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Chap.
Of the religion of the Iews & Christians.

All religion may be distinguished into three sorts, natural, humane, \civil,/ divine, natural which is dictated by the light of nature that is by right reason, civil wch is invented & dictated only by man {illeg} the will of man, divine wch is dictated by the will of God. All natural religion is comprehended in these two commandments \præcepts/: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart & with all thy soul & with all thy mind. This is the first & great commandmt, & the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. Th On these two commandments hang all the law & the Prophets. They are dictated by the light of nature & by the truth of them you may know \is manifested/ the truth of the law & the Prophets wch are in all things consonant to them & founded upon them & whose \grand/ design is \everyw/ to inculcate them.

By The wisdom \& power/ wch appears in the frame of the world & all \of/ its \various/ parts is sufficient to convince men that they were framed by a wise being & powerful being, And [If any \man/ will pretend yt they were from eternity he must allow that there was wisdom from all Eternity. But \if/ he will consider that there were \in Europe no guns nor printing nor sailing by the magnet till of late,/ no {letters} long ships nor ships with sails before the days of Danaus & Dædalus, \no horsmanship before the centaurs/ no iron before the days of Minos, no metals {illeg} nor letters & by consequence no smiths nor Carpenters nor edged tools nor arts depending upon them before the days of Minos, \no corn before the days of Erectheus/ no metalls nor letters before the days of Cadmus, no cities nor towns before the days of Lelex, Pelasgus, Inachus & Cecrops: if he will consider that the shells bones & vegetable substances found in ye bowells of the earth {illeg} argue such changes in the body of this globe as are above ye power of nature, if he will consider \&/ that the {illeg} water is constantly changing into earthy substances, & thereby the globe of ye earth increases perpetually & the {illeg} sea decreases unless it be supplied from above: if he will consider that ye orbs of ye Planets \& Comets/ are unstable, that & that new stars appear & that old ones disappeare: he will see reason to beleive that the species several species of living creatures in this earth were not eternal, & that the globe of this earth is \& sea was/ not eternal] & in gratitude we are to give honour & glo thanks & honour & glory to our benefactor \& to him alone/ for or being & for the blessings of meat & drink & raiment {illeg} wch we receive from him. And since he is the first cause & by consequence \of necessity/ everlasting & every where \{illeg} immoveably/ we are to conceive him \always invisibly/ present to all our actions \us at all times & in all places/ & that he knows wh all things we say or do or think, without \ever/ appearing to us or moving from place to place to us \He is the only being without ever being seen by us/ & to distinguish him from all visible beings without by invoking him without his appearing, & speaking to them only when they appear.

Religion is either natural & of eternal obligation or positive & mutable. The natural is comprehended in these two precepts Thou shalt love the Lord thy God wth all thy might heart & with all thy soul & with all thy mind. This is ye first & great commandmt & ye second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. On these two commandments hang all the law & the prophets. The positive [is [either {illeg} divine or humane reve\a/led \& true/ or invented by man \& false/ & The revealed] consisted very much \chiefly/ in ceremonies significant of things past present & \or/ to come & in beleiving the things, [The invented in forms & ceremonies a consists in honouring dead men consists in forms & ceremonies \invented/ for honouring dead me is for honouring dead men & carrying on ye interest of ye living] the chief of wch was the coming of the Messiah. This was adumbrated in the Paschal lamb./prophet predicted by Moses & præfigured by the paschal Lamb & the \Christ or/ Messiah predicted by Daniel.\

Chap.
Of the Christian religion & it's corruption in morality.



The Christian religion was ye same wth ye Iewish till the Calling of Cornelius \& the Gentiles/ wth this only addition yt Iesus who was crucified under Pontius Pilate was the \Prophet predicted by Moses & the/ Christ or Messiah predicted by Daniel, \&/ that he rose from ye dead \&/ ascended into heaven & is to reign return & judge & rule the quick & dead, & that we are \to testify our becoming his disciples by commemorate his death baptism &/ to give him honour & glory on acct of his death, & \& to commemorate it & often &/ direct our prayers to God in his name, \& to commemorate {illeg} hope for/ & to expect remission of sins by his merits upon true repentance of or sins] & to com] & upon repentance to hope for remission of sins by his death merits. & \to/ testify \& proclaim/ our becoming his disciples by baptism. But when ye Iewish nation received not this doctrine, God rejected them, wth & called ye Gentiles without obliging them to observe the law of Moses, & soon after destroyed caused the Iewish worship to cease & the Iews to be dispersed into all nations

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The street & the wall of Ierusalem was finished in the 28th year – – – – – – cause to return & to build Ierusalem.

Before this desolation the Iews continued a people – – – – became Gods people & increased under various & lasting persecutions |the last of which was| till by the victories of Con & at length suffered a \was that/ vehement \& lasting/ persecution under \the Emperors/ Dioclesian {illeg} Galerius & Maximinus for ten years together wch ended in the conversion of the Greek Empire Roman Empire \to Christianity/ by the victories of Constantine the great \first/ over Maxentius A.C. 4|3|12 \then over Maximinus A.C. 314/ & \over & lastly over/ Licinius A.C 4|3|18.

Religion \is partly moral partly ceremonial {illeg} &/ consists principally in these two commandments. \The moral part \of religion/ is comprehended in these two precepts,/ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart & with all thy soul & with all thy mind. This is the first & great commandment & the next is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self. Vpon these two hang all the law & ye prophets. This is that part of religion wch ever was & ever will be binding to all nations being of an eternal immutable nature. But the \A And it was practised/ & wch was observed by the \first/ Christians till {illeg} while they continued in affliction |under the Roman heathen \Emperors/ that is for about 180 years, their affliction purging them from hypocrites & vitious livers|: But when the Empire became Christian, the Christian religion by prosperity lost its But after the Empire by the victories of Constantine became Christian, the Christians by the prosperity of their affairs, & by the flowing in &c – – –



✝ & the Christian religion so far as it consists in consists in the mutual love between Christ

‡ & the mutual love between Christ & his disciples is \was/ comprehended under ye second precept. This the these

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Professor Rob Iliffe
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