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III.

IIIdly, That fuppofing, but not granting, SER M. there were fome Inconfiftences in little incidental Matters, and Points of no Confequence; Christianity nevertheless would ftand upon a firm Bafis, as long as the principal Evidences for it remain unfhaken, and the weightier Matters are worthy of God.

Ift, then, I am to fhew, that it is owing to Ignorance, &c.

It has been Matter of Surprize to fome, that Infidelity should fpread, even among Men, who are fenfible and knowing in all other Respects. The Age has been complimented as a difcerning and inquifitive Age; and fo it may be, but certainly, generally fpeaking, it is not inquifitive into fcriptural Learning, whatever it may be into other Branches of Literature. This feems a Province too much neglected, in Proportion as other Regions of Science have been cultivated. Yet without a fufficient Furniture of this Kind, a Perfon of very good Senfe is by no Means qualified to fit in Judgment upon the Bible. The Truth of the Matter is, Men must either be content to reft in Generals, I mean, the Evidences of Revelation, and the Reafonablenefs of it, as to the main Substance and Defign of it; as the middling Part of Mankind most commonly do: Or, if they will enter into Particulars, they fhould do, what

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SER M. too many of them do not, enter into them thoroughly with all proper Helps, and fift Things to the Bottom with an Attention proportioned to the Importance of the Subject. I will not deny, that fome Men of Abilities have done this, and yet continue Infidels ftill: But this I will venture to fay, there are not more Men of this Stamp, than there were in the last Age of those, who, though incredulous in every other Respect, were firm Believers in judicial Aftrology: There are not more in Number, than there are Searchers after the Philofopher's Stone, and perpetual Motion. If the Light of the Gospel be loft to any one, after due Care and Application, it is loft commonly upon dark, unhappy, and involved Souls; which fmother the Evidences, that fupport, enliven, and invigorate every good Chriftian. I would not, however, pass too general and undiftinguishing a Cenfure; great Allowances are to be made in many Cafes, and especially for thofe, who have been early tinctured with Infidelity, through the Default of their Education. Poifonous Notions may be inftilled, or get Admittance into the ductile and tender Mind, as little Infects do into Amber, before it has that Firmnefs, Solidity, and Confiftency, which is neceffary to hinder them from infinuating themselves: And, like them too, when they have got

into it, they cannot, without much Diffi- SER M. culty, be removed. The Mind hardens

and retains them after, as fo many Proofs, that it was once weak, unstable, and unrefifting as Water.

Let us fuppofe a Perfon of fine Natural Parts, not a little improved by polite Reading, by an enlarged Conversation, and by his great Knowledge of the World. But then it is of the World, as it is at prefent; for he may know no more of it as paft long ago, than he does of that which is to come. How easily may he, notwithstanding his Abilities, be tempted to Infidelity; if, when he looks into his Bible, inftead of confidering that he is, in some Parts of it, ftepping back into the very remoteft Scenes of Antiquity, and travelling, as it were, into another World, quite different from this; he fits down and tries (no wonder he condemns) Authors, who were born and bred in another Age and Country, by Laws, to which they were utter Strangers, the Laws of Writing which obtain at present in our Country? How natural will it be for him, in the Fulness of his Sufficiency, to treat with Contempt fuch Paffages as this: Moab is my Washpot, over Edom will I caft out my Shoe; and to afk, with a fupercilious and decifive Air, whether a Perfon, affifted by the Divine Spirit, could write in fuch a homely

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SER M. and coarse Manner? But his Contempt for

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this, and many other Places of Scripture, would abate, if he would ftudy the Nature and early Ufe of Hieroglyphics, which gave a Tincture to the Conversation and Writings of thofe Times: So that a Washpot, which was used as a fignificant Characteriftic Mark, became, when Letters more generally supplied the Ufe of Symbols, a Characteristic Appellation, to denote a Nation reduced to the most abject State, and employed in the most contemptible Offices. And as for Cafting out the Shoe, he might find Reafon to think, that, as fome have obferved, That was the ancient Form of taking Poffeffion of any Country, or even Piece of Ground, in Allufion to that of Mofes : Every Place, on which the Soles of your Feet fhall tread, fhall be yours. Or perhaps, cafting out the Shoe, might only fignify fhaking off the Duft of one's Feet, as an Indication of that Neglect and Contempt which the Edomites deserved. No Wonder fome fhould cavil at the Prophetical Schemes of Speech as ftrange and ridiculous, when a celebrated Roman Hiftorian * could afcribe thofe pompous Titles to the abfurd Pride of the Perfian King, which we may, with fome Probability, fuppofe were authorised by the common Language of the Orientals, and took their Birth from hieroglyphic Ima

*Ammianus Marcellinus,

gery,

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gery, viz. "Sapores, Brother to the Sun SEEM, "and Moon, and Relation to the Stars, to "his Brother Conftantius Cæfar:" It being no more unusual, or out of the Way, for the Eaftern People to characterize the Heads of a Nation, nay even of a private Family (as appears by Jacob's Interpretation of Jofeph's Dream) by the Sun and Moon, and the Nobility by the Stars; than it would be now to call a late eminent Writer the Light of the Philofophical World. And Authors muft conform to the Laws of Compofition then in Being; otherwise they will be as fhort-lived, as Authors; as thofe Subjects, who will act in Oppofition to the Statutes and Edicts then in Force. Nay we often, through our Ignorance, imagine we defcry a Blemish, which, upon maturer Confideration, proves to be á confiderable Beauty and Elegance of Diction. Thus, Deftroy this Temple, and in three Days I will raife it up, has been thought by fome to be a ridiculous and affected Way of fpeaking; and it might perhaps be fo in any other Perfon; but in our bleffed Saviour it is perfectly juft, and in Character. His Body being the very Temple, of which the other was only a Type, the very Temple, in which the Shechinah, or Divine Prefence,

+ Rex Regum Sapores particeps Siderum, Frater Solis & Lunæ, Constantio Cæfari Fratri meo Salutem.

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