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Dominion of Satan be now reftrained by the overruling Power of the Gospel, we have as great Evi-. dence from all History that there are fuch Beings as Devils, as we have for any other Matter of Fact whatfoever. There have been indeed many falfe Stories concerning Spirits, as well as in other Matters of Hiftory: but doth this prove that there are none true? or could the Hiftorians of all Times and Places be perpetually impofed upon, or confpire to impofe upon others? If we may credit Authors of as high Efteem as any Human Hiftory can afford; Men of good Learning and true Courage, and of little inclination to believe things of this nature, have been Witnesses of Apparitions. I inftance in Dion, Brutus, Curtius Rufus, and Athenodorus the Philofopher. When Dien and Brutus, Men famous for Philofophy, not prone to Fear, but of great Conftancy of Mind, became fo concerned, that they acquainted others with what they had feen; this, as Plutarch remarks, is a mighty Argument for the Truth of this Doctrine. There is no antient History but gives fome Inftance or other of these things; and all the modern Hiftories of Heathen Nations are full of fuch Relations as confirm this Truth to us; and even among Christians, those who have by unlawful Arts put themselves under the Power of wicked Spirits, have been convinced that there are fuch Beings; which is proved not only by the publick Confeffions of Witches in all Nations, but by: the private Acknowledgments of divers Learned Men, both Physicians and others, who have made attempts to discover the truth of this matter, in different places, and were Perfans neither timorous nor fuperftitious. But the Apparition of Spirits is præternatural; and therefore, that Good Spirits, who live in perfect Obe

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* Plut. in Dion. & Brut. • In Dion. initio.

Plin. Epift. 1 7. ad Suram. d See Mr. Boyle's Excellency of Theology, c. §. 1. and Dr. Cafaubon's Preface to Dee of Spirits.

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dience to the Divine Will, and in Conformity to the Order of their Nature, fhould appear, is now no more to be expected than any other Miracle: but there are frequent Apparitions of Bad Spirits in Countries where the Chriftian Religion is not received; and where it is received, they appear to fuch as are willing to come under their Power, but very rarely to others. And if the Devil, after fo much Human Blood as he has caused to be spilt in his Sacrifices, and after fo many Oracles and Impostures, can yet perfuade fome Men that there is no fuch Being; this is one of his fubtileft Stratagems of all, and proves how great Power, tho' in a different kind and manner, he still retains over the Minds of Men.

Since therefore it is most certain that there is a Being of Infinite Power, and Wisdom, and Justice, and Goodness; and that there is likewife a malicious cruel Spirit, ever watchful and industrious to abuse and destroy Mankind it is highly reasonable to believe, that a Being of fuch infinite Perfections, after he had created Man, would communicate himself to him, would fet him a Rule by which he ought to live, and prescribe him Laws whereby he might answer the Ends of his Creation, and attain to that Happiness which he was made capable of, and defigned for by his Maker. We cannot suppose that the God of all Goodnefs and Wisdom would create Man, and then leave him to himself, to follow his own Inventions, and to live at random, without any Law or Direction to frame his Actions by, and to be expofed to all the Affaults of an implacable fubtle Enemy, without any Caution and Inftruction given him, or any help and affiftance afforded for his defence. Man, in his Innocence, was not thus to be left to himself. And we have all the reafon in the World to believe, tho' we had not the exprefs Word of Scripture for it, that the God of Infinite Gooduefs would not difregard this corrupt State of Mankind, but would ufe fome

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means to reclaim them from the Error of their Ways, to bring them to a knowledge of themselves, and of the Divine Majefty, to inform them of their Duty, and direct them to Happiness.

