a Doctrine pure non-sence to carnal reason teaching to be saved by anothers Righteousness wise with anothers wisedom to trust in him as a God that was himself a Child to relye on him to deliver us from the Power of Sin and Satan that fell himself under the wrath of Men consider how little Worldly encouragement it gave to his Disciples 1. not to grow rich but rather to let what they had 2. not to gain the Love of the World but to be hated 3. not to enjoy the pleasures of the World but the Cross a Goal a Dungeon a Gibbet or Rack yet to see poor Creatures so far to forget all their Worldly interests relations estates and enjoyments so as to trample upon them yea joyfully wellcome the bloodiest deaths their injuries could invent and thank their Persecutors for the favour of admitting them to share with the torments of their brethren as if they had gone to divide a spoil and not to be made one this speaks a Heavenly Power to be in that Doctrine which verifies what Christ told his Disciples John 14. He that believes on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these what greater works are these Christ cured all diseases cast out Devils and raised the dead what greater works did the Apostles yes the conversion of the World and the subversion every where of his Kingdom that is called the Prince of the World were greater works a far greater work to raise up the dead World then one dead Lazarus to deny then a Gospel that has been propagated with a glorious success confirm'd by a frame of Miracles acknowledged by the Writings of the Heathens that lived in the Primitive times witnessed by the Blood of Martyrs and those of the wiser and learned sort who could not all be a parcel of Melancholy Fools and shall this have not better reception than if it were a mere Romance and impertinent Fable but if those things which you will not believe prove true at last that the Son of God has suffered by Gods appointment for the capiation of sin that those that believe in him shall receive the benefit of it and none else what a madness then will you think your selves Guilty of There is nothing in the Christian Religion can make against your real happiness supposing it were not true but if it be true the slighting of it exposes to an unexpressible misery if the things revelled prove true when it is too late to gather the blessed fruit of them will a bottomless Lake or a perpetual stinging conscience be ballanced by a few transitory pleasures on Earth is it not unreasonable folly to deny a Doctrine you cannot demonstrate to be false and be in danger to feel a misery that you cannot demonstrate but it may come upon you rather than to comply with a Doctrine which cannot do you any prejudice in the great concerns of your Souls supposing they were not true 't is a folly utterly to deny them till you can demonstrate there is no such thing as a Redeemer that the Scripture is not the Word of God that no such condition as Faith is required of Men. The Atheist quarrels with the Old Testament too though he must confess it to be the Antientest History in the World and we use to give great reverence and credit to Antiquity if there be no just ground to blemish it which the Atheist cannot produce to weigh with the meanest understanding that the Old Testament is the Word of God though it have been abundantly evidenced by other hands to be so I shall give but one instance amongst many that the children of Israel were carryed captive to Babylon and delivered again other Authors mention as well as the Bible Isaiah the Prophet foretells their deliverance and names the Person by whom it should be effected namely Cyrus above an Hundred Years before Cyrus was Born which came to pass accordingly so the Old Prophet denounced the destruction of Jeroboams Altar by Josiah many Years before Josiah was Born 1 Kings 13. c. 2 Kings 23.16 this certainly must be the Word of God by the Prophets for Man of himself cannot tell what shall come to pass hereafter nay the Devil himself cannot and we see in the 41. of Isaiah God makes it a particular priviledge of his own saying shew us the things that are to come hereafter that we may know you are Gods I 'le not trouble the Reader with farther instances surely none could be the Author of the Bible but God if any Creature made it he was either a wicked Creature or one that was Holy first no wicked Creature could do it neither Angel nor Man surely they would never have taken so much pains to pull down their own Kingdom of Darkness the great Plot that runs through the Bible from one end of it to the other The implacable wrath that the Devil and his party of wicked ones in the World have shewn in all Ages to the Scriptures declares sufficiently it never came from them neither can any Holy Creature be the Author of it be it Angel or Man can we think that any having the least spark of Love to God or fear of his Majesty dwelling in their Breast durst counterfeit his dreadful name by