PREFACE TO " A SHORT VIEW OF THE WHOLE SCRIPTURE H4STORY, &c." - THE Holy Scripture is divided into two books, which are commonly cal- led the Old Testament and the New. And as each of these books contains several articles or propositions which God has revealed to men for the direc- tion of their faith and practice in the successive ages of thé world ; so there are several histories also contained in them; or narratives. of the life and death of men, of the affairs of nations, and especially of the transactions of God with mankind. Some knowledge Of these historical matters is necessary and useful, in order to obtain a more clear and full acquaintance with the principles of our holy religion, as well as to assist and engage us in the practice of it byway of motive. It is the history all along introduces the peculiar doctrine and !duties ; and altthe laterrehelatróns of thetnind'andwill of God, relating toreligion, have some connexionwith and dependence upon the events which Went before. The very gospel of Christ consists partly in thehistory of hislifeand death; nor can the other part of it, viz. the doctrines and duties, be so well under- stood without some knowledge of the law of Moses, the ceremonies of the Jews, the religion of the patriarchs, andthe transactions of God with Adam the first father of all mankind. The great and blessed God at one single view surveys all his own works and designs from the beginning to the end of them, and every part of his grand schemestands in a delightful harmony with the rest. He has ordained all his more early dealings with men in such a manner, as to let indivine light by several gradations upona dark world,. and to lay a happy foundation for hislatest and best revelation made by his own Son and apostles : and in many cases the former laws, ordinances and transactions, are evidently de. signed to prefigure and shadow out, as well as to introduce those which follow. Adam our first father, by whom sin and death were broughtinto the world, was a type orfigure of Jesus the second Adam, who brought in righteous- ness and life ; Rom. v.14. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45, 49. The law of Moses. Was a shadowof the good things which were to come ; but the body and sub- stance of theseblessings was given us by Christ our Saviour ; Col. ii. 17. Heb. x. 1. And it is certain we may obtain a more extensive,and complete knowledge of christianity by our acquaintance with the sacred affairs of Adam and Noah, of Abraham and Moses, and the sons of Israel. Besides, it is the history of the bible which hath conveyed down to us the knowledgeof those miracles and divine wonders whichhave been wrought by the prophets, the immediate messengers of heaven, to prove that they were sent of God: It is in this history we read those prophecies of thingsto come, together with the accomplishment of them, which stand in a beauti- ful connexion from the beginning of the world to the days of the Messiah. All of themjoin to confirm our faith in the several revelations ofreligion which God has made the sons of men ; and all concur to establish the last and noblest scheme of religion, that is, christianity. Thud the very history of scripture has a powerfuland rational influence to establish our belief of the gospel, and to make us christians upon solid and reasonable grounds. I add yet further, that in the historicalpart ofscripture we read the holy laws of God exemplified in the life and practice of good men in several ages
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