"AND. nothing, certainly, will more in"cline Men to believe that we live in an age of Prodigies, than that there should be any such in the Christian World, who should account it a piece of Gentility to DESPISE " RELIGION, and a piece of Reafon to be "ATHEISTS. For if there be any such Thing " in the World as a true Height and MAG"NANIMITY of SPIRIT; if there be any so

LID REASON and DEPTH of JUDGMENT; they are not only confiftent with, but only " attainable by a true generous SPIRIT OF RE

"BUT if we look at that which the LOOSE " and PROPHANE World is apt to account the greatest GALLANTRY, we shall find it made

up of such pitiful Ingredients, which any " rational Mind will be ashamed to plead for, " much less to mention them in Competition "with. TRUE GOODNESS and UNFEIGNED PI46 ETY.

"FOR, how easy is it to observe such, who "would be accounted the most HIGH and GALLANT SPIRITS, to quarry on such mean Preys, which only tend to fatisfy their bru" tish Appetites?

“DOTH now the CONQUEST of PASSIONS, FORGIVING INJURIES, DOING Good, SELF-DENYAL, HUMILITY, PATIENCE un"der Crosses; which are the real Expressions " of PIETY, speak nothing more NOBLE and GENEROUS, than a luxurious, malicious, proud, and avaritious Spirit? Is there no"thing more becoming and agreeable to the

"

" SOUL OF MAN, in exemplary PIETY, and a " holy well-ordered Conversation, than in the "VANITY and DEBAUCHERY of those whom "the World accounts the finest Gentlemen?

"IS it not more Honourable and GLO"RIOUS to SERVE that Gop who coMMANDS "the WORLD, than to be a SLAVE to those " Paffions and Lusts which put Men upon " continual HARD SERVICE, and TORMENT " them for it when they have done it?

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WERE there nothing else to commend "Religion to the Minds of Men, befides that " TRANQUILLITY and CALMNESS of SPIRIT, " that SERENE TEMPER which follows a good " Confcience, wherever it dwells; it were " enough to make Men welcome that Guest, " which brings such good entertainment with " it. Whereas the HORRORS and ANXIETIES " of Mind, which at one time or other, haunt " such who prostitute their Confcience to a "Violation of the Laws of God, and the " RULES OF RECTIFIED REASON, may be " enough to perswade any rational Person, " that IMPIETY is the greatest FOLLY, and " IRRELIGION, MADNESS.

"IT cannot be then but Matter of great "Pity to confider; that any Perfons, whose "BIRTH and EDUCATION hath raised them " above the common People of the World, " should be so far their own Enemies, as to " observe the FASHION more than the RULES " of RELIGION; and read lewd PLAYS and "ROMANCES, more than the SACRED SCRIP

TURES, which alone are able to make them wife
to Salvation.
"WHAT

"WHAT certain DIRECTIONS for PRAC

"TICE should we have, what RULE to judge " of OPINIONs by, had not God, out of his « Infinite Goodness, provided and preserved " this AUTHENTICK INSTRUMENT of his Will " to the World? What a strange RELIGION " would CHRISTIANITY seem, should we " frame the Model of it from any other Thing " than the WORD of GOD? Without all con"troversy, the DISESTEEM of the SCRIPTURES,

upon any Pretence whatsoever, has been, and " is the chief Cause of the DECAY of RELI"GION; and through many Windings and " Turnings leads Men at last to the very " Depths of ATHEISM. Whereas the frequent " and serious converfing with the MIND Of " GOD in his WORD, is incomparably useful, not only for keeping up in us a true NOTION " of RELIGION (which is easily mistaken, when " Men look upon the Face of it in any other " Glass than that of the SCRIPTURES) but like" wife for maintaining a POWERFUL Sence of " RELIGION in the Souls of Men, and a DUE " Valuation of it, whatever its Esteem or En"tertainment be in the World. For though " the true genuine Spirit of CHRISTIANITY " should grow never so much out of Fashion " with the World, yet none who heartily BE

LIEVE the SCRIPTURES to be the WORD of " God, and that the Matters revealed therein

are INFALLIBLY TRUE, will ever have the " less Estimation of it.

"IT must be confessed, that the CREDIT " of RELIGION hath much SUFFERED in the

"Age we live in, through the VAIN PRETENCES of many to it, who have only ACTED a PART in it, for the sake of some PRIVATE "INTERESTS of their own..

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“NOTHING enlarges more the Gulph " of ATHEISM, than that wide Passage which "lies between the FAITH and LIVES of Men PRETENDING to be CHRISTIANS.

" I MUST needs say, there is nothing seems " more strange and unaccountable to me, than " that the PRACTICE of the unquestionable "DUTIES OF CHRISTIANITY should be put " out of Countenance, or flighted by any who

OWN, PROFESS, and CONTEND for the PRIN"CIPLES of it. Can the PROFESSION of that "be HONOURABLE, whose PRACTICE is not? "If the PRINCIPLES be TRUE, why are they not PRACTISED? If they be not TRUE, why are they PROFESSED?

I AM sensible that there may be Imperfections in this ESSAY; and that fome of the REFERENCES, at the first View, may be thought not so properly applied; but am in hopes, that upon a closer Confideration, there will not many be found that are JusTLY liable to this Objection.

THE more I have APPLIED my thoughts to the STUDY of the SCRIPTURES, the more I am CONVINCED, that the comparing one Part with another, is the surest and most satisfactory Way of arriving to the KNOWLEDGE of it, by by viewing the exact Harmony that is to be found in these SACRED ORACLES; especially what relate to those DOCTRINES and PRECEPTS, which contain the RULE both of our FAITH and PRACTICE.

THƠ this Nation has been blessed with many EXCELLENT Books upon RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS; yet it must be acknowledged, that there is such a DIVINE FORCE and ENERGY in the HOLY SCRIPTURES, that is infinitely superior to any human Composition.

THE most proper CONCLUSION I can make, is in the Words of the APOSTLE.

Heb. ii. 1. We ought to give the more EARNEST HEED to the THINGS which we have HEARD, left at any time we should let them SLIP.

2. For if the Word spoken by Angels was STEDFAST, and every TRANSGRESSION and DISOBEDIENCE received a just Recompence of reward;

3. How shall we ESCAPE, if we NEGLECT fo great SALVATION, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmED unto us by them that HEARD him;

4. GOD alfo bearing them WITNESS, both with
SIGNS, and Wonders, and DIVERS MIRA-
cles, and GIFTS of the Holy Ghost, ac-
cording to his own Will?

Chap. iv. 1. Let us therefore FEAR, left a PRO
MISE being left us of entring into his REST,

1

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