Baal-peor, on the borders of Moab; and of Baalim and Ashtaroth, and other deities, after the death of Joshua, and in the times of the Judges.

The period from the times of David, including them, to the Babylonish captivity, abounds with evangelic truths, and doctrines of supernatural theology. The Psalms of David are full of spiritual and evangelic knowledge. And the prophets which followed him speak out still more clearly of the incarnation of Christ; point out the very place where he was to be born, and the country where he would preach the gos pel, to the illumination of those that sat in darkness. They plainly describe him in his person, his offices, the sufferings he should undergo, and the circumstances of them, and bene'fits arising from them; they bear witness to the doctrines of pardon of sin through him, and justification by him; and of his bearing sin, and making satisfaction for it: in short, a scheme of evangelic truths may be deduced from the prophetic writings; and, indeed, the great apostle Paul himself said no other things than what the prophets did. There were some sad revolts from the true God, and his worship, within this compass of time, in the reigns of some of the kings of Israel and Judah.

The period from the Babylonish captivity to the times of Christ, finish the Old Testament-dispensation. At the return of the Jews from captivity, who brought no idolatrous worship with them, there was a reformation made by Ezra and Nehemiah, with the prophets of their time; or who quickly followed, as Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi; but after the death of these prophets, and the Holy Spirit departed, and there was no more prophecy, supernatural theology began greatly to decline. The sect of the Sadducees, a sort of free-thinkers, rose up; who said there was no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit: and the sect of the Pharisees, a sort of free-willers, who set up traditions as the rule of men's worship, and which rose to an enormous bigness in the times of Christ, who severely inveighed against them; and which in after-times were compiled and put together in a volume, called, the Misnah,

*their traditional, or body of traditions: and this, in course of time, occasioned a large work finished in Babylon, and from thence called the Babylonian Talmud; which is their doctri nal, or body of doctrine; full of fables, false glosses and interpretations of Scriptures; and which is the foundation of the erroneous doctrines and practices of the Jews to this day.

The theology of the Pagans, according to themselves, as Scævola and Varrot testify, was of three sorts,-1. Mystical, or fabulous, which belonged to the poets, and was sung by them.-2. Physical, or natural; which belonged to the philosophers, and were studied by them.-3. Political, or civil, which belonged to princes, priests, and people; being instituted by the one, exercised by the other, and enjoined on the latter.

But to return to supernatural theology, having traced it to the times of Christ: at whose coming, and through whose ministry, and that of his forerunner, and of his Apostles, it revived and lift up its head, and appeared in all its purity, splendour, and glory. John was a man sent from God, to bear witness to the light that was just rising, even the sun of righteousness, the day-spring from on high; the great light that should lighten those that sat in darkness with a supernatural light; he declared the kingdom of Heaven, or gospel-dispensation was at hand, and just ushering in; and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin, and adminis tered that gospel-ordinance. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, had spoke to the fathers by the pros phets, now spoke to men by his Son :" Christ, his only be gotten son, who lay in his bosom, came and declared him; who and what he was, and what was his mind and will: he brought the doctrines of grace and truth with him; and spoke such words of grace, truth and wisdom, as never man spoke ; his doctrine was not human, but divine; it was not his own as man, he received it from his Father, and delivered to his apostles; who having a commission from him to preach it.

* Apud. Augustin. de Civ. Dei, 1. 4. c. 27. † Apud. Ib. 1. 6. c. §.

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and being qualified for it, with the gifts and graces of his Spirit in great abundance, went into all the world and preached the gospel to every creature; and diffused the sayour of his knowledge in every place. After the holy company of the apostles had ended their lives, and that generation was gone, which was worthy to hear the divine wisdom, then a system of impious error took place, through the deceit of

false teachers.

The school at Alexandria, from whence came several of the Christian doctors, as Pantænus, Clemens, Origin, &c. served very much to corrupt the simplicity of the gospel: for though it mended the Platonic philosophy, it marred the Christian doctrine; and laid the foundation for Arianism and Pelagianism, which in after.times so greatly disturbed the church of God. The gospel in its simplicity, through the power of divine grace attending it, made its way into the gentile world, in these first centuries, with great success; and paganism decreased before it; and which in the times of Constantine received a fatal blow in the Roman empire; and yet by degrees pagan rites and ceremonies were introduced into the Christian church; and what with them, and errors in doctrine, and other things concurring, made way for the man of sin to appear; and that mystery of iniquity, which had been secretly working from the times of the apostles, to shew its head openly; and brought in the darkness of popery upon almost all that bore the Christian name.

In the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, flourished a set of men called Schoolmen; these framed a new sort of divinity, called from them scholastic theology; the first founder of which some make to be Damascene, among the Greeks and others; Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, among the Latins; though generally Peter Lombard is reckon. ed the father of these men. Their theology lay in contenti ous and litigious disputations; in thorny questions, and subtle dis inctions; and their whole scheme was chiefly directed to support antichristianism, and the tenets of it; so that by their means popish darkness was the more increased, and Christian

divinity was banished almost out of the world; and was only to be found among a few, among the Waldenses and Albigenses, and the inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont, and some particular persons and their followers, as Wickliff, John Huss, and Jerom of Prague; and so things continued till the reformation begun by Zuinglius and Luther, and carried on by others; by whose means evangelical light was spread through many nations in Europe.

By many the doctrines of pure revelation are almost expioded, and some are endeavouring to bring us, as fast as they can, into a state of paganism, only somewhat refined. Almost all the old heresies are revived, under a fond and foolish notion of new light; when they are no other than what have been confuted over and over. When men leave the sure word, the only rule of faith and practice, and follow their own fancies, and the dictates of their carnal minds, they must needs go wrong. Let us, therefore, search the Scriptures, to see whether doctrines advanced are according to them or not. have but little reason to think the following Work will meet with a favourable reception in general; yet if it may be a means of preserving sacred truths, of enlightening the minds

of

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any into them, or of establishing them in them, I shall not be concerned at what evil treatment I may meet with from the adversaries of them; and be it as it may, I shall have the satisfaction of having done the best I can for the promoting truth; and of bearing a testimony to it.