great? in things which, confidered in them "felves, are of little importance, as well as in "those which are of the greatest? in non-funda"mentals, as well as in fundamentals? and is it "not equally giving the lie to God to refufe believing what he fays in the one as well as in the "other? It is quite childish then, to pretend to answer the difficulty by faying, the fcrip“ture is clear in things neceffary, but not in things unneceffary; every thing is neceffary to be believed when God reveals it. Befides, "we have seen above, from the very words of "the fcripture, that there are in it things hard

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to be understood, even in points necessary to fal"vation, and confequently in things fundamen ( "tal; fince the wrefting them is there decla "red to be the caufe of deftruction. Again, as

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to his other affertion, I ask you, Is not the doc"trine of the Trinity, and the incarnation and original fin, the very effence of Christianity? " and will any one say, that these are put in fuch a variety of lights, and fo frequently inculcated in "the Bible, as to leave no reasonable doubt about them? On the contrary, is there any one point put in a greater variety of lights, and more frequently inculcated, than the neceffity and efficacy of baptifm? and yet your Reverend "Doctor abfolutely denies both! But to show you ftill further how infufficient your founda"tion is, I fhall allow, for once, the fcripture to "be clear in itself, and that the divifions among "Chriftians arife from the abuse of it; yet it "must be owned, that there are numbers of people on all fides that act fincerely, and really in "their heart think they are doing well; yet both scripture and reafon convince us, that as they

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** contradict one another, they cannot all be in "the right, and that thofe who are wrong must "be in the road to perdition; for, as fcripture af "fures us, there is a way which feemeth right unto a "man, but the end thereof are the ways of death, Prov. " xiv. 12.: hence, therefore, even a fincere perfon "who thinks himfelf right, may be mistaken; and "whilst he thinks himself in a good way, may bẹ "running on to death. Again, the fame fcripturę "affures us, that the unlearned and the unstable, "who wreft the fcripture, do fo to their own deftruc

tion: now the unlearned are by far the most "numerous; and among the learned themselves, *who of them can answer for their own stabi

lity, especially when they fee numbers equally "learned, and no lefs ftable than themselves, *condemn their conduct, and walk in a road

quite oppofite? from whence it is evident, that neither learned nor unlearned, who follow "their own judgment in explaining the fcriptures, can have any folid fecurity. Laftly, the "fame fcripture affures us, that as there is but "one Lord and one God, fo there is but one faith,

Ephef. v. 4. and without faith it is impoffible to "pleafe God, Heb. xi. From all which it evident"ly follows, that among the vast variety of Chri"ftian fects, there is but one true religion, viz. "those who have this one true faith revealed by "Chrift, and taught by his apostles; and all the

reft, being contrary to this, are by confequence "teachers of errors and falfehood, instead of the truths of God; and, for that reafon, are un"doubtedly out of the way of salvation, even though they vainly imagine themselves right; "it being impoffible, as we have feen, without the

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one true faith, to please God. To all this, rea fon still cheerfully fubfcribes, fince it is clear as noon-day, that Almighty God cannot be the "author of contradictions; and confequently, "that, among the different fects of Chriftians, "there can be but one true faith, and all the rest who differ from that one true faith must be "falfehood and error; and as they teach a differ"ent gofpel from what St Paul taught, they muft "of courfe fall under the curfe pronounced up

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on all fuch by that apoftle. Now, this being "the cafe, I afk you, How is it poffible to remedy this evil? Serious well-meaning people, fin"cerely following this rule, are yet led on in the

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* ways of death, without any poffibility of unde

"ceiving them; for who can convince them of "their mistake, fince whoever fhould attempt it "muft own, that, for ought he knows, he may "be mistaken himfelf? Even then allowing that "the fcripture is clear in itfelf, yet fince we "fee by experience, and it is candidly acknow"ledged by the Doctor, that, confidering the weakneffes, paffions and prejudices of man, the following this as a rule does, in fact, lead men to diffenfions; that is, to errors in faith, "and confequently to deftruction, without any

poffibility of rectifying the mistake, even in "the fincere, it follows, beyond all contradic“tion, that this rule you give me is an inade

quate rule, by no means adapted to the necef"fities of mankind, and therefore abfolutely in"fufficient for the end proposed; which is, as fcripture itself declares, to bring all to the unity of the faith, Ephef. iv. 13. and to unite all in one fold under one fhepherd, John x. 16. Now, " is it consistent with the goodness and wisdom

" of the Supreme Being to oblige all men, un "der pain of damnation, to believe the truths "he has revealed, and to be all united in one "faith, and at the fame time to leave us no other "rule to bring us to this union but one; which, "as experience fhows, never yet did produce "this effect, and which, confidering human na"ture, is abfolutely incapable of doing it? What "then must neceffarily be the conclufion of all "this? I fhall give it you in the words of Lord Bolingbroke, who perfectly well felt the force "and ftrength of this reafoning. Writers of the "Roman religion (fays this author) have attempted "to fhow, that the text of holy writ is, on many "accounts, infufficient to be the fole criterion of ortho

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doxy. I apprehend too that they have fhown it. Sure "I am, that experience, from the first promulgation

of Chriftianity to this hour, fhows abundantly with "how much eafe and fuccefs the most oppofite, the "most extravagant, nay, the moft impious opinions, "and the most contradictory faiths, may be founded "in the fame text, and plaufibly defended by the fame "authority. Writers of the Reformed religion have ❝erected their batteries against tradition-Each fide "has been employed to weaken the caufe, and explode "the fyftem of his adverfary; and they have jointly "laid the axe to the root of Christianity: for thus men "will be apt to reafon upon what they have advan"ced. If the text has not that authenticity, clear

nefs and precifion, which are necessary to establish "it as a Divine and certain rule of faith and prac "tice; and if the tradition of the church, from the firft ages of it, to the days of Luther and Calvin, "has been corrupted itself, and has ferved to corrupt "the faith and practice of Chriftians; THERE RE◄

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"MAINS, AT THIS TIME, NO STANDARD AT "ALL OF CHRISTIANITY. And a little after, arguing from the fame principles, he fays, The confequence then must be evident, viz. that either "this religion was not originally from God, or elfe "God has not effectually provided for preferving the "genuine purity of it, and the gates of hell have actually prevailed, in contradiction to his promife, a"gainst the Church. The beft effect of this reafoning "that canbe hoped for, is, that men fhould fallinto The ifm, and fubfcribe to the first propofition. He muft "be worse than an Atheist that can affirm the laft. "On the study and ufe of hiftory, letter V."

See here the ufe which the fubtile Deift will readily make of the defcription our author has fo graphically painted of the divifions among Chriftians, and of the abufe they make of the fcriptures; fee here the manifeft advantages he puts into the hands of the open enemies of Chriftianity by this imprudence. But the evil does not reft here; it is not the Deift alone whom our author favours; the Roman-Catholick alfo will find, in the above conceffion he makes, the most plaufible arguments to difplay the foibles of the Reformation, and to fet off, in the most striking colours, the certainty of the rule he follows, the fecurity it affords, the tranquillity and peace of confcience that flows from it, the perfect union in all matters of revelation that fubfifts among the mein bers of his Church who follow that rule, and the like; all which, when contrafted with the miferable divifions, doubts and uncertainties, among Proteftants, as defcribed by our author, cannot fail to make the deepeft impreffion upon every ferious foul that confiders it. And the Papist will doubtless obferve further, how impoffible it is ta