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tions: not looking for fuch as are perfect in virtue and wifdóm, for there are no fuch perfons; and if we were to wait for them, no bufinefs could go forward. forward. The beft author in the world, from the imperfect view we have of fome things, may be wanting in fome of his reafonings: but if it be neither his interest nor his inclination to deceive, we may fafely admit him as a teacher. If his principles are good and true, they are fufficient for our purpofe; and he that follows them may be able to improve them, and carry them on to greater effect. We think it proper thus far to explain our intention, in order to obviate any objections which may be raised against particulars, with defign to depreciate the prefent collection.

We begin with an excellent fketch of the Chriftian plan, by the masterly hand of the great Lord Chancellor Bacon, who, with his other high qualifications, was one of the best divines of the age in which he flourished.

This is fucceeded by the Rev. Charles Leflie's Short Method with the Deifts; a tract which has gone through many editions, and contains an unanfwerable proof of Christianity from the evidence of its facts*.

Human reason, under the fpecious name of philofophy, having been magnified, to the detriment of the Chrif tian religion, and of late to the total overthrow of its doctrines and worship, it is neceffary to fee that matter truly ftated. The late Dr. Ellis, of Dublin, who faw how faft the encroachments of reafon and nature were

Priestley is a witnefs to the value of this work. In his late Addrefs to the Infidels of France, he took his arguments from it, without mentioning a word of the author. It is probable he did not know to whom they belonged: but borrowed them from fomebody who had borrowed them before,

advancing, compofed a learned and elaborate treatise on the Knowledge of divine Things from Revelation, not from Reafon and Nature. The treatise itself is too long to be inferted in this Collection; but the author afterwards threw the fubftance of it into a fingle difcourfe, which is here published; and we beg the Reader to confider it with attention and impartiality. To this we add, as an auxiliary, a fermon on the true fenfe of the famous text of Rom. II. 14. fo often turned against us by the Deifts, in favour of a Religion without Revelation.

To obviate the errors of the time concerning the origin and ufe of civil government, we have given the preference to two Difcourfes; of which the firft is extracted from the works of Roger North, Efq; and the fecond from the late Bishop Horne; who has treated this subject as it ought always to be treated by Chriftian writers.

The ufe of the church, with the fin and danger o fchifm, ought to be better understood by the learned, and more diligently taught among the people, than hath been the custom of late years. Nothing can be more effectual for this purpose than the three Letters of the Rev. William Law againft Bishop Hoadley: which, though incomparable for truth of argument, brightnefs of wit, and purity of English, and honoured with the highest admiration at their firft appearance, are now in a manner forgotten *. In what was called the Bangorian Controverfy, (Hoadley being then Bishop of Bangor) the cause of the church was defended by Mr. Law, and other eminent men, againft the Sectaries and Socinians, of whom

* We know, and lament, that the excellent Mr. Law afterwards adulterated his Chriftian doctrines with many novel and unfound specu. lations; but when he compofed these Letters, his mind was in its pureft ftate; and they have no tincture of the errors he afterwards fell into, during a life of too much abstraction and folitude.

Dr. Hoadley then ftood forth as the patron and cham pion; and he is the oracle of that party to this day. To these letters is added a later Effay on the Nature and Conftitution of the Church: and as it is neceffary to fee what arguments the Sectaries make ufe of against the establishment of the church of England, they are collected and stated at the end of this work. The Reader will alfo find, in the courfe of the compilation, fome valuable extracts from Mr. Leslie on the same subject,

Socinianifm, under the name of Unitarianifm, denies the doctrines of the incarnation, redemption, &c, and is endeavouring daily to increase the number of its profelytes. The Rev. Mr. Norris ftruck at the root of these errors, in a decifive treatife on the true Diftinction between Faith and Reason; of which he has given the fum and fubftance in the laft chapter of the work,' which we here present to the Reader, and wifh he may be tempted to make himself better acquainted with the whole book. To this we fubjoin two tracts, adopted by the Society for promoting Chriftian Knowledge: the first a Prefervative against the Publications of the Socinians; the fecond the Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity; of which this is the eighth edition,

In the last century, when fanatical Christianity was the peftilence of the age, it was little fufpected that we of the prefent century fhould be witneffes to fuch an alarming approach towards the doctrines and ways of Heathen idolatry. It fhould make us more earnest to guard againft falfe religion, when we fee how foon it ends in infidelity. The folly of this increafing partiality to Heathenifm was boldly cenfured in an anonymous publication, intitled, Remarks on the Growth of Heathenifm among Modern Chriftians; which we have inferted in the

Collection, and recommend it to the confideration of every Christian scholar.

No divine of this church ever ftudied his profeffion with better opportunities, or with more diligence and fuccefs than the late Dr. Horne, Bishop of Norwich; of whofe mind the fuperior powers and abilities are abundantly witneffed by his printed works; and whofe mild and excellent fpirit fhone forth in his manners and converfation. In the many papers he has left behind him, fome of those rules and directions are found, which appear by their effects to have been of eminent fervice to himself at an early period of his life; and which cannot fail to be of like fervice to all young ftudents in divinity, who have entered on the fame course, and wish to be followers of fo bright an example. Of thefe a fpecimen is extracted; and we have obtained permiffion to publish it The pieces, fhort as they are, will be found to compihend more matter than many large volumes, We do not enquire how far what we have printed was his own, or how far it was taken from others, to be applied to his own ufe. The improvement to be derived from it, is ftill the fame. But as he is not now alive to explain to us the meaning of fome of his notes, we are obliged to take things as we find them, and to bespeak the candour of the Reader on that account. Had we been aware of it fooner, we might have taken advantage of a very interefting note in the fecond volume of his Sermons, and have added the piece there fpoken of, which cannot be extolled beyond its merits*. If this work should be

*The note is as follows: "Bifhop TAYLOR's Moral Demonftration of the Truth of Chriftianity, re-published fince this Difcourfe was written, by a learned and amiable prelate of our church, (Bishop Hurd). May it meet with the fuccefs it deferves; for no tract ever came from the man, better calculated to dispel those doubts and difficulties which may arife in the mind of a believer, or to work conviction and conver,

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carried on farther, no tract can be more worthy of a place in a fubfequent volume.

We have nothing farther to fay, but that we humbly and earnestly entreat all lovers of Chriftian truth and ufeful learning, who with to fee this church and nation preferved under the dangers and temptations which now threaten it, to give their kind encouragement, and ufe their influence, in behalf of the present well-intended compilation: affuring them they will here find a great store of valuable truth, and perhaps also a fund of entertainment, at a very reasonable price. If the work should happily be found to answer the intention of the SOCIETY, one or more volumes may hereafter be added. But if any evil habits of the age, or the influence of the enemies of this Church, and of the truth which it maintains, fhould fo far prevail as to render fuch a seasonable undertaking abortive, corruption must in that be farther advanced than we are willing to belive. Be it more or lefs, may the great Physician of fouls affift and profper us in thus contributing to the cure of it!

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fion in that of an unbeliever, who can bring himself to give it a fair and attentive perufal. This has ever appeared to me to be its true character, fince the hour when, with equal furprize and pleafure, I firft met with it, where it fo long lay hidden from the fashionable world, in the Ductor - Dubitantium."Harne's Sermons, Vol, II. p. 3, 3d edit,

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