lntroduE}, The truthof both 7eftuuter ispròe i Chip; r r him to be the redeemerof Mankind, and that. by his (tripes .and fleeting punifh- ment man fhould be healed : that God fhould create a world, andout of that,gather aChurch to himfelf. Thcfe thingsand more cannot becomprehended by man, and are notto be conceived but only by our Religion. , 6. Nor to conceal thefault's of a mans Parents or Friends, or to fpeak againft a mans own countrey, flock, kindred, or his own felf, is a thingaltogether unatnral, and cannot come into any, but by a.fupernatural power. But we fee, that Mo es, whenno necemty compelled Lim, (pared not his own flock, but . fpeke againft¡ his Brother 4.án, for making the Golden Calfe, nor. his Sifter Miriam in the cafe of murmuring, no, norhis own felf at the waters of ftrife, and committed the fame to writing, that Pofterity fhould take noticeof thefe things : Yea, and difpoffeffedhis own Children from fucceeding him in the Magiftracy, conftituting7ofirab in their Read : thefe as cannot agree with the natural man, but muff needs proceed from a highercaufe : therefore the writers of thefe Scriptures, Mutt of neceflity be infpired by God himfelf. 7. Whereas the whale (cope of Philofphers, and of the Lawmakers among the Heathen was, to teach how Princes might enlarge their territories, and taught it as a point of wifdom, to winby all means the favour of Princes, and great men; this Religion teacheth contempt of life, theworld and wordly honours in refpeEt ofGod: and fuch was the pradife of the Prophets, who were fo far from - Peeking the favour of Princes, that they reproved them to their Faces, when Gods taufe was in band. Therefore this Religion is fpiritual, and proceeds not from man. 8. Again, we know that as God is a fpirit, fo muff his worfhipbe fpiritual, acid this is the fcope of the Scriptures, that God be honored without Images or fha- dows. And though in the unity of God, that there is but one God ro beworfhtp. ped, falfe Religion may agreewith the truc, yet in this point it doth not, their Religionand the worfhip thereof being only corporeal, not fpiritual. For though in the Old Teflament there be many Ceremonial worfhips prefcribed, yet God dif. claimeththem al I, yea he abhorreth them; if they be performed without the inward Efa t: worfhip; and fets down the.wayof worfhip, wherein hemolt delighteth, namely, Pfaim, t5. t7, in a broken and contrite heart and fpirit. 'Therefore as man is bodily, and his moti onsl fall-within the compafs of the Body, fo is that worfhip, which comes from himx bodily, whereas Gods worfhip is fpiritual, andnot corporal only. f). To thefe may be added by us, that we had Miracles and Oracles to confine our Religion, as they did tofirengthen theirs. And thofe beyond theirs in divers refpe ìs, t. The Miracles mentioned in Scriptures were not done in a corner, but openly; ds were they which were done by Mofes upon Pharaohin the fight Of hisServants; z. They werenot frivolous or vain, but profitableand beneficial. 3. They werenot imitable nor fetibleby Magique or mans art : for whatMagici- an can divide theSea, or caufethe Sun to Rand, as in 1ofHahs time, or make the Suns fhadow goback, as in the Dial of Ahàs, or to rain Manna, as in the wildernefs; ?an. zTim. ;. 9. nos and yambresare not able to fland againft Mofes. z. And for our Oracles they were not as the Oracles of the Gentiles, that fluke pl rentia, pleafing things, or, as thy themlelvesfay, did fpeak fach,things as their Kings would have themfpeak : nor are they ambiguóus or doubtful, fuchas theirs, thatneeded helium interprete.so, forteApollo toexplain them : and in that re- fpedt ( as Porplyrins teftifies of them ) they everhad their Poftica, back doors, evafi- ons to help them. But ours are void of flattery, and are certain; fouie of thembe. ing fulfilled 56o. fome ¡oáo. years, fome 3cbo years after they were, uttered, as Gen, q. 57, the enlargingof 74phets tents, ( Which happened not till the callingof the Gentiles ) and the like. So much to prove the truth of both Teftaments, as our Religion agrees with that of the Jews. Now follow force rcafons proper to the confirmation of the truth of Chriftian Religon. 4, CHCitT.
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