336                     The Deity of Jeſus Chriſt                    Sect. VI

ces, whether this meekneſs and humility be attended with all
other virtues; and alſo, whether thoſe virtues reſide in him in
perfection. You may hear him aſk his adverſaries, with con-
fidence, ' Which of you conviaceth me of ſin ' and this I
acknowledge, implies, that he is not an offender like men in
common ; but yet he does not expreſsly ſay, ' I am without
'  ſin.'—I conclude, therefore, that it is not neceſſary the moſt
intereſting truths ſhould be contained in the Scripture, in ex-
preſs and formal terms; and that it ſuffices to infer them by
juſt and reaſonable conſequence. For though we had not been
favoured with the epiſtle to the Hebrews; though ſeveral paſ-
ſages paſſages in other epiſtles, expreſsly to the ſame point,
had never been read by us ; and though we had never heard
that thoſe words in Iſaiah, ' He had done no violence, neither
'  was any deceit in his mouth,' related to Jeſus Chriſt; yet
we ſhould have been aſſured that he was perfectly holy and
righteous; both by the analogy of faith, and by a multitude
of texts, from which we might have inferred the important
conſequence.—Hence alſo it appears, that there is no neceſ-
ſity for a capital and fundamental truth, to be mentioned in
every page of the Scripture, nor yet in every book of which
that ſacred Volume conſiſts. For the whole œconomy of ſal-
vation, and all our happineſs, depend on the conſummate ho-
lineſs of Jeſus Chriſt; and yet you may read a great part
of the Bible, and not find in it ſo much as once mentioned.

But, more directly to anſwer this objection, it may be ob
ſerved ; That the ſacred writers keep a myſterious ſilence, on
ſome occaſions, even to matters of great importance; which
ſilence may be attribted to various cauſes. Sometimes to the
nature of that œconomy under which they they wrote. So
Moſes and the prophets did not ſpeak ſo clearly of the life to
come, as Jeſus Chriſt, becauſe the perſpicuity of Revelation,
in this reſpect, was to be a diſtinguiſhing character of the
Meſſiah's appearance, and life and immortality were to be re-
vealed by him. Nor was it agreeable to the wiſdom of God,
that Chriſt, in his perſonal miniſtry, ſhould ſpeak ſo clearly
concerning the ſpirituality, or ſo fully concerning the myſteries
of his kingdom, as the apoſtles did after his aſcenſion, when
led into all the truth by the Holy Spirit.—At other times the
                                                                                          Spirit