Cannot Conclude without making a little Reflection upon what has been said And 1. How should we love and value and adhere to the Gospel of Christ and the Blessed Author of such a Revelation How are Writers esteemed who treat of Matters which are of very great Use and Service to Mankind in the things of this Life And what a Price do Men set upon those Books wherein Difficulties are cleared up and those profitable Inventions are contained Now what is there of so great Importance as Pardon of Sin and Immortal Life the Doctrine whereof is encumber'd with so many Difficulties which are too hard for Natural Light and Reason but are so clearly plainly and fully Solved by the Holy Scriptures How are Men pleased with an exact Description of a Foreign Country tho' they do not so much as dream of dwelling in it nor have any thoughts or hopes of having so much as one Foot of Land there How then should we value the Gospel that gives us so full and plain an Account of the Heavenly Country and how we may be possessed of all the Glory of it What an Esteem have ingenious Men for a Book of Astronomy that gives an Account of the orderly Motions of the Sun Moon and Stars What an happy Invention is that of those Glasses whereby they discover some lesser Bodies which the naked and unassisted Eye is not able to perceive tho' thereby they have no more Benefit from their Light and Influence than those who are the most ignorant of these Affairs How should we value the Sacred Oracles which do discover the Heavenly State to us which is not to be known by mere Reason and how we may so order our own Motions as to get above and out-shine any of those glorious Luminaries Let us adhere to the Bible for if once we give up that we are off from our Center we shall find nothing whereon our Soul can rest but shall be at our Wits-end Methinks that Courtier spoke like a Man of Sense to the Pagan King Edwin whilst he was considering whether he had best to turn Christian or no when he said thus to him * Bede's Eccles Hist Gentis Angl. l. 2. cap. 13. The present Life of Man upon Earth Sir if compared with that Time which is to us unknown seems to me to resemble a little Sparrow which while your Majesty was feasting within with your Royal Retinue in your warm Parlour during the roaring of the blustering Winds and the falling of great Quantities of Rain and Snow without flew in at one Door and presently flew out at another All the time it was in the House it was well shelter'd from Wind and Weather but as soon as it got out into the cold Air we were altogether as ignorant whither it went as we were whence it came Thus we can give some Account of our Soul during its Abode in the Body while it was housed and harboured therein but where it was Before and how it fares with it Afterwards is to us altogether unknown If therefore Paulinus he was the Christian Bishop who laboured to Convert those Heathens by his Preaching can certainly inform us herein he deserves in my Opinion to be followed And the King after he had heard Paulinus's Sermon spoke like an Understanding Man when he said I have long ago been convinced that the Idols we have Worshipped were meer Nothings because the more diligently I have sought for the Truth in this way of Religion so much the farther was I from finding it But now I openly profess that by this Preaching the way of obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness is clearly laid before us Whereupon he immediately gave Orders for the Demolishing the Heathen Temples and Altars 2. Let us take heed that we do not fall short of Pardon and Heaven Sad was the Case of that wicked and prophane Lord at Samaria who barely saw the great Plenty with his Eyes but never tasted of it he stood at the Gate to let in others but was trampled to Death by the Multitude pressing in upon him Much worse will be our Case if we only hear of the great Provision which God has made for us in the other State and never feed upon it but be trodden down to Hell in the Crowd of our own unpardoned Sins It is a double Misery to be drowned within sight of Shore to miss of that Pardon and of that Heaven that are so plainly revealed and of which we have heard so much and so often 3. Let us clear up our Right and Title to both of them How long have we remained in Doubts and Fears and shall we always continue in that uneasy Posture like a Door on its Hinges moving this way and that but still hanging in the same Place where it was many Years ago To clear up our Right 't is necessary that the following Rules be observ'd 1. Don't give Way to immoderate Worldly Sorrow If we be like a Carkass that lies under the Weight of that Earth which presses upon it and never stirs Hand or Foot to help it self If we lie down under our Burdens only mourning and complaining and indulging our selves in black and gloomy Thoughts we can never expect that God should help us especially if we do worse than this if we sinfully afflict our selves we can't reasonably hope that God should comfort us and raise up them who madly cast or bow themselves down If with our own Hands we plunge the Dagger into our Breast it would be a Miracle if we did not lose our Blood and Spirits faint and feel a