ON THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECTS IN RELIGION. BY THOMAS SCOTT, Rector of Aston Sandford, Bucks, and Chaplain to the Lock Hos- SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to Is. viii. 20. CAMBRIDGE, PRINTED FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR PRO- MOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. Hilliard & Metcalf, printers. PREFACE. THE original design of this compendious work was, in some respects, different from the direction it took during the course of its publication. The author intended, by a series of essays, each comprised in a single number, to have guarded the minds of young people especially against the infidelity and scepticism of modern times, as well as to give a distinct view of the grand peculiarities, and excellent tendency, of genuine christianity. He purposed not to be strictly methodical, argumentative, or systematic; but to treat a variety of subjects in a familiar, easy, and engaging manner. The attempt however soon convinced him, that he had not the requisite talents for essays of this description; and that he must leave it to persons of a more versatile and happy genius, to furnish' that species of publication, which seems most suited to the present circumstances, and best adapted to the taste of modern readers. As, however, the essays first published met with great encouragement, and had considerable circulation, he proceeded on the plan to which he found himself most competent; and, without the least previous design, he at length completed, according to his views, a compendious system of the Christian religion. Since the work was finished in 1794, it has generally been disposed of in complete copies. Though a large quantity of separate essays has likewise been dispersed; and it is not without - great reluctance that the plan of numbers has |