<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2014-08-27</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140522.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B09396">
<STC T="W">L1708</STC>
<STC T="C">R179585</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]62369432</BIBNO>
<VID>187989</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A LETTER To J. C. E&s;q; <HI>Vpon Mr. Toland's Book.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WIthout further Preamble, I &s;hall take occa&s;ion from what pa&s;&s;ed at the Committee of Religion the other night, to give you my Thoughts upon the Book of <HI>John Toland</HI>'s; which indeed I never &s;aw, till upon hearing it there &s;poken of, I procured it. I have &s;ince peru&s;ed it with &s;ome Attention, but have not met with any of tho&s;e learned An&s;wers which, as is &s;aid, have been given to it; &s;o that I &s;hall only give you my naked thoughts, without any dre&s;s of Schola&s;ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">k terms: for I skill not the heavy weapons taken out of the Armory of the Fa|thers;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 6.17.</NOTE> I pretend not to combat with any other weapon than <HI>the Sword of the Spi|rit, which is the Word of God.</HI> By That <HI>Luther</HI> overcame all his Antagoni&s;ts, and by That, a greater than he, overcame the &s;trong man arm'd,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 4.4, 7.10.</NOTE> even <HI>Belzebub</HI> him|&s;elf; a <HI>Scriptum e&s;t</HI> to every temptation &s;oon cha&s;ed away the Tempter.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t confe&s;s it is &s;omewhat difficult to go about this matter, for the Adver|&s;ary allows but a &s;uppo&s;ed Authority in the New Te&s;tament; &s;o that when he plea&s;es to take away, or deny his Hypothe&s;is, all my Arguments mu&s;t of cour&s;e fall to the ground. He will allow nothing but the blurr'd Book of Rea&s;on, which in every man is different, according to their natural Capacity, Con&s;titution, Or|gans of Sen&s;e, or Education; tho, as to that in him&s;elf, he thinks it mo&s;t perfect, able <HI>to &s;earch the hidden things of God,</HI> being <HI>vainly puffed up in his own mind.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.10</NOTE></P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, as to his Title, <HI>Chri&s;tianity not My&s;terious;</HI> if that Po&s;ition be not Here&s;y, I know not what is. Here&s;y is an <HI>Erroneous belief in Fundamentals, joyn'd with a Pravity of Will;</HI> And that this is &s;uch, I &s;hall prove. Fir&s;t, that it is an Erroneous belief; That Chri&s;tianity is My&s;terious, that we know not of it, neither in the nature of the thing, nor in degree, more than what God has been plea&s;ed to reveal to us, is mo&s;t certain. Could any one comprehend before it was reveal'd, that God would &s;end his Son our Lord <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> to be born of a Wo|man, to redeem us, and to take upon him our fle&s;h? Well, and now that it is reveal'd, pray how much more of that ineffable My&s;tery can our Rea&s;on make out to us than what is revealed? Can we by Rea&s;on explain to our &s;elves the In|carnation of the Son of God, tho that he was inca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nate is fully revealed to us? Tho&s;e words of his, <HI>John</HI> 14.20. <HI>that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you,</HI> fully reveal to us the My&s;tery of our Redemption, and of the Trinity,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">In the O|riginal it is not</NOTE> yet what can we add to that Revelation? But further, the Operations of the Holy Spirit in our Souls what Rea&s;on can explain or conceive, <HI>it blows where it li&s;ts,</HI> and when, and how; It is of that very thing that it is &s;aid, that <HI>it is not entred into the heart of man to conceive;</HI> which yet <HI>God has revealed to us by his Holy Spirit.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">but</NOTE> No, every happy Soul that feels it mu&s;t &s;ay, it is <HI>quod neque<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> mon&s;trare &amp; &s;entio tantum.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 2.9, 10.</NOTE> I wi&s;h he him&s;elf had attended more to the Motions thereof within him&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f, he had not &s;urely then come &s;o near to that unpardonable Offence; which proves the &s;econd part of my Definition, a pravity of Will; That this is &s;o is manife&s;t, for his Errors tend to make Mankind mi&s;erable;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.16. Joh. 16.13</NOTE> For <HI>it is the Spi|rit of God that Te&s;tifies to our Spirits that we are the Sons of God:</HI> It is the <HI>Holy
