much more troubled minds And without question the keenness of Christ's apprehension of what sin deserved was a high aggravation of what he suffered In which respect Christians also are more unhappy than the most bruitish men yea than the beasts that perish For whereas these feel their misery when it comes but doe not anticipate it those shall doe what the Devils deprecated continually torment themselves before the time and but with imaginary Evils if there be no such thing as a Hell Mortality and corruption would then make unreasonableness its self a priviledge and the Atheist would in this life be far happier than the best Christian and still happier than he is if he could bring himself to have as little reason as he has religion There is no doubt but that supposing no other life his enjoyments here would be so much the greater as his fears were less Thus the Hog makes good cheer in a tempest while Men make vows and prayers he is secure while the Philosopher looks pale and affrighted and owes that tranquillity to his stupidity which the others Philosophy and Reason shall but disturb 'T is certain that still as a man's apprehensions of another life have been less his enjoyment of this has ever been more free and full The Epicure who denied a God or at least his Providence did little trouble himself with his Anger while he fancied such a Deity as would not disturb men's pleasures so he might peaceably enjoy his own himself became as voluptuous as that God he made and so 't was his whole business to create himself an imaginary Paradise while he thought there was no real one This made such persons give themselves over to all licentiousness for their Principles being loose their Lives could not be strict while their opinions were so low of the Soul their care could not be but great for their Bodies The Immortality of the Soul once denied the concerns for it could not be much it being not probable that such men should please themselves with a pretence of vertue who deny'd the future rewards of it And from such premises that conclusion here mentioned by St. Paul could not but follow Let us eat and drink for to morrow we dye It is but reasonable to imagine that they who thought they should dye like beasts should live like them husband that life the best they could which should never return when once gone and make it as pleasant as they saw 't was short Which if there were no other life to come was no doubt a rational course and the highest wisedom And this supposed The Children of this World must needs be wiser than the Children of Light Martha's choice much better than Maries That Cardinal who said he would not change his part in Paris for that in Paradise appear as wise as we can imagine him Atheistical and those men's profession Malachi 3. That 't is a vain thing to serve the Lord and little profit to be found in keeping of his Ordinances were to be lookt upon as the highest reason The true Christian should be of all other the most unprofitable servant To be vertuous and to be vitious would be all one or rather to be vertuous would be but a trouble and a check to us nothing else but a subtle invention to debar our selves of the benefit of the good things of this world when no better were to be expected 2. The second thing I laid down in order to the proving the Christian more miserable than all other men upon supposition of no future state is this That the higher men's hopes are the greater their misery in their disappointment If hope but deferr'd vexes the Soul then hope utterly frustrated must needs confound it Which is so true that the higher we rise in our expectations the greater must our fall be when we find them defeated Now no profession bids higher than Christianity It bids the poorest beggar look upon himself as a King one born to a Throne and by filling him with expectations of a Sceptre which he shall never have turns that Heaven he strongly fansies into a fool's Paradise His fall from that place he so eagerly aspires to is like that of Lucifer from that he was once possess'd of He hopes to shine as a star in the firmament when his glory must suffer an eternal Eclipse Thus does he please himself with an empty title when he shall never enjoy the Inheritance and so in pursuance of a dream shall he lose the more solid comforts of this life and let go a substance to catch at shadows of good things to come if those good things be only in his Imagination if that death which puts an end to his misery shall add a greater one by for ever depriving him of his fancy'd enjoyments I shall add this one Consideration more that Christians as they are more miserable than other men by their Profession so do they make themselves yet more miserable by their severe Principles of Mortification and Self-denial debarring themselves of those Comforts and Satisfactions which others freely enjoy Thus shall the very Religion they profess persecute them more than another's rage and envy and while the World shall deprive them of things convenient for this life they shall do more of things necessary That shall deny them things lawfull They themselves things expedient too If Providence has given them a plentifull fortune their Religion shall forbid them the full and free use of it They must be poor in spirit in the height of honours low in their desires though