SECTION III. 207 God from the beginning of the world. Herein are recorded the several discoveries of the mind and will of God in every age, according to the necessities and occasions of men. Some of these rules of duty, which were given to the churchof God in ancient ages, are now antiquated and abolished ; such are the sacrifices and ceremonies of the patriarchal religion from Adam to Moses, and the more numerous rites of the levitical law. Many of the doctrines and duties of piety are also intermingled so much with the historical and prophetical writings, that an unlearned and ignorantperson needs some kind hand to point out those places where these- important truths and duties lie ; and such a friendly handwould still give greater assistance to the ignorant enquirer, by gathering together in one view, and in proper order, the more considerable and necessary articles of faith and practice, as they lie promiscuously scattered abroad in this large volume of the scriptures. This is the great design of the bodies of divinity and sys- tems which have been drawn up in larger or lesser forms by 'learned men in several ages ;'nor is it any derogation from the honour of scripture, when we propose these systems for the instruction of thosewho are ignorant ; for we own all their au- thority to be derived from the word of God. I know not how to set this matter in a more agreeable light than the late Rev. Mr. MatthewHenry has clone in a sermon of his, preached almost twenty years ago. " Bear us witness, saith he, we-setup no other rule of faith and practice, no other oracle, no other touch- stone or test of orthodoxy, bufthe holy scriptures Of the Old and New Testament ; these only are the fountains whence we fetch our knowledge ; these only the foundations on which we build our faith and hope ; these the dernier resort of all our enquiries and appeals in the things of God, for they only are given by divine inspiration. Every other help we have for our souls, we make useof in subordination and subserviency to the scripture, and among the rest our catechisms and confessions of faith, Give me leave, saith he, to illustrate this by an appeal to the gentle- men of the longrobe; they know very well that the common law of England lies in the year-book, and books of reports, in the records of immemorial customs, and in cases occasionallyadjudg- ed, which are not an artificial system drawn up by the rules of method, but rather historical collections of what was sólemnly discussed and j udiciously delivered in several reigns, pro ie nata, and always taken for law, and according to which the practice has always been. Now such are the books of the scripture, his- tories of the several ages of the church, as those of the several reigns of the kings, and of the discoveries of God's mind and will in every age, as there was occasion ; and these too are bpilt upon ancient principles, received and submitted to before these divine annals began tobe written.
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