<PB REF="2"> Spirit that leads us into all Truth.</HI> If then this our Faith be vain, and that the &s;uppo&s;ed Influences and Motions of the Holy Spirit in our Souls are but Dreams and Enthu&s;ia&s;ms, we are wretched Creatures; in the fallen E&s;tate that we are, we had be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ter never have been Born. Lo then the inveteracy of that Heart that publi&s;hes this Doctrine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 2.12.</NOTE> that leaves <HI>us without God in the World,</HI> that has wrapt him up from us, like <HI>Epicurus</HI>'s God, in dark Clouds; this is va&s;tly enlarging <HI>Nero's</HI> cruel Wi&s;h, and cutting off the Neck of all Mankind at one blow. But fur|ther, the Pravity of his Will is manife&s;t in this, That this Doctrine mu&s;t nece&s;|fartly produce a Pravity of Will in Others; for if we have no &s;upernatural A&s;|&s;i&s;tance nor Guide, whatever our Rea&s;on does not Reproach us for, is no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> ill; (for our Natural Con&s;cience may &s;oon be overcome and &s;aid a&s;leep, by wilfu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">in wrought up into a Habit) and then when a Man has Debauch'd his Rea&s;on (as it is not difficult for Licentious Per&s;ons to deprave that to the highe&s;t Degree) what Wickedne&s;s is he not fit for? Indeed, Pravity of the Will is e&s;&s;ential to He|re&s;y. A Pious Heretick is a Contradiction. For if a Pi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> do Er<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, his Piety gives him Humility to &s;eek for further Information, and God does alway ble&s;s his Endeavours; &s;o that his Errors &s;hall not be in Fundamentals; for our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour a&s;&s;ures us, <HI>Jo.</HI> 7.17. <HI>If any Man do my Will, he &s;hall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God.</HI> The good Man that fears God, that Loves him, and &s;eeks him and his Direction by continual Prayer, cannot be left in Funda|mental Error. Such U&s;age would be Barbarous from a Man like our &s;elves, and therefore we can never impute it to the God of Truth. But it is Pride that makes your Sect Ma&s;ter; and <HI>where Pride is, there is Contention and every Evil Work.</HI></P>
<P>The Conclu&s;ion in &s;hort is this, if there be no My&s;tery in our Re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">igions, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ay a&s;ide your Bibles, <HI>tho&s;e lively Oracles,</HI> (after you have Read the Hi&s;tori<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">al part of them) and let Rea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on only be your Guide; and &s;ince, <HI>Nihil e&s;t in Intellectu quod non fuit prius in &s;en&s;u,</HI> if we mu&s;t have a God it mu&s;t be the Object of our Sence, a God to go before us, like <HI>Aarons, Lo the&s;e are thy Gods,</HI> and then we are come to a fine Pa&s;s with our Rea&s;on. St. <HI>Paul</HI> tells us, <HI>Rom.</HI> 1.21. That even the Philo&s;ophers among the Heathens in matters of Religion <GAP DESC="blank"> became Fools by their* Rea&s;onings, and &s;o <HI>their fooli&s;h Hearts were Darkned,</HI> and &s;o they fell into Idolatry the greate&s;t of all Fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Why Rea|&s;on ye a|mong your &s;elves,</HI> Mat. 16.8. Mat. 9.33.</NOTE>I &s;hall now proceed to con&s;ider the Book; wherein, Fir&s;t I would take Notice of his Treatment of the Holy Scriptures. He &s;ays indeed in one place, That they have the brighte&s;t Characters of Divinity; but he has for once given them that Character, that he might with the more Impunity Stab them afterwards as of|ten as he plea&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 33.</NOTE> which he does not &s;pare to do three times, with his <HI>If the Go&s;pel be the Word of God.</HI> Ju&s;t the &s;ame way does he u&s;e our Ble&s;&s;ed Saviour the Lord <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Edit. 2d p. 25. 46. 170.</NOTE> whom once in his Preface he calls the <HI>Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> that he may be taken the le&s;s Notice of afterward for his familiar Treatment of him.</P>
<P>The word <HI>Lord</HI> is the Adjunct to the Name of our Saviour <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> near 600 times in the New Te&s;tament; it is often u&s;ed alone without <HI>Je&s;us</HI> or <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> to denote our Saviour, as being his peculiar Title, and I &s;hall prove it to be a Decla|ration of his Divinity.</P>
