Animadversions on a treatise entitled Fiat lux, or, A guide in differences of religion,…Animadversions on a treatise intituled Fiat lux, or, A guide in differences of religion,…

Such contests ever were, and he that knows what men are, will have little cause given him to suspect the truth of the foundation ⟨p. 161⟩of that about which they contend. Nor is any ground of such suspicion administered by these differences; Men of corrupt minds, may take occasion from them to vent the enmity which is in their hearts against the faith; ground of suspicion none is given unto them. Nay rather, it is a strong evidence of the certainty of the faith in general, that all those who contend about the branches of it, do every one of them charge one another with the failure; and all agree, that the faith it self about which they contend, is certain, sure, and stable. And, I hope, the Gentleman is mistaken in the calculation of the numbers that are become Atheists in our Country; or, if he have brought them to the pole, I do not believe, that he hath taken a particular account of the occasions and reasons that cast them on that commendable piece of wit, as he styles it; and so knows not, but that they may have been made witty by some of those ways, whereby, if a learned Friar may be believed, there were no less then 60000. become Atheists, and that not of Protestants, but good Catholics, in one ⟨p. 162⟩City in our neighbouring-Nation. But this falls out, saith he, by a supposal of a substantial change made in Religion, and deliberately admitted. This, indeed, were something; but, Whoever supposed so? The Religion of Jesus Christ, is the same, once delivered unto the Saints. This is still one and the same, yesterday, to day, and for ever, unalterable; as Christ himself. Men indeed, who are liars, are changeable Worms; and many, as to their Profession in Religion, alter, change, turn, apostatize, with or without deliberation: but he that shall thence conclude, that his best course is speedily to be an Atheist, will not deserve much commendation for his wit, less for his wisdom; and, for his grace, none at all. That the Land will come to Atheism by degrees, is the Prognostication of our Author, calculated from the Meridian of Rome. For my part, I fear not such kind of Prophets: Protestant Religion hath, by the blessing of God, retrieved the Nation from the doors of Atheism, and kept it safe almost these hundred years, notwithstanding the woeful miscarriages of some that have professed ⟨p. 163⟩it;