never so high in wealth and plenty Thus in the midst of enjoyment do they scarce enjoy their Appetite must be curb'd in the opportunities of its utmost indulgence and while good things are presented to their view they must not reach out their hand to them neither touch taste nor handle nor use the World but as if they used it not In which respect as they suffer more than others so shall they enjoy less too while they lose the good things here and fail of those hereafter But here some may object That although there were no God nor life to come yet there is so much satisfaction in living according to the rules of right reason and vertue that even that consideration should oblige men to doe so and so make them most happy I confess that to live according to the rules of right reason is most agreeable to humane nature and conducing to happiness in this life and that they who keep closest to such rules should have a considerable temporal advantage over those that break them For sobriety temperance meekness chastity and the like do no doubt add as well to the pleasure as length of men's days and therefore Christians who best observe and practise those Vertues must needs upon this account enjoy themselves most in this World although they should fare no better than others in the next But to this it may be reply'd That
Disobedience to Him also And where is that Man who if he may have but one darling Sin and be suffer'd to enjoy that would not willingly bate you all the rest That would not be exact in some duties if he might commute for others One Man will be as sober as you would have him if he may be allow'd to be proud and another as chast so he may have leave to be revengefull But these middle sort of people are like to get little benefit by Christ's Redemption They have the fate of Neuters to be hated by both Parties like Borderers to be equally spoiled by both Nations And surely if this state be not the worst 't is certainly the most troublesome where the Man's Practices thwart his Principles such a one is not less divided from himself than from his God His single self is at least two parties His Heart 's the seat of a perpetual Civil War He is often led Captive into both quarters and while he renews his strength 't is only for a fresh defeat and he lays in treasure to no other end but to be worth another pillage And there is one thing highly considerable in the case of this middle person That he hath neither the comforts of Vertue nor the pleasure of Sin the satisfaction of doing his duty being sowred by his thoughts of the frequent omissions of it When a Man loves God and hates his Brother is a severe and a proud person such a one is just so excellent as to deserve our pity because he hath undergone the trouble of doing some good and miss'd the reward of it In whom so much Vertue was in vain so many good things to no purpose and who possess'd such rare advantages that it might be the more remarkable how he lost them too These have the sad honour of being instances how near Men may come to Happiness and yet fail of it They shall have the miserable Comfort that in them it shall be noted how much choice treasure may be cast away Thus what the Historian says of a Nation may be affirm'd of Mankind in a Moral sense Nec totam libertatem pati possunt nec totam servitutem That they would be neither absolute slaves to sin nor wholly free from it be neither under the law of Righteousness nor altogether under that of Iniquity that is not wholly Christ's enemies nor yet well his friends But as it was his design to free us wholly from the slavery so likewise to cleanse us from the stain and pollution of every sin As to be our Redemption so our Sanctification He came to rescue and withall to refine us To purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The second great End of his coming in the flesh and the last thing observable To purifie c. Of all the Religions which ever were yet in the World there is not any that hath so provided for the regulating of humane actions as Christianity hath done All others have rather been employ'd in Expiations for sin than Deleteries of it in performing such rights for which God should pardon them rather than in doing such actions for which he should love them the utmost of all their hopes being but for a Remission whereas ours aim at a Reward This bewails our infirmities so as to draw us from them and fit us for that happiness which it designs to procure us And therefore He who was the Author thereof did never intend to justifie us by his Righteousness unless he might also sanctifie us by his Spirit or procure us pardon for past sins without securing us as far as we were capable from future ones That was indeed the proper task of his Priestly This of his Prophetick Office There he did expiate Here he continually teaches us not only to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts but withall to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and that both by his Precepts and his Example which how effectual they are if duely observed and followed to the cleansing of us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit beyond whatever the World saw till He came into it will easily appear to any that shall confront Christ's Precepts particularly those delivered in his Sermon on the Mount and