contradicted themselves, or each other, or given such Accounts of Nature, or her Operations, as will not abide the feverest Tests, I'll give up the Bible. God's Word and Works agree; nor will it ever be in the Power of any one to shew where they do not. If it be objected, the Bible is not concerned about Philofophy; I ask what then is it concern'd about? What does the ift Chap. of Gen. and Part of the 2d treat of? of Nature, or Grace? What do Thousands of Places in the Prophets, Pfalms, and the Book of Job treat of, as well as the New-Testament, if not of Philofophy? It treats of Fire, Light, Spirit condenfed and rarified; Sun, Moon, Stars, and their Motions; Earth, Water, Metals, Minerals, Stones, Vegetables, Fruits, Beasts, Birds, Fishes, &c. of the original Formation of these Things; of their Manner of Existence; what they were before they existed, under their present Forms; and what they will be when they cease to do fo; and many more Circumstances relating to their Modes, &c. Now if these Things relate not to Philofophy, I know not what does. If any doubt whether these Things be clearly treated of in the Bible, let him learn to read it, as Mofes and the Prophets left it; that is, in its native Dress, and he will doubt no longer. I would be far from injuring

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ring the Characters of the Translators of the Bible. I doubt not but they were honest Men, and did the best they could at that Time; and we have Reafon to be thankful for their Labours: And I verily believe there is enough relating to the Gofpel truly and justly translated, to direct the Christian, by the Influence of the Spirit of God, to his Redeemer, who will be to him as the Shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land; as Rivers of Water in a dry Place; there he shall be fheltered from the Storm and Tempeft; there he shall drink from living Streams, and never Thirst more; there he shall be fafe, and never perish, for none can pluck out of his Hands: But notwithstanding this, I have faid it, and have not repented, that if the inspir'd Penmen of the Old Testament were to afcend out of their Graves, they would not know fome of their own Books in the Tranflation that is made of them. That they are not every where well tranflated, will appear by and by; nay, that the Original itself is understood by very few at this Time. To make this appear it will be neceffary to make fome short Strictures on the Debates of the present Time, wherein much time has been wafted, and much Paper spoil'd, in controverting the Senfe of Scripture, Christianity, and it's principal Doctrines. I have no Business to meddle with the political Reafons, which fet this Controversy on Foot, a little more than twenty Years ago; but shall take the Liberty to observe that the Labours of Tindal, Collin's, &c. had been in a great Degree lost, if their Opponents had been as well acquainted with the Original Records as fome of them have shew'd themselves to be with Logical, and Mathematical Niceties; nor would the Champions for Infidelity have ventured, Abroad, if they had not known their Ad[35]

Adversaries had lost their Locks; and that fome of them are shorn pretty close too, appears by the weak Defences they have made. What wretched Stuff has been vended under the sacred Name of Chriftianity, is but too well known to every one that has but dipt in the Controversy. The original Reasons of the Oppofition to Chriftianity is one Thing, and lie not before me now; the Differences among it's Advocates, and why it has been no better defended, are Points of another Nature; and I think have not been sufficiently attended to; and till they are, defending Christianity will be only, killing a Hydra, or driving out one Devil by introducing seven. Which of it's Advocates, but has attempted to extirpate some of it's Doctrines? and many of them have endeavoured to establish Errors as destructive of the Morals and Peace, as of the Salvation of Men. Some of them have not only obfcur'd our Ideas of, but left us at a Lofs about the Object of our Worship; others of them make nothing more than a dangerous edg'd Tool of that Revelation, which God in Compaffion to our Souls, has given to direct us to the Redeemer; which Revelation (as they say) we might have done very well without, and which if we use aright, may help us a little; but if we mifuse it, we are to receive double Damnation. What a horrid Infinuation this carries against God, I shall leave to the fober Reflection of and the more fober Reader: But if this be true, oh! that I had been born a Heathen! or, that my Eyes now full of Tears had never feen the Bible! Some of these wonderful Gentlemen have attempted, contrary to the whole Tenour of the Bible, and to common Senfe, to establish a self-fufficiency in human Nature, without confidering what Man was in his Original, or what he is in his pre

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present State; and to destroy the Idea of that Attonement, and those Means by which alone he is, and can be reconcil'd to GOD. Scarce two of them agree in the fame Sentiments; but 'till they do, no thinking Man will believe they know much of the Matter: Read and compare them, and you will foon find shocking Difagreements, Attempts to mix Iron and Clay, Invention mix'd with Divinity: What can this be owing to? Indeed I am not willing to believe it want of Honesty, except wilful Neglect may be deem'd fo. It cannot be want of Learning furely, for fome of them have a great deal. Ay, but I fear it is the wrong Sort, and not applicable to Divinity; for I cannot conceive how the Height, and Depth, and Length, and Breadth of the Love of God to Man, can be measured by the Mathematics; nor how Mechanisim can at all thew me how he weigh'd the Hills in Scales, and the Mountains in Ballances; nor how all the Learning in the Philofophical Transactions can discover what the Three are with which he stretch'd out the Heavens, Ifa. xli. 12. H. В. Nor how he stretch'd out the North over the empty Place; nor will the Air Pump help to an Idea of that empty Place. On the contrary, the present Doctrine of that Pneumatick Engine, ob, scures it quite. Will Logic, artificial Logic I mean, investigate the Doctrine of the Incarnation, Refurrection, &c? or, give me an Idea of what St. Paul means by a spiritual Body? or, tell me who the Three in Heaven are? who are One, or, who the Three on Earth are, that agree in One? In short, will it fettle the Connection and Senfe of one single Chapter in the Bible? I'll be oblig'd to him who thinks it will, to shew me the Application of it. I may as well expect to raise the Tide with a Laver, as to fathom the Wisdom of God;