THE

PRE FAC E.

MY CHRISTIAN BRETHREN,

In all theological controverfies our appeal lies to the Bible, which contains the writings of the in-spired prophets, and of the apostles and evangelifts,. who have recorded the precepts and doctrines of Chrift. To those who lived in the times in which thefe books were published, they were, no doubt, very intelligible; the language in which they are written, and the customs to which they allude, being perfectly known to them. But what was eafy to them, a long courfe of time has rendered extremely difficult to us, who ufe a very different language, and whofe manners and customs are fo exceedingly unlike thofe of the jews. On this account, it may puzzle the greatest scholar of the present age to make out the fenfe of a paffage of fcripture, which could not but have been perfectly understood by the most illiterate person in that age. In this ftate of things, the ignorant and unlearned are very liable to wreft the fcriptures, as the apoftle Peter fays they ever have done, while good sense and. found learning often maintain a very unequal conteft.

It is another unfavourable circumftance with refpect to the right understanding of the scripturesin this country, that the English translation of them was made at a time when the christian world was but just emerged from the darkness of popery, and while the belief of all thofe opinions which are combated in the APPEAL was almost universally retained. Our tranflators, therefore, having been educated in the belief of, and in a reverence for, those particular opinions, and not having had their minds fufficiently enlightened to call them in queftion, it is no wonder that, without any ill defign, they should, in many places of their verfion, have expreffed their own fentiments, and not those of the apoftles. In all these cafes a juft tranflation is all that is neceffary to remove the errors into which a wrong tranflation has led us. But with respect to them, you, my brethren, who are not acquainted with the languages in which the fcriptures were originally written, muft neceffarily depend upon other perfons for the interpretation of them. You may however be able, in a great measure, to judge for yourselves concerning different translations, by confidering, if you will take pains to reflect upon the subject, which rendering of a doubtful paffage is most agreeable to the general strain of the scriptures, and to common fenfe..

Do not, however, immediately conclude that an interpretation of a paffage in scripture is unnatural, becaufe,

because, when it is firft proposed to you, it may feem to be fo; because this may arife from nothing but your having been long accustomed to underftand it in a different fenfe, and from having imagined, though without fufficient grounds, that the tenor of scripture favoured a contrary fenfe. The roman-catholics, I doubt not, think it very unnatural to interpret the words of our Saviour, This is my body, in any other than in the moft literal manner; and they think that our lord's faying upon another occafion, Unless ye eat the flesh of the fon of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you, abundantly confirms their interpretation.

Now, in this little treatise, I defire no greater indulgence in the interpretation of scripture than all proteftants think themseives justified in taking, when they affert, that the meaning of these figurative expreffions is, not that the flesh and blood, but that the doctrine of Chrift is to be received and digested, that is, to be improved and practifed by us, in order to our final falvation. Since the very ftrongest figures of speech are manifeftly ufed in almost all the books of scripture, it must be very unreasonable to expect that the 'moft literal interprecation fhould always be the best.

I must farther apprize you, my brethren, that the paffages which I have attempted to explain, being, for the most part, highly figurative, are, on that account, peculiarly difficult to understand;

fo

fo that though I may not have hit upon the precife sense of the writers, there may be no doubt, from other confiderations, that the fenfe which I am combating is not the true one, which is quite fufficient for my purpofe. It by no means follows that because I am wrong, my adverfaries are right. In these cases there is the greatest room for criticifm, and diverfity of opinion. I have given what at prefent appears to me to be the real fenfe of every text of fcripture which I have taken into confideration, but I fhall gladly avail myfelf of the new lights, which may be thrown upon any of them in future editions of this pamphlet.

In the mean time, with great diffidence of my own judgment, I recommend what I have now written to your most serious and candid confideration; defiring that you would read it with your bibles at hand, turning to every paffage to which I refer, and reading what goes before and after it ; because I have no doubt but that, in this manner, you will see much more reason, if not to approve of my interpretations, yet to reject those of my adverfaries, than I have fuggefted in this treatise, in which I have made a point of being as concise as I poffibly could, confiftently with perfpicuity.

The rapid fale of the Appeal makes me hope that, inconfiderable as the performance is, it has been the inftrument of fome good, in the hands of that Being who works by small things as well as by great ones.

I. Of

1. OF THE POWER OF MAN TO DO THE WILL OF GOD.

THAT the facred writers confider all mankind as naturally poffeffed of fufficient power to do what God requires of them, is evident from their earnest remonftrances and expoftulations with perfons of all ranks and conditions, and the r fevere cenfure of them when they refufe to comply with their exhortations. Nor was this the case with the jews and chriftians only, who were favoured with divine revelation. The apoftle Paul evidently confiders the gentiles alfo in the fame light; though, much not being given to them, much was not required of them.

In the first chapter of the epiftle to the Romans this apostle represents the gentile world, in general, as having grofsly corrupted themselves; yet, in that very representation, he not only says, ver. 18, 19, that they had fubjected themselves to the wrath of God, revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifeft, for God hath shewed it unto them: but also ver. 32. that knowing the judgment of God (that they who commit fuch things are worthy of death) they not only do the fame, but have pleasure in them that do them. So that the degeneracy and depravity into which they were funk were owing, not to want of ability, but to wilfulness, and a determined oppofition