not take my subject till january 1789; that some of these engagements continued upon my hands all the enfuing fpring; and that, after I had finished at St. Mary's, fome important concerns called me away the whole fummer to a distant part of the kingdom. On account of the hafte in which they were compofed, I wished to revise them, and found the fubject increasing upon me in every page.

Such as they are, I now beg leave to present them to you, in a form, which, I judge, will give my extenfive fubject the best advantage, accompanied with a hearty wifh for your health and profperity in all things;

that

that you may see the arts and sciences, virtue, religion, and all good learning flourish under your aufpice; that as your University improves in fplendour it may advance in reputation; and that, as it is the firft in ORNAMent, it may be the firft in DISCIPLINE.

I am, Gentlemen,

your most obliged,

and obedient Servant,

The AUTHOR.

LINC. COLL. July 10, 1790.

Extract from the laft Will and Teftament of the late Reverend JOHN BAMPTON, Canon of Salisbury.

"I direct and appoint, that the eight "Divinity Lecture Sermons fhall be preach"ed upon either of the following fubjects "" to confirm and establish the Chriftian

Faith, and to confute all heretics and schif"matics-upon the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, &c.

66

THE

CHART AND SCALE

O F

TRUTH,

BY WHICH

TO FIND THE CAUSE

ERRO R.

W

CHAP. I.

Of TRUTH in general.

ISDOM is a term which has a more limited, and a more extended, fignification. Some of the antient philofophers used it to express only a superior skill

or proficiency in the ARTS: others raised it to the comprehenfion of the SPECULATIVE SCIENCES, whilft they excluded from its meaning all Practical Virtue; which, in their mistaken estimate of the value of things, was to confer upon it, as they thought, the higheft honour :s and others, anticipating the fuperior dignity to which it was in future to be exalted, gave it a construction more enlarged and liberal; allowing it to

4 Τὴν δὲ ΣΟΦΙΑΝ ἐν ταῖς τέχναις, τοῖς ἀκριβεσάτοις τὰς τέχνας ἀποδίδομεν· οἷον Φειδίαν, λιθαργὸν σοφὸν, καὶ Πολύκλειτον, ανδριαντοποιόν· ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν ἐθὲν ἄλλο σημαίνοντες τὴν σοφίαν, ἢ ὅτι ἀρετὴ τέχνης ἐςίν.

Ariftot. Ethic. Nicom. lib. vi. cap. 7. * Εἶναι δέ τινας σοφὲς οιόμεθα ὅλως· ἐ κατά μέρος, ἐδὲ ἀλλό τι ἢ σοφές, ὥσπερ Ομηρός φησιν ἐν τῷ Μαργείτη,

Τὸν δ ̓ ἔτ ̓ ἄρ σκαπτῆρα θεοὶ θέσαν, ἔτ ̓ ἀροτῆρα,

Οὔτ ̓ ἄλλως τι σοφόν.

αν

ὥςε δῆλον ὅτι ἡ ἀκριβεσάτη ἂν τῶν ἐπισημῶν εἴη ἡ ΣΟΦΙΑ. δεῖ ἄρα τὸν σοφὸν μὴ μόνον τὰ ἐκ τῶν ἀρχῶν εἰδέναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἀληθεύειν. ὡς εἴη ἂν ἡ σοφία νᾶς καὶ ἐπισήμη, καὶ ὥσπερ κεφαλὴν ἔχεσα ἐπισήμη τῶν τιμιωτά των. ἄτοπον γὰρ, εἴ τις τὴν ἐπισήμην πολιτικὴν, ἢ τὴν φρόνησιν σπεδαιοτάτην οἴεται εἶναι, εἰ μὴ τὸ ἄρισον τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἄνθρωπος ἐςιν

Ariftot. Ethic. Nicom. lib. vi. cap. 7. embrace