his Practice with those of Heathens or Jews either From the former of these two what Purity could be expected whose very Religion its self was Impurity whose Divinity taught Men to violate Humanity and whose ceremonious Worship was nothing else but a Solemnity of the foulest Vices Their Practices and Principles their Lives and Judgments having been alike corrupt as St. Paul describes them Rom. 1. Nor was it possible how it should be otherwise where Men's Sins and their Religion were the same thing where their Gods and their Inclinations did equally contribute to Wickedness The most abominable Sins we know among them had their Temples where Theft Drunkenness and Adultery were ador'd and to prostitute their Bodies was most sacred and their very Altar-fires did kindle those foul heats from whence 't is that Uncleanness is so often in Scripture styled Idolatry And this was the condition of the Heathenish World before our Lord's Incarnation 'T is true indeed that the more intelligent part of Mankind was not so debauch'd in its Understanding nor altogether so loose in its Practice Some few possibly there were who did a little resist the common stream and still retain so much of natural reason as serv'd them to discover the follies and impurities of others but very little to reform either others or themselves Something perhaps it did towards that too and in all likelihood make way for the more easie admission of Christianity which gave occasion to that unwary expression of one who styl'd Aristotle Christ's Forerunner in Naturals as St. John Baptist was in Spirituals And upon the like ground 't is that others affirm Christ's Incarnation to be clearly deducible from Plato's Writings How warrantably I know not but this I know That some of the Heathen Philosopher's Vertues are little better than Christian men's Vices and many of those Rules they give us to walk by very crooked nor did the exactest of them strictly observe them or follow their own Prescriptions And to say the best of the Rules themselves they were such as were fitted to the outward Man and did not at all require that inward Purity of the Heart which Christ has severely enjoyn'd his Disciples and is indeed the most effectual and only proper instrument to beget true Holiness in Men. Wherein the Christian Religion has as well exceeded the Jewish as the Heathenish one which entertain'd and amus'd its self rather with external performances affecting the Sense than divine and spiritual which alone could purifie the Soul The reason the Apostle gives why the legal Sacrifices could not make him who did the service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience because they stood in meats and drinks and carnal Ordinances Heb. 9.
9 10. Nor could all their other Purifications doe much neither towards the cleansing of the Mind which might be still in the Mire while the Body was in the Laver and remain as bestial as those Creatures to which it was beholding for its cleansing Besides that the Jewish Promises being so remote and obscure so low and mean and relating so much to this life that 't is question'd by some whether they pointed at all to any other they could have but little influence on the more spiritual part of Man which can never rest satisfied with what is so unproportioned to and so much less than its self All which defects are abundantly supply'd by Christ who has not only given us better Precepts but as the Apostle says established them on better and clearer Promises such as in their nature are most apt to engage us to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God To all which we may add the powerfull assistances of God's grace and the force and efficacy of Christ's example whereby He has not only pointed out the way to us but trac'd it Himself being both the way and the truth All such pressing Motives to Purity of life that 't is Morally impossible for any to name the name of Christ and not to depart from all Iniquity And therefore Athenagoras in his Apology for Christianity plainly tells us and 't is a great truth That no Christian can be a bad man unless he be a Hypocrite or pretend to so holy a Master and be so unlike Him To behold the Lamb of God without spot or blemish and be himself a Leopard And surely He that shall consider how that the whole Discipline of the Jewish Religion was but Purity in Type and all the Ceremonies of their Worship but so many Figures or rather Doctrines of Cleanness must needs grant that Purity which the Christian Religion advanc'd and which the Mosaical one did but adumbrate to have been of a far higher strain and cannot but in reason confess there lyes now upon him a much stronger obligation to Purity he being not only washt in Christ's own bloud that bloud which alone can purge his conscience from dead works to serve the ever-living God but baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire And now tell me whether any can well pretend to be redeemed by that bloud wherein he finds no power to sanctifie him Without doubt whatsoever Christ worketh for us He worketh in us too If he clear us from the guilt of sin he does likewise cleanse us from the pollution of it If he free us from the obligation and the punishment he does withall from the power and dominion of it and while he quenches Hell-fire without does at the