connection among all things; and the knowledg of one fcience or art can never be thorowly obtain'd without the knowledg of other arts and Sciences: Nay, take any book that is a mafterpiece in its kind, and you will find it has a relation to them all, and that a very general and extenfive knowledg was neceffary to its compofition. In the Iliad of HOMER, there is not an art or fcience, or branch of any art or science, but there are some parts which have relation to it, and which the nature of the work requir'd: and thofe parts are as accurately and justly perform'd, as if each part had been done by one who was particularly vers'd in the art or science refer'd to. As for inftance, HOMER could never have defcrib'd as he ought, nor in the manner he has done, a chariot or a chariot-wheel, without the particular knowledg of a coachmaker: and fuch knowledg was abfolutely neceffary to his purpose: for if he had talk'd of those things without that accurate knowledg, he had certainly fallen into thofe miftakes which men ever do, when they venture to talk of what they do not understand; and if he had omitted fuch defcriptions, his poem, which now to all eternity will pleafe and inftruét mankind, had been imperfect. It is this univerfal knowledg of things display'd in the Iliad, which makes it efteem'd fo perfect a work, and is the foundation of that known commendation of HOMER by the criticks, that the principles of all arts and sciences are contain'd in him.

But to come to an inftance wherein we are more concern'd: The Bible contains a collection

of

dam commune vinculum, & quafi cognatione quâdam intér se Eputinentur. Cicero pro Archiâ Poëta.

of tracts given us at divers times by God himself; and confequently every thing therein mention'd is handled with the utmost degree of exactness: for it is impoffible that God, when he condef cends to teach mankind by writing or books, fhould write as ill, or worfe than mortal men and act against the rules of art in writing, and exprefs error and falsehood instead of juftness and proportion.

Now there is not perhaps in the world fo mifcellaneous a book, and which treats of fuch variety of things as the bible does. There is a natural history of the creation of the whole univerfe, and of an univerfal deluge of this earth; and a civil and ecclefiaftical history of all mankind, from the beginning of the world for above 2000. years, and of a particular nation for above 800. years. There are contain'd in it the municipal laws of a country, the inftitution of two Religions (one whereof was to put an end to the other) feveral natural and miraculous phenomena of nature. defcriptions of magnificent buildings, references to Husbandry, Sailing, Phyfick, Pharmacy, Mathematicks, and every thing else that can be named. And indeed the compaß of fuch a history fhew's that no art or fcience can be untouch'd in it. To understand the matter therefore of this book, requires the most thinking of all other books; fince to be mafter of the whole, a man must be able to think juftly in every fcience and art. Who can understand the order and perfection of the hiftorical part, and the completion of the prophecies about our bleffed Saviour, without being a confummate mafter in antient Hiftory, and Chronology, and in the laws of each of thofe arts? How many years of the life of the greatest chronologer in the world A 4

(the

DISCOURSE. (the prefent Bishop of Worcester) must have been fpent only in adjusting the feventy weeks of D ANIEL to the times of the MESSIAH, when his Lordship's work on that fubject has already been above ten years in the prefs? Who can frame an idea of the beauty and magnificence of So LoMON's Temple, or of that model delineated in EZEKIEL, without a perfect knowledg in Mathematicks, and in particular of the rules of Architecture? Who can have a juft notion of the creation and deluge, without the knowledg of all nature? How is it poffible for any man to enter into the meaning of the feveral paffages of fcripture, which feemingly exhibit to us an idea of God after a human manner, without the most re fin'd Metaphyficks, and the deepest thinking and philofophizing on the nature and attributes of God? Nay, the morality of the holy-fcripture is not to be precisely and diftinctly understood, without an antecedent knowledg inEthicks, or in the law of nature. Who can without a knowledg in that law understand wherein confift the duties of',

Loving our enemys, of not caring for the morrow, of not having two coats, and all other dutys exprefs'd in fo univerfal a manner? The paffages themselves not exhibiting the neceffary limitations and restrictions which are imply'd, those reftrictions and limitations are only to be deduc'd from the law of nature. Nay, when the dutys enjoin'd are as univerfal as the expreffions, that univerfality is only to be known by confidering whether the law of nature in those cases admits of any limitation or no.

Upon the whole therefore, thinking upon all human Sciences, being the only way of arriving at perfection in them; nay, being the only method

to

to make a man underftand the fublimeft of all fciences, Theology, or the will of God contain'din the holy fcriptures, it must be at least lawful, or a man's right, to think freely.

3dly. If men either neglect to think, or come once to be perfuaded they have no right to think freely, they can not only obtain no perfection in the fciences, but muft, if they will have any opinions, run into the groffeft abfurdities imaginable both in principle and practice. What abfurd no tions of a Deity have formerly prevail'd, not only among Pagans, but even among Chriftians? who tho they did not with the Pagans fuppofe their God to be like an ox, or a cat, or a plant, yet fome of the most ancient fathers of the Church no lefs abfurdly fuppos'd him to be material; and many Christians in all ages fuppos'd him to have the fhape of a man, till thinking about the nature of God did establish his fpirituality among men of sense in every country of Christians.

What abfurd notions in Religion, contrary to the most obvious notions of fenfe and reason, overfpread the whole Chriftian Church for many ages Infallibility in a fingle perfon or in a council, the power of the priest to damn and fave, the worship of images, pictures, Saints, and relicks, and a thousand other abfurdities as grofs as ever prevail'd in any Pagan nation, were opinions almost universally receiv'd and believ'd by Christians; and what is ftill more wonderful, even while they receiv'd a book for divine revelation, point-blank contrary to them all; till the thinking of a few, fome whereoffacrific'd their lives by fo doing, gave a new turn to the Chrif tian world, and occafion'd a prodigious change,

A s

by

by establishing contrary notions in fome countries, and by obliging those who pretended to retain the old ones, to vary a little out of pure fhame in the explication of their phrases and expreffions.

Laftly, what abfurdities prevail'd in Morality, Aftronomy, Natural Philofophy, and every other fcience Self-defence in any cafe whatsoever was by the primitive fathers held unlawful: fecond marriages were efteem'd by them a kind of adul tery: ufury was fuppos'd to be forbid by the law of God. To maintain there were Antipodes, was herefy And Galileus, even in the last age was imprifon'd for afferting the motion of the earth. In fhort, for a picture of ancient abfurdities, a man need but examine any one nowa-days who has never thought freely of things, and he will ever find him unable to advance one word of truth in any matter of fcience whatsoe. ver, no not even in his notions of God and Religion, tho he hears the most perfect difcourfes every week to fet him right, and reads his Bible at home. For men are incapable of information either from difcourfe or reading, unless they have accustom'd themselves to thinking, and by that habit are qualify'd to think of the fubject whereon they hear or read a difcourfe. To be inform'd, confifts in being made to think justly and truly of things but how fhould men think jaftly who do not think freely? How indeed can men think at all of any thing, of which they do not think freely? For what is a reftraint of free-thinking on any fubject, but fomewhat which hinders me from thinking on that fubject?

But to give you the most perfect image I am able, how unavoidable abfurditys are both in principle

and