say to science," Thus far shalt thou come, and no further." And if, in matters merely of science, such measures would prove hurtful, how much more in any thing wherein religion is concerned? My opinion, therefore, on this question, I freely acknowledge, favors the removal of all legal restraints as much as possible, and not barely the change of the object. Indeed, this will be found the natural result of the argument, as it has heretofore been conducted. There is not a topic which the present adversaries of an improved translation in English employ now, which was not, with the same plausibility, employed against Jerome's Latin translation called the Vulgate, at present in universal use in the Latin church, and which was not also employed against the English translation of James I; that very version for which our adversaries on this article now so strenuously contend. On the other hand, there was not any plea which Jerome urged in support of his attempt, or which the English translators urged in support of theirs, that will not equally serve the purpose of any present or future well-meant attempt of the like kind, and, consequently, that does not strike against every measure which might effectually preclude any such attempt in time to come.

There are only two differences, in point of circumstances, between us and the inhabitants of this island in the beginning of the last century, which impartiality obliges me to mention, and which, (as they render more delicacy requisite in these days than was necessary in those), if attended to, may prevent men from concluding too hastily, that those measures cannot fail of success now which have succeeded formerly. Though some versions had been publicly authorized before that of James I, none of them had been of near so long standing as that which is in use at present; and, consequently, the people's attachment to any one of them was not so much strengthened by habit, as the present attachment to the English Bible may be supposed to be. An alteration, therefore, in respect of the public use, might be a much more difficult attempt now than it was then. The other difference arises from the consideration, that the spirit of liberty is much higher at present in the nation than it was at that period; the rights of conscience are better understood, and the absurdity, as well as tyranny, of employing coercion in matters of religion, are almost universally acknowledged.

All these considerations, whilst they give the utmost encouragement to the study of biblical criticism, show sufficiently, in a matter which so nearly affects the rights of conscience, the danger of all measures that can be justly accounted compulsory. For my own part, it is enough for me that common sense assures me, that, if God condescends to speak to us mortals, it is our duty to attend to what he says; and if, in any writing, he has revealed his will to us, it is our duty carefully to read that writing, and do our utmost rightly to understand it. The language of the Christian revelation, we quick

ly see, concurs with that of reason in enjoining this practice; nay, it excites us still more strongly, by the example it sets before us of those who have found much comfort and improvement in it. Can I require stronger motives to induce me to make God's word the subject of my study and meditation, day and night? And if I have reason to think that, by the blessing of Heaven, I have been in some measure successful in this application of my time, does not our common Christianity, one of the great commandments of which is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," oblige me, for the benefit of others, to communicate any lights I may have received from this exercise? When they are communicated, I have discharged a Christian duty. The reception will be such as it pleases Providence to give them.

Though in these volumes I have not affirmed any thing, as my opinion, which did not at the time, and does not still, appear to me probable; and though many things in them appear certain, I desire nothing to be admitted by the reader upon my affirmation; my wish is, that every thing may be candidly and deliberately examined; that my reasons, which I commonly give where the subject requires it, may be impartially weighed, and the opinion adopted or rejected, as the reader, on due reflection, shall find cause. If to make proselytes by the sword is tyranny in rulers, to resign our understanding to any man, and receive implicitly what we ought to be rationally convinced of, would be, on our part, the lowest servility. Now, tyranny and servility, how much soever adapted to the genius of worldly domination, are by no means suited to the heavenly character of Christ's kingdom. The only means the gospel itself permits us to employ, for promoting this spiritual power, is persuasion, which operates upon the understanding, and, by it, upon the will and the affections; the great engine of secular dominion is force, which, without regarding the understanding, will, or affections, lays hold of the body. The language of our Lord to his hearers was, "If any man wILL come under my guidance;" 'El ris ΘΕΛΕΙ ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν. Nothing is obtruded or forced upon the unwilling. Now, as the great source of the infidelity of the Jews was a notion of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, we may justly say, that the great source of the corruption of Christians, and of their general defection, foretold by the inspired writers, has been an attempt to render it in effect a temporal kingdom, and to support and extend it by earthly means. This is that spirit of antichrist, which was so early at work as to be discoverable even in the days of the apostles.

Every thing, therefore, here, is subjected to the test of Scripture and sound criticism. I am not very confident of my own reasonings; I am sensible that on many points, I have changed my opinion, and found reason to correct what I had judged formerly to

be right. The consciousness of former mistakes proves a guard to preserve me from such a presumptuous confidence in my present judgment, as would preclude my giving a patient hearing to whatever may be urged, from reason or Scripture, in opposition to it. TRUTH has been, in all my inquiries, and still is, my great aim. To her I am ready to sacrifice every personal consideration; but am determined not, knowingly, to sacrifice her to any thing. To Lucian's advice to the historiographer, Μόνῃ θυτέον τῇ αλήθειᾳ, which I have inscribed in the title, it is my intention sacredly to adhere."

PRELIMINARY

DISSERTATIONS.

DISSERTATION I.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE LANGUAGE AND IDIOM OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, ON THE DIVERSITY OF STYLE, AND ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE SACRED WRITERS.

PART I.

THE LANGUAGE AND IDIOM.

Ir the words and phrases employed by the apostles and evangelists, in delivering the revelation committed to them by the Holy Spirit, had not been agreeable to the received usage of the people to whom they spoke, their discourses, being unintelligible, could have conveyed no information, and consequently would have been no revelation to the hearers. Our Lord and his apostles, in publishing the gospel, first addressed themselves to their countrymen the Jews; a people who had, many ages before, at different periods, been favored with other revelations. To those ancient Jewish revelations, now collected into one volume, Christians give the name of the Old Testament; and thereby distinguish them from those apostolical and evangelical writings which, being also collected into one volume, are called the New Testament. In the latter dispensation, the divine authority of the former is presupposed and founded on. The knowledge of what is contained in that introductory revelation is always presumed in the readers of the New Testament, which claims to be the consummation of an economy of God for the salvation of man; of which economy the Old Testament acquaints us with the occasion, origin, and early progress. Both are therefore intimately connected. Accordingly, though the two Testaments are written in different languages, the same idiom prevails in both; and in the historical part at least, nearly the same character of style.

2. As the writings of the Old Testament are of a much earlier date, and contain an account of the rise and first establishment, toVOL. I.

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