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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80008	The hinge of faith and religion or, a proof of the deity against atheists and profane persons, by reason, and the testimony of Holy Scripture: the divinity of which is demonstrated, / by L. Cappel, Doctour and Professour in Divinity ; translated out of French by Philip Marinel, M.A. and fellow of Pembroke-College in Oxford.; Piuot de la foy et religion. English	Cappel, Louis, 1585-1658.; Marinel, Philip.	1660 (1660)	Wing C482; Thomason E1845_2; Thomason E2265_1; ESTC R209659	84,739	200

time place and likelihood that they could be made to believe forged Tales and could he take them to witness those things which they never saw nor knew Will it be said That he never made this Sermon That we only suppose it to be so That he hath not writ these Books Or That these Writings so replenished of Fabulous Stories have been hid for a long time and have not been published of a great while after he was dead when the Memory of those things which happened at the going out of Egypt and in the Desart was past and abolish'd in this people which was very glad and content to receive and believe these fine Tales as tending to the Honour of their Nation Or else will it be objected That some body after his death hath framed and published these Books under his Name First This is objected without the least Colour Appearance or Ground in Reason Secondly This is against the Testimony of the most ancient Monuments of History which father these Books upon none other then Moses and accuse no body of having compiled them for him Diodorus Siculus writeth that Moses gave the Jews their Laws and that he received them from the God called Jaoh which is the proper Name of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly The Authour of those Books doth not flatter that Nation but represent it to us as the most perverse and stiff-necked in the World Fourthly How could these pretended impostures have so universally in so many Ages taken so deep a rooting in the spirit of this Nation Fifthly The best part of their Laws and Political and Ecclesiastical Constitutions are grounded and have their Foundation upon these Narrations which these men do pretend to be fabulous These I say are wholy built upon them as the Pass-over the Feast of Tabernacles the Jubilee the year of Release c. Again The Tabernacle so splendid so ingeniously and artificially erected so divine and admirable by whose Model and Pattern Solomon that glorious and magnificent King hath afterwards builded his Temple that stupendious and wonderfull piece of workmanship to which the most sumptuous Buildings which the Vanity Power and Riches of the most potent Monarchs have erected is nothing comparable with all its Services and the Order of its Ceremonies which is so admirable where all the Mysteries of Christian Faith and Religion are seen pourtraied and as it were drawn to the Life as we know it by the Relation which the Sacred Writers of the New Testament do make and in their imitation the Fathers and Doctours of the Church could this be an Invention and Chimara of Moses's own fancying or of some body else after him Could he have divined so many Ages before all that our Lord Jesus Christ should do teach and suffer for the Salvation of men and accordingly erect this Tabernacle with all its Ceremonies and Appertenances which were so perfect and accomplished a Model of these things Now since there is no ground to doubt that Moses hath invented these things which he writeth of the Children of Israel's deliverance of their going out of Egypt or their going through the Red Sea of their Adventures through the Desart for the space of fourty years since he relates these things himself to a multitude of six hundred thousand men which could have given him the lye if he had forged these things Why should not he be believed in all those things which he recites to us in the Histories of Abraham Isaac Jacob and his Children of the Deluge of the Tower of Babel of Sodom and to go yet higher of the Creation of the World What is in all this more incredible then the History of the Children of Israel in Egypt and in the Desart The same may be said of all that which is recited to us in the Books of Joshua of the Judges and of the Kings for all this is not more incredible then this History of Egypt and of the Desart and it hath an indissoluble connexion with all the Narrations of Moses And why shall we esteem them past belief since they are represented to us as the Works and Effects of a God which is Eternal Infinite Almighty All-good All-wise Infinitely-exalted above Nature seeing it is he who hath given its being to Nature And that we have shewed by so many preceding Arguments that above this Nature there ought to be such a Deity the Cause and Rise of it Again It cannot be denyed but that Moses and the Prophets have promised and fore-told that the Messias should come and he came The Jews expected him they thinking that his time was come or near at hand For to this very day they are forced to confess that that time is past by above fifteen hundred years And when they are urged upon this Confession they have presently recourse to a pitifull and impertinent evasion to wit that this time hath been prolonged because of their sins and that the coming of the Messias hath been retarded upon this account although they are not able to shew what great sin they have committed that may have been the