Fact to be known to any single Person 2. Having shewn That the Matters of fact and Miracles contained in the Books of Moses as they are related to have been done were at first sufficiently attested and that if we may credit that Relation all the Miracles there mention'd were certainly wrought by him since they are of that nature that the People of Israel could not be deceived in them I now proceed to shew That the Relations there set down are a true Account of those things and such as we may depend upon For if these Matters of Fact or Miracles are either feigned or falsified this must be done either in Moses's his time or afterwards and if in his time then either by Moses and Aaron with others who were concerned in carrying on the Design or by the whole People of Israâ—l together And if it were done after Moses his death then again it must be done either by some particular Man or by the contrivance of some few or more together or it must have been by the joint Knowledge and consent of the whole Nation I will therefore prove 1. That the Miracles could not be feigned by Moses and Aaron and others concerned with them in carrying on such a Design 2. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books of Moses invented or falsified by any particular Man or by any Confederacy or Combination of Men after the death of Moses 3. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books invented or falsified by the joint Consent of the whole Nation either in Moses's time or after it 1. These Things could not be feigned by Moses and Aaron and others concerned with them in carrying on such a Design It is plain that they could never invent such an Account as that of their miraculous Escape out of Aegypt and their Travelling in the Wilderness under the conduct and support of the same miraculous Power and then impose it upon the People of Israel for Truth For the People are supposed to be chiefly concerned in the whole Relation Moses appeals to their own sense and experience The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers but with us even with us who are all of us here alive this day Deut. v. 3. And know you this day for I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God his greatness his mighty hand and his stretched-out arm and his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Aegypt unto Pharaoh the king of Aegypt and unto all his land and what he did unto the army of Aegypt unto their horses and to their chariots how he made the water of the Red-sea to over flow them as they pursued after you and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day and what he did unto you in the wilderness until ye came into this place and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their housholds and their tents and all their substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did Deut. xi 2 3 4 5 6 7. Here is a Recapitulation of all the Miracles that had been wrought with an Appeal to their Senses for the Truth of them And Moses would never have made such Appeals as these if they could possibly have disproved him they could never be persuaded that they â—ame out of Aegypt after so many Plagues inflicted upon the Aegyptians to procure their Deliverance if there had been no such thing or that they were so long time in the Wilderness and that so many and so great Miracles were wrought in their sight if they had never been done before them Though Men may perhaps be persuaded to believe that their Ancestors a long time ago saw and heard things which they never saw nor heard yet a whole Nation was never supposed to have been persuaded out of their Senses at once and Moses could not attempt to make so many Men believe what they must all have known to have been false as well as himself if it had been so but he would have lard the Scene at a greater distance of time and not have brought those in as chiefly concerned in the whole business who were then alive and present to convince him of falshood And therefore if the Particulars set down in the Pentateuch be false and as ancient as Moses his time they must be invented with the knowledge and received by the consent of the whole Nation For Moses and Aaron could never so far delude so many thousands as to make them believe such variety of Matter of fact in so many and so wonderful Instances set forth and with such notorious Circumstances and appeal to the Senses of those whom they deceived whether they had not seen and perceived and had the experience of what had been done for so many years if it had been all but Fiction 2. The Miracles could not be feigned nor the Books of Moses invented or falsified by any particular Man or by any confederacy or combination of Men after the death of Moses If the Miracles were feigned after the death of Moses either the Laws must likewise be invented or altered after his death and the Miracles inserted to procure them Authority or the Laws remained as they had been delivered by him and the Miracles only were added For the Books of Moses may be considered either as containing the Laws delivered by him or as relating the Miracles by which these Laws were ratified and established in each of which respects there could be no Forgery or Falsification For 1. The Laws themselves could not be invented nor altered or falsified because the whole Jewish State and Policy was founded upon them and could not subsist without them and therefore they must be as ancient as the Jewish Government which is confess'd on all hands to have been first erected by Moses For not only their Religious Worship but their Civil Rights and Interests depended entirely upon the Laws of Moses their Publick Proceedings and their Private Dealings one with another were all to be regulated and governed by these Laws and when any Laws are brought into constant use and practice in any Nation it is ridiculous to imagine that they can be altered and falsified and a new System of Laws introduced instead of them without the knowledge of the People governed by them or any remembrances of it left amongst them No material Alterations can be made in Laws which are of continual use and which concern every Man's Interest but they must be taken notice of and discovered by such as shall find themselves aggrieved by such Alterations But this was less practicable amongst the Jews than amongst any other People 1. Because the Distinction of their Tribes and the Genealogies which
