left worth a wife Man's having. I believe, yea know there shall be a Way caft up, and it fhall be called, the Way of the Holy One; and the Man of the (or that) Way, though among Fools, shall not err; for he fhall hear a Voice behind him, faying, This is the Way, walk in it, Ifa. xxxviii. 5. I know there are spiritual, as well as natural Senfations; and it is utterly in vain, to perfwade those that have felt them, that there is not; nor will what I have faid afford any fuch Inference. The Source of the Chriftian's Ideas, are the fame with other Mens; for though he fees Things in a new Light, and is in a new State, and can call God his Father, and Jefus 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 Compaffions, Provifions, &c. of his, or a natural Father, and fo of the reft. My Reader will obferve, I don't doubt, that I make Senfation the grand original Source of all our Ideas, in the most unlimitted Senfe 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 fenfible Objects, and be thus abfolutely limitted to the Sphere of Nature for the Origin of her Ideas; and that notwithstanding this, fhe may come at the Knowledge of fpiritual Beings, and Things, by comparing thofe natural Ones with them: Of what Ufe then is the Bible? We may fhut it up as a useless Book, and go to the Philofophers. Hold a little, for in answer to this, I fay, If the Philofophers could give us the fame plain, eafy, accurate, and true Account of Nature, and direct us infallibly

how

how to carry up our Ideas from natural to fuperna-
tural Objects, as the Bible does, fo we might :
But none of the Philofophers yet have been able
to do this; fo far from it, that there is fcarce any and
Thing to be depended upon in their Writings.
I myself have feen two Mathematical Demonftra-
tions, the one to prove the infinite Divifibility of
Matter, the other to prove the contrary: What
fuch Demonstrations prove, I fhall leave the Rea-
der to infer. If Mofes and the Prophets have any
where contradicted themselves, or each other, or
given fuch Accounts of Nature, or her Operations,
as will not abide the feverest Tefts, I'll give up
the Bible. God's Word and Works agree; nor
will it ever be in the Power of any one to fhew
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 Na-`
ture, or Grace? What do Thousands of Places in
the Prophets, Pfalms, and the Book of Job treat of,
as well as the New-Teftament, if not of Philofophy?
It treats of Fire, Light, Spirit condenfed
and rarified; Sun, Moon, Stars, and their Mo-
tions; Earth, Water, Metals, Minerals, Stones,
Vegetables, Fruits, Beafts, Birds, Fishes, &c.
of the original Formation of these Things; of
their Manner of Existence; what they were before
they existed, under their prefent Forms; and
what they will be when they ceafe to do fo; and
many more Circumftances relating to their
Modes, &c. Now if thefe Things relate not to
Philofophy, I know not what does. If any doubt
whether thefe 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 Drefs, and he
will doubt no longer. I would be far from inju-
F

ring

ring the Characters of the Tranflators of the Bible. I doubt not but they were honeft 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 Gospel truly and juftly tranflated, to direct the Chriftian, 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 fhall be feltered from the Storm and Tempeft; there he fhall drink from living Streams, and never Thirst more; there he fhall be fafe, and never perith, for none can pluck out of his Hands: But notwithstanding this, I have faid it, and have not repented, that if the infpir'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 itfelf is understood by very few at this Time. To make this appear it will be neceffary to make fome fhort Strictures on the Debates of the prefent Time, wherein much time has been wafted, and much Paper fpoil'd, in controverting the Senfe of Scripture, Christianity, and it's principal Doctrines. I have no Business to meddle with the political Reasons, which fet this Controverfy on Foot, a little more than twenty Years ago; but fhall take the Liberty to obferve that the Labours of Tindal, Collin's, &c. had been in a great Degree loft, if their Opponents had been as well acquainted with the Original Records as fome of them have fhew'd them-selves to be with Logical, and Mathematical Niceties; nor would the Champions for Infidelity have ventured, Abroad, if they had not known their

Ad

Adverfaries had loft their Locks; and that fome of them are fhorn pretty clofe too, appears by the weak Defences they have made. What wretched Stuff has been vended under the facred Name of Christianity, is but too well known to every one that has but dipt in the Controverfy. The original Reafons of the Oppofition to Christianity 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 fufficiently attended to; and till they are, defending Chriftianity will be only, -killing a Hydra, or driving out one Devil by introducing feyen. Which of it's Advocates, but has attempted to extirpate fome of it's Doctrines? and many of them have endeavoured to eftablish Errors as deftructive 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 fay) we might have done very well without, and which if we use aright, may help us a little; but if we mifufe it, we are to receive double Damnation. What a horrid Infinuation this carries against God, I fhall 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 Eyės now full of Tears had never feen the Bible! Some of thefe wonderful Gentlemen have attempted, contrary to the whole Tenour of the Bible, and to common Senfe, to establish a felf-fufficiency in human Nature, without confidering what Man was in his Original, or what he is in his

prefent State; and to deftroy 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 fhocking 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 Mechanifm can at all fhew me how he weigh'd the Hills in Scales, and the Mountains in Ballances; nor how all the Learning in the Philofophical Tranfactions can difcover what the Three are with which he ftretch'd out the Heavens, Ifa. xli. 12. H. B. 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 prefent Doctrine of that Pneumatick Engine, obfcures 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 fpiritual 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 fhort, will it fettle the Connection and Senfe of one fingle Chapter in the Bible? I'll be oblig'd to him who thinks it will, to fhew me the Application of it. I may as well expect to raise the Tide with a Laver, as to fathom the Wisdom of

God;