cause of this delay and of so signal a Desolation in their Nation And the Apostles and Christians do evidently prove that this promised Messias is come in the time prefixed by their Prophets and that this is Jesus Christ whom they have rejected upon no other account but that they falsly imagined to themselves that the Messias was to be a Great and Potent Monarch who was to free them from the slavery they suffered under the Romanes and give them Domination over all other People of the Earth An imagination quite contrary to the intention of the Spirit of God which the Prophets were inspired withall Neither can it be denyed but that Moses and the Prophets and Jesus Christ and his Apostles after them have fore-told the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple by the Romanes and that miserable Dispersion of the Jewish Nation wherein they have been for so many Ages their Rejection their Exclusion from the Covenants of God and the Vocation of the Gentiles in their stead and their being brought to the Service of the God of Abrabam Isaac and Jacob who is Creatour of Heaven and Earth with the utter abolishing of all the Heathenish Superftition All which hath came to pass since these sixteen hundred years as it was fore-told by them which is an invincible Argument that these Predictions were not made at adventure neither can they be any product of Humane Wit which cannot dive so far into Future Events nor foretell so certainly and constantly by so many different person those wonderfull Effects which so many Ages since have came to pass To these we might add the Miracles of Jesus Christ and of his Apostles which the Jews themselvs though they be their sworn enemies do not deny although they falsly and foolishly impute them to I know not what imaginary Virtue of the Name of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉

THE HINGE OF FAITH AND RELIGION OR A Proof of the Deity against Atheists and Profane Persons by Reason and the Testimony of Holy Scripture the Divinity of which is demonstrated By L. Cappel Doctour and Professour in Divinity Translated out of French By Philip Marinel M. A. and Fellow of Pembroke-College in Oxford Printed for Thomas Dring at the George near St Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1660. To the WORSHIPFULL St-JOHN CHERNOCK Esquire IT was not any desire I had to appear in Publick that incited me to set forth these Dr. Cappel's last Works in English I am conscious enough to my self of my defects Neither would I have ventured ever to let this Translation see the light but that some Friends perswaded me that this piece against Atheism was very seasonable in these Times where almost every body through our late unhappy Distractions and Toleration of the wildest Phansies in matter of Divine Worship is to seek for his Religion And it is to be feared that many who profess outwardly the Principles of Religion have yet no sound apprehensions of the main Foundation of it viz. Of the Deity which they I mean most part of the Common people seldom think of or if they do they have such conceptions of it as that it would make a man of Reason think he is not of the same kinde So grossly and so absurdly they do talk of the Almighty and of those matters in Religion which Natural Reason teacheth that I have often been in the mind to think with an antient Philosopher that the Forms of Asses and Hogs did now and then animate those Bodies which are framed in the shape of a Man and which are common amongst us But I have since perceived that these things for I knew not what other names to give them were apt to be taught that they indeed had Reason and that really they were men and therefore had Souls to save which I am sure they cannot do unless they have a right apprehension of the Deity in these places especially where they have means enough afforded them to effect this This small Treatise will I am sure if read seriously and without prejudice help such ignorant people very much But it is not the main end for which it was intended It is wholly to confute a company of Ruffling Fellows who call themselves the Strong Wits forsooth and that with an Emphasis too who think it is a piece of Gallantry to deny a God and a Providence and who indeed would have it so for the Reasons alleadged in the first Chapter of this Book They shall find here satisfaction enough if they do but take the leisure to peruse it I am not ignorant that there have been many pieces made by sundry Learned men upon this subject but I never read or heard of any who hath handled it in this Method and so clearly And since I am utterly uncapable to express and set forth the Praises and Elogies due to the worthy Authour I will rather choose to bury them in silence and let him gain it himself in his Book the Translation of which I undertook at first but to satisfie a Friend's desire I have done it as well as I could and to a sincere end and therefore I do not much fear to be blamed As for the Publication of it your own incitement Honoured Sir was a sufficient Motive to attempt it and I do here humbly present it to you as a Testimony of that Gratitude I am bound to pay you for those manifold favours you have Honoured me withall and as a Token of that Respect I ow unto your Piety and Virtue which is the Nobility God hath eminently endowed you with besides that of Blood that your Illustrious Ancestours have conferred on you Whom I beseech the Almighty to protect and preserve in all prosperity in this life and in the