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

we take its. And that they did not look upon it to be an atonement for all crimes, but for thoſe of a leſs heinous nature; and that they generally looked upon other things to be alſo ne- ceſſary, and laid the principal ſtreſs upon luſtrations, and the rites of their religion, for purifying and abſolving them from guilt. And any one who duly conſiders, that the diſpenſing of pardon is an act of the divine prerogative, the exerciſe of which depends upon what ſecmeth moſt fit to his ſupreme governing wildom, cannot but be ſenſible that it muſt needs be a great

advantage to be aſſured, by an expreſs Revelation from God,

upon what terms the pardon of ſin is to be obtained, and how far it is to extend.

With regard to the fifth article about future rewards and puniſhments, which he repreſenteth to be, as it really is, of vaſt importance, though he ſometimes expreſſeth himſelf as if the Heathens were generally agreed, that good men would be re- warded with eternal life; at other times he intimates that they only agreed in this, that there would be rewards and puniſh- ments in a future ſtate; and ſometimes, that they held this only, that there would be rewards for good men, and puniſh- ments for bad men, either in this life or after it. And he him- felf frequently owns in his book de Veritate, that what kind of rewards ſhall be conferred, or puniſhments inflicted, cannot be certainly known from the light of natural reaſont.

But we need not inſiſt farther on theſe things. His Lordſhip himſelt fairly granteth, that the knowlege the Gentiles had of the One ſupreme God was lams and imperfet; which he attri- butes to the floth or cunning of the Prieſts, who neglected to inſtruct the people, or inſtructed them wrong; and that from thence it came to paſs, that the rays the divine light being interceßted, a wonderful darkneſs verſpread the minds f the vulgar.„VUnde etiam factum, ut radiis divini luminis inter- —˙ceptit, mira caligo vulgi animis obducta eſſet u.“ And he obſerves, that by what was added by the Prieſts, Poets, and Philoſephers, the whole fabric of truth was in danger of fall- zng to the ground. Tota inclinata in caſumque Prona nutavit veritatis fabrica x. And at the cloſe of his book de Relig. Cen- ril. he owns, that at length, the purer parts of divine wor- mip being neglected, the whole of religion ſunk by degrees into ſuperſtition and that thoſe five articles were almoſt over- whelmed with a heavy load of errors, ſo as to be perceived only

* De Kelig. Gentil. p. 268.*De Veritate, p. 57,& alibi. „ De KReilig. Gent p. 225. X Ibid. p. 283. by