A

COLLECTION

OF

THEOLOGICAL TRACTS,

IN SIX VOLUMES.

By RICHARD WATSON, D.D. F.R.S.
LORD BISHOP of LANDAFF,

AND

REGIUS PROFESSOR of DIVINITY in the UNIVERSITY of

CAMBRIDGE.

SECOND EDITION.

VOL. IV.

LONDON:

Printed for T. EVANS in the Strand, and in the Great Market, Bury St. Edmund's; J. and J. MERRILL, Cambridge; J. FLETCHER, and PRINCE and COOKE, Oxford; P. HILL, Edinburgh; and W. M'KENZIE, Dublin.

M.DCO.XCI.

The Reasonableness of Chriflianity, as delivered in the Scripture. By JOHN LOCKE, Efq. Lond. 1727. p. I.

This Treatife was firft published in 1695, without Mr. Locke's name; he concealed his being the author of it from his moft intimate friends, and in one of his letters to Mr. Molyneux, at Dublin, he defired to know what people thought of it there; for here, fays he," at its first coming out, it was received with no indifferency, "fome speaking of it with great commendation, and most cenfur"ing it as a very bad book." His friend, in reply, informed him, that a very learned and ingenious Prelate faid he liked it very well, and that, if Mr. Locke writ it, it was the best book he ever laboured at; "but," fays he, "if I fhould be known to think fo, I "should have my lawns torn from my fhoulders." Abroad it was greatly efteemed by two of the best divines which were then livingLe Clerc, and Limborch. Le Clerc, in his Bibliotheque Choifee faid, that it was "un des plus excellens ouvrages qui ait été fait de"puis long-tems fur cette matiere et dans cette vue:" and Limborch preferred it to all the Syftems of Divinity that he had ever read.. Dr. Edwards wrote against it; and his objections produced from Mr. Locke two vindications of it; these merit the reader's attention as much as the work itfelf, which has long been very ge. nerally approved.

A Difcourfe concerning the unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion, and the Truth and Certainty of the Chriftian Revelation. Being eight Sermons preached in the year 1705, at the Lecture founded by the Hon. ROBERT BOYLE. BY SAMUEL CLARKE, D.D. p. 109.

Whatever opinion the reader may entertain of the principles advanced in this book relative to the foundation of Morality, he will admire the ftrength and perfpicuity with which the whole of it is

VOL. IV.

A 2

written;

written; and derive fingular benefit from that part of it which treats of the Evidences of revealed Religion. In compofing this part, Dr. Clarke is faid to have availed himself of the fecond part of Mr. Baxter's Reafons of the Chriftian Religion, published in 1667; and it would certainly be of ufe to the reader to perufe that excellent difcourfe, and to compare it with this of Dr. Clarke.

A Difcourfe on Prophecy.

p. 297.

This difcourfe is taken from a Volume of Difcourfes by John Smith, formerly fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge. The difcourfes were published after his death in 1656, and are all of them very valuable, but this is particularly fo: it was tranflated into Latin by Le Clerc, and prefixed to his Commentary on Ifaiah, &c. The reader will find fomething on this fubject in Vitringa's Obfervatiónes Sacræ ; in different parts of the Thefaurus Theologico-philologicus; in Du Pin's Prolegomenes fur la Bible; in Jenkin's Reasonablenefs of Chriftianity; in Prideaux's Old and New Teftament connected; in Bishop Williams's Sermons at Boyle's Lecture; and efpecially in the firft Chapter of Carpzovius Introductio ad libros propheticos; the xxvIIIth Section of which contains a catalogue of fuch of the Fathers, Rabbins, Lutheran, Catholic, and Reformed writers, as have treated de Prophetiæ et Prophetarum natura, caufis, differentia, et affectionibus.

*

An Effay on the Teaching and Witness of the Holy Spirit. p. 363.

The late Lord Barrington rendered great fervice to Chriftianity by his Mifcellanea Sacra. In the Effay which is here printed from the firft volume of that work, he has explained the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which prevailed in the primitive Church with more precifion, and fet the Argument in favour of Chriftianity, which is derived From the Witness of the Spirit, in a ftronger light, than any other Author has done. The Subject has been handled by Whitby in his book intitled The Certainty of the Chriftian Faith, and in his General Preface concerning the divine Authority of the Epiftles; by Benfon, in his Reasonablenefs of Chriftianity, and in other parts of his Works; by Warburton, in his Doctrine of Grace; by Secker, Tillotson, Chandler, and other Divines, in their Sermons: and indeed it is a fubject which deferves all attention; for whatever contrariety of opinion may take place concerning the Agency of the Holy Spirit on the Minds of the faithful in the prefent state of the

Christian