The holy scriptures, though by divine grace able to make us wise unto salvation, are almost wholly disused by multitudes, who nevertheless would wish to be thought friends to the religion and morals which are taught in them. They even lie by, in many houses covered with dust, as if of no consequence in the direction of human life, and unworthy of a careful attention or serious perusal. Their purity, their beauty, their sublimity, which some of the best and greatest characters that ever adorned human nature, have not only admired, but extolled, are overlooked, either through a want of discernment to acknowledge, or of taste to relish their merit.--Some read them only from custom or for amusement.--Others read them merely to cavil at, reproach, and pervert them. Others, again, search them, not to be guided by the light which they shall exhibit, but to support or confirm the opinions, which they have previously imbibed, and are resolved not to relinquish. Hence not only different, but contradictory principles are pretended to be drawn from them. Like all other things of importance and worth, they are liable to be abused and misapplied. It is however no valid, nor, indeed, plausible objection against their divinity, or usefulness, that they are capable of being misconstrued and misunderstood. If it please the majesty of heaven and earth to speak to man, at all concerning his duty and happiness as a moral agent, he must speak to him in man's language. But all human language is imperfect, capable of being perverted and wrongly construed--of course, the holy scriptures are so. In truth, every thing done by man is imperfect. He lives in an imperfect world. His language, when most refined, is imperfect.--It would therefore, bespeak a high degree of folly and inconsideration either to disesteem, or to think meanly of the holy scriptures, because they have been misimproved and profaned. And, it is equally disgraceful to reason and repugnant to philosophy to look upon them as fabulous, or to imagine that no certain and fixed system of doctrines is contained in them, merely because different sects of Christians have understood them differently, and drawn from them, not only different, but contradictory tenets. The serious mind will most sincerely regret, what cannot be acknowledged, that they have been so often and so grossly perverted. The candid and honest will not be prejudiced against them, or neglect, most diligently to attend to them, though they have been so much misapplied and misunderstood.