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The birth of that most happy child, by whom
The iron age fhall end, and golden come,
Chafte Lucina favour-

He shall the power of wickedness destroy,
And free the world from fear and all annoy.

Yet again:

Ipfe latte domum referent diftenta capellæ
Übera: nec magnos metuent armenta leones.

The goats fhall bring their udders milk-fill'd home,
And th' gentle flocks great lions fhall not fhun."

Yet farther:

Ipfa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores,
Occidet & ferpens, & fallax herba veneni
Occidet: Affyrium vulgo nafcetur Amomum.

Thy cradle fairest flow'rs fhall fend forth still,
Which shall have pow'r the pois'nous herbs to kill.
The ferpent be fall to deftruction bring:
Affyrian Amomum fhall each-where fpring.

Hinc ubi jam firmata virum te fecerit atas.

When thou shalt attain at length
To years of manhood and firm ftrength.

Now let any tell me, if this be not a moft pathetical account of the virtue and power of Christ, and the very end of his coming into the world; as, by a comparison of it with the fcriptures in the margin, will plainly appear.

Et dure quercus fudabunt rofcida mella,

Chap. ix. & x.
• Jer. ii. 3.
1, 2, 3, to 9.

1 John iii. 5, 6. d Ifai. xi. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. fPfal. ii. Pfal. xlv. Ifai. ix. 6, 7. Chap. xi.

From

From the hard oak there fhall
Sweet honey fweat forth and fall.

To conclude;

Cede & ipfe mari vector; nec nautica pinus
Mutabit merces: omnis feret omnia tellus.
Non raftros patietur humus, non vinea falcem,
Nec varios difcet mentiri lana colores.
Sponte fuâ fandyx pafcentes veftiet agnos.
O mibi tam longe maneat pars ultima vite,
Spiritus & quantum fat erit, tua dicere falta!

The sea shall then be quiet, no ship shall range
Abroad, her wares with others to exchange:
Then ev'ry land fhall ev'ry thing produce,
And then to plow the earth they shall not use:
Vines by the hook fhall not be rectify'd,
Nor wool with divers colours fhall be dy'd:
Fair fleeces, voluntary, fhall proceed,

And clothe the lambs, while they do gently feed.
O might my days be lengthen'd, so that I
Might fing of thy great deeds before I die.

Thus, to fay no more, though much more might be faid of this kind, have heathens, by the light we have been hitherto defending, not only foretold Chrift's appearance, but the very work for which he did come, and for which he received thofe peculiar names of Chrift, Jefus, Emmanuel, the Reftorer of Breaches, Redeemer, Saviour, &c. So that I hope our adversaries will either difprove these writings, or confefs that the light God gave to the Gentiles, they obeying it, was Jufficient, and that by it they had fome of them a fight of Chrift, with refpect to the great performance for

which he was fo named.

Ifai. lx. 1, 2, 3, to the end. Chap. lxi. 1, 2, 3. Matt. i. 21, to the end. Luke ii. 10, to 33. 1 John iii. 5, 8.

I have omitted any mention of those fybils so much regarded by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and abundance of the ancients, for David Blondell's fake, an accurate Frenchman, who endeavours to prove the books that go under their name to be fpurious; written fince Chrift, by fome affected to Christianity, to promote it with the Gentiles, and therefore not genuine prophecies of his coming: though he grants, Sybils there were of old, and excellent things they wrote, but that they were burnt in the capitol of Rome, feveral hundred years before • Chrift came in the flesh, and scattered remains only

extant;' yet among them enough will be afforded, as Virgil from the Cumaan already mentioned, by which to prove the great forefight fome of the Gentiles had of Chrift's being conceived by the Holy Ghoft, born of a virgin, and finally, coming in the flesh for the falvation of the world; and (which is more than any before Virgil had done) the time when, namely, within that age; which was the reign of Augustus Cæfar; in the beginning of which Virgil wrote, and about the end of which Chrift was born.

