ON VARIOUS IMPORTANT SUBJECTS : WRITTEN PARTLY ON SUNDRY OF THE MORE DIFFI- SACRED VOLUME. 000000000 BY REV. ANDREW LEE, A. M. 000000000- "I KNOW BUT ONE BOOK, THAT CAN JUSTIFY OUR IMPLICIT AC- Young. PRINTED at WORCESTER: BY ISAIAH THOMAS, JUN. Sold by him, and by the AUTHOR, in Lisbon, Connecticut-Sold also by laid OCTOBER-1803. P PREFACE. en THAT thick darkness overprsead the church after the irruptions of the northern barbarians, and the defolations which they occafioned in the Roman empire, is known and acknowledged. Those conquerors professed the religion of the conquered; but corrupted and Spoiled it. Like the new Jettlers in the kingdom of Ephraim, they feared the Lord and ferved their own gods. In those corruptions Antichristian error and domination originated. The tyranny of opinion became terrible, and long held human minds Slaved. Few had Sentiments of their own. The orders of the vatican were received as the mandates of heaven. But at last Some difcerning and intrepid mortals arose who saw the absurdity and impiety of the reigning Superstition, and dared to disclose them to a wondering world! Among those bold reformers, LUTHER, CALVIN and a few contemporary worthies, hold a distinguished rank. Greatly is the church indebted to them for the light which they diffused, and the reformation which they effected. But ftill the light was imperfect. Dark Shades remained. This particularly appeared in the dogmatism and bigotry of these same reformers, who often prohibited further inquiries, or emendations! They had differed from Rome, but no body must differ from them! As though the infallibility which they denied to another, had been transferred to themselves! Too many others, and in more enlightened times, have discovered a Strange measure of the fame Spirit.....a Spirit which hath damped inquiry and prevented improvement. HENCE, probably, the filence of Some expofitors on difficult fcriptures, and the Sameness obfervable in some others For the complaint of the poet is not without reason, "That commentators each dark passage shun, AND the fameness which we fee in feveral writers is probably dittated by fear of fingularity, and of incurring the charge of heresy. Minds are different. When a dozen expositor's interpret a difficult text alike, they must, for Some reason, have borrowed from one another. |