fame; not doubting but your Grace's great Condefcenfion and kind Acceptance of a Performance intended for the general and spiritual Good of Mankind, in the Behalf of Religion and Virtue, will have the greater Force and Influence upon the Minds of the Readers, and incline them to a due Attention. For as the World cannot be ignorant of those illuftrious Virtues which flow from your Grace, and are derived to you from your most renowned Ancestors; fo I cannot but perfuade my self, that your Grace's Approbation of this well-meant Endeavour will render it more serviceable to the World, and make it better anfwer the End propos'd by,

Your GRACE'S

Moft Obliged, and

Moft Devoted,

Humble Servant,

Benjamin Parker.

THE

PREFACE.

T

HE following Difcourfes are defign'd to rectify the prevailing Errors in Faith and Practice, fo vifible amongst us, and so dif-. graceful to our Holy Religion. How far I fhall fucceed in this Attempt, which I am fure is well defign'd, I must leave. to the Grace of God acting upon the good Dif pofition' of the Readers. If any fhall charge me with erroneous Principles in any of the Hypothefes I have maintain'd, whether Divine or Philofophical, I defire they will be fo just as to produce their Reasons for doing fo; and I fhall either fubmit to them, if convincing, or elfe produce fome better Reafons, if I can, to fupport my own Principles, than they have done to destroy them.

I am entirely fatisfied (and hope I have produced fufficient Arguments to fatisfy all reafonable Men) in the Principles I have main

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tain'd

tain'd against the Doctrine of God's determining the Happiness or Mifery of his Creatures in a future State before their Creation, with out Refpect to their Actions; and hope to Thew that my Philofophical Notions or Probabilities are alfo grounded upon Reason, and no ways clashing with, but confonant to the Holy Scriptures, and tending to difcover to us the confummate Wisdom of the infinitely powerful Contriver of the Univerfe, and GREAT AUTHOR of Nature.

For how manifeft are the Footsteps of infinite Wisdom and Forefight in fixing of Laws to all the glorious Heavenly Bodies, which they, of themselves, cannot tranfgrefs; fo that their various Phænomena are accountable, and their Motions deducible to certain Calculations, and thereby the feveral Configurations of the Planets of our Syftem, and the Eclipfes of the Luminaries are foretold.

Which exact Order and Harmony has been obferv'd by all the inanimate Bodies of the Univerfe; amongst which there never was any Confufion or Alteration of the Laws first af fign'd them by their Creator, except when the rational Inhabitants thereof have given Caufe to the Creator of them to put a Violence upon the Order of Nature. Thus upon the Difobedience of our first Parents, as Mr. Whiston fuppofes, the Earth receiv'd its diurnal Rotation: Thus likewife at the Deluge, (that great

Violence

Violence of the Order of Nature) he again fuppofes the Earth, by the Attraction of the Comet that drown'd it, was drawn out of a circular into an elliptical Orbit: So at our Bleffed Saviour's Crucifixion, the glorious Luminaries were deprived for three Hours of their influencing this Globe with thofe Rays of Light for which they were created. Now thefe and other Inftances, which might be given, do really fhew there is an Author of Nature; fince we find that the fame Author can as easily deftroy or alter the first Order or Laws affign'd it, as he could at first establish it; which is never done but upon fome Great Occafion relating to the rational Part of the Creation.

If we look into fecondary Caufes in the Order of Nature amongst us upon this Globe, we fhall find things carried on in the fame Order and Harmony, and in general to answer our Ends, Aims, and Expectations, (fo far as they are kept within the Bounds of Reafon) when they are not by fome Default of our own or others alter'd. And had not Nature been thus wifely established, there could have been nothing but Difcord and Confufion amongst the Works of the Creation, which now have eftablifh'd Laws, which are not violated, as I have faid, but upon fome extraordinary Occafions, arifing from the rational Part of the Creation: And yet we find that fome Men's Minds are fo ftrangely corrupted, as to infer

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from

from the wife Order of Nature, that all things came by Nature. Good God! How amazing this! ---That the Depravity of Man fhould make it neceffary fometimes for the Almighty Being to fuperfede the Order of that curious Nature he had at first establish'd, to eftablish the Belief of his own Existence, and to enforce his Precepts upon us by fome extraordinary Acts to reduce us to a State of Rectitude: I fay, how amazing is it, (for it will bear repeating) that notwithstanding this there fhould still be any that can deny the Author of Nature, and make Nature itself the Caufe of all things! For it must be a felf-evident Truth, that if there was not an Author of Nature, or a Being fuperior to it, then could there never have been perform'd any fupernatural Actions: So that if the Order and Harmony of natural Caufes, wifely adapted to anfwer their Ends, are not fufficient to convince every one of the Wisdom, Power, and Existence of the Creator of them, (that they may have no Pretence to Unbelief) the fupernatural Performances that have been manifefted by a Divine Power, do certainly evidence that there is a Being above Nature, who can, when he pleafes, invert its Order; which, whenever that is done, is called miraculous. Thus our Blessed Saviour's Miracles when on Earth, and thofe of his Difciples, which they were empower'd to do in his Name, were occafion'd by the Unbelief of that prefent Generation, in order to eftablifh the Belief of their Divine Miffion

and