An
Antidote
against
Atheism.
Book III.
Chap. I.
1. That, good men not always faring best in this world, the great examples of Divine Vengeance upon wicked and blasphemous Persons are not so convincing to the obstinate Atheist. 2. The irreligious Jeers and Sacrileges of Dionysius of Syracuse. 3. The occasion of the Atheists incredulity in things supernatural or miraculous. 4. That there have been true Miracles in the world as well as false. 5. And what are the best and safest ways to distinguish them, that we may not be impos'd upon by History.
1.
itherto I have insisted upon such Arguments for the proving of the Existence of God as were taken from the ordinary and known Phænomena of Nature; for such is the History of Plants, Animals and Man. I shall come now to such Effects discovered in the World as are not deemed Natural, but Extraordinary and Miraculous. I do not mean unexpected discoveries of Murthers, a conspicuous Vengeance upon proud and blasphemous Persons, such as Nicanor, Antiochus, Herod, and the like, of which all Histories, as well Sacred as Profane, are very full, and all which tend to the impressing of this divine Precept in the Poet upon the minds of Men,
Discite Justitiam moniti & non temnere Divos.
For though these Examples cannot but move indifferent men to an acknowledgment of Divine Providence, and a Superior Power above & different from the Matter; yet I having now to doe with the obstinate & refractory Atheist, who, though an obdurate contemner of the Deity, finding
