57 / 846
PAR
Reverend
Mr. Richard
Baxter,
perform it
!
And
I
faw
that the very Pofibility or Probability
of a Life
to come,
Would
make
it the Duty
of
a
Reafonabie
Creature to
Peek
it, though with
the
lofs
of
all below;
4. And
I
faw
by undeniable Experience, a ftrange Univerfal
Enmity between
the
Heavenly and the Earthly
Mind,
the
Godly
and
the
Wicked
,
as
fulfilling
the
Predietion
Gen.
;its'.
The War
between
the
Woman's and the
Serpent's Seed, be-
ing
the
daily
Bufinefs
of
all
the
World. And I faw that
the
wicked and haters
of
Godlinefs are
fo
commonly
the greatelt and molt
powerful and numerous,
as
well
as
cruel,
that ordinarily there
is
no
living according
to the
Precepts
of
Natureand
undeniable Reafon,
without being
made the Derifion and
Contempt
of
Men
(if
we
can
fcape
fo
eafily).
r.
And
then I
faw
that there
is
no
other
Religion
in
the World which can ftand
in competitionwith Chriftianity
:
Heathenifm and Mahometanifm are kept up by
Tyranny
,
and
Beaftly
Ignorance, and
blulh
to fiend at the Bar
of
Reafon
:
And
Judaifm
is
but Chriftianit
in
the Egg or
Bed.
And
weer
Deifm,
which
is
the
mofa
plaufible
Competitor,
is
fo turned out
of
almoft
all
the whole World,
as
if
Na-
ture
made
its
own Confeffton
,
that without a Mediator it cannot come to
God.
6.
And
I
perceived
that
all
other Religions
leave
the People
in their worldly,
fenfual, and
ungodly flete
;
even
their Zeal and Devotion in them,
being corn
-
manly the Servants
of
their
Flefhly
Intereft
:
And
the Nations where
Chriltianity
is
not, beingdrowned in Ignorance andEarthly mindednefs,
fo
as
to be the
diamo
of
Nature.
7.
And I
faw
that Chrift did bring up
all his ferious
and
fincere Difciples
toreal
Holinefs
and
to Heavenly mindednefs,
and made them new Creatures, and
fet
their Hearts and Defigns
and
Hopes
upon another Life
;
and brought their
Senfe
into
fubje6tion
to their Reafon,
and
taught them to refign themfelves
to God, and
to love him above all
the World. And it
is
not
like
that God
will make
life
of
a
Deceiver for this real
vifible
Recovery and Reformation
of
the Nature
of Man;
or
that any thing but
his
own
Zeal
can
imprint
his
Image.
8.
And here
I
faw an admirable lùitablenefs
in the,Office and Delign
of
Chrift,
ro
the
Ends
ofGod,
and the Felicity
of
Man
:
and how excellently there Super-
natural Revelations do
fall
in, and take their place
in
fubferviency
to Natural
Ve-
rities;
and how wonderfully
Faith
is
fitted
to bring Men to the Love
of
God
;
when it
is
nothing
elfe
but the beholding
of
his
amiable attraAive Loveand
Good-
nell in the Face
of Chrift,
and the Promifes
of Heaven,
as
in
a
Glafsa
till we fee
his
Glory.
9.
And I
had felt much
of
the Power
of
his
Word
and Spirit
on my felf; do-
ing that which
Reafon
now
telleth
me
mutt
bedone
:
And
fhall
I
queltion
my
Phyfician when he bath done
fo
much
of
the
Cure,
and
recovered
my
depraved
Soul
fo
much to God.
ro.
And
as
flaw
there Afliftances
tomy Faith,
fo
I
perceived
that
whatever
the Tempter
had to
fay
againft
it,
was
grounded upon
the
Advantages
which he
took
from my Ignorance, and my Diftance from
the Times and
Places
of
the
Mat.
ters
of the
Sacred
Hillary,
and fach
like things
which
every Novice meeteth
with
in
almoft
all
other
Sciences
at the
firft;
and which
wife
wellftudied Men can
fee
through.
3
y.
All there Afiiflances were
at hand
before
I
came
to the
immediate Evi-
dences
of
Credibility in the
Sacred Oracles themfelves. And
when
I
fet
my
felf
to
fearch for thole,
I
found more in the Doctrine, the PredisBions, the Miracles,
antecedent, concomitant, fubfequent, than ever
I
before rook notice
of:
which.
I
(hall
nothere
fo
far digrefs
as
to
letdown,
having
partly done it in
feveral
Trea-
tifes
; as The
Saints Reif,
Part
2. The
UnreafonablenefhofInfidelity
;
al
Saint
or
a
Bruit,
in
my
Chriffian Direífory
;
and
fince
more
fully
in
a Treatife, called,
The
Reafon of
the
Chrillian Religion;
my
Life
of Faith,
&c.
4
36.
From
this Affault
I
was
forced
to
take notice,
That
it
is
our
Belief
of
the
Truth of
the
Word
of
God,
and
the
Life to
come,
which
is
the
Spring
that
fets all
Grace on
work, and
with which
it
rifes
or
falls, flourifhes
or
decays,
is
a6tuated
or
Rands
dill. And that there
is
more
of
this fecret
Unbelief at
the Root
than
mole
of
us
are aware
or;
and
that our
love
of
the World,our
boldnefs
with Sin,our
neglect
of
Duty
are
caul
d hence.
I
obferved eafily
in my
felt,
that
if
at any
time Satan did more
than
at other times weaken
my
Belief
of
Scripture, and the
Life to come, my
Zeal
in every Religious
Duty abated with it, and I grew more
indifferent
in Religion
than
before
:I
was
more
inclined to Conformity
in
thofe
Points
which