The reasons for modesty in respect to our own understandings, proceed from a consciousness of our ignorance, which (let folly wonder at it as much as it will) is always greatest in him who knows most; for this reason, because the more sense and penetration he is master of, the better able he is to see into his own defects, and find out the limits of his own capacity: whereas an unthinking man cannot see, shallow as he is, to the bottom of his own depth, for the confusion and mud that lie above it; nor view the extent of his own capacity, narrow as it is, for the mist that overspreads it. In this I am supported by experience, and by the wisest of men, who saith, A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; but the fool rageth, and is confident. The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge;' because he is sensible he hath not yet enough. The wisdom he hath already acquired is as the seed of more in the kindly soil of his modesty, which is ever reminding him of his defects and wants. 'But there is more hope of a fool, than of him who is wise in his own conceit;' which flatteringly tells him, he is full, and can hold no more; or, although he could, there is no more to be laid in.

A man of sense, before he applies to the word of God, should consider, how little he knows of true religion, for which he is not beholden to his instructors; and how absolutely ignorant he must have been of its first principles, had they never been suggested to him by others. His deductions from these, so slowly and so precariously made, will equally serve to humble him; and, at the same time that he sees so little room for depending on his own researches, he is as fully convinced of the insufficiency, for the same reasons, of other men, considered as uninstructed themselves. He knows the unenlightened nations are, to this day, sunk in almost total ignorance of true religion. He can hope for little from the philosophy of the ancients, inasmuch as he perceives their most exalted geniuses, Socrates, Plato, Cicero, groping their way to Divine truths, with infinite anxiety, and little success; gleaning traditions, catching at oracles, forcing conclusions; and, after all, only convinced of the prevailing errors, without being able to substitute any certain system of truths. From hence he may take modesty at the rebound, and ask himself, if such men could do so little, what progress he

should have made, or shall be able hereafter to make, if left to his own unassisted efforts, or the aids of other men, equally unenlightened by the Divine Instructor?

His modesty, founded on these reflections, cannot, you see, be confined to his own inability, but distrusts for that of the whole species at large. He perceives others are not much better qualified for the investigation of true religion than himself; but so far as he or they know any thing of the matter, he can trace that knowledge, through a continued succession of teachers, up to Divine revelation; and, if his skill in antiquity is considerable, can see where the influx of conceit and conjecture, of human invention and priestcraft, of superstition on the one side, or libertinism on the other, hath carried the mud of foreign mixtures into the stream of religious tradition. But how to extract the limpid truth from such a compound of impurities, he will still be at a loss to know, without recurring to his judgment, which alone can distinguish what flowed from the rock, from that which ran from fens and morasses. In case he hath sense enough to see how utterly incapable he and all other men are, to be their own directors, in an inquiry after knowledge so remote from the senses, he is then, so far, a fit disciple for God; and, if he is convinced the Scriptures are his word, will open them with that veneration which becomes the disciple of such a Master.

Here,

To a man not blinded by a high opinion of his own abilities, the Book of God will appear, though written in the language of men, in every respect worthy of its Author. Here, he who gave us being, teaches us to know ourselves, by a discovery both of our origin, and our nature. our minds are anatomized by the hand that formed them, and the springs of error and corruption, of sin and death, laid open. Here, the only remedies of these internal disorders are exhibited in evidences sufficient to satisfy our reason, and in motives and expedients sufficient to captivate our affections. To this true theory of our nature, long sought for in vain by philosophy, is added such a knowledge of him, who gave being to all things, and such a history of his awful or gracious dealings with men, as affords us a thorough insight into true religion, while it throws light on both the natural and moral world. In this sacred

book are displayed the miracles of infinite power in creating, of unfathomable wisdom in governing, and of boundless goodness in redeeming the world; and a majesty of style so adequate to the grandeur, the immensity of the subjects, that it is matter of just amazement to an uninspired writer, though of the most elevated talents, how much force and dignity could have been given to words, generally indeed to the simplest and coolest words, of those languages, in which this wonderful book is written. How the most grovelling imagination soars on its descriptions! How the insensible heart melts, when touched by its heavenly strains of piety! How the stubborn heart trembles at the thunder of its menaces! Can the languages of men be the only vehicle of that spirit we feel, when we peruse this book? Or is there not something else unseen, unheard, that speaks to our understandings in light, and to our hearts in fire, while our senses entertain the letter of God's word? How would that philosopher have been transported with the study of these venerable volumes, who saw error and wickedness in all the theology of the pagan world; who sought in vain for sufficient lights in philosophy, and oral tradition; who inferred from thence the necessity of a divine instructor; and who, with the most penetrating understanding that ever shone in a mere man, confessed he knew nothing, and died a martyr to a negative religion! In what a despicable light do the modest and sensible declarations of this prodigious man set the scoffs of the libertine scorner, who says he needs no religious instruction, and ridicules the Scriptures as low, tasteless, and weak performances! There is nothing displays the stupidity of a genuine blockhead so egregiously, as his conceited grin at the wisdom, and his unfeeling numbness at the pathos, of a well written book; nor is there any thing can so justly figure him to our imagination, as a wild boar in a flower-garden, rooting up, and trampling under foot, the beauties of nature. Let us leave the contemner of God's word to amuse himself with his Pilkington, and his Woolston, that he may laugh at things sacred, and, with Solomon's fool, make a mock at sin,' at his own sins, which another, of common sense and humanity, can hardly behold without tears; and let us return to the man of sound sense and piety, who, diffident of his own understanding, and highly venerat