<P>At his Birth the Angels told the Shepherds,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mat. 2.11 Luk. 24.34</NOTE> to you is Born a <HI>Saviour,</HI> who is <HI>Chri&s;t the Lord:</HI> At his Re&s;urrection the Di&s;ciples told each other, <HI>the Lord is Ri|&s;en,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 20.25 28.</NOTE> and they to<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d <HI>Thomas, We have &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">en the Lord:</HI> and <HI>Thomas</HI> crys out, <HI>My Lord and my God:</HI> And when he appear'd to them as they were F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;hing, they &s;aid one to another,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12.3</NOTE> <HI>it is the Lord:</HI> The Apo&s;tle tells us, That <HI>no Man can call Je&s;us Lord</HI> (that is, believe him to be God) <HI>but by the Spirit of God:</HI> How often do <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e find in the Apo&s;tles Writings, <HI>The Day of the Lord, our Lord Je&s;us,</HI> and <HI>our Lord Je|&s;us Christ.</HI> Nay, Let us look back into the Old Te&s;tament, and we &s;hall find the &s;ame; That <HI>David in Spirit called him Lord,</HI> in the 110th <HI>P&s;alm</HI> (and el&s;e|where) our Saviour him&s;elf Te&s;tifies: And that that Memorable and Glorious Vi&s;ion of <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> Chap. 6. <HI>I &s;aw the Lord Sitting upon his Throne,</HI> &amp;c. had Rela|tion to our Saviour St. <HI>John</HI> affirms, <HI>Chap.</HI> 12.41. St. <HI>Jude</HI> tells us, <HI>v.</HI> 5. That
<PB REF="2"> <HI>the Lord having &s;aved the People out of</HI> Aegypt, <HI>afterward De&s;troyed them that be|lieved not;</HI> and that this is &s;poken of the <HI>Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> is plain, not only from 1 <HI>Cor</HI> 10.9. where St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaking of the Children of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> in the Wil|derne&s;s, &s;ays, <HI>Neither let us tempt Chri&s;t as &s;ome of them al&s;o Tempted.</HI> &amp;c but al&s;o, that in the <HI>Vulgata,</HI> in the <HI>Aeth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">opick</HI> Manu&s;cript of <HI>Ludolphus</HI> in the <HI>Alexandrian</HI> MS in the King's Library at St. <HI>James's,</HI> be&s;ide two other Cele|brated M&s;s at <HI>Rome,</HI> it is read, <HI>That the Lord</HI> Je&s;us <HI>having &s;aved the People out of Egypt,</HI> &amp;c. The Lord's day <GAP DESC="blank"> <HI>Rev.</HI> 1.10, is not the day Sanctify'd to the <HI>Jehovah,</HI> for that is <HI>Sabbatum,</HI> but it is the day of our Lord <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI>'s Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11.20, 11. 1 Cor. 10.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <GAP DESC="blank"> is <HI>his</HI> Supper, and <GAP DESC="blank"> is <HI>his</HI> Table. And now I think I have pretty well pro|ved that<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">1.</NOTE> <HI>every Tongue ought to confe&s;s that Je&s;us is Lord,</HI> yea that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet this Author having named him about eight and twenty times in his Book, has not vouch&s;afed him therein the Title of Lord or God.</P>
<P>He &s;ays in his Pre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ace that he is a Chri&s;tian; according to the old Di&s;tinction of be|lieving, <HI>Credere Chri&s;tum (fu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">),</HI> and <HI>Credere in Chri&s;tum,</HI> I believe he may be called a Believer of the former &s;ort, that believes there was &s;uch a Man as he whom we call <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI> But in my Judgment he is hardly come up even to <HI>N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">codemus</HI>'s belief, that<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 3.2.</NOTE> <HI>Je&s;us was a Teacher come from God,</HI> or then he would not put &s;uch a doubtful Expre&s;&s;ion as, <HI>if the Gospel be Really the Word of God.</HI> But whatever he believes of him, it is plain he believes not Chri&s;t to have been the Author of what we call the Chri&s;tian Religion, otherwi&s;e he would never have compared it all along with the <HI>O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gia</HI> of <HI>Bacchus,</HI> in that contemptible manner that he does.</P>
