OR A RATIONAL ACCOUNT OF THE GROUNDS OF NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. TO WHICH IS ADDED PART OF ANOTHER BOOK UPON THE SAME SUBJECT, LEFT UNFINISHED BY THE AUTHOR. TOGETHER WITH A LETTER TO A DEIST. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. By the Right Reverend Father in God". LATE LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTIEK. IT was the early felicity of Moses, when exposed in an ark of Nilotic papyre, to be adopted into the favour of so great a personage as the daughter of Pharaoh such another ark is this vindication of the writings of that divine and excellent person exposed to the world in; and the greatest ambition of the author of it is, to have it received into your patronage and protection. But although the contexture and frame of this treatise be far below the excellency and worth of the subject (as you know the ark in which Moses was put, was of bui rushes daubed with slime and pitch,) yet, when you please to cast your eye on the matter contained in it, you will not think it beneath your favour, and unworthy your protection. For if truth be the greatest present which God could bestow, or man receive, (according to that of Plutarch, 289 av Plutarch. θρώπῳ λαβεῖν μεῖζον, ἢ χαρίζεσθαι Θεῷ σεμνότερον αληθείας,) Osir, A de Isid. et then certainly those truths deserve our most ready acceptance, which are in themselves of greatest importance, and have the greatest evidence that they come from God. And although I have had the happiness of so near relation to you, as to know how little you need such discourses which tend to settle the foundations of religion, which you have raised so happy a superstructure upon; yet withal I consider what particular kindness the souls of all good men bear to such designs, whose end is to assert and vindicate the truth and excellency of religion. For those who are enriched themselves with the inestimable treasure of true goodness and piety, are far from that envious temper to think nothing valuable but what they are the sole possessors of; but such are the most satisfied themselves, when they see others not only admire, but enjoy, what they have the highest estimation of. Were all who make a shew of religion in the world really such as they pretend to be, discourses of this nature would be no more seasonable, than the commendations of a great beauty to one who is already a passionate admirer of it; but, on the contrary, we see how common it is for men first to throw dirt in the face of religion, and then pèrsuade themselves it is its natural complexion: they represent it to themselves in a shape least pleasing to them, and then bring that as a plea why they give it no better entertainment. It may justly seem strange, that true religion, which contains nothing in it but what is truly |