The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded

It is not therefore unto the Disparagement but honour of the Gospel, that so many avow themselves to be ⟨p. 131⟩Atheists, in those places wherein the Truth of it is known and professed. For none can have the least Inclination or Temptation thereunto, until they have before hand rejected the Gospel, which immediately exposeth them unto the worst of Evils.

It is not therefore unto the Disparagement but honour of the Gospel, that so many avow themselves to be ⟨p. 131⟩Atheists, in those places wherein the Truth of it is known and professed. For none can have the least Inclination or Temptation thereunto, untill they have before hand rejected the Gospel, which immediately exposeth them unto the worst of Evils.

Nor is there any means for the Recovery of such Persons. The Opposition that hath been made unto Atheism with Arguments for the Divine Being and Existence of God, taken from Reason and natural Light, in this and other Ages, hath been of good use to cast contempt on the pretences of evil men, to justify themselves in their folly. But that they have so much as changed the Minds of any, I much doubt. No man is under the power of Atheistical Thoughts, or can be so long, but he that is ensnared into them by his desire to live securely and uncontrollably in sin. Such Persons know it to be their Interest, that there should be no God, and are willing to take shelter under the bold Expressions and Reasonings of them, who by the same means have hardened and blinded their minds into such foolish Thoughts. But the most rational Arguments for the Being of the Deity, will never prove an effectual cure unto a predominant Love of, and habitual course in sin, in them who have resisted and rejected the Means and Motives unto that End declared in divine Revelation. And unless the Love of sin be cured in the Heart, Thoughts in the Acknowledgement of God, will not be fixed in the Mind.

Nor is there any means for the Recovery of such Persons. The Opposition that hath been made unto Atheism with Arguments for the Divine Being and Existence of God, taken from Reason and natural Light, in this and other Ages, hath been of good use to cast contempt on the pretences of evil men, to justifie themselves in their folly. But that they have so much as changed the Minds of any, I much doubt. No man is under the power of Atheistical Thoughts, or can be so long, but he that is insnared into them by his desire to live securely and uncontroulably in sin. Such Persons know it to be their Interest, that there should be no God, and are willing to take shelter under the bold Expressions and Reasonings of them, who by the same means have hardened and blinded their minds into such foolish Thoughts. But the most rational Arguments for the Being of the Deity, will never prove an effectual cure unto a predominant Love of, and habitual course in sin, in them who have resisted and rejected the Means and Motives unto that End declared in divine Revelation. And unless the Love of sin be cured in the Heart, Thoughts in the Acknowledgment of God, will not be fixed in the Mind.