great deal of Pain They that will chew upon nothing but Wormwood and Gall and delight in rolling it up and down in their Mouths are likely to walk in the Bitterness of their Souls all their Days 2. Watch against the Encroachments of Bodily Melancholy This naturally disposes a Man to Fears and Jealousies is the black Root of many idle but vexatious Scruples and perverse Cavillings and will make him refuse to be comforted tho' there be ever so great Reason for it If a Stander-by convince him of some saving Work of God on his Soul and of his Right to Pardon and Eternal Life yet as soon as he is gone all is undone again the Melancholy Christian being like a faulty Watch which may be wound up and go a little while ones Hand is upon it but no sooner is that removed off but it runs down in an Instant and stands still again When such meet with Worldly Crosses from which none are exempted it casts them into deep Fits of Sorrow which in a Serious Person presently runs into dreadful and amazing Fears about his Soul and the supposed miserable and forlorn State thereof As Peter when he was over-shadowed with a Bright Cloud so any other of the Disciples of Christ when cover'd with a Black one Luke 9.33 are apt to speak they know not what especially against themselves All proper Natural Means therefore
because of the Corruption of Human Nature And withal shews whither we should apply our selves for Divine Grace for the changing the habitual Frame of our Souls and the amending of our Lives So much for the Nature of Christianity II. Now for the Proof of it The Word began first to be spoken by the Lord Heb. 2. and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will And he would never have set the Broad Seal of Heaven upon it if it had been a Cheat and an Imposture and so have unavoidably led us into a most fatal Error To this may be added the wonderful Spreading of the Gospel which is very Admirable considering the Strictness of its Precepts the Weakness of the Instruments by whom it was propagated the strong Opposition that was made against it every where by Men in Authority and those of the greatest Wit and Learning the general Prejudices with which the Minds of Men were filled against it and its overturning all other Religions wherein Men had been Bred and Born and which therefore they use to be very tenacious of If it had been a Lye it would never have been so blessed and prospered of God Consider further what a wonderful Reformation it wrought in the Hearts and Lives of all that entertained it Surely that Seal could be no Forgery but must be cut by a Divine Hand which made so many Divine Impressions upon such Multitudes of Souls To all which may further be added The Case of the Jews who tho' scattered all the World over yet contrary to all other Instances in Nature do not mingle and incorporate with any People but keep themselves as a Body distinct from all the Nations among whom they dwell And they are the Filth and Off-scouring of every Place even among the Heathens as well as the Christians The very Mahometans despise them The Indians * Terry 's Voyage into the East-Indies have a very Emphatical way in their Language of calling a Man two or three very ugly Names in one Compound Word yet that of calling a Man a Jew is reckoned worse than all the Terms of Reproach heaped up together They are every where standing Monuments of Divine Vengeance for rejecting the Gospel and a lasting Proof and Testimony of the Truth of our Saviour's Prophecies against them Especially if we consider the many Attempts which they have made but always in vain but more especially their last in the Reign and by the zealous Encouragement of Julian the Apostate Emperor to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem on purpose to prove our Saviour a False Prophet and the miraculous Overthrow of it and his Design by Balls of Fire from Heaven whereby the Workmen were consumed and the sorry Remains of the Foundations of that Temple were entirely razed and he made further to fulfil the Prophecy of Christ by his very attempt to overthrow it which is testified not only by the Christian Authors but by the Heathen Historian * Ammianus Marcel l. 23. also Neither are the Prophecies in Scripture concering Christ to be forgotten such as that of Daniel concerning the Messiah's being cut off within such a compass of Years Chap. 9.24 which tho' it hath its lesser Difficulties yet as to the main Substance is very plain and therefore Porphyry most unreasonably pretended the Book of Daniel was a History forged after the Events came to pass And that Prophecy of Christ's coming before the Destruction of the Second Temple Mal. 3. But above all that which was one great Occasion of the Conversion of that Noble * Earl of Roch. Life by Burnet p. 140 141 142. Man who was once as remarkable for his Debauchery and Infidelity as ever he was for his Wit or Quality viz. the Prophecy of Isaiah in his 53d Chapter concerning the Death of Christ which does so exactly correspond with the History of our Saviour's Passion tho' it was wrote many Ages before Christ's Appearance in the World and which the Jews who abhor the Notion of a Crucified Messiah and constantly Blaspheme