setting it to their work and abuse the World with such a Blasphemy and prodigious Lye as to say thus saith the Lord and prefix his Name all along when not God but themselves are the Authors nay farther durst any Holy Creature put such a cheat upon the World and then denounce the wrath and vengeance of God against those that shall speak in Gods Name but were never sent of him as the Scriptures mention certainly the Earth which swallowed up Corah and his wicked rout for pretending to an Authority from God as good as the Priests to offer Incense would not have spared Moses himself if he had spoken that in Gods Name which he had not from him but was the invention of his own private Brain But the Atheist will have his frivolous pretences one of his Cavists is against the long lives of Men before the Flood some Seven Eight and Nine Hundred Years and that in few Ages after the Flood they came to little more than One Hundred and his inference is that then there must either be a decay in the nature of Man and a Man of Seaven Years of age now must have been an Old Man or else the story of their former long lives must be false but admitting the long lives of Men before the Flood which is a certain and undisprovable truth I shall make it appear that the reason of the disproportion of Mens lives before and after the Flood did not proceed from any decay in the nature of Man but must be attributed to the difference of their Food after the Flood from what it was before It must be admitted that God made the World which I shall manifest afterward and that
THE ATHEIST Unmasked OR A Confutation of such as deny the Being of a SUPREAM DEITY that governs HEAVEN and EARTH BY Unanswerable Arguments deduc'd 1. From the receiv'd Principles of Natural Reason 2. The Consent of all Nations who own and Worship a God though some mistake the Right object 3. From the certainty of Scripture History the most Authentick Record in the World And 4. From divers Reasons drawn from other Topic's All design'd to prevent the growth of Atheism the worst of Heresies By A Person of Honour Psalm 14.1 The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God see Psal 10.4 53.1 London Printed for Langley Curtiss at Sir Edmondbury-Godfreys Head near Fleet-bridge 1685. An ERRATA SEveral gross Faults are COmitted by the neglect of the Press which the Reader is desired to Correct with his Pen as in P. 3. l. 4. for will read would P. 4. l. 6. for uncontemptible read contemptible Fishermen P. 6. l. 1. for hearts read hearers l. 13. for Jnjuries read Enemies P. 10. l. 3. for satisfactions read satisfactory idem P. l. 11. for Dumb read Dim'd idem P. l. 18. for several read even all idem P. l. 23. and 24. for Andragoras read Anaxagoras and for Eumerus read Euemerus P. 12. l. 18. for and then Incite read and Cite P. 13. l. 24. for elimate read eliminate P. 14. for Eumerus read Euemerus idem P. l. 17. for Antioche read Antiochenus P. 18. l. the Last for bewitched read bewildred P. 19. l. 25. for and has no end read has no end P. 21. l. 7. for an intelligible Riddle read an untelligible Riddle idem P. l. 11. for extradate read extraduce THE ATHEIST UNMASKED c. THat there should be any such Monster in nature as for a Man who pretends to be a reasonable Creature to deny there is a God is an Impiety out-does the Devils who believe and tremble but Historians and Writings of former times have told us there were such amongst the Heathens and good Authors and sad experience do assure us that such have been and are in the times of Christianity Saint Jude tells us that in the last times there shall be Mockers living after their own Lusts ungodly Men that turn the grace of God into wantoness denying God our only Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ and I find a Learned and Pious Bishop of Salisbury who has written an excellent treatise against it sadly bewailing the growth of it above threescore Years since and sayes though it be a thing so necessary to be believed that there is a God yet least laboured in by Divines to farther our belief and though our Church be stored with some excellent Master Builders and Learned Men yet few or none sets his hand to this many work upon the walls to make them firm and strong many upon the roof to keep it close and light some beautifie and adorn it but none looks down into the ground work of it that it be laid so low as to reach unto the Rock whereby there is a space left for Pioneers and Underminers and such like deceitful Workers which are not able to break through the Walls yet do dig under the Foundation to evert all and complains that this argument is the most deserted part of all Theology and wherein fewest Divines have bestowed their pains the more is the pitty which puts me in mind of the Parable in the Gospel of the Man that sowed good seed in his Field and whilst he slept the Enemy came and sowed Tares so be the seed never so good and well sown yet if it be neglected and we sleep the