The greatest impediment to Men's advancement in the knowledge of the nature and genius of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION hath ever been their adopting or espousing fome favorite HYPOTHESIS, whereon to erect the Gospel Syftem. For every difpenfation of true Religion, confifting of means and end, the well-adapting these to each other, produceth what we call a SYSTEM. Now this be built either on an HY may

POTHESIS, which is a fuppofed truth, or And the on a FACT, which is a real one. Syftems of Theology have, for the most part, been unwarily framed on the former model; which, as we fay, have much entangled and perplexed our fearches after Truth.

Into this mistake men easily fell by injudicioufly applying, to the SYSTEM OF GRACE, the method which Philosophers invented, when they fet upon explaining the SYSTEM OF NATURE.

They did not confider that any plausible Hypothefis in Physics hath its use, as it ferves to fhew from what Laws the Natural Phænomena may arife. Nor is it def

titute of more particular ufes; thus the Ptolemaic Hypothefis enables Aftronomers to predict Eclipfes as well as the Copernican Theory.

But a mere Hypothefis, to explain the Difpenfation of Grace, is not only ufelefs, but often, hurtful..

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The reafon is apparent. It is agreed by all fober and intelligent Naturalifts, that God is the Author of the Material Syftem : But it is the great question in debate between Religionifts and Unbelievers, Whether God be indeed the Author of the Syftem of Grace.

At worst, therefore, a falfe Hypothefis in Phyfics only keeps hid, or leaves unexplained, the chief beauties of the Material Creation: And the difgrace, to which this Method is fubject, falls only upon the fuccefslefs Inquirer; becaufe every fuch falfe or fanciful Hypothefis carries along with it, even in the very arguments for its fupport, the Conviction of its falfehood, But a groundlefs Hypothefis, in religious matters, by affording (and it can afford no other) an unfavourable reprefentation of the

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the moral Attributes of God (his Goodness and his fuftice) becomes a fatal difcredit to the Doctrine of Redemption.

Yet, at the fame time, it is but just to observe, that such is the fate and condition of fublunary things, that these sometimes exchange their proper qualities, and produce effects not correfpondent to their refpective natures.

Thus, in the cafe as thus confidered, we have fhewn how harmless a mere hypothefis in Physics generally is, and, on the contrary, how one in Religion is as generally pernicious. Yet fometimes we shall find the Phyfical Hypothefis to be hurtful, and the Religious useful.

The Ptolemaic System, by destroying all that fimplicity of motion to be expected in thefe Works of God, hath, along with its civil and practical ufe, occafioned a fpeculative mifchief; and inclined men to Atheism; as appears in the case of Alphonfus, who impiously boasted, that, had he been confulted about the Solar System, he could have advised how it might have been better conftructed. I call it an impious boast,

because

because it plainly infinuated, that he (who had discovered the imperfections of the Ptolemaic Conftruction, and was ignorant. of the true) afcribed the whole to a blind and unintelligent Caufe. Again, the Cartefian, with his Corpufcularian Hypothefis, attempts to explain all the Phænomena of Nature by matter and motion; requiring only that God fhould at first create a sufficient quantity of each, just enough to set him on work, and then pretends to do the business without his further aid; that is, without the concourfe of any VITAL PRINCIPLE to help him forward, in an immaterial way; this Hypothefis, 1 fay, which, on the one hand, fo much contributed to free Philofophy from the nonfenfe and tyranny of the SCHOOLS, yet, on the other, produced (while it was in vogue) many rank and irreligious Materialifts.

But once more turn the tables, and then, so shifting is this ftate of things, we shall fee, although we have fhewn that, in the heights and purer regions of Theology, a mere hypothefis is likely to disturb and perplex our views, yet there is an inferior Station

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Station in that fervice, where the Divine may employ this counterfeit of a true Theory to very good purpofe; in difcrediting fuch objections to Revelation as have gained credit by our imperfect ideas of the true Syftem of the intellectual World. Here a probable hypothefis is of ufe, as it may ferve to convince objectors, that what we find recorded in Sacred Scripture of the Origin and Progrefs of God's extraordinary Difpenfation to Man, may be very confiftent with what human Reafon teacheth of the divine Effence and Attributes. And the more we can frame of those probable Solutions, the more fupport we give to Revelation, though it be only by arguments ad ignorantiam.

Notwithstanding all this, it appears, upon the whole, that a fuccessful Search after Religious Truths can be then only expected when we erect our System upon FACT; acknowledged Facts, as they are recorded in Sacred Scripture.

For if the Difpenfation, to which fuch Facts belong, be indeed from God, all the Parts of it will be feen to be the corrc

fpondent