our Lord Jesus Christ still kept in their Hands as a Book Divinely inspired Pilate writ an Inscription on the Cross over the Head of Christ This is the King of the Jews in Latin Greek and Hebrew Characters Every Jew is a Pillar of Brass which God has set up and whereon he has engraven in Capital Letters That Christ was a Teacher that came down from Heaven And this not in two or three but in all Languages under the Heavens And he who hath Eyes to see will read and he that hath an Ear to hear let him understand And I think we ought not to slight the Acts of Pilate which he sent to Tiberius containing a Narrative of the Life Miracles Death and Resurrection of our Saviour These are mentioned not only by * Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 2. Eusebius but also by Tertullian †Apol. c. 5. c. 21. and J. Martyr ‖ Apol. 2da p. 76. 84. Edit Paris who both of them more than once in their Apologies for the Christians boldly appeal to ' em And they must have been Mad-men in so doing if they had not been well assured of the Truth of ' em And one can't but think it highly rational that Pilate should send some Account of so Extraordinary an Affair to the Emperor But that which to me is of great Weight and which I am surprized to find omitted by Learned Men yea by those who have written warmly against them that have endeavoured to put a Slur on these Acts is this That Maximinus in his Perfecution caused Supposititious * Of which see Eusebius Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 9. l. 9. c. 5. c. 7. Acts of Pilate to be Forged full of Blasphemy against Christ which he made to be spread throughout the whole Empire to be taught in the Schools where the Boys were to get them by heart and to declaim upon them that our Saviour and his Religion and Followers might be every-where derided But Providence put an End to his Mirth and Laughter for Divine Vengeance seiz'd him and he died a wretched tormenting Death and just before it publish'd an Edict in Favour of the Christians Now if there had been no Real Acts of Pilate what need was there of these Counterfeit ones and of all this Industry for the spreading of ' em Of all these Heads of Discourse § V I have chosen to insist only on these two viz. The Pardon of Sin and a Future State of Happiness because tho' they have been very lightly touched upon by several yet I do not know any that hath thoroughly handled ' em This Vein hath been scarce open'd and then hath been presently closed again the Skilful Work-men having chosen rather to dig in some other Parts of the
Maker But how bold soever he may be with him he is very civil to the Female Sex in providing Husbands for 'em from among the Page 190. Angels tho' what he further saith on that Subject for two Pages Page 191 192. together I shall not transcribe because I will not stain my Paper nor pollute the Mind of my Reader And yet this wretchedly unconstant Man quickly after tells us That a Woman is the most lovely Page 191. at the Bottom BRUTE of the Universe A Flight this is which I hope LINDAMOUR as the Writer of Mr. Blount's Life and Death calls himself will not forget the next time he pays his Devotions to the Divine Image as he words it of the Honourable and Divine HERMIONE for whom this Deist tho' to be sure he is no Idolater has so great a Veneration that he talks of Sacrificing Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Blount p. 1 2. his own Life for her with his own Hands as Mr. B. did for Astrea his Brother's Wife This Lindamour defends and applauds as an Heroical Action in Philander with this remarkable Saying out of Almanzor I my self am King of me tho' how this is consistent with the third Fundamental of A. W's Religion viz. That 't is our Duty to Worship and Obey God as our Creator and GOVERNOR I leave to his Consideration As also how he will reconcile Mr. Blount's Practice with these Words of his in his Discourse against the Surrenderers of Charters viz. Page 178. He that commits Murder with the Sword of Justice aggravates his Crime to the Highest Degree As these Gentlemen would have done in making the Government Felo de se and Accessary to its own ruin Tho' it be not a matter of so great Moment as the rest which I have already mention'd yet I can't but observe that Mr. B. Page 128. accuses Sir H. Savil that he hath so far Complemented the Jewish as to Rob the English World of the fifth Book of Tacitus 's History by omitting any Part of it in his Version and yet he himself is guilty of the same Fault and besides the mis-translation of what he gives us hath kept back a Considerable part of Tacitus's Account But I suppose he thought that wherever there is a Jew 't is fit there should be somewhat of Circumcision I 'le add but one more tho' I could produce several others The Deist sometimes bears up very briskly about Repentance 'T is the true and only Expiation of Sin and is so agreed upon by all Men in all Ages and of all Religions wherefore take it for an Page 200. Undoubted Truth and this not revealed but innate and a part of Natural Religion Sure by his Confidence he looks on this as Full Payment And yet a little after 't is but a little part of Composition-Money but 't is all we