life to come to give you an immortal Crown of Glory And remain Honoured Sir Your most humble most obedient and obliged Servant P.M. THE AUTHOURS PREFACE TO THE READER THIS small Treatise is not compiled with any Hopes to reduce wholly those against whom I argue For such persons are not recall'd by Disputations Discourses or Humane Reasonings That they may be healed and converted God himself must speak must scourge and terrifie them with his revengefull Judgements The sin of such Persons is like that of Sodom and Gomorrah viz Pride Fulness of Bread and Abundance of Idleness Ezech. xvi 49. They most especially are troubled with this Disease who live in this World according to their own desires who abound with the Goods of this present World who are overwhelmed with the Wealth Honours Sweets and Pleasures of this Life For the turning away of the Simple shall slay them and the Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them Prov. i. 32. Whilest they enjoy this Prosperity and have their ease and quiet they avert their thoughts from God the Remembrance of whom would but make them sad and would much trouble their Repose since they cannot promise to themselves any good from him who loveth Virtue Justice and Holiness which in no waies is consistent with that kind of Life which they have chosen to pass it in Pleasure Delicateness and Effeminacy Then do they stop their Ears as the Serpent against the Charms of the Charmer they leave off to be wise and to do good therefore they are not capable of receiving Instruction and they would be very angry to acknowledge their Errour because if so they must be bound to amend their Lives which is that they will not do finding it wonderfully sweet and delicious But when they are met with by Death and that they be a grapling with her when shee doth over-power them or when by some notorious wonderfull and exemplary Judgement of God they are fallen from their Greatness Wealth Goods Pleasures and are reduced to the State of Job or the Prodigal Son in the Gospel then sometimes they may be healed then their affrighted Conscience doth awake them from their deep slumber then at sometimes they open their eyes to the acknowledgement and detestation of their Errour Without this they are like those who being sick of a Lethargy may be pinch'd spoken to c. yet never budg nor will not awake because they take more pleasure in their sleep and drowsiness which at last layes them in their Grave This Treatise is rather intended to these ends viz. First To keep from this horrible Precipice those that have some Natural bent and inclination that way For the general and Natural Corruption of man is to them an hidden Master and Teacher of Atheism which now and then suggests these thoughts into their hearts Who hath told you that there is a God whom you never saw And Where have they learn'd it who taught you this What greater assurance of this have they themselves And Whence did it proceed Secondly It is to uphold their Faith in whom these thoughts have taken some

yea makes him in effect to acknowledge that there is a Deity and Providence which seeth from above the wrongs that are done here below and takes notice of them to the end that they may be revenged and innocence defended For it would be a poor refuge and a small comfort to have then and in such a case recourse unto a false perswasion which should have no other foundation then the authority and institution of a man that should have invented and given for currant so gross a falshood such as the Atheists would have the opinion of the Deity to be It is true indeed that in things where we have no interest we are sometimes perswaded by those persons that are eminent either in learning or Authority and do believe things the falshood of which we cannot easily discover but in those things that do so nearly relate to us that are so important and that do excite in us so violent motions and passions we do not rest upon those perswasions that have so groundless a foundation By all this it doth appear that man hath not only an acquired but also a naturall knowledge of the Deity and Providence and of the reall and essentiall difference there is between good and evill vice and virtue his own conscience and reason dictating and perswading him both the one and the other Again experience shews us that man hath a natural knowledge and resentment of the Deity and his Providence for when he is surprized in a moment by a manifest evident and unavoidable danger of death as if a bouse falls upon him in an instant or that he sall into a precipice c. he lifts up presently his heart and minde towards Heaven and in this extremity and distress hath his recourse to the Deity and prays unto it that it would aid and succour him and casts himself in the arms of his protection as a child doth in the arms of his father Likewise the firmness constancy and quietness of minde of the truly-faithfull and Christians when they did depart from this World as also the constancy of the holy Martyrs of the Lord Jesus and the hope which they have of a better life is an evident testimony of this truth For then and in that place it is not a time to sooth ones self and feed ones hopes with Fables And how could the imagination of a meer Chimara cause in them so wonderfull a resolution and so great tranquillity of minde If the perswasion of a Deity did meerly proceed from Institution and Authority which should make us believe it without any ground of Reason it would not doubtless make