<P>God has promi&s;ed<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.5.</NOTE> <HI>to give Wi&s;dom to them that ask it;</HI> but there is rea&s;on to fe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r this Author is among <HI>tho&s;e that call not upon God.</HI> I think he cannot be &s;uppo&s;ed at lea&s;t to &s;ay the Lords Prayer,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.23.</NOTE> for our Saviour has told us that <HI>all Men &s;hould honour the Son even as they honour the Father,</HI> can he then &s;ay, <HI>Hallowed be thy Name,</HI> who makes a Coffee-hou&s;e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;t of the Trinity.</P>
<P>I &s;hall now proceed to &s;hew you how he treats our Church and our Sacraments. In page 107 he &s;ays, that <HI>as far as any Church allows o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> My&s;teries, it is &s;o far Antichri&s;tian, and of Kin to the Scarlet Whore.</HI> If this becomes one of his Years, or Station, or Learning, or Experience, and be not Another <HI>Dogma</HI> ari&s;ing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rom his Pride and Vanity let the World Judge.</P>
<P>Our Religion and Liturgy are made a part of our Laws; and our Rubrick and our Di|vine Service are made Act of Parliament, viz. 2^d^o <HI>Elizabethae;</HI> notwith&s;tanding which, and even without regard of our Laws or <HI>being afraid of the Power, (which is the Ordinance of God)</HI> and which he ought to obey for <HI>Con&s;cience &s;ake,</HI> he boa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ts in defaming ou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Religion and Sacraments. Our Church, upon the Foundation of the Holy Scriptures, has declared there are two Sacraments, that they are generally (that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Chur. Cat.</NOTE> where they may be had) nece&s;&s;a|ry to Salvation, that they are ordained by Chri&s;t him&s;elf, and the means whereby we re|ceive Grace. But this Author defeats us of all the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed Benefits at once, by calling them Ceremonies; which are but Rites, and generally of human In&s;titution. But if we &s;hould &s;ay that they were of Divine In&s;titution, as many of the Ceremonies of the Jews were, yet &s;till as Ceremonies they are only Significative, and not Operative, as we believe, and many o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> us know and have felt the holy Sacraments to be. Here al&s;o &s;ee another In|&s;tance of the Pravity of his Will, in depriving all Mankind of this Means of Grace, and of the ble&s;&s;ed Union thereby wrought between Chri&s;t and his Members.</P>
<P>There are no particular Ceremonies made nece&s;&s;ary under the Go&s;pel; but our Lord has made his Sacraments nece&s;&s;ary. <HI>He that believeth and is baptized &s;hall be &s;aved.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark. 16.16.</NOTE> So that where Men come to the knowledge of Chri&s;t, it is not a belief alone tho never &s;o Orthodox, no nor a good life joined to it, that will &s;ave them. For tho St. <HI>Peter</HI> declared to <HI>Corne|lius</HI> that in <HI>omn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Gente,</HI> among all the Gentiles, he that fears God and works Righteou&s;ne&s;s is accepted of him, yet <HI>Cornelius</HI> mu&s;t be baptized, tho he was a mo&s;t devout and holy man and a Believer.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 10.35</NOTE> And as for the Lord's Supper the Evangeli&s;ts and St. <HI>Paul</HI> a&s;&s;ure us it was ordained by our Saviour; and that it is the means o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> conveying Grace, our Saviour in the 6th Chap. of St. <HI>John</HI>'s Go&s;pel declares at large, and St. <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o, <HI>The Bread which we break is it not the Communication</HI> ( <GAP DESC="blank"> ) <HI>of the Body of Chri&s;t.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10.17.</NOTE> And tho this Au|thor labours &s;o much to expo&s;e the &s;olemnity of its celebration, we know that it was from the beginning the mo&s;t e&s;&s;ential part of the Chri&s;tian Wor&s;hip. We find the A|po&s;tles in <HI>Acts</HI> 3.1. went up to the Temple at the hour of Prayer, to pray with the Jews; but their breaking of Bread, this holy Communion, was <GAP DESC="blank"> in the hou&s;es,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 2.46,</NOTE> (not from hou&s;e to hou&s;e as it is improperly Tran&s;lated) the Chri&s;tian Congregations, of which it is probable every one of the Apo&s;tles held one in <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> in a &s;eparate hou&s;e, (for &s;o we find when <HI>Peter</HI> got out o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Pri&s;on <HI>Acts</HI> 12.12. he went to the hou&s;e of <HI>Mark,</HI> where a Con|gregation were together praying, and bids them to &s;end to <HI>James</HI> and the re&s;t of the A|po&s;tles, that by all their Congregations of Chri&s;tian Believers there might a general Thank&s;giving be offered to God for his deliverance; that <GAP DESC="blank"> is &s;o to be rendred, I could give many undeniable Proofs out of the New Te&s;tament.</P>
