Tillotson - BX5037 T451 1712 v2

464 The Efficacy, Vf e f ulne, f r, and Vol. II. may apply thofe Arguments which I ufe to this purpofe, for the ftrengthninó of their own Faith. But before I come to thole Arguments t intend to offer for the convi&ion of thofe that do not believe, I think it convenient to endeavour, if poffible, to re- move a violent, and I think unrealonable Prejudice which Men have received againft all thofe who endeavour to make Religion reafonable. As if Bellarminè had been in the right, when he faid " That Faith was rather to be defined by Ignorance than by Knowledge. The plainEnglifbof which is, that it is for want of Un- derftanding that Men believe the Gofpei 5 and if the World were but a little more knowing and wife, no Body would be a Chriftian. I know not how it comes to pats, whether through the artifice of the Popifh Party, who late the Light, Fell it fbould reprove them, and make them manifeJI 5 or thro' the Ignorance of too many well-meaning Proteftants; I fay, I know not how it comes to pafs, but fo it is, that every onethat offers to give a reafonable account of his Faith, and to eftablifh Religion upon rational Principles, is prefently branded for a Socinian 5 of which we have a fad Inftance in that incomparable Perfon Mr. Cbillingworth, the. Glory of this Age and Nation, who for no other Caufe that I know of, but his worthy and fuccefsful Attempts to make Chriftian Religion reafonable, and to difcover thofe firm and folid Foundations upon which our Faith is built, hath been requited with this Black and Odious Chara&er. But if this be Socianifm, for a Man to enquire into the Grounds and Reafonsof Chriftian Religion, and to en- deavour to give a fatisfaLlory account why he believes it, I know no way but that all confiderate inquifitive Men, that are above Fancy and Enthufiafm, muff be ei- ther Socinians or Atheifis. I cannot imagine howMen can dogreater Differvice to Religion, than by taking it off from the rational and folid Bafrs upon which it Rands, and bearing the World in hand, that Men ought to believe without Reafon : for this is to turn Faith into Credulity, and to level Chriftian Religion with the vileft and molt groundlefs Enthufiafms that ever were in the World. Indeed if we had only to deal with Henry Nicholas, and facoh Behman, who fight againft us in the dark,-not with Reafons and Arguments, but with infignificant Words, and WanePhrafes; we might make a fhift to bear up againft them with this Principle, and we might charge thern-to believe us, as they do us to believe them, without giving them any reafon for it : but if we were to deal with Cellist, or 'alien, or Porphyry, or Tome of our modern e4theillt, we Ihould loon find how vain it would be to go about to cajole them with Phrafes, and to gain them over to Chriflianity, by telling them that they mutt deny their Reafon, and lay afide their Underftandings, and believe they know not why. If the great Pillars of Chriftianity, the anci- ent Fathers, had taken this courfe in their Apologies for Chriftian Religion, it had never triumph'd over judaifm and Paganifm as it did 5 and whoever hath Read over thole Defences and Vindications of Chriftian Religion againft pews and Flea- - thens, which were written in the firft Ages of the Church, efpecially the Books of Origen againft Cellar, and Eufebias his Book ele Dee onfl.. and Preeparat. Evangel (hail find that they did very folicitoufly endeavour to fatisfie the World by all ra- tional ways, both of the truth and reafonablenefs of Chriftian Religion. And if that was a good way then, it is fo now 5 and never more neceflàry than in this Age, which I fear bath as many Atheifts and Infidels, that go under the name of Chriftians, as ever were in any Age time Chriftian Religion was firft planted in the World. But my Defign at prefent, is not to perfwade Men particularly to the belief of Chriflianity (that I intend hereafter, byGod's Aftìftance, to fpeak to) but to per- fwade Men to the beliefof Religion in general. So that all that I (hall do at prefent, (hall be, as briefly as I can, to offer Come Arguments and Confiderations to per- fwade Men to the Belief of the Principles of Natural Religion, and of the Reve lotion which God bath made of his Mind and Will in the HolyScriptures. L To perfwade Men to believe the Principles of Natural Religion, fuch as the Being ofGod ; the Immortality of the Soul 5 and [inure Rewards after this-Life. 1 fluff offer thefe two Confederations, Firfl,

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