Mr. Blount's oracles of reason examined and answered in nine sections in which his many heterodox opinions are refuted, the Holy Scriptures and revealed religion are asserted against deism & atheism / by Josiah King ...

PAg. 88. and 89.

The Deists Religion is first ne∣gative: God is not to be worshipt by an Image, nor by Sacrifice—the positive is, by an inviolable ad∣herence in our lives, to all the things 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by an imitation of God, in all His imitable Perfecti∣ons; especially in His Goodness, and believing mag∣nificently of Him.

ANSWER.

As to the negative Religion of the Deist, we confess, That in the two first negatives, we have no controversy with them, in the sense they are here proposed. For we acknowledge, There ought not to be made any material Image of God; neither ought God to be worshipped by any Sa∣crifice of any bruit Creature: but that God's infinite Mercy excludes a Mediatour, that we deny. The whole System of Christian Religion requires our Belief thereof: and therefore, as we have said in the end of the foregoing Section, the Deist is repugnant to Himself, when He sup∣poseth some advantage from Christianity; and yet wholly rejects the grand Hypothesis, upon which it is built.

As to the positive Proposition, we say, It is defective, and leaves us in great uncertainties. Cornelius Agrippa, de vanitate Scientiarum, c. 54. truly affirms, Quod aliquando vitium fuit, modo virtus habetur; quod hic virtus est, alibi vitium sit, quod uni honestum, alteri turpe; quod nobis justum, aliis injustum: apud Athenienses licuit viro soro∣rem germanam habere in Matrimonio, apud Roma∣nos nefas habetur:

That which hath at some times been accounted a vice, is now account∣ed a vertue; that which in this Country is accounted a vertue, in another is accounted a vice; among the Athenians it was lawful for a man to marry his own Sister, which by the Romans was abominated; and much more hath Agrippa to the same purpose: that of Lu∣can concerning the Parthians, is unknown to none:

Cui fas implere parentem quid reor esse ne∣fas:

Nothing in Nature can be thought to be unjust to that man, who thinks he may law∣fully lie with his own Mother.

Julius Firmi∣cus, in his Epistle to Lollian, gives also this In∣stance, Apud Aegyptios & Lacedaemonios furari honorificum, apud nos furca suspensi strangulantur.

Among the Egyptians and Lacedemonians it is not only accounted lawful, but honourable to com∣mit theft; but with us 'tis punished with death.

Diogenes Laertius vita Pyrrhonis,—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉— And so he goes on, instancing in particulars, that which is allowed by those to be just, is condemned by

others as unjust; that which by some is account∣de good, by others is accounted evil: The Persi∣ans think it lawful to lie with their own Daugh∣ters; the Greeks detest it. The Massagetes have Wives in common, &c. the Greeks abhor it: The Cilicians think Robberies to be lawful; 'tis otherwise with the Greeks: And much more is to be found in the same Laertius to this effect.

Out of which 'tis manifest, what a blind guide Nature is in matters of Religion: how vain the Religion of the Deist is, and what necessity there is of Divine Revelation.

What our Author adds of the Imitation of God in all His imitable Perfections, and especially in His Goodness, and believing magnificently of it, destroys His Hypothesis, and supposes revealed Re∣ligion: And I appeal to the Reader, whether Mr. Blount can think magnificently of the Goodness of God, when He and His Deist affirm, That a Mediator derogates from the Infinite Mercy of God, equally as an Image doth from His Spirituality and Infinity. And that not by the by, but openly in the Chapter where the Articles of the Religion of the Deist are treated of, there it is where this Position is laid down: for this is the third Ar∣ticle; —

Not by a Mediator, for it is un∣necessary, and derogates as much from God's Mercy, as an Image doth from His Spirituality and Infinity.

The Repugnancy of which to Holy Scripture, appears from the First of Ti∣mothy, 2. Chap. v. 5.

For there is one God,

and one Mediatour between God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus: Our Lord is also called Me∣diatour of a better Covenant, Hebr. 8.6. the Mediatour of the New Testament, Heb. 9. v. 15.

And the Mercy of God is frequently declared by His sending a Mediatour. So that the Deist's Religion bids defiance to Christian Religion; and yet now and then He expresses some regard for the same; which overcomes all Impudence, unless He owns that the Deist's Religion is made up of Contradictions.