Enemy win take advantage to sow his Tares and if little or no notice be taken of him he will grow bold and think himself in the right But I must not stay upon generalls resolving to confine my discourse into a very narrow compass for I observe the fate of long tracts to be fruitless in a great measure because the price deterrs most from buying and the length from reading I must be forced also if I have hope of prevailing with or against the Atheist to loose the advantage of Scripture proofs in a great measure because he denies the Scriptures to be of God but to be only humane inventions to cozen the People so that it would be to cast Pearls before Swine to trample them under their feet But by the Atheists leave 't is very unreasonable for him not to give the Scripture so antient an History that Historical Faith that he does to Plutarch Livie and other Historiographers who takes for truth what they write because he cannot accuse the Authors of falshood and for him to say the Scriptures are the contrivances of Men unless he could by some demonstration or probable argument make it appear so is a pittiful shift if they had been such the prying Atheist and his spawn the Deboshee would long since have detected it and we should have heard of it with both Eares all that he can possibly object must be either they that wrote them were deceivers or were themselves deceived I 'le first instance the New Testament which the Atheist most slights and therein the Four Evangelists who write the Life and Death and Resurrection of Christ whosoever weighes their Writings and considers what good Precepts there are of Love Charity Meekness Patience Humility Obedience to Magistrates and Parents and what threatnings to Wickedness Debauchery Whoredom Swearing Lying Drunkenness and all evil must certainly conclude they were not deceivers the Jews indeed as mortal Enemies to Christ and his Disciples as the Atheist endeavoured to make the World believe they and their Master were such but the Resurrection of Christ galled them for when they found he was risen from the Grave and his Tomb empty they raged extreamly and were cut to the heart well knowing that if his Resurrection should be admitted that would justifie Christ and his Apostles and condemn themselves for Malefactors in Crucifying him as the Council told the Apostles Act. 5. You will bring this Mans Blood upon us then if the Resurrection of Christ which is the Foundation of all Religion can by any probable demonstration be cleared the Atheist must acknowledge there is a God and his Apostles not deceivers therefore I 'le only insist upon that which to prevent the World from believing they thought the probablest way was to corrupt the Watch that kept the Sepulchre with assurance of indemnity to say his Disciples came by Night and stole him away while they slept this is a very improbable tale and carries fiction in the fore-head for 't is clear Christ was Buried on the Fryday and there was no Watch set till the Night following then surely if his Disciples would have stollen him away they would have done it the first Night when there was no Watch set Mat. 27.62 and indeed 't is too incredible they could do it and too too incredible they would do it 'T is too too
incredible they could do it after so vigilent diligent and abundant Watch was set which doubtless was of the keenest sort against Christ and that was enough to keep them awake it being but one Night they watched and if they had been asleep the rolling away the Stone from the Sepulchre which was a great one taking of the things he was wrapped in and carrying him away must needs have wakened some of them and surely if they had stollen him they would have stollen the Linnen also with him for the more hast St. Austin gives a clear refutation of that fiction of the Watch for says he either they slept not and so 't is a lye or if they did how could they tell who stole him away if it had been so besides had they not had assurance of indemnity they durst not have told such a story against their lives for we find upon St. Peters miraculous deliverance out of Prison the Keepers were Examined and put to death though Innocent Secondly 't is more then too incredible they would do it would they that being Jews and knew what God and Religion meant have dared to have Fathered such a gross Forgery on God as the Preaching of Obedience up and down the World to a Crucifyed Man nor otherwise risen from the Dead than by stealing his Body out of his Grave what hope could they ever have of any success no hope from him whom they Preached whose own consciences must tell them he was yet in the Power of Death no hope from God whom they so falsly belyed no hope from any thing in themselves not from eloquence and excellency of speech to perswade they were but rude and illiterate men not from Wealth and Riches to corrupt shooes on their feet and a staffe in their hand was most of what they had not from authority and