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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B04702	An antidote against a careless indifferency in matters of religion. Being a treatise in opposition to those that believe, that all religions are indifferent, and that it imports not what men profess. / Done out of French. With an introduction by Anthony Horneck, D.D. Chaplain in ordinary to their Majesties.; Traité contre l'indifférence des religions. English	Pictet, Benedict, 1655-1724.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1694 (1694)	Wing P2153; ESTC R181787	77,076	145

and this is that Revelation which we meet with in the Old and New Testament CHAP. XI Of the Divinity of the Scripture IN regard there are several Persons that will not acknowledge the Books of the Old and New Testament to be Divinely inspir'd 't is necessary to settle the Confirmation of this Truth before we go any farther and this is that which we shall succinctly undertake in this Chapter until we shall have accomplish'd it more at large with God's permission in another Treatise Nor do I believe it to be a thing so difficult to demonstrate the Divinity of the Scriptures as at first it seems to be For either they must say that God has not made himself known or that he has reveal'd himself but that we know not where this Revelation is or else they must confess that it is to be found in the Scriptures They cannot say that God has not made himself known for we have prov'd in the foregoing Chapter that they cannot maintain it without having a very unworthy Idea of God They cannot say that God has reveal'd himself but that they know not where this Revelation is For wherefore should God have reveal'd himself if the Book be not known wherein he has declar'd his Will to Men Therefore they must confess that God has made himself known in the Books of the Old and New Testament For they cannot tell us of any other because there is no other which has more the Characters of Divinity and those Characters are so visible that he must willingly hoodwink his own Eyes that cannot see ' em In short what could be desir'd in a Book of which God was the Author then what is found in the Sacred Writings Who is there that would not look upon it as a Divine Work A Book that teaches us Truths so Extraordinary so Sublime that Men could never otherwise have been able to have invented Yet such as have a strict Coherence and Tye however with the Common Notions which Nature or rather the God of Nature has imprinted in our Minds and which teaches 'em in a manner so lofty and so plain at the same time that tho' there seem not to appear in it any Ornaments of Vulgar Eloquence yet there is all that human Art can afford Us a Sovereign Authority which Imprints respect in the Soul of him that reads it and a winning Facility which attracts and captivates their Attention A Book that gives us a greater Idea of God then can be conceiv'd that describes him to us as a Spirit that has no Communication with matter an Infinite Spirit that is every where an Almighty Being that does all things that Created the World and sustains it by his Providence who is the Ruler of all Events the absolute Master of all things the Judge of Men and Angels A Book which clearly Unfolds to us what Human Reason would never have discover'd but very imperfectly which never pronounces any Censures nor gives any Censures but what the Conscience finds to be most just that promises nothing but what the Conscience desires that threatens nothing but what the Conscience dreads and does it not thence appear that the Author of the Conscience is the Author of this Book A Book that Humbles Man before God by giving him to understand his emptiness his profound wretchedness his natural Corruption and Sin that romages the very Secrets and Entrenchments of our Souls to shew us our conceal'd Vices our Vanity our Pride our Self-Love our Love of the World our Love of Revenge the Seeds of Incredulity and Prophaneness A Book that combats all sorts of Sins not one excepted not so much as the slightest and several that were unknown to the most austere Sects of Philosophers not so much as a Glance or a Thought escapes it it assails all the Motions of Concupiscence and all Appearances of Evil. A Book that is not contented to s●bscribe us an exterior Holiness but which reqûires that our Souls should be as pure as our Bodies and that we should exalt our Virtue to an Heroick Degree and be like God A Book that requires that we should have no other Rule but the Law and Will of God and no other end but his Glory and which exacts from us that we should principally and above all things in the World love the Author of our Being and that we should love our Neighbor as our Selves A Book that has nothing of Contradiction in all the Parts of it and which presents to our Eyes the Idea of a Wisdom like to that which is observ'd in this vast Universe thô they who wrote it never had any commun̄ication one with another but were separated by long Intervals of Ages which shews that they were all inspir'd with the same Spirit and that they had a Sovereign Master over 'em who precided over the whole work A Book which has foretold extraordinary Events before they happen'd and with so much certainty that you would rather take it to be a recital of things past then a prediction of things to come which shews us that it springs from a Spirit before which all things are present which sees all things and which clearly shines in the darkness of Futurity in regard that nothing happens which it has not ordain'd A Book which having discover'd to Man that he is Criminal and Guilty before an Infinite Majesty which must be atton'd teaches him afterwards the true means by which he was reconcil'd to his Judge and shews him a Divine Person that descends from Heaven to take upon him Human Nature like his own who under that Nature suffers a