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SECT. III.

'There is nothing in the Revelations afcri- .bed to St. John, that contradiB his o-ther tine ont est ed Writings.

S UCH Contradictions render ordinary Worksjustly suspected of Spuriousness, and quiteoverturn the Credit of Books imputed to inspiredWriters : For Men that compose upon the mereStrength of their own Faculties, sometimes forgetand at other Times change their old Sentiments ;and from either of these Causes may arise Con-tradictions in different Works of the fame Person.But it cannot be supposed, that any Thing of thiskind ever happen’d to Books wrote under the in-fallible Direction of the Holy Ghost. CommonSense therefore, as well as common Piety, willrequire us to reject every pretended sacred Bookas spurious, however attested to, that should con-tradict the other allowed Pieces of the fame Wri-ter : But this is by no Means the Cafe of the Re-velations. Its worst Enemies have not charged it,as differing from the Gospel and Epistles of St. John,or from the other inspired Books in any singlePoint, whether speculative or praBical.

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SECT.