greatness to awe or prejudice they were but uncontemptible Fishermen and the like not from number or multitude to subdue they were but Eleven poor Snakes that had all run away when their Master was apprehended nor hope therefore from any thing in themselves No hope farther from any docibleness or inclinableness of the Parties to be perswaded not any inclinableness in the Jews not him but Barabbas and Crucifie him Crucifie him was the loud and joint cry of the Jews the Jews was hardened therefore against any such Doctrine not any inclinableness in the Gentiles it was that they mocked at when they heard of the Resurrection would they therefore that were no stark fools have gone about a thing of so great folly wherein they had no hope of success from him they Preached as not Risen no hope from God as belyed by them no hope from any thing in themselves as being without Eloquence without Riches without Authority without Multitude nor hope from any inclinableness in the Parties to be perswaded Jews or Gentiles as being utter Enemies the one to the mention of Jesus of Nazareth the other to the mention of the Resurrection But suppose they had been so overseen as not to have considered these things at the first would they not when the storm began to fall on them and the World to rise up in Arms against them seeing the impossibility of making their legend their lying legend take would they not then have desisted would not fair nor foul means have made of them at the least at last to have bewrayed the whole business but all their life long in spite of what the World could do they should continue every one of them in the constant asseveration of the Resurrection of Christ certainly had they been nothing but deceivers it is not imaginable that the World could have a pack of such except they had been Incarnate Devils but their Writings and much more their Lives shew them rather to have been Incarnate Angels Nor were they deceived for first they were sure the Body was not in the Sepulchre their own sense and the sense of all the Jews viewing the empty Sepulchre confirm'd them of that secondly they were sure none had privily stollen the Body away and laid it elsewhere because of the Watch that kept the Sepulchre besides they were sure they several times conversed with him after his Resurrection and many eye Witnesses there were of it besides themselves this I use not as a Scripture proof but only upon the reasons alledged evidently manifesting that what they wrote must needs be truth and then most certainly they were not deceivers nor deceived but the Atheist farther Cavills at the difference there seems to be amongst them in the relation of some of the things they write which is a strong argument to me of their sincerity for had they been a pack of Knaves intending to cozen the World they would surely have so contrived the matter that not the least seeming difference should have been and they are indeed but seeming and have been reconciled by the Pens of others and may be so by any unprejudiced understanding Reader Camerâ— de notis verbi Dei observes that the Scriptures are so penn'd that they that have a mind to know may know and they that have a mind to wrangle may take occasion of offence and justly perish by the Rebellion of their own reason for saith he God never meant to satisfie Men perfracti ingenii of a stubborn and perverse wit Tertullian had observed the same long before him that God had so disposed the Scriptures that they that will not be satisfyed might be hardened If it had not been the greatest truth they preached how came it to pass that so few contemptible Persons in the World eye ignorant Men and wholly illiterate should within the space of about Twenty Years after Christs Sufferings have converted almost all the known parts of the World to their Doctrine a World so captived under Satan a World so corrupted in manners and so rooted and habituated in superstitious customes was it not strange that without any other Sword than the everlasting Gospel they should turn the World upside down as their Enemies themselves confessed slighting the Devils works casting down his holds wherever they came and overcoming those barbarous Heathens whom the Devil had held in his peaceable possession so many Thousand Years to renounce their Idolatries in which they had been bred and train'd up all their days to receive a new Lord and him a Crucified Jesus and this at the report of a few silly Men laden with the vilest reproaches that the wit of Man can invent or malice rak'd together to besmear their Persons and render the Doctrine they Preached odious to the World This is such a kind of Conquest as could not be obtained by any less than the Arm of the Almighty especially if we consider the nature of their Doctrine that it was not only new but strange enough to make the hearts shie of it as being quite contrary to Mans corrupt Nature not having one thought in the Sinners heart to befriend it