The unlearned and unstable only are faid to wreft the Scriptures to their own Deftruction: And tho' it is not in the Power and Capacity of every Man to be Wife and Learned, yet it is in every ones Power not to be unstable, but conftant and ftedfaft to what he understands,and never to depart from it for any By-ends or Refpects. Let us learn what is easy to be known, and Practice what we know, before we com plain that the Scriptures are obfcure. Let us ftudy and practise the Scriptures more, and this Obje &tion will not appear fo formidable. But the Truth is, thofe that most use it, neither ftu. 1 dy nor practise them. And yet after all their Pretences of Obfcurity, they have a greater quarrel against the plain parts of Scripture, than against the obfcure ones; they know many places of Scripture which are plainly against them, and this makes them fet themfelves against all the reft.

What has been here faid in general, I hope may be in some Measure useful to those who defire to read the Scriptures for their Inftrution and Edification; and in particular Diffi culties Books must be confulted, or fuch Men as may be supposed to understand them. But as for all that are fond of Objections, and read the Scriptures only in fearch of them, it cannot be expected that Difcourfes of this Nature should fignify much with them. Teach us, O Lord, the way of thy Statutes, and we

N 4

i

(x) Mul

fball keep it unto the End. Give us understanding and we shall keep thy Law: Tea we shall keep it with our whole Heart., Great is the Peace, that they have who love thy Law, and they are not offended at it. Pfal. Cxix. 33, 34, 165.

CHA P. VIII.

tum enim Of Places of Scripture which

refert, ut

eft in Epi- Jeems to contradict each other.

ftola Adri

ani, quam recitatcal. I. liftratus L. Teftium

fimpliciter

unum eun

T

Hough the facred Writers no where contradict themselves, or one another, D. De Te-yet they were not folicitous to prevent the fibus, qui. being fulpected to do fo by injudicious and vifi funt di- rafh Men, as they would have been very caucere,utrum tious of giving any pretence for fuch a Sufpidemque, çion, if they had written any thing but Truth me itiatum It could not be agreeable to the Sovereign fermonem Wisdom and Majefty of God to comply with an ad ea, the Humours and Fancies of Men; but rather, que inter when he had by an infallible Guidance and Direction prevented the Pen-Men of the Holy tempore Scriptures from writing any thing but Truth, to fuffer them to write fo, as that they might rint. Grot, be liable to the Exceptions of the wilful and in Adja. perverfe. Because it is more (*) fuitable to the xiii. 51. fimplicity of Truth, not to be over-nice and

attulerint,

rogati

funt ex

verifimilia

reíponde

ad Dan. c

folici

folicitous about every Punctilio and fmaller Circumftance; but to fpeak fully and intelligibly, and then to leave it to Men, whether they will believe or not; especially in what is told them for their own Advantage, the Relators having no end or defign to ferve by it, but only to do them the greatest Good they can, and bringing all the evidence for their Conviction, that Miracles and Prophecies can afford, which are the only Means of God's revealing Himself to Mankind, and then fuffering in Teftimony of what they have de livered.

Thus our Saviour, when notwithstanding all his Mighty works, many would not believe in Him, but queftioned His Authority, and reviled His Perfon, and blafphemed the Holy Spirit, by which they were wrought, was not concerned to work more Miracles, merely for the Satisfaction, or rather at the captious Demands of these Men, when they required him to do it. For if they would be Convinced by any reasonable Means, he had given it them; if they would not, it would be to their own Prejudice, he was not folicitous what they thought of him. And thus it is likewife in the Government of the World; God has given Men fufficient Evidence of His Being and Providence; but if Men will dif believe His Providence and deny His Being, he doth not vouchfafe by any immediate and particular Act of His Power to confute their Pretences

Pretences. And if, because of fome places that are difficult in the Scriptures, Men will reject the whole, rather than be at the pains to fearch out the true Meaning of these places, or than be fo modeft and humble, as to fuppofe that there may be ways of Reconciling thofe, which appear to them, contradictions, tho' they have not yet found them out, they must fall under the fame Condemnation with thofe, who will deny the Being of God, if they cannot fatisfy themfelyes how he made and governs the world; or with those that would Believe none of our Saviour's Miracles, unlefs he would work them when, and where, and juft in what manner they pleafed. But the wifdom of God fees that nothing would fatisfy thefe Men, and that they only tempt God, and defign no real Satisfaction to them. felves and therefore he cannot be obliged to new model the World, and alter the Scriptures for their fakes, fince there is enough in them for the Satisfaction of all that are fin cere in their Enquiries after Truth.

II. The only way to judge rightly of the particular places of any Book, is to confider firft the whole Defign, and Contrivance, and Method, and Stile of it, not to criticize upon fome difficult Parts of it, without any regard had to the reft. This is the Method used by all, who would criticize with Judgment upon any Author. And fome Paffages of Scripture are explained to our hands, to be a Key, as it

were,

were, and a Direction to us in the Explication of others. Thus, whereas in one place it is faid, that Jefus baptized, in another it is faid, that he baptized not, and the former place is expalined to be meant not of Baptifm performed by Himfelf, but by his Difciples, who baptized in his Name. Joh. iii. 22. iv. 1, 2.

III. It is reasonable to obferve whether the Objections be not fuch as do fuppofe Miftakes, which a Man, who could write fuch a Difcourfe, as they are imagined to be found in, could not run into. For if they be of this Nature, this very Confideration is enough to take off the force of the Objection against the Authority of any Book; and we must conclude that the Objections are capable of being answered, and that the Miftake lies not in the Book it felf, but in the Readers, who without fufficient Skill or Attention, pass a rash Judgment upon it. For by all the Rules of Reasoning, an Objection may imply too much, as well as prove too little to be of any force: And the common Rules of Candor and Equity would prevent many Objections which are wont to be made against the Scriptures. For if we will but fuppofe the writers of the Scriptures to have been Men of any tolerable Sense, even without Infpiration, they could never have committed fuch mistakes as fome would faften upon them. We read Exod. xxxiii. 11. And the Lord spake unto Mofes, face to face, as a Man speaketh unto his

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