VOL. I.

ing the wisdom of God, is desirous to enter on the study of his word, that we may suggest to him a third disposition of mind, arising from the conjunction of these two with an ingenuous love of truth, which it is necessary he should cultivate in himself, in order to a profitable search into the Scriptures.

ment.

And this is candour, or a readiness to close with truth, the moment it makes its appearance. In all our debates, we are willing enough to compliment ourselves with this generous attribute; yet, nevertheless, we are usually either so insensible to the force of reason, or so tenacious of our opinions, or else, on all sides, so eternally right, that nothing is given up, no exchange of sentiments made. There is, indeed, in this matter, a self-deceit, which it is not easy to see to the bottom of. We are apt to be extremely fond of our prepossessions, through habit, if we had them from education; and through vanity, if they are the dictates of our own judgWhen we peruse the Scriptures under the influence of this attachment, we contemplate their sense through the medium of our own opinions, rather than through that of the words; we give a cursory attention to passages that seem to speak against us, and dwell with pleasure on such as appear to second our own previous way of thinking; and if we are not blessed with uncommon candour, the exposition given by a commentator must be very slight, to be rejected, when it is for us; and very strongly supported, to be received, when it is against us. But we should consider, that our opinions, before they are maturely examined, may as well be against us, as for us; that the resignation of a wrong opinion, instead of reflecting any discredit on us, is the strongest proof both of a good head and heart, and consequently does us the highest honour; and that we can in nothing be more unhappy, than in being precipitately wedded, for better for worse, and that with a violent, but blind affection to a harlot principle, that lies in our bosom, deceiving our judgment, and poisoning our conscience; which may be the case, for aught we can tell, till it is severely canvassed. Besides, if it is an error, as long as it holds possession, it keeps out the opposite truth, which may possibly be a matter of infinite consequence to us.

Now, the authority of the divine books is as well quali

fied to force this bias from the mind, as their wisdom is to set it straight, when thus disencumbered. But then, to give it its full swing within us, we ought always feelingly to remember, that we, who are ignorant and erroneous creatures, are perusing the word of God, who cannot be mistaken. This should teach us resignation. He is a presumptuous fool, who repairs to God for the confirmation of his own principles, and not for information. It was to teach us better principles than our own, that a revelation was given us.

If God is our teacher, we must give him leave to go foremost, and not impiously expect he should only follow to vouch for every fancy we please to form. As then we are to read the word of God for information, we must look for two kinds of benefit; first, to be taught such truths as we were wholly ignorant of before; and, secondly, to be disabused of such errors as had formerly stolen our assent, when the means, or attention to the means, of better knowledge, was wanting. In such an expectation, instead of wishing to see our prejudices, which are more likely to be wrong than right, supported, we should only wish for sense and resolution enough to discard them with contempt, in case they shall be condemned in the word of God. As a riveted attachment to prepossessions of any kind, is the strongest proof of a foolish, a dastardly, and a slavish, mind; so, on the other hand, there is nothing that gives us so high an idea of a man, as to see him, with a noble dignity and strength of soul, shaking off the long-worn fetters of judice, and emerging out of inveterate errors into the free exercise of reason. A soul thus prepared to break through all impediments of education, pleasure, interest, or self-sufficiency, and to run into the arms of truth, with a mind open to conviction, and an honest ardour of heart, is one of the most pleasing objects which the all-seeing eye can behold. The holy Scriptures were written peculiarly for such a soul as this, who is transparent to every ray of light they send forth.

pre

But here two things are to be noted; first, that a man may be prejudiced in favour of the truth; and, after his principle is brought to the test, may shake off the prejudice and yet retain the truth, on the strength of a rational con