cruel Death who by that Death satisfies the Justice of God extinguishes the Heat of his Wrath and makes an Attonement for our sins which the Blood of Bulls and Goats nor all the Purifications of the Law were never able to expiate A Book that appeases all the troubles of the Soul which all the Books in the World were never able to do which secures us against all our Terrors caused by the Confideration of our Sins the thoughts of Death and of a Judgment to come and fills us with that Peace and Comfort which neither can be express'd nor conceiv'd A Book wherein the Doctrine contain'd supplies all the necessities of the Soul and satisfies all her desires for there is no question to be made but that a Book where our Soul whose Desires are Infinite finds plenary satisfaction must be the Production of a Deity who being only able to know what we would desire is only able himself alone to content us A Book the Doctrine of which produces such extraordinary Effects that when it is once receiv'd into our Hearts there is nothing able to shake our Constancy and our Faith no not the most cruel of Torments A Book whose Doctrine has been receiv'd into the World maugre all the Efforts of the Devil thoô it were only divulg'd by Fishermen and Toll-gatherers and for Enemies met with the most Eloquent

Orators the most refin'd Philosophers most potent Kings and Emperors who persecuted and put to the most cruel of Torments those that preach'd it A Book that has been confirm'd by an Infinite-number of Miracles and by the Blood of a vast number of Martyrs of all Orders of both Sexes of all Conditions of all Ages Lastly A Book that to this very day preserves it's pristin Veneration thô no endeavours have been omitted to obliterate it while so many Works have perish'd which one would have thought would have endur'd as long as the Sun If this be not the work of God let 'em tell us what is a Divine Book or let 'em shew us any others wherein all these Characters meet together But that 's more then ever they will be able to do 'T is certain then that God is reveal'd to Men and that this Revelation is found in the Books of the Old and New Testament CHAP. XII Of the Clearness of the Holy Scripture THere are some Men who acknowledge the Divinity of the Scripture but they say 't is so obscure that no Body can discover by it which is the true Religion that there never was any Heretick but vaunted of the ●earing his Paradoxes upon the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles So that no Man can be confident from thence what Religion to fix upon because all the Religions in the World are not equally to be prov'd by the Holy Scripture According to which Opinion we may as well say that the Oracles of God are like those of the Sybills and that it fares with the Holy Ghost as with the Apollo of the Pagans whose Answers were so obscure that they might well be taken in two opposite Senses I do not however believe that they who are of this Opinion will presume to maintain that Paganism and Mahometism can be prov'd by Script●●●s or that Judaism is to be found in the Books of the New Testamon● And therefore they must acknowledg that it ought not to be an indifferent Thing to 'em whither they be Turks Pagans or Jews but that they ought to embrace the Christian Religion 'T is one point gain'd then that we have brought 'em to be Christians but we must not stop there Certainly they who assert the Scripture to be so obscure that they cannot thereby apprehend which is the true Religion have a strange Idea of God For God has given us the Scriptures to some end this they cannot deny unless they will doubt of the Wisdom of the most perfect Being This End he teaches us himself by his Servants All things says St. Paul Rom. 15.4 were written for our Instruction to the end that through Patience and Consolation in the Holy Scriptures we might have hope And the same Apostle declares 2 Tim. 3.16 17. That the whole Scripture is Divinely inspir'd and properly for Teaching Convincing Correcting and Instructing according to Justice to the end the Man of God may be accomplish'd and perfectly instructed in every good work But I beseech ye what Instruction what Consolation can a Man receive from a Book so obscure as the Scripture if what our Indifferent Men assert be true Or can a work of that nature accomplish a Man of God 'T is the Pleasure of God that we should have recourse to his Word as to the Rule of our Faith and our Manners the Apostles Anathematize those that teach any other Doctrine and command the Faithful not to hold communication with such sort of People and pronounce the Peace of God upon all those that walk according to that Rule But how is it possible that this Book can s●rve for a Rule if it be so extreamly obscure and why should Anathema's be thunder'd out against all those that teach any of her Doctrine then what is contain'd therein if we cannot precisely know what it is that it teaches Either God could not clearly reveal himself to Men or else it was not his Pleasure so to do Can it be faid that he could not What is Impossible to the Father and Author of Light who himself has placed the Sun and the Stars in the Firmament to enlighten the whole World Can it be said that it was not his Pleasure How Would not the Father of Mercy whose Goodness is Infinite vouchsafe to make his Will clearly known to Men to the end they may pay him faithful Obedience If so wherefore does he threaten pains Eternal to those that disobey him and believe not in his Word I must confess there are many things obscurely deliver'd in Holy Scripture It contains peculiar Depths and Mysteries And it was the Pleasure of God it should be so to humble our Lofty Reason pufft up with Knowledge to waken our Minds that fall asleep when we meet with no difficulty to oblige us to Pray Meditate and Labour make us the more earnestly wish for that day when we shall be fill'd with