avoid the mortification, (which will be very uneasy to them) to yield, and submit to be subdued and hewed down before the priests, whom of all mankind they hate and despise; if they would avoid this, let: them confess, as the truth is, That religion is no invention of priests, but of divine original: That priests were instituted by the same author of religion; and that their order is a perpetual and living monument of the matters of fact of their religion, instituted from the time that such matters of fact were said to be done; as the Levites from Moses; the apostles and succeeding clergy from Christ to this day: That no Heathen priest can say the same: they were not appointed by the gods whom they served, but by others in after ages: they cannot stand the test of the four rules before mentioned; which the Christian priests can do, and they only. Now, the Christian priesthood, as instituted by Christ himself, and continued by succession to this day, being as impregnable and flagrant a testimony to the truth of the matters of fact of Christ, as the sacraments, or any other public institutions; besides that, if the priesthood were taken away, the sacra ments, and other public institutions, which are administered by their hands, must fall

with them therefore the devil has been most busy, and bent his greatest force, in all ages, against the priesthood; knowing, that if that goes down, all goes with it.

f

XX. And now, last of all, if one word of advice would not be lost upon men who think so unmeasurably of themselves as the Deists, you may represent to them, what a condition they are in, who spend that life and sense which God has given them, in ridiculing the greatest of his blessings, his revelations of Christ, and by Christ, to redeem those from eternal misery who shall believe in him and obey his laws: and that God, in his wonderful mercy and wisdom, has so guarded his revelations, as that it is past the power of men or devils to counterfeit: and that there is no denying of them, unless we will be so absurd as to deny, not only the reason, but the certainty of the outward senses, not only of one, or two, or three, but of mankind in general: That this case is so very plain, that nothing but want of thought can hinder any to discover it: That they must yield it to be so plain, unless they can show some forgery which has all the four marks before set down. But if they cannot do this, they must quit their cause, and yield a happy victory over themselves; or else sit down under all that

ignominy, with which they have loaded the priests, of being, not only the most pernicious, but (what will gall them more) the most inconsiderate, and inconsiderable of mankind.

Therefore let them not think it an undervaluing of their worthiness, that their whole cause is comprised within so narrow a compass, and no more time bestowed upon it than it is worth.

But let them rather reflect, how far they have been all this time from Christianity, whose rudiments they are yet to learn; how far from the way of salvation; how far the race of their lives is run, before they have set one step in the road to heaven: and therefore how much diligence they ought to use, to redeem all that time they have lost, lest they lose themselves for ever: and be convinced, by a dreadful experience, when it is too late, that the gospel is a truth, and of the last consequence.*

It is exceedingly remarkable, that the more humble and holy people are, the more they read, admire, and value the scriptures; and on the contrary, the more self-conceited, worldly-minded, and wicked, the more they neglect, despise, and asperse

'them.

As for the objections which are raised against their perspicuity and consistency, those who are both pious and learned, know, that they are generally founded on prepossession, and the want of under

standing in spiritual things; or on our ignorance of several customs, idioms, and circumstances, which were perfectly known when those books were written. Frequently also the immaterial error arises merely from a wrong punctuation, or a mistake of copiers, printers, or translators; as the daily discov eries of pious critics, and ingenuous confessions of unprejudiced enquirers, abundantly prove.

Sect. XIXth is omitted, as containing sentiments not essential to the subject of the letter.