How Man became fo prone to all Evil, we can know only by Revelation; and therefore fince the Notion of the Pre-existence of Souls is groundless (as I fhall hereafter prove) thofe who reject all Revelation, must fuppofe that Man was firft created in this State of Sin and Mifery; which is a very heinous Imputation upon the Goodness and Juftice of God: but to fuppofe him placed in this condition, without all help or remedy, is to charge God still more foolishly. But how Men became fo, is not here the matter of Enquiry; it is evident that Man is of himself in a miferable and helpless condition; and confidering the, great Ignorance and Wickednefs which have been from the Fall of our First Parents visible continually in the World, and still reign in it; confidering, I fay, the notorious Wickedness and grofs Ignorance of Men, which, from the earliest Records of Antiquity, have continued down to our own Times, nothing is more reasonable than to think, that a Being of Infinite Perfection would take fome care to rectify the Mistakes, and reform the Manners of Men. Can we believe it confiftent with Infinite Truth, never to manifest it self in the World, but to fuffer all forts of Men, of all Nations, to be exposed to all the Designs and Delufions of Impoftors, and of feducing and apoftate Spirits, without any fufficient means afforded them to undeceive and rescue themselves? Can we fuppofe that God of infinite Majefty and Power and who is a Jealous God, and will not give his Honour to another, fhould fuffer the World to be guilty of Idolatry, to make themselves Gods of Wood and Stone? nay, to offer their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils, and to commit all manner of Wickedness in the Worship of their Falfe Gods; and make Murther, and Adultery, and the worst of Vices, not only their Practice,

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Practice, but their Religion? Can we imagine, that the True God would behold all this, for fo many Ages, among fo many People, and yet not concern himself to put a stop to fo much Wickedness, and to vindicate his own Honour, and restore the Senfe and Practice of Virtue upon Earth?

I fhall, in due place, prove at large, That Mankind have in all Ages had the greatest neceffity for a Revelation to direct and reform them; and, That the Philofophers themselves taught abominably wicked Dotrines, who yet were the best Teachers and Instru&tors of the Heathen World. And we have no true Notion of God, if we do not believe him to be a God of Infinite Power, and Knowledge, and Holiness, and Mercy, and Truth; and yet we may as well believe there is no God at all, as imagine that the God of Infinite Knowledge should take no notice of what is done here below; that Infinite Power should fuffer it self to be affronted and despised, without requiring any Satiffaction; that Infinite Holinefs fhould behold the whole World lie in Wickedness, and find out no way to remedy it; and that Superftition and Idolatry, and all the Tyranny of Sin and Satan, for fo long a time hould enflave and torment the Bodies and Souls of Men, and there fhould be no Compassion in Infinite Mercy, nor any Care over an erroneous and deluded World, in the God of Truth.

Would a wife and good Father fee his Children run on in all manner of Folly and Extravagancy, and take no care to reclaim them, nor give them any Advice, but leave them wholly to themselves, to pursue their own Ruin? And if this be unworthy to fuppofe of Natural Parents, how much more unreasonable is it to imagine this of God himself, whom we cannot but reprefent to our felves with all the Compaffions of the tenderest Father or Mother, without the Weak nefs and Infirmities that accompany them in Human Parents? How unreasonable is it to entertain fuch a Thought

Thought of Almighty God, Infinite in Goodness and Mercy, as to fufpect that he would fuffer Mankind to make themselves as miferable as they can, both in this World and the next, without putting any stop to fo fatal a course of Sin and Mifery, or interpofing any thing for their Direction, to fhew them the way ,to escape Destruction, and to obtain Happiness! The Fall of our First Parents is known to us only by Revelation, and therefore is not to be taken into confideration, when we argue upon the mere Principles of Reafon. But I confider Mankind, as we find it in Fact (setting aside the Advantages of Revelation) Wicked, and abandoned to Wickedness, in the fnares of the devil, taken captive by him at his will, unable to work out their own falvation; loft and undone, without Power or Strength, without any Help or Remedy. And in this state of the World, however it came to pass, is there no Reason to believe that Infinite Good nefs fhould take fome course, and not difregard all Mankind lying in this condition?

The great Argument of the Scoffers of the last Days, St. Peter tells us, would be this, That all things go on in their conftant courfe, and that God doth not meddle or concern himself with them. Where is the promife of his coming? for fince the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the creation? 2 Pet. iii. 4. And if no Promise had ever been made, they would have had fome Reafon in their Arguing. For that which render'd the Heathen without Excufe, was, That they did not make ufe of the Natural Knowledge that they had of God, to lead them to the Knowledge of his Revealed Will, which they had frequent Opportunities of becoming acquainted withal, and had many Memorials of it amongst them in every Nation: but, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. And this is the force of St.Paul's Argument, Act.xvii. and Rom.i. (unless this latter Chapter were to be understood, as Dr. Hammond interprets it, of the Gnoftick Hereticks)

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