the knowledge of all things the most obscure But if there be things obscure and difficult in Scripture there are others that are most clear and easie It proportions it self to all and offers it self to all There is in it a Simplicity that debases it self to the most Simple and a Loftiness that exercises the most Learned All indifferently drain from it but far from being able to empty it by filling our selves we always leave behind Abysses of Knowledge and Wisdom which we adore without being able to comprehend ' em Thus the Loftiness of it astonishes the Haughty it awakes the Sloathful by the Importance of the Matter concerning which it treats The Difficulties contain'd in it exercise the Industry and it nourishes the Wise with its Illuminations according to the saying of St. Austin which is that which Saint Gregory very well explains in his Letter to the Arch-Bishop of Seville when he sent him his Morals upon Job As the word of God says he encloses Mysteries able to exercise the Wits of the most clear-sighted so it also contains clear and evident Truths proper to feed the simple and less Learned Outwardly it has wherewithal to give Milk to Babes and within her Secret Folds and Concealments sufficient to ravish with admiration the sublimest of Human Wits like a River so shallow in some places that a Lamb may wade over and in others deep enough for an Elephant to Swim And in the Preface to the 20th Book of his Morals he thus expresses himself The Scripture is incomparably superior to all other Doctrine not only for that it brings us Tidings of nothing but certain Truths not only because it calls us to a Heavenly Country because it changes the Hearts of those that read it by withdrawing 'em from Terrestrial Desires and inflaming 'em with a Desire of Heaven but also for that at the same time that it exercises the more Intelligent and perfect with Obscure Texts it Caresses and Comforts the more imperfect and feeble Understandings with the sweetness and easiness of its precepts It is neither so obscure

to bid good speed to those that bring not the Doctrine of Christ for it appears that he speaks of the same Seducers who confess'd not that Jesus Christ was come in the Flesh Wherefore is it that he would have us stand so strictly upon our Guards when the business in Dispute is about the receiving a Doctrine or not receiving it if it were sufficient for a Man to correct his Manners to be Sav'd III. I draw a Third Argument from hence that the Doctor of the Gentiles thunders out Anathema's against those that press the observation of the Mosaic Ceremonies thô they carefully enjoyn'd the practise of the Moral Law If it were sufficient to observe the Decalogue would Christian Charity have allow'd St. Paul to Anathematize People who believ'd in Christ only that they were zealous of the Law Acts 21.20 and who were only for joyning Moses to Jesus Christ the Ceremonies of the one to the Gospel of the other IV. If this Opinion which we oppose were true whence comes it that the Scripture condemns the Unbelievers to Eternal Pains Apoc. 21.8 and that it excludes Idolaters out of the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.10 There can be no other Reason given but only because that living Morally well is not sufficient for the obtaining of Eternal Salvation but that it behoves us to believe those Truths which are Taught us Fifthly If Living according to the Rules of Moral Honesty were sufficient to bring a Man to Heaven I would fain know the Reason why the Apostles take so much pains to instruct People in the Truths of the Gospel why do they keep such a stir to prove that Christ is the Promised Messiah that they speak of his Divinity and his Cross two things that equally stumbled both the Jews and the Gentiles Had it not been sufficient to have taught 'em Good Morality Sixthly Whence comes in to pass that Christ and his Apostles so frequently exhort us to suffer for their Truth and that so many persons have suffered Martyrdom in Defence of the Truth of which they might have been ignorant if we may believe our Antagonists without being deprived of Salvation There would have been but very few Confessors and Martyrs had Moral Honesty been sufficient to bring us to Eternal Felicity To all these Proofs I add this Important Reflexion that we draw from the Truths of the Gospel which are propos'd to us to the end we should believe 'em the most powerful Morives that are able to engage us to Holiness There is nothing more prevalent to incline Men to Sanctification then to make known to 'em a God that loves Men to that Degree as to give 'em his only begotten Son a God that abhors and detests Sin to that degree that he rather chose to expose to Death his only Son in whom he is well pleased then to leave Sin Unpunished A God that takes upon him Human Nature and under that Nature suffers a most Cruel Death to make an Atonement for the Sin of Men and to satisfie Divine Vengeance justly provoked against ' em Lastly A God that penetrates into the most secret Folds and Concealments of the Heart who is to raise the Dead and bring 'em to appear before his Throne to give an Account of all their Actions It behoves us therefore to believe if we will live well and to believe and live well if we intend to be Sav'd CHAP. XXI That the Opinion of Indifferenay in Religions has displeased almost all People THere remains nothing more for me but only to Answer an Argument which is attributed to the King of Siam and which we have cited already in the Third Chapter The True God said he who Created the Heaven and the Earth and all the Creatures therein contained and who has given 'em Natures and Inclinations so different had he so pleased by giving Bodies and Souls alike to Men could have inspir'd into 'em the same Sentiments as to what Religion it behov'd 'em to follow and have caused all Nations to agree and unire under one and the same Law But