so deep an impression in our Souls and would quickly vanish of it self at deaths encounter Chap. X The eighth Reason drawn from Wizards Magicians Enchantours and from all the Heathens Idolatry and Superstition IT is a certain thing which the experience of our days and that of all ages doth averr which the Monuments of History both antient and modern confirm and that the Writings as well of Heathens as Christians certifie That there are and have been at all times in the World Witches Magicians Diviners Enchantours and such like notoriously-wicked people that have a familiar communication and a frequent commerce with the Devils by whose help power they do many strange and prodigious things above and beyond all human wisdome All which consequently doth inferr that these things proceed from a supernatural and immaterial cause such as the Daemons be The Laws made and promulgated in all wel-governed States and Common-wealths as well that of the Jews by Moses as those of the Christians and of the Heathens themselves do evidence this to us The executions and supplices which justice doth frequently inflict upon such persons their Processes the Relations and Informations that are made about them do assure as of this and leave no doubt of it The damnable curiosity of many persons which every day have recourse to such as they to know see and do those things that cannot be done by any other means doth also confirm this The writings of the Heathens as well Greeks as Romans are full of instances of such persons and of their effects which are stupendious and wonderfull So that a man must wholly renounce his reason and believe nothing of those things that are done if he will not also believe that there are such persons which is true and manifest by all those kinds of Testimonies and Monuments which may induce us to believe any thing Now if there are any Witches Enchantours c. it necessarily followes that there are Daemons by whose help and power they cause these prodigious effects to come to pass which men do wonder at and look upon with horrour and amazement it being not possible that these things should be done by any humane Power The Histories therefore and writings of all Nations and even of the Heathen themselves are full of examples of the Devils apparitions and of their strange effects The Sybills so much taken notice of among the Heathen are a clear testimony of this seeing their Predictions could not proceed but from a Deity or from some Daemon that did possess them Now if there are any Daemons as cannot be denied it followes that there is a Deity above them which doth restrain them so as that they shall not overthrow all things by their might for they have strength and malice enough to do it The Sacred and Ecclesiastical History which is in this conformable to dayly experience teacheth us that there have been in former ages and that there are now persons possessed by Devils which is evident and clear and plainly appeareth by the strange effects which proceed from them This same Sacred History lets us know that there have been Magicians and Enchantours as it appears by the History of Moses and the Magicians of Egypt by the History of Saul who went to consult with a woman who had a Familiar spirit and by that of the maid of whom mention is made in the book of the Acts of the Apostles But of the truth recorded in these Sacred writings something may be spoken hereafter The books which since have been written of these Diabolical and Magical Arts and which are to be got too easily even among Christians whose damnable curiosityleads them to this The publique profession of such Magical Arts which hath been sometimes tolerated in some of the most samous Universities of Christendom to the great dishonour of Christianity The common distinction of black and white Magick which hath been invented by some antient Philosophers of the Sects of Plato and Pythagoras who would have found a way by which they might have subjected the good Daemons to them and reconcile them to themselves and which hath from them passed to the Jewish Cabalists and from them to the Christians are an invincible argument that there are Magicians and Daemons The certain and averr'd Relations of the Northern Countries and of both the Indies

separated and alienated through his Injustice Pollution and Perverseness which doth incline him to deny this Providence which he feareth as his Judg. And in this Infidelity of Man God would not leave himselfe without a Witnesse but hath lively engraved and imprinted himselfe in his Works so that man maugre himselfe is forced in those things to acknowledge this Deity And this is to convince man of his errour and to make good the Justice of his proceedings and the righteousnesse of his Judgments against their impiety And from what hath been said appears the strength of this Testimony against which nothing which is considerable can be objected as being a Testimony not only Humane or proceeding from the fancy or will of man but in effect a Divine one as being the meer motion of Nature and the dictate of Reason and wherein this Proverb is verified Vox Populi Vox Dei But let us pass from this Humane Testimony to that which is directly Divine CHAP. XIII The last Argument Drawn from the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures the Divinity of which is proved against the Atheists ABove all these Proofs and Reasons which have been brought heretofore against Atheism is that which is drawn from