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"But come, try, O ye gods, that ye may all fee. "Hang down the golden chain from heaven, hang upon it all ye gods, and all ye goddeffes; but ye shall "not be able to draw from heaven to the ground fu 'piter the great counfellor, though ye ftrive ever fo "much. But when I afterwards fhall be willing to "draw, I fhall lift both the earth itself, and the fea it"felf. Then I fhall bind the chain round the top of Olympus, and they fhall all hang aloft. For fo much "am I above gods and above men."

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With this most masterly paffage of the greatest master of the fublime, of all antiquity, the writer, who probably had the greatest natural and acquired advantages of any mortal for perfecting a genius; let the following verbal translation of a paffage from writings penned by one brought up a fhepherd, and in a country where learning was not thought of, be compared; that the difference may appear. In this comparifon, I know of no unfair advantage given the infpired writer. For both fragments are literally tranflated; and, if the critics are right, the Hebrew original is verse, as well as the Greek.

"O Lord, my God, thou art very great! Thou art "clothed with honour and majefty! Who coverest thy"felf with light, as with a garment: who ftretchest out "the heavens like a canopy. Who layeth the beams "of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds "his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind. "Who maketh his angels fpirits; his minifters a flame "of fire. Who laid the foundation of the earth, that it "fhould not be moved for ever. Thou coveredft it "with the deep, as with a garment: the waters ftood "above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at "the voice of thy thunder they hafted away. They 66 go up by the mountains; they go down by the vallies "unto the place thou haft founded for them. Thou "haft fet a bound, that they may not pafs over; that "they turn not again to cover the earth.

"O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wifdom "haft thou made them all. The earth is full of thy "riches. So is the great and wide fea, wherein are

"creatures,

"creatures innumerable, both small and great. There go the fhips. There is that leviathan, which thou "haft made to play therein. These all wait upon thee, "that thou mayft give them their food in due feason. "That thou giveft them they gather. Thou openest "thy hand: they are filled with good. Thou hidst thy "face: they are troubled. They die, and return to "their duft. Thou fendeft forth thy fpirit: they are "created; and thou rene weft the face of the earth. "The glory of the Lord fhall endure for ever.

The

"Lord fhall rejoice in his works. He looketh on the "earth, and it trembleth. He toucheth the hills; and "they fmoke. I will fing unto the Lord as long as I "live, I will fing praise unto my God, while I have "my being."

I appeal to every reader, whether the former of these two fragments is not, when compared with the latter, a school-boy's theme, a capucinade, or a Grubftreet ballad, rather than a production fit to be named with any part of the infpired writings. Nor is it only in one inftance, that the fuperiority of the Scripture ftyle to all human compofitions appears. But taking the whole body of facred poefy, and the whole of profane, and confidering the character of the Jehovah of the former, and the Jupiter of the latter, every one muft fee the difference to be out of all reach of comparifon. And, what is wonderfully remarkable, Scripture poefy, though penned by a number of different hands, as Mofes, David, Ifaiah, Jeremiah, and the reft, in very diftant ages, gives a diftinct and uniform idea of the Supreme Being, no where deviating into any thing mean, or unworthy of him; and still, even where he is fpoke of in a manner fuited to the general apprehenfion of mankind, his dignity and majefty duly kept up. Whereas, there is not one of the ancient Heathen poets, who gives a confiftent idea of the Supreme God, or keeps up his character throughout. Homer, in the fame poem, defcribes his Jupiter with a great deal of majesty, and in another reprefents him as deceived by his wife Juno, and overcome with luft and fleep, while the inferior deities are playing what tricks they pleafe contrary, to his intention. In fhort,

the

the Supreme God is by Homer defcribed as a bully; by Virgil, as a tyrant; by Ovid, as a beaftly voluptuary; and by Lucretius, as a lazy drone. So that, if the cavils of the opposers of Revelation, with respect to the ftyle of Scripture, were of fo much more confequence than they are; it would ftill be the eafieft, and indeed the only rational way of accounting for the amazing fuperiority of thofe writings to the greatest human productions, in fpite of the disadvantages, of want of learning, and the like, which the facred penmen laboured under; to afcribe the fentiments in them to Divine Inspiration.

