them in Strictnefs of Conversation, and exact Piety of Life ; and I am so charitable to believe, that these speak the Sense of most of the reft, and that the imaginary want of Certainty in this dubious Point, diverts them from venturing on that Innocence and Purity, which was the Glory of the Primitive Chriftians. But may it not be requifite to enquire, Whether thefe Doubters have ever taken the right way to be fatisfied? If one that had never heard of fuch a City as Exeter, fhould be told, That a Friend of his lately deceased there had left him a Thousand Pounds; and he should reply, That if he were certain there were fuch a City, he would repair thither, and yet would not enquire of those that are able to inform him: Might it not be prefumed, that fuch an one had no mind to be fatisfied? And I durft appeal to the Confciences of thefe Men that doubt of an After-Retribution, whether they did ever fincerely and impartially defire, or endeavour to be fatisfied about it: Did they ever do what every Rational Man ought to do, that is willing to be ascertain'd of the Truth of a common Report? Did they ever put themselves to half that trouble, to be convinced of the Certainty of a future Judgment, that they put themselves to, when they would know whether the Title of the Eftate they would buy, be good or no? Do not they drudge from Lawyer to Lawyer, to advise about the Evidences that relate to it? And by this we guess that they are willing to be fatisfied.

To Scoff at a Motion of Weight and Moment before Examination, is a great Sign of Indiscretion and Folly in thofe that do it; whilft the prudent Man, that defires to know the Truth of it, enquires What Solidity there is in it: Whether any wife Man were ever of that Opinion: What Reason they had to think fo: And what enticed or moved them to embrace it. He is fo far from exclaiming against it at the first Hearing, or Arraigning those that receive it as too facile and credulous, that he'll confult with Men whom he may rationally fuppose, to be at least as Wife and Learned as himfelf, and fee what Arguments they can alledge for it, and whether thofe Arguments be fatiffactory or no; nor would I require more Pains and Industry in the Cafe in question, than fuch an Application of Prudence, to be fatisfied in the Truth of a future State; and he that would thus proceed, must be ftrangely ftupid, if he be not convinced of the Verity and Rationality, of it.

But when I fpeak of enquiring into the Truth of the Notion before us, I do not mean a flight and fuperficial Survey of it, not a flash of Conception, which, like Lightning, (to ufe Plutarch's Phrafe) dies as foon as Born, but a ferious weighing and pondering the Matter: For it would foem a ftrange effect of Arrogance and Self-conceitedness, to undertake at first fight to comprehend and refute all the Reasons of a Point, wherein very wife Men have employed

the

the Contemplation and Study of many Hours, In all Difputes, there are Topicks of greater or leffer weight, and if fome of thefe pregnant Wits find themselves able to refel fome of the weakest Arguments, it's ill Logick to infer that therefore they can as eafily anfwer the ftrongest and most ponderous. And yet this is the ufual Method whereby these vain Men discipline themselves into Unbelief; they are careful to pick out fuch Additional Proofs, which Men of Reafon fuperadd to their weightielt Obfervations, and these they take the Boldness to cavil at, whilst they avoid those more material Evidences, which would stagger their Understandings, and write a Mene, Mene, Tekel Vpharfin, upon their Lufts and Paflions: Which carelefs Difpofition, I can ascribe to nothing fo much as want of Confideration. And indeed, it's lamentable to fee Men endued with Reason, fink fo much beneath it, and live the Reverse of those Principles, which the Supreme Architect of Heaven and Earth hath engraven on their Confciences.

To reduce fuch, and other finful Men, to a ferious Confideration of their Spiritual Concerns, is the chief Defign of this Work: And all I fhall Request of Your Grace is, That you will be pleased to peruse it sometimes at your Hours of Leifure; not that I pretend to have writ more, or better, on this Subject, than far more Learned Authors have done before me; but as the mighty Artaxerxes accepted of a

Cup

Cup of Water from the Hand of a Peasant; fo Tour Grace will let the World fee, how great a Mafter you are in the Art of Condefcenfion, by Countenancing the Poor Present of,

My LORD,

Tour Grace's most Faithful

and moft Obedient

Servant and Chaplain,

Anthony Horneck.

THE

PREFACE.

T

HE Great Foes of Religion, which have in all Ages oppofed its Progrefs, and undermined its Glory, are Hypocrify and Prophaneness. Between these two Thieves the Jewel hangs, as its Great Mafter on the Cross, and they both Revile it, the one under the Character of a Familiar Friend,the other under that of an Open Enemy. Which of thefe doth the greatest Harm, is fomething difficult to determine. Hypocrify commonly ushers in Prophaneness, and, as a Lad thrust in at a Window, opens the Door to the greatest Monfier: For there is nothing more common, than for Men, who are not very difcerning, to contemn all Piety, when they fee the blackeft Crimes profecuted under that Silken Mantle, and Men with the Temple of the Lord in their Mouths, abufe both the Temple, and the God that dwells in it. People whofe Understandings are weak, obferving Men to carry Daggers under their Bibles, and to make use of the nobleft Means for the worst and bafest Ends, are apt to think they may with Authority laugh at all that's Sacred, and fancy they are excufed from all Devotion, when they find the greatest Pretenders make it only a Trick to cheat the World. Whether that Prophane

ness,