the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures contained in the Books of the Old and New Testaments which teach and inculcate to us nothing else then an only true God maker of Heaven and Earth what he is his Virtues his Perfections his Proprieties and Attributes his Works as well of the Creation of the World and his Governing of it as also those of mans Redemption his Counsels Designs the Decrees of his Will concerning Humane kind the Salvation of the one the Condemnation of the others also the Honour Respect Service and Adoration which we are bound to pay unto him and which he doth also require of us what we ought to fear or to expect and hope from him in summ the true and only means to be perfectly and eternally happy which is that which all men do naturally desire and wish for and at which all their actions do aim So that if these Sacred Books are true and not forged and invented by the Artifice or malice of wily and deceitfull men it 's evident and not to be doubted that there is a God and that he is such an one as is there described to us To which the Atheists reply nothing but this Who say they will warrant us that what those Writers say is true and that their design hath not been to impose upon our beliefs and deceive us Moses say they says very much but proves nothing intimating that he is a Tale-teller and that he will be believed upon his bare word And one of them hath said That our Lord Jesus Christ to give the more weight to his Doctrine hath called himself but falsly the Son of God yea God himself Those persons imagine and will have the World believe that these Divine writers are such as Numa Pompilius who did attribute his Books and Laws to the Deity of the Nymph Aegeria with whom he pretended to have familiar Conversation or as Mahcmeth who saith that he received his Alcoran from the Angel Gabriel It 's not my design to proceed very far in this point to prove at large against such persons the Divinity of the Holy Scriptures 'T is too large a subject for the narrow bounds of this small treatrse besides it would be Actum agere since that all those of the Holy Fathers of the Church or Learned Divines which have lived since these 200 years which have demonstrated the truth of Christian Religion against the Heathenish and other Sects which have been raised since have ever begun this way this being the very Basis Hinge and Foundation of true Religion which is whether on purpose or not I know not basely betrayed to the Atheists by those who pretend that the Scripture hath no authority over us but only as those who call themselves the Church give it that power and validity For setting aside the Scripture these persons who call themselves the Church cannot demonstrate their pretended infallibility nor prove and perswade the world that they ought to be beleived upon their bare word whatever they say as the Divinity of the Scriptures may be demonstrated to profane persons upon their own Authority and by themselves I will only for the ending of this small Treatise bring some general Considerations by which one may see the foolishness and vanity of this frivolous exception of the Atheists and of their false accusations in saying that the Holy Scripture is nothing but a dream and invention of men without certain ground of Truth There are then 4 principal things which shew the impertinency of this exception 1. The quality and condition 2. The number and diversity 3. The Scope end of these Sacred Writers And finally The Nature and quality of the things they write These things being well considered it will appear that those things which those men have writ are not Tales and Deceits and things which they have feigned to make the world beleive them I will speak of these four things very briefly leaving those things for any man to amplifie upon As to the first Those that make it their business to deceive and make Fables and Forgeries are for the most part subtile cunning wary and knavish persons and withall of a low or mean Condition But great and high spirits magnanimous and Heroical Souls Kings great Princes and Monarchs Persons of rare and exquisite Learning and of sublime wisdom never stoop to so low and unworthy an imployment as that of Juglers deceivers And those that are rude ignorant illiterate and of too low and abject condition are not fit or able to invent such things and to give so much colour to their forgeries as to make them to be believed and received for currant Now among the Sacred writers there are some of these two sorts There are Kings and Princes great Captains and Conquerours and emment Persons in Dignity and Authority in Learning and incomparable Wisdom You have there a Joshuah one of the greatest and most eminent Captains and Conquerours that ever was You have there David one of the bravest most generous and glorious Kings and most eminent for his Valour Battells Feats of Arms and Victories that ever was seen You have there Solomon the most Rich Magnificent Illustrious and Wisest King that ever was in the World You have Daniel the first and chiefest Officer in the Court of the greatest Monarchy in the World in whom there was found more of true high and sublime Wisdome then in all those Wise men of that Nation and Monarchy in which he was an Officer You have Mordecai and Nehemiah great and mighty Persons and of the chiefest in the Court of the Kings of Persia which relate unto us their own History You have Job a great rich and mighty Person in his time yet greater in in Goodness Patience