<PB REF="3" MS="y">
<P>But to return from this Digre&s;&s;ion, and to &s;hew you further his Contempt of our Sacra|ments, he &s;peaks of one of them in a manner that St. <HI>Paul</HI> never did, nor any good man be&s;ide. St. <HI>Paul</HI> calls it the <HI>Lords</HI> Supper, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.20. but this Author having Occa&s;ion four times to mention it, calls it only <HI>The Supper,</HI> as tho it were a Common Clubb or Collation.</P>
<P>And &s;ince our Sacraments are &s;o ill handled by him, what can we expect for our Cere|monies? <HI>Your mock Anniver&s;ary Fa&s;ts,</HI> &s;ays he p. 158. and &s;o he goes on to compare our Ceremonies with tho&s;e of the Romi&s;h Church, and &s;hews the latter to be full as proper and fignificative as ours. As I &s;aid before, I know not by what name to call him; he &s;hews &s;ome Indignation at Popery, he ridicules the old Socinians with the Notion of a dei|fied Creature, and expo&s;es us and indeed the Chri&s;tian Religion it &s;elf at the &s;ame rate, while&s;t he makes all things, as he expre&s;&s;es it, to bow before the Maje&s;tick Light of Evi|dence, which according to him, is full Conviction of Rea&s;on, without making any Allow|ance for the difference of Mens Capacities. So that I think without trangre&s;&s;ing the Rules of Charity, there remains only for him that of a Heretick, which he &s;eems al&s;o with &s;ome Vanity to expect, and which I think I have in &s;ome mea&s;ure proved, tho if &s;o &s;hort a Letter would have admitted it, I could have added much to what I have &s;aid at the beginning upon that Subject.</P>
<P>I would not make up in railing what I want in Argument, but I think this is his Chara|cter in Scripture language, that he is one of tho&s;e<NOTE PLACE="marg">Animal in Opo&s;ition to Spiri|tual.</NOTE> <HI>heady, high-minded, &s;en&s;ual, having not the Spirit,</HI> I will not add <GAP DESC="blank"> <HI>haters of God,</HI> tho his behaviour to our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t &s;hews little le&s;s. Unhappy man! to hate or de&s;pi&s;e infinite love, him that loved us, and wa&s;hed us from our Sins by his blood, and &s;anctifieth us by his holy Spirit, that is now our High Prie&s;t in the pre&s;ence of God, that knows and has compa&s;&s;ion on our Infirmi|ties, that is long-&s;uffering to us-ward, not willing that any &s;hould peri&s;h, but that all &s;hould come to repentance, and be &s;aved. O poor wretch, thy Condemnation is of thy &s;elf; for <HI>if any manlove not the Lord Je&s;us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 16.22.</NOTE> <HI>let him be,</HI> yea he is, <HI>Anathema Maranatha,</HI> accur&s;ed, and to be condemned at the la&s;t judgment: for <HI>there is none other Name known among men, from,</HI> or by <HI>whom we can be &s;aved.</HI> Not to love <HI>him,</HI> and con&s;equently not to abide in <HI>his</HI> love, is cur&s;e enough, yea the very E&s;&s;ence of all Malediction. And now let tho&s;e con&s;ider this, whether within doors or without; and whether the Vindication, or even the Excu&s;ing this Book, or the Author, or the ridiculing, or otherwi&s;e baffling, the ju&s;t Pro&s;ecution and Cen&s;ure of it and him, be not truly the denying of our Saviour before men, and whether &s;uch may not a&s;&s;uredly expect to be denied of him, in the pre&s;ence of his Father, and the Holy Angels, and all the World at the la&s;t day. We &s;hall all of us one day &s;tand in need of a Saviour: O let us take heed to &s;ecure him our Friend, the neglect of who&s;e Salvation we &s;hall one day &s;o &s;adly rue. For my part upon this occa&s;ion in my &s;tation, <HI>Liberavi ani|mam mean,</HI> let the Event be what it will, I remain, Dear Sir, Your mo&s;t Humble Servant.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="notice to the reader">
<HEAD>Adverti&s;ement.</HEAD>
<P>THere being &s;everal Greek Citations in the Author's Copy, which for want of that Character, could not be Printed; the Learned Reader is De&s;ired to excu&s;e the Writing thereof.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P>DUBLIN, Printed in the Year, 1697.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