same time quench that of Lust within us These things are not to be separated and when we find them so or find our selves the same men Christ found us still in our sins though he has used all possible means to draw us out of them we certainly frustrate all the ends of his Incarnation He is not born for us but against us This Child is not set for our rise but for our fall His taking our Flesh will doe us no good if we doe not walk by his Spirit and that we shall not doe if we be not Holy as well as Innocent and not only perform those excellent things He requires from us but love and become zealous of them that so we may be indeed his Peculiar People A Title which some in our days are pleased to appropriate to themselves who yet shew little of that which must secure it renouncing good works in their own practice and decrying them in others as the mark of Antichrist's rather than of Christ's People These are they who talk so much of Faith and set it up in opposition to good Works an error worse than theirs who make them joint Causes with Christ's Merits in our Justification such there were in our Apostle's time who because He did so much magnifie Faith to beat down the Jews conceit of being justified by the Works of the Law did so far Idolize it as to think all good works useless when once they had taken upon them the profession of Christianity And there are and too many among us who bury all thoughts of good works in a pleasing but deceitfull Contemplation of Faith as exclusive of those good works whereof 't is so naturally productive and which can no more be separated from it than heat from light 'T is Faith indeed which alone purifies the heart that is the very foundation and root of all other Graces without which our Profession is but an empty Name and our most glorious performances but so many glittering Sins But then 't is such a Faith as supposes good works or else 't is but a dead an invisible Faith good works being the only evidences of its reality whereby we approve our selves unto Men as well as glorifie God stop the mouths of the Enemies of the Gospel make our calling and election sure to our selves and our profession good in the sight of others by adorning the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and by the practice thereof resembling Him who went about doing good And upon these and the like accounts we find our Apostle highly magnifying and earnestly calling upon Titus to press the necessity of them chap. 3. 8. This is a faithfull saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men so profitable that without them the Text expresly affirms they cannot be God's peculiar People And here we may see how strict an Exactor of them our Lord is who is not content with our performance of without our affection to them nay requires the very heat and fervor of that affection will have us doe and withall be zealous of them which is more than barely to doe them and cannot possibly consist with any coldness or indifferency to them Such a temper He requires whose Zeal did even eat him up that we should follow after righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is eagerly pursue and even persecute it be active and violent in quest thereof never leaving off our pursuit till we have obtain'd it He who like Gallio cares for none of these things but is indifferent to them shall be as little car'd for by God and such as are neither hot nor cold in his service he will spew out of his mouth Nescit tarda molimina Spiritûs sancti gratia God's Spirit fires that Soul it does inspire making it active and industrious to improve his Graces to add one link or other still to the Chain of them To faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and so on To strive not only to be
design and management thereof did at his Examination confess That his principal motive to this villanous attempt was an Excommunication thundred out at first by Pius Quintus against Queen Elizabeth and kept still on foot by Sixtus Quintus which sticking on King James oblig'd him in conscience to attempt the murthering of his Sovereign in obedience to that Bull. And how did he excuse that Fact Was it not by his pious intention to promote God's glory and the good of the Catholick Church A fit cover for such a foul fact but commonly made use of by such as himself was in justification of the like wicked practices St. Paul we see hath expresly doom'd all those that doe so to no less than eternal Damnation But those men and he are not agreed in this point For should his doctrine be good what would then become of all their Piae Fraudes Feigned Legends and Miracles Indices Expurgatorii Equivocations and mental Reservations Allowance of common Stews for the preventing unnatural Lusts that is of one Sin to hinder another For which and the like the Catholick defence is the Catholick cause and men's pious Intentions which in case they should prove never so faulty yet a little rectifying of them will rectifie all that is amiss in them A piece of spiritual Chymistry this of late Invention which can extract the finest gold out of the basest metal to guild over all the Villanies which the heart of man can devise or his hand execute I know not whether any can really think that by such vile artifices they can doe God any service But I am apt to believe that they