Other objections, as, that the genuineness of fome of the books of the Bible has been difputed; thofe of various readings; of feeming contradictions; of doubtful interpretations; of obfcurity in the Scripture Chronology, and the like; all thefe difficulties are fufficiently cleared up by the learned apologifts for Revealed Religion. Nor does it fuit the purpose of this work to obviate all objections. Nor is it indeed neceffary for the candid inquirer into the truth of Divine Revelation, to attend to the various difficulties ftarted by laborious cavillers. It is of very fmall confequence, what circumftantial difficulties may be raised about a scheme, whose grand lines and principal figures fhew its Author to be Divine; as will, it is prefumed, appear to every ingenuous mind, on a careful perufal of the following general view of the whole body of Revelation. Some other objections are occafionally obviated in other parts of this fourth Book; and for a full view of the controversy between the opposers and defenders of Revealed Religion, the reader may confult the authors on that fubject, recommended page 194. In whofe writings he will find full anfwers to the moft trivial objections; and will obferve, that the cavils ftarted from time to time, by the Deiftical writers, have all been fully confidered, and completely answered over and over; fo that nothing new has been, for many years paft, or is likely ever to be, advanced on the subject.

SECT.

SECT. II.

A compendious View of the Scheme of Divine Revelation.

TOLY Scripture comprehends (though penned by a number of different authors, who lived in ages very diftant from one another) a confiftent and uniform scheme of all things that are neceffary to be known and attended to by mankind. Nor is there any original writing befides, that does this. It prefents us with a view of this world before its change from a chaos into an habitable ftate. It gives us a rational account of the procedure of the Almighty Author in forming and reducing it into a condition fit for being the feat of living inhabitants, and a theatre for action. It gives an account of the origination of mankind; reprefenting the first of the fpecies as brought into being on purpose for discipline and obedience. It gives a general account of the various dif penfations and transactions of God with regard to the rational inhabitants of this world; keeping in view throughout, and no where lofing fight of, the great and important end of their creation, the training them up to goodnels and virtue, in order to happiness. Every where inculcating that one grand leffon, which if mankind. could but be brought to learn, it were no great matter what they were ignorant of, and without which all other knowledge is of no real value; to wit, That obedience to the Supreme Governor of the Univerfe is the certain, and the only means of happinefs; and that vice and irregularity are both naturally and judicially the causes of mifery and deftruction. It fhews innumerable inftances of the Divine displeasure against wickedness; and in order to give a full difplay of the fatal confequences of vice, it gives fome account, either historically or prophetically, of the general ftate of this world in its various periods from the time of its being made habitable from a chaos, to its reduction again to a chaos by fire, at the confummation of all things. Comprehending most of the great events which have happened, or are yet to happen, to moft of the great empires and kingdoms, and exhibiting in brief, mot of what is to pass on

the

the theatre of the world. Setting forth to the view of mankind, for their inftruction, a variety of examples of real characters the most remarkable for virtue, or wickedness, with moft fignal and ftriking inftances of the Divine approbation of, or displeasure against them.

It is only in Scripture, that a rational account of this world is given. For in Scripture it is reprefented as God's world. The inhabitants of it are every where fpoken of, as no other way of confequence, than in the view of their being his creatures, formed for Religion, and an immortal ftate of happiness after this life, and at prefent under the laws and rules of difcipline, to train them up for the great end of their being. Even in the mere hiftorical parts, there is always an eye to the true state of things. Inftead of informing us, that one prince conquered another, the Scripture account is, that it pleased God to deliver the one into the hand of the other. Inftead of afcribing the revolutions of kingdoms and empires to the counfels of the wife, or the valour of the mighty, the Scripture account of them is, that they were the effect of the Divine Disposal, brought about by Him, "in whofe hand are the hearts of kings, "who turns them which way he pleafes; and who puts "one down, and fets another up; who does in the ar"mies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the "earth, whatever feems good to Him, and whose hand "none can stay, or fay,-What doft thou?" The view given in Scripture of our world, and its inhabitants, and their affairs, is that which must appear to an eye observing from above, not from the earth. For Scripture alone gives an account of the original caufes of things, the true fprings of events, and declares the end from the beginning; which fhews it to be given by one who faw through all futurity, and by the fame, who has been from the beginning at the head of the affairs of the world, who governs the world, and therefore knew how to give an account (fo far as to his wifdom feemed fit to difcover) of the whole current and courfe of events from the creation to the confummation.

We have no where, but in Scripture, a difplay of the wonders of Divine Mercy for a fallen guilty race of be

2

ings.