Sown.

it is not possible to reap what never was Diogenes might have attained the substance of virtue instead of its shadow, had he been better instructed: and Cato, with the principles of a Christian, might have endured to see another man more powerful than himself, without perishing at the sight. I say, he might; but it doth not follow, that they who are admitted to the knowledge of Revelation will necessarily apply that knowledge to the best advantage. Truth in the minds of men may be planted and watered, as fruits in the earth; yet the benediction of the heaven above is required to perfect them. But then, as the Science of Nature is not to be collected from the miscarriages of Nature; so an established rule is not to be overthrown by errors and exceptions. Therefore it is generally to be asserted, that if men have the advantage of Truth in the understanding, that Truth will extend its influence to their lives and actions: their passions will be engaged by such objects as will temper and direct, not embitter and disappoint them: so that in all their ways they will concur with an omniscient and merciful Providence in promoting their own tranquillity and felicity, till they have attained all the proper ends of their Existence.

VOL. III.

F

Existence. Happy are the people who are in such a case; yea blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God!

But they, who prefer the darkness of Infidelity, ramble from one Theory to another, as the famished beast of the night wanders over the barren desart; ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth; ever seeking, and never satisfied! And the mind, which is restless within itself, will molest society with the workings of its own. pride, hatred, envy, and concupiscence; as those waters can suffer nothing to rest upon them which are tossed with the wind.

XXVIII. Here, methinks, the Sceptic (if any such from the higher regions of Speculation should vouchsafe to look down upon these obscure papers) may be provoked to ask" And is there then this difference be"tween the influences of Revelation and "those of our refined Philosophy:" which I answer, nothing can be more certain: undeniable experience hath taught and confirmed it: and you Deists, or Philosophers as you affect to be called, by recom

a

Iren.

a

To

Omnes qui Deum ignorant, et qui vocantur Philosophi,

mending

mending that Virtue for which you have no Sanction, depreciating those sacred Institutions which you never considered, and blanching, so far as your rhetoric will go, the foulest abominations of Paganism, would bring us back once more to the darkness, licentiousness, and desperation of heathens: from all which God of his mercy having called us by the revelation of a superior Philosophy, let us not be again entangled with the yoke of bondage.

A

DISQUISITION, &c.

PART II.

I. THE Subject, as explained in the preceding part of this Disquisition, will lead us into many Theological, Critical, and Moral Observations, the chief of which I shall beg leave to offer in their Order.

II. The Law of Moses is the foundation of the Scriptures that follow, whether of the Old or New Testament. Therefore, if the sense of any institution, as it there stands, is rightly collected and ascertained, it cannot fail to open many figurative passages of the Bible: and I think we shall be more sensible of the value of this Law in particular, when we have seen some examples of its application.

III. It was foretold by the Prophets, that the Gentiles should one day become obedient to the word of God, and be taken in as members of the Christian Church in common with

the

the Jews. This event is described by Isaiah under the beautiful allusion of a supernatural reconciliation betwixt clean and unclean beasts a. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea.

The last words shew, that this change was to take place when divine knowledge should be diffused over the Earth, and Christianity should be as common to mankind as the waters of the Ocean are to the World: therefore it was accomplished when the Jews and Gentiles were reconciled by the Gospel.

This Scene had once been literally verified, when the various kinds of Animals were taken into the Ark of Noah. The Lion, no longer