tute of profelytes; and that when you come to know the world more, you will find this ftudy neglected to a degree you little imagined. But 'tis reafons, not examples, will determine you. To come therefore to them; let me in

the

I. First place, obferve to you, that the ftudy of the Scriptures, such a thorough study of them I mean, as you aim at, is extremely difficult, and not to be fuccefsfully purfued, without a very great and conftant application, and a previous knowledge of many other parts of useful learning. The New Teftament cannot be understood without the Old; the truths revealed in one, are grounded on the propheftes contained in the other; which makes the study of the whole Scriptures necessary to him, that would understand thoroughly a part of them. Nor can the Apocryphal books, how much foever they are generally flighted, be fafely neglected; there being a great chafm of five hundred years between the end of the Prophets, and the beginning of the Gofpel; which period is of the greatest ufe for the understanding of the New Teftament, and yet is the least known!

But

now, if the Old Testament must be well studied, a good knowledge of the Oriental tongues is abfolutely neceffary. No man can be igno

rant, who knows any thing of letters, that no verfions of old books can be thoroughly depended on; the mistakes are fo many, and fometimes of great moment; efpecially the verfions of books writ in a language little underfood, and many parts of it in a style extremely figurative, and thofe figures fuch as these parts of the world are almost wholly strangers to. But put the cafe thefe difficulties were less than they are, is it an eafy matter to add to Greek and Latin the knowledge of fo many other languages? Do not they two alone find work enough for most scholars? What pains then muft a man take, if he will study fo many others befides? And if the knowledge of the Old 3. Teftament could be difpenfed with, give me leave to tell you that the language even of the New teflament is not to be understood with fo little pains as is commonly imagined, Tis learnt indeed in fchools, and from hence thought to be the cafieft Greek that can be read; but they who have read it in another man→ner than school-boys, know it to be quite otherwife. Not to mention the difficulties peculiar to St. Paul, whofe epiftles are a very great part of the New Teftament; Plato and Demofthenes are in many respects not fo hard,' as even the eafter books. The ftyle indeed of the hiftorical books, is plain and fimple; but

for

1

for all that, even these parts have their difficulty. And the whole is writ in a language peculiar to the Jews: The idiom is Hebrew or Syriac, though the words be Greek; which makes fome knowledge of those languages, still necessary.

Again, though it were not necessary to read the Old Testament in the original, yet the Greek verfion of it must be read, and that carefully; it being oftentimes the beft, if not the only help, to explain the language of the New; befides that all citations in the New, are generally made from it. But now, how laborious a thing muft it be, to ftudy an ill verfion of a very hard book, which we cannot read in the original? I call it an ill version; for though it be indeed a very good one, confidering the time it was writ in; yet as a verfion, it must be allowed by those who can judge of it, to be far from being exact or true. A man need only confult it on some hard places in the Pentafeuch, as well as in the Poetick or Prophetick books, to be convinced of this. 'Twas certainly far from perfect at first; and is made much worfe by the corruptions it has fuffered in handing down to us: So that I may venture to affirm, that should any body now-a-days make

: a verfion fo imperfect; instead of admiration

A 6

and

and efteem, his work would be much despised by most of our modern criticks.

I might to thefe add many other difficulis that attend a ferious ftudy of the New Teftament. It requires a good knowledge of the Jewish ftate at the time of our Saviour's coming,. a knowledge of their government, fanedrim, fynagogues, cuftoms, traditions, opinions, fects; the kinds of learning received among them; what they borrowed from the Greeks; when their myftical and allegorical manner of expounding. the Scriptures began, and' on what grounds; what their particular expectations were, in relation to the Meffiah; and what they taught, and on what grounds, in relation to angels,, dæmons, poffeffions, oracles, miracles, &c..

But 'tis in vain, you fay, to tell you of difficulties: You are refolved not to be deterred. You have time before you, good eyes, a strong: conftitution, a mind prepared for fatigue, a reafonable degree of fkill in the languages, and are furnished with a competent knowledge in all the parts of ufeful learning that are preparatory to this fludy; fo that difficulties animate rather than difhearten. you. And I am not unwilling fo far to agree with you, that were there no objection against this ftudy, but the difficulty; this alone fhould not deter one who.

is fo well prepared for it. But if you are able to go through so laborious a study, I presume you are not fond of difficulties for difficulties fake. You cannot think it reasonable to take fo much pains, unlefs it will turn to me goodi account. I fhall therefore in the

II. Second place take leave to ask, Cui bono ? What good can come of fuch pains? For it may feem, that a free, ferous, impartial and laboricus ftudy of the Scriptures, will be of no great fervice; for the following reafons..

1. Becaufe 'tis plain the orthodox faith is not founded on a nice and critical knowledge of the Scriptures. Many of the antient chrif tians, 'twill be allowed, were not great critics;; but argued very much in a mystical way. Origen in particular, who was the greatest scholar Christianity had bred to that time, perpetually turns the letter of Scripture into allegory. From whence we may reafonably conclude, that the knowledge of the bare literal fenfe, was, in the judgment of many even in those times, thought to be of little use.

But 2lly, 'Tis certain that the original l'anguage of the Old Teftament was known to very few, for the first fix centuries, in which those general councils were held, wherein all the ar

ticles

4