rather think to doe themselves one and that 't is the same humane policy not to give it a worse name and not Religion that acts such men which did these persons in the Text. But if any men do in good earnest think they doe God any service thereby It is such a one as our Lord Himself here flatly tells them neither his Father nor He will ever thank them for But since it will be in vain for me to tell them so who will not take Christ's own word for it I shall turn my discourse to you who now hear me and for the preventing any such dangerous errour in you leave some few Rules of caution and direction with you and so conclude 1. And the first shall be concerning your Zeal That you be as carefull and industrious to employ it in a good as some do theirs in a bad cause but with this proviso That your Zeal be a right and well-temper'd one A right one it will be if it be alway in a good thing And well-temper'd if it be according to knowledge Rom. 10. 2. St. Paul's rules both If your Zeal be not in a good thing it will doe the same mischief that fire does out of its proper place the hearth And if it have not light to see its way by it will prove very dangerous company in the dark and lead you into bogs and precipices There is nothing so pernicious to man as a blind frantick zeal which instead of eating them up who are possess'd with it eates up God's people as if they were bread Nor is there any thing so injurious to God it being common for people in their indiscreet and furious zeal for God to run farthest from Him and either to break the two Tables of his Law with Moses or at least to dash them one against the other And can we think they should ever doe God service who know not what they doe themselves May not he say to such Zealots what King Achish did of David 1 Sam. 21. 15. Have I need of mad men And does not too much ignorant zeal much more than too much learning make men so Surely there is no madness to the religious one which like the Devil in the possessed man in the Gospel casts them sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water that is into contrary excesses and extravagances scattering mischief where-ever it goes turning the World into a Chaos and the Church into an Acheldama while Melancholy is made the seat of Religion by some and Frenzy by others what can follow thence but confusion And therefore we ought to have a special care that our Zeal be guided by knowledge and discretion lest we over-shoot our selves with these men here and when we put Christ's servants out of our Synagogues and kill them too into the bargain we become so foolish as with them also to think we shall thereby doe God service 2. Our next caution must be that we be well assured of the soundness of the Principles we act by What a dangerous thing it is to be herein mistaken our Saviour tells us Matt. 6. 23. If the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness that is If thy mind and conscience be defiled if thy Judgment be corrupt how great and dangerous will those mistakes prove that mislead thee For the farther thou shalt go on in thy wrong way the more shalt thou be out of the right one And when thou art once out it will be impossible for thee to get into it again so long as those false Guides which are as so many Satans standing at thy right-hand still prompting and tempting thee to evil shall remain in thee He that commits a sin by principles hath nothing to retrieve him from his errour while he retains such principles and as long as he is under the power and guidance of ill ones they will not only dangerously expose but highly encourage him to evil by turning the greatest crimes into merit and making him hope to gain Heaven by such practices as directly lead him to Hell The Physicians maxime That an error in the first concoction is never to be mended holds as true in Religion as in Nature And therefore it highly concerns us that our first choice here be right lest we set out amiss and offend God most even there where we think most to please Him 3. The last Use I shall draw from my Text is an Use of Direction or Tryal how to judge of the Truth and Goodness of a Religion and that is by the Mildness and Harmlesness thereof This is the proper Chraracter of true Christian Religion It has all of the Dove and nothing of the Vulture in it That which breathes nothing but Curses and Slaughters to be sure is not of God the Father nor of His Son I think there is no true Member of our Church that understands his Religion well and the nature of it but would be willing to submit it to this Test But I can scarce believe that they who talk so much of the Cruelty of ours would be content to put the Truth of their Religion upon this issue We need but compare Q. Mary and Queen Elizabeth's Reigns to see which of the two Religions they were of was the mildest No fire and faggot to be
