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he fays of himself is, that he is an "obfcure*;* One, I fuppofe, he means, that is in the dark, and thinks it proper to continue fo, that he may take advantage from thence to attack the reputation of others, without hazarding his own., There may be fomewhat of wifdom, perhaps; but fure there is little of goodnefs, or fairnefs, in this conduct. Several fuch obfcure perfons as these we have had of late, who have infulted men of great abilities and worth, and taken pleasure to pelt them, from their coverts, with little objections. The ill fuccefs of their attempts hath juftified their prudence in concealing themfelves.

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Whoever my unknown correfpondent be, le preffes hard for an answer †, and is fo earnest in that point, that he would, I perceive, be not a little difappointed, if he should mifs of it. Namelefs authors have no right to make such demands. However, the importance of the argument itfelf, the ferious air with which he hath treated of it, and the folemn profeffion he makes of being acted by ro other principle but a concern for truth‡," foon determined me to comply with his exhortátions. And what follows, therefore, was drawn up not long after his letter appeared; though the publication of it hath been delayed by fome accidents, with an account of which it is not neceffary to trouble the reader. After an, I fhall be looked upon, perhaps, as writing rather too foon, than too late; and as paying too great a regard to an attempt, which was fo far flighted, that the worthy dean of Ginterbury, not long afterwards, preached the doctrine, there oppof * Let p. 4. ↑ Let. p. 5. 44, 45.

Ibid.

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ed, before her majefty, and printed it by her order *. And in truth there never was a charge maintained with fuch a fhew of gravity and earneftnefs, which had a flighter foundation to fupport it. However, it may be of fome ufe, carefully to examine what this writer bath faid, in order, by a remarkable inftance, to thew how little credit is due to accufations of this kind, when they come from fufpected (that is, from nameless) pens; and how artfully the mask of religion may fometimes be put on, to cover defigns which cannot be decently owned.

That part of my fermon to which the letter

writer hath confined his reflections, contains the explication of an argument, which I fuppofe employed by the apostle, in the text, for the proof of a future ftate. And I had reafon therefore to hope, that what I offered on this head, would be favourably received, and candidly interpreted, by all fuch as did in good earnest believe fuch a state, And yet, to my fuprize, I have found one, who would be thought seriously to entertain this belief, endeavouring all he can to weaken an argument (and indeed the chief argument drawn from reafon alone) by which it is upheld. I might have expected this treatment indeed from the pen of fome libertine, or difguifed unbeliever; it being an ufual piece of art, with that fort of men, to undermine the authority of fundamental truths, by pretending to fhew, how weak and improper the proofs are, which their affertors employ in the defence of them. But I did not, and could

* See his fermon at St James's, Nov. 3. 1706. on Matth. gi. 21. p. 11, 12, 13.

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not expect fuch usage from a writer, who every where infinuates, and in one place * I think, pretty plainly profeffes, himself to be a fincere Chriftian. His concern for the cause of religion † would have appeared to far greater advantage, had he employed himfelf rather in vindicating fome of its great principles, which are every day openly and daringly attacked from the prefs, than in leffening the force of what I have urged in behalf of one of them. Had I erred in this cafe, it had been a well-meant miftake; and might have paffed unobferved, at a time, when infidelity finds fo much employment of another kind for all thofe, who have a real concern for the cause of religion.

Befides, difcourfes on fuch occafions, as that on which I then preached, are feldom the productions of leifure; and fhould always therefore be read with thofe favourable allowances, which are made to hafty compofures. So the doctrine contained in them be but wholesome and edifying, though there fhould be a want of exactnefs, here and there, either in the manner of fpeaking or reafoning, it may be overlooked, or pardoned..

When any argument of great importance is managed with that warmth and earneftness, which a ferious conviction of it generally infpires, fomewhat may easily efcape, even from a wary pen, which will not bear the test of a fevere fcrutiny. Facile eft verbum aliquod ardens notare, idque, refinis (ut ita dicam) animorum incendiis, irridere; faid one of the beft writers in the world,

* Lct. P 31. ↑ Let. p. 4.

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who himself needed this excuse as feldom as any

man.

In particular, what I offered on that occafion towards the proof of a future ftate, deferved to be the lefs rigorously examined, because it was only by way of introduction to fome practical points, which I chiefly defigned to infift on. I had not room in a few pages, at the entrance of fhort difcourfe, to confider all things on all fides *, to balance the feveral advantages and difadvantages that attend the pleasures of men and beafts good. men and bad. I pretended not fully to state t, much lefs demonftrate, the truth contained in the text, as I am falfly reprefented to have done. Thofe are words which I never once used; nor would the task itself have been proper at fuch a time, and before fuch an auditory. My declared intention was only to explain the apoftle's argument, to enlarge on it, to fhew, by feveral inftances, the undoubted truth of it †, to open and apply it ; and this, by fuch confiderations chiefly as were in fome measure applicable to the perfon then to be interred. For whoever gives himself the trouble of reviewing that mean difcourfe, will find, that, as it confifts of three parts, a fpeculative point of doctrine, fome practical reflections, and an account of the person deceased; fo the two former of these points are handled with a regard to the latter; the practical reflections being all of them fuch as are fuited to the character of the perfon, which follows; and the preceding doctrine

• Let. p. 23. † p. 23' ‡ p. 22, 23, 40, 51. | Ser. S. p... † S. p. 3. Ibid.

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being illuftrated in fuch a manner, and by fuck inftances, as naturally lead both to the one and to the other that part of the doctrine I particularly mean, which is profeffedly built on the letter of the text *, and the exprefs authority of the a postie.

It is no wonder, if, in an argument handled thus briefly, and with fuch views as thefe, every thing fhould not be faid, which may be thought requifite, to clear it. That, as it was no part of my intention, fo neither was it neceffary, proper, or poffible, on that occalion to be done: and therefore, for omiflions of this kind, I need make no excufe. As to the other parts of the charge, which, if true, would really blemish what I have written; I shall, as I promised, reply to them wery difti etly and fully.

The accufation of my doctrine turns, I find, pon three heads; That it is altogether new, ut terly foreign from the intention of the apoftle,"or whofe words I build it," and falfe in itfelf." A very heavy charge! nor is the first part of it to be neglected. For in matters of morality and religion, which are every one's concern, and which have, therefore, been often and thoroughly examined, new doctrines or arguments are deservedly fufpected. And when one, who is by his function, a preacher of virtue, doth, by advancing fuch new doctrines or arguments, "make conceffons to the caufe of vice +" (as I am faid to have done) he is doubly criminal. Let us fee, therefore, what i have laid down in that Sermon, how

Ser.
P. 4.

↑ Let. p. 17.

far

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