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Ibid.

And the death of this great man was agreeable to his life. For we Pofth. are inform'd by one who was Works, with him when he dy'd, and P.21. had lived in the fame family for seven years before, That the day before his death he particularly exhorted all about him to read the Holy p. 20, 21. Scriptures, That he defir'd to be remember'd by them at Evening Prayers, and being told, that if be would, the whole Family fhould come and pray by him in his chamber, be anfwer'd be fhould be very glad to have it so, if it would not give too much troubie; That an occafion offering to speak of the Goodness of God, he efpecially exalted the love which God fhewed to man, in juflifying him by Faith in Fefus Christ; and return'd God thanks in particular for having called him to the knowledge of that divine Saviour.

About two months before his death he drew up a Letter to a cer- Pofth. tain Gentleman (who after- Works, wards diftinguifh'd himself by

P. 328.

a very different way of thinking and writing,) and left this direction upon it, To be deliver'd to him after my deceafe. In it, are these remarkable words,This Life is a fcene of Vanity that foon paffes away, and affords no folid Satiffaction, but in the consciousness of doing well, and in the hopes of another life. This is what I can fay upon experience, and what you will find to be true, when you come to make up the account.

Sir ISAAC NEWTON, univerfally acknowledged to be the ableft Philofopher and Mathematician that this or perhaps any other Nation has produc'd, is alfo well known to have been a firm Believer, and a serious Chriftian. His discoveries concerning the Frame and Syftem of the Univerfe, were apply'd by him, as Mr. Boyle's Enquiries into Nature had been, to demonftrate against Atheists of all kinds, the Being of a God, and to illuftrate his Power and Wisdom in the Creation of the World. Of which a better account

cannot

cannot be given, than in the words of an ingenious Person who has View of bis been much converfant in his Philofophy, Philofophical Writings: At P. 405. the end of his Mathematical Princi

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ples of Natural Philosophy, he has given us his thoughts concerning the Deity. Wherein he firft obferves, that the fimilitude found in all parts ⚫ of the Universe, makes it undoubted, that the whole is governed by one fupreme Being, to whom the original is owing of the frame of nature, which evidently is the effect of choice and defign. He then proceeds briefly to state the best metaphyfical notions concerning God. In fhort, we cannot conceive either of Space or Time otherwise than as neceffarily exifting; this Being therefore, on whom all others depend,. 'muft certainly exift by the fame neceffity of nature. Confequently 'wherever space and time is found, there God must also be.

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appears impoffible to us,

And as it that space

- fhould

fhould be limited, or that time fhould have had a beginning. The Deity must be both immenfe and eternal.

This great Man apply'd himself with the utmost attention to the study of the Holy Scriptures, and confider'd the several parts of them with an uncommon exactnefs; particularly, as to the order of Time, and the feries of Prophecies and Events relating to the Meffiah. Upon which head, he left behind him an elaborate Difcourfe, to prove that the famous Prophecy of Daniel's Weeks, which has been fo induftrioufly perverted by the DEISTS of our times, was an exprefs Prophecy of the coming of the Mesfiah, and fulfill'd in Jefus Chrift.

Mr. ADDISON, fo defervedly celebrated for an uncommon accuracy in Thinking and Reafoning, has given abundant proof of his firm belief of Christianity and his Zeal against Infidels of all kinds, in the Writings that are here publish'd; of which it is cer

tainly

tainly known, that a great part of them were his own Compofitions.

I mention not thefe great Names, nor the Testimonies they have given of their firm belief of the Truth of Christianity, as if the Evidences of our Religion were to be finally refolv'd into human Authority, or try'd in any other way than by the known and establish'd Rules of right Reason; but my defign in mentioning them, is

1. To fhew the very great Affurance of those who would make the belief of Revelation inconfiftent with the due use of our Reason; when they have known fo many eminent inftances in our own time, of the greatest Masters of Reason not only believing Revelation, but zealously concerned to establish and propagate the belief of it.

2. The Remembrance of this will also be a means, on one hand, to hinder well-meaning people from being mifled by the vain Boafts of our modern Pretenders to Reafon; and, on the

other

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