and St. Paul executed, a most notorious. piece of hypocrify and diffimulation; by which history (so far as the hiftorian's authority is of weight) thefe Apoftles are not only proved to be fallible peccable men, and, as fuch, are not fit abfolutely to be relied upon; but alfo their errors in judgment and practice feem to fland upon record, as fea-marks ta give us warning; and confequently, if their writings fhould be recommended as guides to our judgments and actions, then fuch their errors afford a proper reason to us to admit those writings with caution, and under proper reftrictions and limitations.

AFTER all, if it fhould be faid, tho' it may feem that the Apoftles erred both in judgment and practice, yet the charge is not juft; because it is only grounded on the wrong tranflation of the books of the New Teftament, which, if they had been. justly and truly rendered from the original Greek into our language, then the Apostles would appear to be clear of this charge. Answer: If the books of the New Teftament have really fuffered through the tranflation, as is here averred, of which I do not pretend to be a judge; then, this fully justifies what I have obferved concerning them,

viz. that if, or when we admit those books to be guides to our judgments and actions, the nature of the thing obviously requires that we fhould do it with caution, and under proper limitations; becaufe, otherwife, we are in great danger of being misled, as those books have paffed through the most dangerous medium in their way to us. For, if the books referred to have been greatly injured by thofe who tranflated them into our tongue; then they may also have been greatly corrupted long before they came into thofe tranflators hands; of which we have not any thing whereon fairly to ground a prefumption that they were not; but, on the contrary, there is the higheft probability that they were. books referred to (when confidered as: contained in, and held forth to us, of these latter ages, by the most ancient manuscripts) from that grand fountain of corruption the Church of Rome, who must have been naturally and almost unavoidably led to corrupt them, with other writings, as the cafe might require, thereby to have a better pretence for, and to justify herself in all her other corruptions and abufes; and who, as he had power and inclination fufficient to

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enable

enable and difpofe her to it, fo the gross ignorance of thofe times gave her the fairest opportunity; and therefore, furely, those books could not pass through her hands without fuffering greatly thereby. And this fhews the great uncertainty the most learned men must needs be under, in the cafe under confideration; tho', perhaps, there may not be that great disparity betwixt learned and unlearned men, in the prefent cafe, as is pretended. All the knowledge I have of what took place before my own time, must have been conveyed to me either by oral, or written tradition, or by both, seeing divine inspiration is what I am a stranger to; and this is the very cafe of the most learned; all their knowledge is grounded upon the fame bottom; only with this difference, viz. their fuperior learning and reading may extend their knowledge farther than mine, and their knowledge may require less truft, tho' great truft muft be given with respect to both. Should, therefore, a learned man afk me, how do I. know that the Church of Rome has been the great corrupter of Christianity, or any other fact of like kind, when I am a ftranger to the language in which the Roman history

history, and all other books that relate to the fubject, were originally written? my answer should be, that I know it in the fame way, and upon the fame grounds that he does, if he has any knowledge of the case referred to, viz. by tradition; only his knowledge may, perhaps, be more copious according to his reading, and may require less trust than mine. He that reads the Roman hiftory, in the language in which that history was originally written, takes every thing upon trust that he receives from it; and he that reads that history in an English tranflation does no more; only the truft is greater in the latter than in the former cafe, as there is one person more concerned in the conveyance of that history who must be relied upon, viz. the tranflator. Let not then the learned man claim greater advantages, or greater reputation, than he has fairly a title to. Perhaps, it may be faid, if the Church of Rome had greatly corrupted the books referred to, this would appear from the books themselves, as the corruptions of that church would be countenanced thereby ; but as that does not appear, therefore, it may fairly be prefumed, thofe books have paffed fafely through their hands: To which

it

it may be answered, that the books themfelves are not quite clear, as is here fuppofed; there being many things, in those books, which answer the purposes of the church of Rome, and which favour ftrongly of fraud and impofition. Thus John xx. 22, 23. And when he had faid this, be breathed on them, and faith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghoft, which, according to the hiftory of the Acts of the Apoftles, was not received 'till forty days. after. Whofefoever fins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whofefoever fins ye retain, they are retained. A power, surely, moft unfit to be trufted in human hands. To this, I may add the hiftory of the fudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, and other instances that might be produced.

To conclude this fubject, I beg leave to obferve, that this is a weighty affair; and therefore, if any thing is offered to us under the character of divine revelation, it calls for our most careful inspection, as well as our ferious attention, left we should be misled thereby. We are, by the author of our beings, made intelligent creatures; and therefore, it may well be expected that we fhould not blindly follow every one who

fhall