Light of Nature is but dim and its Assistance weak and they who followed that did but grope in the Dark and were apt ever and anon to stumble And no Marvel For some Evil does so well imitate Good that 't is hard for a natural Eye to make out the just Bounds and Limits of each of them The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Rule that marks out Vertue from its neighbouring Vice being not so plain in every place as to chalk out exactly to this point thou may'st come and no farther and therefore we find the best Philosophers Ethicks so imperfect that some Heathen Vertues are little better than Christian men's Vices Besides the Universal ill practice of mankind by putting a false gloss on Evil did so disguise it that the mistake of that for Good was very easie But Christ having in his Gospel given us such exact Rules whereby to judge of them One would think it were impossible now for men to be deceived And yet we find nothing so common and the moralists Observation most true Pauci dignoscere possunt vera bona atque illis multum diversa For while some look upon these things through such false Glasses as do alter their shape and proportion or their Organ is vitiated by some such bad humour as discolours every Object presented to it while the strength of passion blinds some men's reason or the pleasures of sin corrupts it and wicked men do so cunningly suit their Principles to others bad Tempers that they are presently swallowed without chewing 'T is hard to know things that are excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle's word is Phil. 1. 10. things that differ especially men being willing to believe all lawfull that gratifies their vitious humour and inclination And this was it which rendred the Heathen Divinity so plausible to the World and the vile Doctrines of Gnosticks to loose Christians that it brought in such Shoals of Proselytes to them Upon all which Accounts David's Prayer will be very seasonable for every one of us Psal. 119. 66. Teach me O Lord good Judgment and Knowledge In the Original 't is good tast to try and relish what is good or in the Language of the Apostle give me Senses Exercis'd to discern Good and Evil. And while we thus beg God's Light and Direction let us as Christ bids us make our Eye good and single by clearing it from all carnal prejudice and that Dust and Filth which Satan and the World cast into it still rubbing and polishing natural Truths that they may shine out brighter and continually blowing up these Sparks into a flame Thus if we be not wanting to our selves God will improve our natural into a divine Light He will show us what is good by lifting up the Light of his Countenance upon us and enable us not only to call every thing by it proper Name Good good and Evil evil but withal to chuse the one and refuse the other That so the Curse of the Text may be turned into a Blessing and the Seeds of moral Vertue well cultivated here may yield us the Fruit of a blessed Immortality hereafter Which God of his infinite Mercy grant c. Amen Soli Dei Gloria in aeternum FINIS THE CONTENTS SERMON I. SAint Luk. XI 27 28. And it came to pass as he spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said Tea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Pag. 1 SERMON II. Tit. II. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works p. 34 SERMON III. Tit. II. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works p. 61. SERMON IV. St. Luk. II. 22. And when the days of her purification according to the Law of Moses were accomplished they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. p. 87 SERMON V. Joh. XIX 37. And again another Scripture saith They shall look on him whom they have pierced p. 124 SERMON VI. Acts II. 24. Whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it p. 159 SERMON VII Joh. XVI 7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you p. 197 SERMON VIII Heb. I. 14. Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation p. 242 SERMON IX Colos. I. 12. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light p. 287 SERMON X. St. Matth. VII 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits p. 321 SERMON XI Joh. XVI 2 3. They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service And these things will they doe unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me. p. 399 SERMON XII 1 Cor. XV. 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable p. 458 SERMON XII Rom. XII 1. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living Sacrifice SERMON XIII holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service p. 490 SERMON XIV Esay V. 20. Wo unto them that call evil good and good evil p. 529 BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard AThenae Oxonienses or an Exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from 1500 to the End of the Year 1690 Representing the Birth Fortune Preferments and Death of all those Authors and Prelates the great Accidents of their Lives the Fate and Character of their Writings The Work being so compleat that no Writer of Note of this Nation for near Two hundred years past is omitted fol. 2 Vol. Sir William Davenant's Works fol. Comedies and Tragedies by Tho. Killigrew fol. Beaumont and Fletcher's Plays fol. Shakespear's Works fol. Voyages and Adventures of Ferdinand Pinto a Portugal who was five times Shipwrackt sixteen times Sold and thirteen times made a Slave in Aethiopia China c. Written by Himself fol. Dr. Pocock on Joel A Critical History of the Text and Versions of the New Testament wherein is firmly Establish'd the Truth of those Acts on which the Foundation of Christian Religion is laid By Father Simon of the Oratory Together with a Refutation of such Passages as seem contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England