, Sermon and that VII. * See the foregoing fon, and confirmation of the Do&trine which he brings, I have largely fhewn elfe-where *; and that all along both in the Old and New Teftament, God did impower Mofes Sermons in this Vol and the prophets, Chrift and his Apostles, to work Miracles, to bring men to Faith, and that this was the principal Argument wherehy those who did believe, were wrought up on. Fourthly, That credible History doth give men fufficient affurance of Matter of Fact; and fuch affurance, as we may safely build a Divine Faith upon. We freely believe innumerable things, which are faid to have been done many Ages before we were born, and make not the leaft doubt of them, only upon the credit of Hiftory: fo that if the Relation of Miracles be but granted to be a credible Hiftory, we may upon the credit of the Relation, fafely believe that fuch Miracles wrought; and if fuch Miracles were wrought, we may fafely believe the Doctrine to be from God, for the confirmation of which they were were wrought; wrought; and confequently, a Divine Volume Faith may be fafely built upon fuch an XII. affurance of Miracles, as we may have from a credible History and Relation. Fifthly, That we are not now adays, deftitute of a fufficient Ground of Faith; because the Doctrine of the Gospel hath ftill the fame confirmation that it had, viz. Miracles : only we who live at this distance from the time when, and the place where they were wrought, have the knowledge of them conveyed to us, and come to be affured of them in another way. Those who lived in the Age of Chrift and his Apoftles, had affurance of Miracles from their own Senfes and we now are affured of them by credible Hiftory and Relation. Now tho' these ways be not equal; yet they are both fufficient to beget in us an undoubted affurance, and fuch as no prudent Man hath any reason to doubt of. For a man may be as truly and undoubtedly certain, that is, as well fatisfied, that a thing was done, from the credit of History, as from his own fen fes. Sermon fes. I make no more doubt whether there was fuch a Perfon as Henry the VIII. King of England, than I do VII. whether I be in this place. Sixthly, That now a-days, thofe to whom the Gospel comes, are under an obligation to believe; or that now a-days there is fuch a fin as unbelief of the Gofpel. And I the rather note this, because fome wellwifhers to Atheism, who out of prudence and regard to their own, fafety, chufe rather fecretly to undermine Religion, than openly to deny it I grant indeed, that in our Saviour's time, when fuch great Miracles were wrought, those who saw thofe Miracles (which they think no body did) were under an obligation to believe, and guilty of a great fin in not believing the Gofpel: but now a-days, when we fee no fuch Miracles wrought for the confirmation of the Gospel, there lies no obligation upon any Man to believe it; and that now there is no fuch fin as unbelief. Now any man may with half an Eye fee the confequence of this affertion; for being once admitted, Volume XII. admitted, it doth as certainly destroy Christian Religion, as if men fhould deny that there was any fuch Perfon as Jefus Chrift, or that he ever wrought any Miracles: for if to disbelieve the Gospel be no fin, and confequently brings a Man into no danger;but on the other hand dangers and perfecutions do attend the Belief and Profeffion of it; it were the greatest folly in the World for any man to believe;unless this poffibly may be greater, for a man who does not believe it,to obey and live according to it. And if this were true, it were the greatest imprudence that can be, for any Man to be a Chriftian. And if that were once admitted, there's all the reason in the world that Christianity fhould be banifh'd and exftirpated, not only as ufelefs and impertinent,but as a thing dangerous and pernicious to the welfare of Mankind. I fhall therefore briefly prove to you, that it is now one of the great-. eft fins that men are capable of, (except the fin against the Holy Ghoft) for those who have the Gospel fufficiently propounded to them, to dis believe Sermon believe it; I fay, except the fin against the Holy Ghoft, which our Saviour tells us, was blafpheming the Spirit of VII. God, whereby he wrought his Miracles, and faying it was the Spirit of the Devil; and this fin, men in a lower degree and proportion may now adays be guilty of: for as the Pharifees who faw the works that Christ did, and acknowledged them to be Miracles, did commit the fin against the Holy Ghoft, in afcribing those Miracles which were really wrought by the Power of the Holy Ghoft, to the Power of the Devil; fo men now a-days who own the Hiftory of Chrift's Miracles as true, may be guilty of the fin against the Holy Ghoft, in a lower proportion, by malicious imputing thofe Miracles to the Power of the Devil. But excepting the fin against the Holy Ghoft, the greateft fin that men are now capable of, is to bisbelieve the Gospel when it is fufficiently propounded to them. Now the Gospel is then fufficiently propounded, when there are fufficient grounds offer'd to perfwade men to the belief of it; and I have already proved, that we now ተ have |