Word of God: For indeed all Errors in sacred Matters, do either arife from, or are supported by Perversion of Scripture; and therefore by clearing up and establishing the true Meaning of Holy Writ, those Errors must evidently be reform'd.

THE Usefulness of the Sacred Writings is not confin'd to Faith only; it extends likewife to Practice; they are profitable for Correction, i. e. for Amendment of Life: It is professedly the Design of the Holy Scriptures, to turn Mankind from the Error of their Ways and the Evil of their Doings; and this they do by discovering the Baseness and Deceitfulness of Sin, its heinous Nature and destructive Consequences; by rebuking it with all Boldness in every Shape, and guarding against it in its first Motions and most distant Appearances; infomuch that we cannot conceive any Antidote againstSin more powerful, more universal, more intimate than the Corrections we meet with in the Holy Scriptures; they are like a Refiner's Fire, and like a Fuller's Sope

BUT Correction is not their fole Bufiness in Point of Practice, they are profitable . able likewise for Instruction in Righteousness, i. e. for the Precepts of Holy Living. Our Duty in every Respect is there set down in the strongest and clearest Lights; Piety towards God; Justice and Charity towards our Neighbour; Chastity and Temperance with Respect to ourselves, can never be enjoined under Terms of greater Purity and Enforcement: No Rules can be conceiv'd more exact and easy for directing our Views, and disposing our Wills, and ordering our Affections aright; Virtue appears here in every Kind, and Degree, and Circumstance of it cloath'd with the most rational Beauty; it is lovely without, and all glorious within. This is the Substance of the Holy Scriptures : The Manner and Circumstances wherein they are delivered to us, do likewise tend very much to enlarge their Usefulness.

THERE runs, for Instance, thro' the Whole of them, a most wonderful Connection: The Doctrines declared, the Duties enjoined, the Rewards proposed, have all an entire Harmony within themselves, and a strong Reference to one another: The Doctrines do all conspire to make

make up one regular System of Divine Knowledge; the Precepts form a compleat Scheme of Godlike Virtue; the Rewards a perfect State of Heavenly Happiness. Again, the Doctrines and the Precepts mutually advance the Practice of the one, and the Knowledge of the other : He that does God's Will, says our Blessed Saviour, shall know of his Doctrine ; and common Reason will inform us, that he who knows most, will be best enabled, and most powerfully engaged to Practice : In like manner the Happiness of Eternity will put us upon a most diligent Search after the Knowledge of our Duty, and a more vigorous Practice of it; and, on the contrary, a firm Belief, an extended Knowledge and a vigorous Practice of what is contain'd in the Holy Scriptures, do, thro' God's Grace, regularly lead us on to Glory. Now such a beautiful and useful Connection as this, naturally fixes our Attention more closely to those things which are here declared; refines our Notions, and facilitates our Performances, and carries our Thoughts up to that God of Harmony and Order, who weigheth all VOL. I. things

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things in the exactest Balance of Truth and Justice.

THE majestick Plainness of Style under which the Holy Scriptures are promulged, is another Circumstance of Ufefulness; they have God for their Author, and are therefore majestick; they are intended for the Use of Man, and are therefore plain: In the former respect, they affect us with a reverential Regard, in the latter, they afford us Comfort and Satiffaction. The Truths which are here promulged, are fublime, above the highest Reach of rational Attainments; the Manner of their Promulgation condescending to the lowest of Human Infirmities: Had they not been fublime, the Learned would have despised them; had they not been condescending, the Unlearned could not have known them: But as they now stand, they are the equal, useful, and admired Instructions both of the wisest and the most illiterate of Men. And this too is an Evidence of their Divine Origin : This is the Brightness of Truth, under the Direction of the most consummate Wifdom, to make those things, which the ableft ablest Men cou'd never discover, lie level to the Capacity of the meanest.

THE Force with which those Sacred Writings infinuate into Mens Hearts, and the Influence they have upon their Lives, are farther Circumstances and Arguments of their Ufefulness : The former of these, is what Men feel within themselves: The latter, is what appears in their outward Actions. With Respect to the former, let any one, but the profane Scoffer, declare with what marvellous Subtlety they can pierce the Soul; how insensibly they can diffuse a Tincture of Godliness over every Faculty; with what bright Ideas of Virtue and Happiness they enrich the Understanding; with what Heavenly Difpositions they possess the Will ; with what Divine Sentiments they purify and enliven the Affections; with what Variety of Address they can accommodate themselves to every Temper; breaking the Hardiness of the Stubborn, rousing the Carelessness of the supine Offender; reviving the Spirit of the Contrite ones; encouraging the Zeal of the Vigorous and Perfevering. Let those therefore who know

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from