CHAP. XIII.

It is granted that the Jew, and much more the Chrif tian, hath the advantage of the Gentile. Yet that the Gentile had enough for falvation.

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UT that I may provide against both ignorance

and malice, let none unworthily infer from hence, that I prefer the state of Gentilifm before the ftate of Christianity: no, nor yet that I fo much as intend to equal it with that of the Jews, to whom pertained the adoption, glory, covenant, and the giving of the law, whofe were the Fathers, and of "whom Chrift himself came after the flesh; who is "God (the ONLY God) over all, bleffed for ever, "Amen."

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For

For this let all know, that far greater were the privileges that both few and Chriftian were bleffed with, than those of the ancient Gentiles. God gave the Jews what the Gentiles had; but he was not pleased to endow the Gentiles with all that he freely beftowed upon the Jews: yet that he gave them what was fufficient to godliness, is altogether as certain: for the difference lay not in the root of the matter, but only in fome extraordinary helps, and feveral visible services, figurative of, and that pointed at, a farther glory.

The word "Nigh in the heart," of which Mofes testified, was not the only privilege of the Jew, but of the Gentile alfo. The Spirit of God strove as well with the Gentile as the Jewish man; and God himself declared their "new moons, folemn affemblies, fab"baths, &c." to be "an abomination;" and bid them "cleanse themselves, and put away the evil of "their doings;" and that they would make them "a new heart, and a new fpirit:" intimating, that though he did attend their childhood with many helps, that were wanting to other nations, yet he required fear, purity and righteoufnefs, and that which was the most effential thing: which because it was required of the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and that many Gentiles believed fo, and accordingly lived; unto which declaring they were inclined by the fame Good Spirit which Job fays is "in man," and that "Infpi<ration of the Almighty which gives understanding,' I cannot in justice but conclude, they wanted not the ground-work any more than the Jews. So that the fum of what I have been urging is but this, and thus much it is, That though God was more beneficent to the Jew, especially to the Chriftian, than the Gentile, and confequently that as the few had those af fiftances the Gentile had not; fo the Chriftian difpenfation is the PERFECTION of the divine light, life, ' and immortality, more weakly feen both by few and • Gentile. Yet alfo, that God did communicate to

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↳ Įsa, i. 12, 13, 14, 15. Ezek. xviii. 31, 32.

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the Gentiles fuch a measure of his divine light and Spirit, as, diligently adhered to, and faithfully followed, was fufficient to their falvation from fin here, • and confequently from wrath to come; and that they themselves did fo believe, teach, live, and die, in perfect hope and full affurance of eternal recompence, in a state of immortality.'

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And though I will not be fo strict in my opinion of the best Gentiles, as to deny there might be fome felfmixtures from temper, education, or otherwife; yet I will alfo boldly affirm, that as the light they had was fufficient in itself to their falvation; of which their life and doctrine are a notable demonstration; so they had, fome of them, a glimmering profpect and bold belief of as high a ftate of purity, glory, and immortality, as man's nature is capable of attaining to. Let thus much fuffice, whether fome be pleased, or not pleafed, in defence of the univerfality and fufficiency of the light of CHRIST within; at least with respect to the Gentiles-divinity, and a full answer to the clamours of our many adverfaries, against the Light's fufficiency to difcover fin, and convert from it.

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CHAP. XIV.

A great objection stated and answered. The light both LAW and GOSPEL, not in the fame difcovery, but in itself. A way to reconcile the feeming difference about it. The light ftill defended as afferted.

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UT because I am yet to expect doubters about this bleffed light, who rather strive to oppose it by their notions, than believe it and obey it to their falvation; I will fuppofe that fome may yet object:

Certainly this light within can be, at moft, but the law in the confcience, anfwering to the first covenant for here is fcarce any mention made of • Christ in this long difcourfe. And if this light were Chrift, as is affirmed by you Quakers, then how

comes

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