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him as a true Demoniac; and so plied him with CROSSES, that sovereign Panacea of the Exorcists.

Thus they dressed up their impostures as like as they could, in garb and fashion, to the miracles of heavenly extraction; with the spirit, or, must we say, in imitation of those Pagan priests, who forged their Ancilia to secure the SACRED SHIELD which fell from heaven: as if they had taken it into their heads, that true miracles, unattended with these delusions, were in the same danger from the enemies of the Faith, that the Palladium of Rome was from robbers, without a numerous guard of brazen counterfeits.

END

OF TREATISE

ON JULIAN'S ATTEMPT TO REBUILD

THE TEMPLE.

THE

DOCTRINE OF GRACE;

OR,

THE OFFICE AND OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

VINDICATED

FROM THE INSULTS OF INFIDELITY

AND

THE ABUSES OF FANATICISM:

WITH

SOME THOUGHTS

(Humbly offered to the Consideration of the Established Clergy)

REGARDING

THE RIGHT METHOD OF DEFENDING RELIGION
AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF EITHER PARTY.

IN THREE BOOKS.

1750.

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ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

WHILE I was composing these sheets to vindicate the honour of Religion, it was given out, that I was writing in defence of a late Minister of State.

I have a Master above, and I have one below; I mean GOD, and the KING. To them my services are bound.

The most sacred of all private ties are Friendship and Gratitude. The duties arising from these, though not altogetlier so extensive as the other, are subservient only to them.

With respect to the great Minister here understood, His vindication, had he wanted any, could come, with proper dignity, only from himself. And he, though for the first time, would be here but a Copier: I mean, of the example of that First of Romans *; who being calumniated before the people by one Nævius, an obscure Plebeian, when he came to make his defence, which happened to be on the anniversary of the battle of Zama, addressed the assembly in this manner: "It

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was on this day, Romans, that I subdued your mighty "Rival for Empire, the Carthaginian. I would it Ill "become the friends of Rome to waste such a day in "wrangling and contention. We should now be returning thanks to the immortal Gods for the signal

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*

Scipio Africanus; who restored his country by carrying the war from Rome to Carthage.

"protection

"protection they afforded us in that glorious conflict. "Let us leave then this fellow with himself, and ascend

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together to the capitol, to offer to Jupiter the "Deliverer; who, on all occasions as well as this, "hath, from my early youth, vouchsafed to bestow upon.me the growing power and the constant disposition to support the honour of my country. And "let no God, auspicious to Rome, be left uninvoked, "that the State, in its distresses, may never want such "servants as I have still endeavoured to approve myself." When he had said this, he stept from the rostrum, and left the forum empty; all the people following him to the capitol.

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That the people followed him is not surely the marvellous part of the story. The thing to be admired is, that a Statesman should lead the people to prayers.

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This indeed is the last service a Patriot-minister can render to his country. And I am well persuaded (so exactly does the example fit the occasion) that our illustrious Modern would have deemed it the crown of his labours to have aniniated his Fellow-citizens with a spirit of true piety towards GOD, as successfully as he inflamed them with a spirit of zeal and fortitude for the King and Constitution.

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