and Doctrines both to them and all fucceeding Generations. And as this most plainly difcovers to us a Being fupernatural, fo it no less difcovers that thofe Naturalifts, who would believe no Being fuperior to Nature, are Fools; from whence 'tis probable the Word NATURAL, ufed for a Fool, might have its Original: And well would it be for thefe NATURALS if they were Fools in no higher a Senfe, than what now the common Acceptation of the Word imports; for those who never receiv'd the diftinguishing Character, REASON, can never be call'd to account for abusing it.

I have in the following Difcourfes endeavour'd to comprize my Subjects in as fhort a Manner as the Nature of them would bear, and have purposely avoided entering into a Repetition of the many contrary Notions and Abfurdities that Men have fallen into; humbly conceiving, that if I establish my own Arguments by producing fufficient Reasons to prove. them Truths, then the contrary Notions must neceffarily appear to be Falfhoods, Falfhoods fo grofs and palpable, that 'tis amazing to me how it ever enter'd into the Heart of Man to imagine them, much more how they could gain fuch an Entertainment in the World as to be efpoufed by fo many blind Followers: That Doctrine in particular, of God's fore-ordaining of all things to come to pass, in their Senfe, is moft falfe and monftrous; for it makes bim the Author of not only Good but Evil,

that

that he may reward the one, and punish the other, merely to gratify himself, and to exer cife arbitrarily his Mercy and Justice. But if this were fo, then there had been no Room for the Exercife of either; for then neither Good, fo forced, could have been rewardable, nor Evil, fo occafion'd, could have been punishable, without making that holy, juft, and infinitely wife and merciful Being an infupportable Tyrant, What shall we fay then of those Men who have not blush'd openly to affirm, that there were Infants in Hell not a Span long? A fhocking Expreffion this! and highly reflecting upon God's infinite Mercy. Was not the Plaister in Christ as large as the Sore in Adam? And shall any, for whom Chrift died, fuffer for original Sin, that were never guilty of actual ones? Does not our Saviour, Speaking of Children, fay, Of fuch is the Kingdom of Heaven? And if his Merits may be convey'd to the chiefeft of Sinners upon Repentance, why should we not fuppofe they will also extend to thofe Infants who never offended by any actual Tranfgreffions? A true Notion of God's infinite Mercy will never fuffer us to doubt of it: For whoever confiders thofe Texts of Scripture which speak of God's Vifitation of the Parents Sins upon the Children, may obferve them to respect no more than their Sufferings in this World; for 'tis plain from Ezek. xviii. 20. that as to a future State, the Son fhall not fuffer for the Father's Difobedience, nor the Father for his Son's: The foul

that

that finneth, it fhall die; the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous fhall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked fhall be upon him.

It may be obferv'd that I have taken the Copernican Syftem for granted, without giving any Reafons for jo doing; which being prov'd fufficiently by others, I judg'd it needles for me to repeat. If any be not fatisfied herein in reconciling the Earth's Motion, and the Stability of the Sun with the Scriptures, let them read Mr. Whifton's Preface to his Theory of the Earth, and Dr. Derham's AstroTheology, which will give Satisfaction herein to any ingenious and unprejudic'd Reader, this Syftem being to most of the Learned, I believe, proved to a Demonftration.

And as to the Newtonick or New System, of the Fixed Stars being fo many Suns, &c. though it carries in it, I think, more than a Probability of Truth, yet I fear this Perfia-. fon has, thro' Abuse, been the Occafion of ftumbling to fome of our greatest Mathematicians, with respect to their Faith in the eternal Divinity of the Son of God. Influenced by the abovefaid Opinion of fuch Multitudes of Suns and Planets, Mr. Whifton is, I fuppofe, induced to believe that many of the Inhabitants of fuch Planets being degenerated from their

ori

original Creation, as well as we, would therefore ftand in need of Redemption, and might have their particular Redemptions effected by created Beings: And if their Redemptions could be effected by the most perfect created Beings, then, as they would infer, why not ours? This Notion, as I apprehend, feem'd to be the Reason of Mr. Whilton's falling away from that Faith he fo ftrenuously profess'd to believe of the Bleffed Trinity in his Theory of the Earth. But that none have Reafon to make this a Rock of Offence in their Belief of the fundamental Article of our boly Religion, I fhall endeavour to evince to thofe that have fallen in with the Opinion of the aforesaid New Syftem.

Let us then imagine never fo many Suns and habitable Globes revolving about them, and that many of the rational Inhabitants of them may have fallen from their first pure Eftate; and not only fo, but be likewife capable of Recovery from their Fall, and that God in Mercy would take fome Method to reStore fuch of them as would be obedient to a fecond Covenant, as he has done with respect to us; 'tis very reasonable to believe, that no created Being could do any more than perform its own Duty to its Creator, and therefore is incapable to make Satisfaction for the Offences of any other Beings: But this being allow'd, as in reafon it ought to be, it be ask'd, by what means then could any of the rational In

may

habitants

habitants of other Globes receive Redemption? I anfwer, that it is very plain from the Scriptures, that our Blessed Redeemer is co-equal, co-effential, and co-eternal with the Father; and particularly in that he was the Creator. of all things, and without him was not any thing made that was made*: And is it not then highly reafonable to believe that he, who is infinite in Power, can infinitely display his Mercies to all the Works of his Creation, and that his perfect Obedience perform'd upon this Globe, and his fuffering for Sin, that knew none himself, has made an infinite. Satisfaction to Divine Justice for the Offences of all the rational, reclaimable Part of his Creations? But indeed, which way this Knowledge may be reveal'd to the Inhabitants of other Globes, we must leave to the Counfel of Divine Wif dom: 'Tis fufficient to us, that he, being fupremely infinite in all Perfections, could by one Oblation of himself for all the Works of his Creation, ranfom the Whole, and become the Mediator of a new Covenant to all, who were not guilty of total Apoftacy.

But here, it may be, another Query will arife, That, allowing that by fuffering upon one Globe he could ranfom all others not irreclaimably fallen, how came it to pass that he fhould chufe this Globe rather than any other to make his Appearance in, and to undergo thefe Sufferings upon? I anfwer, That if the

* John i. 3.

Re