have Repentance is what we can answer Page 209. to an Atonement and therefore we may reasonably assert 't is all God will expect from us 'T is but as a Thousand Pounds when a Man owes a Million and the Creditor can have but All. And as pert as Mr. B. is yet sometime his Heart fails him For the highest he can go is but Vero-simile est similem Deo à Deo Page 90. non negligi 'T is likely that he who is like God is not neglected of God Not to be Neglected of God is but a very faint Expression A Man may be not neglected of God and yet be but in very low Circumstances And yet even this too is but likely which is but very cold Comfort All these Flowers I have gather'd out of one Garden tho' from several Beds The Passages are written some by one Author some by another but we may look upon them as the Sense of the Party Mr. Blount hath affixed the Seal of the Company to all these Papers and publish'd them all together as Oracles of Reason He I am sure was answerable for them and so is the Writer of his Life who thus highly commends them after having spoke very Contemptibly of other Writings as Trifles and their Authors as Whiffling Scribblers Account of Mr. Blount 's Life p. 2. But the Subjects and Compositions of these following Sheets left no room for either of these i. e. Apology or Abstract Their Merit took away all Occasion of Apology and the Majesty and Consequence of their Design all pretence to Abstracts Those that desire to see these Sacred MONUMENTS must be more nice Considerers than to be satisfy'd without attentive OBSERVATION They are TRUTHS of too great Importance to be Slightly run over of too great Beauty not to hold our Eyes some time on them to take a thorough Survey of their various Perfections I have look'd attentively into these MONUMENTS and think that Lindamour would do well to put in for what he speaks Ib. of the next Verger's Place that falls at Westminster which if he can get he cannot then point to any Tomb that is fuller of Stench and Rottenness than the Papers which in his Preface he hath so highly extolled On the whole I believe the Reader will incline to my Opinion That some Men run down Christianity because 't is Religion rather than because 't is Revealed FINIS THE CONTENTS In the Epistle to the Reader THE Necessity of opposing Desism § 1. Serious Piety in General the Best Defence against it § 2. And Humility in Particular § 3. The Rational Grounds of the Christian Faith § 3. An Account of the following Treatise § 4. In the Preface SOme Things we are in the Dark about and may contentedly be so But not as to Pardon and a Future State In the Book CHAP. I. PArdon a Matter of great Importance p. 1 Natural Light can't Assure us that God will forgive p. 2 Nor if he will how far Pardon shall extend as to Persons or Crimes p. 10. Nor of the Terms upon which p. 18 The Pleas that it will assure us of Pardon upon meer Repentance considered à p. 18. ad p. 45. Nor When God will Pardon p. 45. Nor how often p. 49 The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the Sih meant in Heb. 6.4 and ch 10.26 p. 51 Nor to what Degree God will forgive p. 63 Under each of which Heads is shewn what Assurance we have from Revelation CHAP. II. A Future State of Happiness a Point of great Importance p. 72 Natural Light can't Assure us there is such a State p. 80 The Heathens uncertain of it p. 81 Nor of the Greatness of it p. 119. The wretched Notions of the Heathens about it p. 120 Nor of its Eternity and Unchangeableness p. 149 The Sentiments of the Heathens about this p. 150 Nor that we shall enjoy it immediately after Death p. 168 The Fancies of the Heathens about this p. 170 Nor who shall enjoy it p. 175. The Opinions of the Heathens about this p. 177 Nor the Terms of it p. 183. Nor where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which Pardon and Future Happiness are suspended p. 187 Under each of which Heads is shewn what Satisfaction we have from Revelation The CLOSE CHrist and his Gospel to be loved and adhered to p. 201. We should be careful we don't fall short of Pardon and Heaven p. 205. and clear up our Right to 'em p. 206. Directions for our so doing Ib. In the Appendix A. W 's Logick like his Religion p. 213. His Objection against Revealed Religion That it hath not and could not be Universally known p. 214. The Reasons of so large an Answer to it p. 215. The Case of Men different from that of other Creatures p. 216. The Gospel Preach'd to Adam and Noah p. 217. Mens own Fault that it did not from them descend to All in every Age Ib. God not obliged to spread it by Miraculous Methods p. 226. Preach'd to Abraham and the Jews tho' other Nations not excluded thereby from the Means of Grace p. 228 The Fault of Christians and Heathens that the Gospel is not further Spread p. 234. A. W 's Promise challenged p. 235. Heathens left to God p. 236. But certainly in a better Case than Deists among us p. 237 No want of Evidence for Christianity but somewhat else in them p. 238 Their Hopes from Infinite Mercy vain p. 244. Sacrifices not meerly Symbolical nor Repentance an Expiation much less the only one in the Opinion of all Men p. 246. The Contradictions and gross Blunders of our Modern Deists p. 254.