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nate? Shall He give us Eyes to fee, and Ears to hear, and Hands to handle earthly Objects; and fhall He not much rather give us fufficient and fuitable Notices with respect to Heavenly Objects? Shall He give us Understandings to distinguish, and Wills to choose, and Affections to pursue the Things which relate to our present Intereft; and fhall He with-hold from us the neceffary Means of knowing and purfuing the Things which belong to our eternal Welfare? Shall Mankind be the only Species here below, which is created with a Capacity of worshipping God; and fhall the proper Methods, whereby the Almighty should be worship'd, be hidden from their Eyes? Shall God prepare infinite Bleffings for those who do his Will; and fhall He declare his Will to them in such faint and imperfect Characters, as to render it almost as uncertain and defective as tho' no Declaration at all was made? What is this other than to leave the Affairs of Man's Salvation entirely at random; and to make our Arrival at Heaven as great a Contingency, as the Uncertainty of Men's Humours, and the Hazards

Hazards of worldly Temptations can poffibly produce? It is unworthy, it is profane, to conceive of the Almighty in this manner: He hath certainly, He must have given an exprefs Revelation of his Will to Mankind, and that a written one; because otherwife He would not feem to have confider'd the Circumftances of weak and corrupted Men; and to approve himself our gracious Rewarder.

To proceed now in our Argument. The Writings, which we call the Scriptures, offer themselves to us under this Character: They are proposed to us, as the Words of the Text exprefs, for Writings given by Infpiration of God; or, as St. Peter faith, they are declared to be what holy Men fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; and how far they come up to this Character, it is our Business now to enquire.

THE Notion we have of Divine Infpiration is this, That it hath pleased the Almighty, by the extraordinary Operations of the Holy Spirit, to apply fo fully and intimately to the Souls of fome Men, as to give them an infallible Affurance of whatever He thinks fit to reveal, and to

enable

enable them to convey an infallible Affurance of it to others. This is certainly what God may do, and may do under whatever Circumftances He pleases: He may give them a Mouth and a Pen as well as Wisdom; fo that when they declare thofe Divine Revelations, they may speak and write the Language of Divinity itself: Or He may only heighten their Natural Abilities, fo that they may speak and write in their own Style; yet fo, that infallible Truths alone fhall come from them; and that Truth cloath'd in fuch Language as is not unbecoming the Excellency and Importance of it: He may give them likewife his Spirit when, and in what measure, He pleases: He may speak by them to Mankind at fundry times and divers manners; may communicate with them more frequently, or more sparingly; more intimately, or more remotely; more minutely, or more generally; and under these, or any of these Circumftances, theirRevelations will nevertheless be Divine; and the Doctrines they declare, infallibly the Word of God. Now that the Holy Scriptures were thus Di

vinely inspired; i. e. that they had God for their Author, (however Men were made the Inftruments of their conveyance) will appear from the following Ar

guments.

I. PROPHECIES are an evident Mark of Divinity, and great Part of the Holy Scriptures turn upon Prophecies; when Matters of Facts are foretold at a great distance of Time, before they are tranfacted; when many particular Circumftances are mentioned, and those very contingent ones, which Human Forefight could have no reason to conjecture, and Human Policy could not poffibly contrive to take effect ; when a continued fucceffion of fuch Predictions is made by different Perfons, all perhaps declaring different Circumftances, but all agreeing in the main Point; and when all thefe meet with their entire Completion, according to the Subftance, the Manner, the Time predicted, what is this other than the Wisdom and Knowledge of God? But in the Holy Scriptures we find abundance of Prophecy and Completion; infomuch, that when we read any Part of

it, we might juftly enquire, Do we read the Prediction of what fhall be, or the History of what hath been? We do both; for one is the Counter-part to the other.

2. MIRACLES are another Mark of Divinity; they have always been esteem'd Proofs of Miffion; and Pretences to Divine Inspiration have ever been accompanied with Pretences to working of Miracles: To produce Effects above human Abilities, and the known Powers of Nature, must require an Agency fuperior to that of mere Man, when fuch Works are produced in Confirmation of Doctrines which are worthy the Divine Being to promulge; they give thofe Doctrines a Divine Sanction: Miracles indeed have been wrought by wicked Spirits for the Confirmation of Falfhood; but then the Doctrines they were defign'd to establish, always discover the Impofture. Common Reason can distinguish whether Doctrines have a good or a bad Tendency; if they have a good one, then the ready Proof of Miracles will declare their Divine Origin: And this is the Cafe of the Holy Scriptures; therein are contain'd Doctrines VOL. I. highly

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