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in the holy war; but with the use of equal arms, reasons against reasons, the cause of religion will be victorious.

It is the design of the ensuing treatise to discover by the light of nature invisible objects, viz. that a Sovereign Spirit made and governs the sensible world; that there is an immortal soul in man, and an eternal state of happiness or misery expects him hereafter. There is such a necessary connexion between these supreme truths, the being of God, and future recompences to men, that the denial of the one includes the denial of the other. It is uncertain which of the two is the first step, whether men descend from the disbelief of the future state to atheism, or from atheism to infidelity in that point.

Some excellent persons have employed their talents on this subject, from whom I have received advantage in compiling the present work. I have been careful not to build upon false arches, but on substantial proofs, and to persuade truth with truth, as becomes a sincere counsellor, and well-willer to souls. And if the secure person will but attentively and impartially consider, he must be convinced that it is the only true wisdom to believe and prevent, and not venture on the trial of things in that state, where there is no other mending of the error, but an everlasting sorrow for it. Those whose hearts are so irrecoverably depraved, that no motives can persuade to examine what so nearly touches them with calmness and sobriety, and their minds so fatally stupified, that no arguments can awaken, must miserably feel what they wilfully doubt of; whom the light does not convince, the fire shall.

CONSIDERATIONS

ON THE

EXISTENCE OF GOD,

AND THE

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL,

WITH

THE RECOMPENCES OF THE FUTURE STATE.

TO WHICH IS NOW ADDED,

THE DIVINITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION PROVED BY THE EVIDENCE OF REASON, ANd divine REVELATION:

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ON THE

EXISTENCE OF GOD.

CHAP. I.

Atheism is fearful of public discovery. Four heads of arguments to prove the being of God. 1. The visible frame of the world, and the numerous natures in it, exactly modelled for the good of the whole, prove it to be the work of a most wise agent, The world considered in its several parts. The sun in its situation, motion, and effects, declares the providence of the Creator. The diurnal motion of the sun from east to west is very beneficial to nature. The annual course brings admirable advantage to it. The gradual passing of the sensible world, from the excess of heat to the extremity of cold, an effect of providence. The constant revolutions of day and night, and of the seasons of the year, discover that a wise cause orders them.

IN the managing the present subject, I shall first propound

such things as clearly discover that a sovereign Spirit, rich in goodness, most wise in counsel, and powerful in operation, gave being to the world, and man in it. This part of my work may seem needless, because there are very few, if any, declared atheists. As monsters remain where they are born, in the desert sands of Africa, not seen, unless sought for; so there are some unnatural enormities, that conscious how execrable they are, conceal themselves in secret, and dare not appear in open view. And of all others, no impiety is so monstrous and fearful of public discovery as atheism. But, "The fool saith in his heart there is no God." He secretly whispers in contradiction to nature, reason, conscience, authorities, there is no supreme invisible power to whom he is accountable. And having thus concluded in the dark, he loses all reverence of the divine laws, and makes himself a god, his carnal vicious appetite the supreme rule, and the satisfaction of it his chief good. That many in our times, even of the great pretenders to wit and reason, are guilty of this

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