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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A26150 The Christian religion increas'd by miracle a sermon before the Queen at White-Hall, October 21, 1694 / by Francis Atterbury ... Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732. 1694 (1694) Wing A4147; ESTC R700 11,551 28

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Education And accordingly we find the Event was For we have no absolute certainty that any One Philosopher of Note embrac'd the Christian Faith till it had been for many Years Preach'd and disseminated and had taken deep root in the World The Casual Cessation of Oracles as 't is call'd about the Time of Promulging the Gospel was not casual but directly caus'd by that Promulgation and we own had men understood it to be so then and imputed this Cessation to its True Principle it would have been very Effectual to have brought in the Heathen World to the acknowledgment of Christ. But we deny that they did at all understand or allow it to be so And for a plain Proof of this we referr our selves to That discourse in Plutarch about the Cessation of Oracles where among many Reasons which that Learned Man assigns for it This of the coming of Christ is not mention'd or hinted at Thô He gives Such an account of things there that a Christian would easily prove from what He relates that it was really the coming of Christ that effected it Lastly Neither can any probable account of this matter be drawn from the Charitable Distribution of their Goods which the sirst Christians made For supposing This might tempt some of the Poorer sort yet surely They that were Easie in their Circumstances and had wherewithall to sustain themselves did not come in upon This Motive It will not be said I hope that They who made this Distribution of their Goods which will be found have been a very great and considerable number came in to partake of it But then neither could the Hopes of this be any Great Temptation even to the Poorer sort since there was Something in the Christian Religion ten times more apt to frighten them than This was to allure them the strict Rules of Honesty and Temperance they were bound to live by and the great Calamities and Persecutions they were sure to undergoe I do not deny after all but that Every One of These Causes might in a natural way contribute somewhat either to the planting or spreading of the Gospel But I think it is Evident from the short Hints I have suggested to You that All of them together were not able to do the thousandth part of That Work which is allotted them And therefore to resolve this Great Event into a mere Conspiracy of second Causes as 't is call'd without any regard to the first is an absurd and a senseless attempt and onely shews us how very strong an Inclination and Biass there must be in Some minds towards Infidelity when they can bring themselves to espouse it upon so very Slight Grounds A man that should see an Acorn put into the Ground and perceive in a Few weeks or months an Oak shoot up from it to a prodigious height and spread its Branches to an amazing extent so as even to cover the whole Field where it grew might as well say there was a strange Conspiracy of Natural Causes an extraordinary degree of warmth moysture and so forth which concurr'd to produce this effect as affirm that the Vast Progress of the Gospel was owing to such petty Principles as Some men endeavour to persuade themselves it was But it must be granted them that their Thoughts are of a piece and that This particular Tenet falls in with Their Systeme For their account of the New Creation by Jesus Christ is much like That they give of the Old one It was a Lucky Hit of concurring Causes that propagated Christianity And it was a Lucky Hit also in the several motions of innumerable Atoms that at first made the World And 't is the same Lucky Hit that still preserves and governs it too And They who assert the Last of these Opinions may consistently enough be supposed to entertain the former too But surely no other Creature but an Atheist by Complexion can ever take up with such pittiful Accounts of things Well then The Christian Religion from small and weak beginnings spread itself farr and wide after a sudden and strange manner and this it did against all probability and contrary to all the Rules of success that all other Rising Opinions have ever set up with It had no One of those great Advantages some of which recommend every new Sect that stands and prevails and as for all other Lesser Helps and Assistances toward its increase which the Wit of Man can assign they are apparently too weak to sustain the weight that is lay'd on them It remains therefore that This wondrous Effect sprang undoubtedly from the immediate Influence of the First Cause actuating after an Extraordinary manner the Industry and blessing the Endeavours of the Apostles stirring up the Minds of Men to attend to and disposing Their Hearts to imbrace the Truths of the Gospel in a word accompanying all they said and did with mighty Signs and Wonders with the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power FINIS Advertisement PRinted for Tho. Bennet A Sermon on Praise an Thanksgiving before the Queen at White-Hall ' May 29. 1692. The Power of Charity to cover sin A Sermon before the Governours of Bridewell and Bethlehem August 16. 1694. Both by the same Author