it seems that Providence permits diversity of Sects because God takes as much delight to be honoured with different sorts of Worship and various Ceremonies as to be glorify'd by a Prodigious Number of Creatures the variety of whose Beauty 's set forth and Magnifies his Infinite Power There are some People who suffer themselves to be dazled with this Argument but I beseech 'em to consider that it may be prov'd as well that God takes pleasure in the Sins which Men Commit For it might be said that had God so pleased by giving to Men Bodies and Souls alike he might have infused into 'em the same Sentiments for Virtue but that it seems as if he permitted the one to be Wise and Virtuous the other to be very Vicious because he takes delight in the variety of Humours and Inclinations Now I am apt to believe there are very few that would approve such a Method of Arguing To this first Answer I may add two more The first is That there might be something Plausible in this first Argument of the King of Siam if God had not really made known to Men what it was that he requir'd 'em to believe and what they were to do But we have proved that he has reveal'd it to 'em and that they need no more then read the Scripture with attention and without prejudice to understand which is the True Religion The Second Answer is That this Argument is grounded upon a false Principle that God might have inspired into all Men the same Sentiments of Religion had he not taken delight in Variety For God is not bound to make himself known alike to all Men. He is absolutely at his own Liberty in all his Works They to whom he has reveal'd himself have no more cause to magnifie themselves then others and they from whom he conceals himself have no cause to complain Moreover it is not to be imagined from the Opinion which the King of Siam seems to have concerning Indifferency in Religions that this Sentiment derives it self naturally into the Thoughts of all Men. On the other side it would be easie to prove that the greatest part of Religions have condemned it The thing is clear in respect of the Christian Religion nor is there any need of bringing farther Proofs The Pagans were so fixed to their Old Opinions that one of the most Learned Interpreters of Virgil observes that great Care was taken both among the Athenians and the Romans that no body introduced New Religions For that Reason it was that Socrates was condemned at Athens that the Jews were expell'd Rome and that the Books of Numa were burnt Josephus reports that the Athenians inflicted grievous punishments upon those that introduc'd new Deities and durst presume so much as to speak against their Law Dionisius of Halicarnassus asserts that not only the Greeks but also the Barbarians carefully preserv'd the Religion of their Ancestors and the same thing is reported of the Scythians and Persians Nevertheless we will not deny what Socrates said that it was lawful for every Body to serve the Deity according to the Custom of the Country and that Foreign Gods were often transported to Rome and Athens But give us leave to make these Three Remarks 1. That the Testimony of Socrates is of no Weight because he was Condemned at Athens 2. That the greatest Part of those Deities which were transported to Rome were remov'd out of the Cities which the Romans had Besieg'd and were by the Priest Invited before the whole Army to the Capital of all Italy where they should have as they said more Temples more Sacrifices and more Adorers To which we may add that they were therefore removed because it was an Opinion among 'em that all Places had their Tutelar Deities and that they could not take Cities till after they had removed the Gods that protected ' em 3. That those Gods which were carried to Rome Athens and other Places and those that were there Worshiped under the Character of unknown Gods are sufficient proofs that some Accident fell out of which they believed some Deity that was unknown to 'em to be the Author and make it appear that the Romans were of Opinion that the more Gods they had in their Cities the more Protectors they had But from thence it does not follow that the Athenians and Romans believ'd that all Religions were Indifferent For had they so thought why did they persecute so Cruelly the Christians and the Jews It is certain also that they derided those New Gods that were introduced as appears by the Comedies of Aristophanes To which I may add that the Bramiry among the Indians who are the Ancient Brachmans believe that every Body may be saved in his own Religion provided he follow exactly the way that God has shewed him but that he shall be Damn'd if he pursues any other As for the Mahometans 't is very true that Mahomet seems to favour Indifferency in Religions while he says in his Alcoran that every Man who lives well who Worships the true God and does good Works whether Christian or Jew obtains the Favour of his God Nevertheless 't is certain that in another place he asserts that the Law is the only way of Salvation and ordains his Religion to be established in the World by force of Arms. Indeed it would be a kind of Wonder that the Mahometans should think that the Christians could be Saved seeing that the Christians aver Mahomet to be an Impostor and daily beg of God that that same false Prophet may have no more followers but that his Religion may be rooted from the Earth Moreover 't is well known that the Turks openly condemn the Persians Which they would never do if ' they thought all Religions were Indifferent As for the Jews the Thing is so certain that he who questions it must never have read their Writings For they continually curse the Christians and are so obstinately persuaded of the Truth of their Religion nay more That it is the only True Religion in the World that there have been several who have rather chosen to die then Violate the meanest precept of their Law THE END