4 A View of tbe DEIsTIcAL Writers. Let. 1.

puniſhments for bad men, in a future ſtate; or, as he ſome- times expreſſeth it, both here and hereafter. I' heſe he repre- ſents as common notices inſcribed by God on the minds of all men, and undertakes to ſhew that they were univerſally acknow- leged in all nations, ages, and religions. This is particularly the deſign of his book de Religione Gentilium; though it is but comparatively a ſmall part of that work which tendeth directly to prove that theſe articles univerſally obtained: the far greater part of it is taken up with an account of the heathen religion and ceremonies, which he hath performed with an abundance of learning, and hath intermixed many ſoftening apologies for the pagan ſuperſtition and idolatry.

As he repreſents theſe five articles as abſolutely neceſſary, the five pillars, as he calls them, on which all religion is built; ſo he endeavours to fhew that they alone are fufficient, and that nothing can be added to them, Wwhich can tend to render any man more virtuòus, or a better man. But then he ſubjoins this limitation,“ provided theſe articles be well explained in their « full latitude e.“ This univerſal religion which all men agree in, his Lordſhip repreſents to be the only religion of which there can be any certainty, and he endeavours to ſhew the great ad- vantages that would ariſe from men's embracing this religion, and this only. One of the reaſons he offers to recommend it is this, that this catholic or univerſal religion anſwers the ultimate deſign of the holy ſcriptures. Sacrar um literarum fini ultimo *intentionigue quadrat.“ He adds, That“ all the doctrines «there taught aim at the eſtabliſhment of theſe five catholic ¹*articles, as we have often hinted; there is no ſacrament, rite „¹or ceremony there enjoined, but what aims, or ſeems to aim, «c at the eſtabliſhment of theſe five articles.“ Sce his reaſons at the end of his Religio Laici.

One would be apt to think by what this noble writer here offers, that he muſt have a very favourable opinion of Chriſti- anity as contained in the holy ſcriptures; ſince he repreſents it as the great deſign of all its doctrines, and even of the rites and ſacraments there injoined, to eſtabliſh thoſe great principles in which he makes religion properly to conſiſt. Accordingly he expreſsly declares in the above-mentioned treatiſe, that it was far from his intention to do harm to the beſt religion, as he there calls Chriſtianity, or the true faith, but rather to

eſtabliſh both f.

½Appendix to Relig. Laici, C. 3. † Relig. Laici, p. 28. But