given to him a thorn in the flesh the Messenger of Satan to busset him lest he should be exalted above measure and declares himself to be nothing 2 Cor. xii 5 7 11. He gives all the Glory to God magnifying his Office and the Grace which enabled him in the administration of it and as upon all other occasions he speaks with the greatest abasement of himself so when the importunate malice of his Enemies constrained him to it and the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men required him to speak something less submissively of himself he discovers his great humility in that he used so much caution and put in so many lessening and abating Clauses that the Glory might redound to God and not to himself insomuch that it appears to have been one of the greatest instances of the Humiliation and self-denial of so truly humble and holy a man to be forced to speak things which might seem boasting and make him incur the censure of Pride and Folly But he was willing to be counted vain and proud for the sake of the Gospel and had so far mortified all pride and vain Glory as to be contented upon so just an account to incur the disgrace of being supposed guilty of it For there can be no higher instance of a truly humble and pious mind than to forego the esteem and reputation of being thought so when the Glory of God and Charity to the Souls of Men require it he is not throughly humble who in such a case would not be thought proud but his very Humility is matter of pride to him and it is the last degree of vanity which an humble Man can part with to be desirous not to be esteemed proud The Truth is if it were not for the pride of Men there would be no need of greater caution and reservedness when we speak of our selves than when we speak of others but men would speak the truth of themselves and others with the same freedom and plainness So that this was an infallible argument of the integrity and sincerity of the Apostles that they spoke always what was proper and seasonable to be spoken the praise or dispraise of themselves or others was not their business but the Glory of God and the good of Men. They write no Encomiums upon one another nor upon their Master himself and they write no invectives upon their worst Enemies Judas and Herod and Pontius Pilate but set down plain Truth and Matter of Fact whoever is concerned with the same simplicity with which they tell their own faults What qualifications then can be desired in any witness which do not all concur in the Apostles and Evangelists The Apostles shew by their Writings that they were Men of understanding sufficient to apprehend the things they attest and write about and indeed what Man of any understanding is not capable of witnessing that to be true which he sees and hears and perceives with every sense They had all the advantages and opportunities that ever any witnesses could have to know what they said to be true and they were plain men without Art or Disguise bred up most of them to mean and laborious Callings and they had no expectations of any thing but sufferings in this Life and therefore were as far from any Temptation as from any possibility of imposing upon the World and they set down their own faults upon all occasions as particularly as they do whatever else they relate having no regard to any thing but Truth CHAP. XVI Of the Prophecies and Miracles of the Apostles c. THere had been a long cessation or intermission both of Prophecies and Miracles in the Jewish Church till the coming of Christ but by the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles the Prophecy of Joel was fulfilled and the Spirit of God was poured out in greater abundance than ever it had been before in bestowing the gifts of Miracles and of Prophecy in a more eminent manner and to greater numbers of men and those of all Nations than had ever been done at any time before for these were the latter days the last distinction of Time or the last period of the World in which God had purposed to reveal himself and this being the last was in all respects the fullest and most perfect Revelation I. A Spirit of Prophecy was bestowed upon the Apostles and others A Famine (a) Sueton in Claudio Dion Cass taken notice of by Heathen Authors which happened throughout all the world in the days of Claudius Caesar was prophesied of by Agabus Acts xi 28. and the same Prophet both by Actions and in express Words signified that St. Paul should be bound at Jerusalem and delivered to the Gentiles Acts xxi 11. which was likewise foretold by others even in every City where that Apostle came Acts xx 23. St. Paul himself foretold his own afflictions 1 Thes iii. 4. He foretold to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that men would soon arise even from among themselves who would divide and disturb the Church Acts xx 29 30. and he foretold the same 1 Tim. iv 3. 2 Tim. iii. 1. St. Peter declared that in the last days there would come Scoffers walking after their own lusts 2 Pet. iii. 3. which Prophecy St. Jude saw fulfilled in his time Jude 18. and God knows we see it fulfilled in ours For the Scoffers at Religion would do well to consider that all their mockery and affronts are so far from doing any prejudice to Religion that they by that very means fulfil a Prophecy and add a confirmation to it when they think themselves most successful against it St. Paul forewarns the Thessalonians of the lying wonders and strong delusions and notorious wickedness which would break in upon the Church at the coming of Antichrist 2 Thess ii 3. and that this accordingly came to pass St. John witnesseth saying that even then there were many Antichrists 1 John ii 18. iv 3. 2 John 7. And though it be variously disputed who is the Antichrist 1 John ii 22. 2 John 7. supposed to be the Beast Rev. xiii Yet that the Prophecies concerning the Delusions and the impieties and cruelties of Antichrist express'd in the Texts now mentioned and more fully described in the Revelation of St. John have been in great measure already accomplished will admit of no dispute and the gradual and repeated accomplishment of them in divers Ages and in so many instances is that which has caused so much variety of opinion in this matter Learned men easily mistaking some of these many Antichrists for the Beast or the great Antichrist In the Revelation of St. John we have the state and events in the Church described and many things contained in it we know to be come to pass as what concerns the seven Churches of Asia c. and the obscurity of other places is elsewhere to be accounted for (b) Euseb Eccl. Hist lib. iii. c. 36. lib. iv
humanae vitae speculum constitutum est Novatian de lib. Judaic c. 3. signification of such Prohibitions is implied in the Proverb alleged by St. Peter concerning Dogs and Swine which are two of the Animals prohibited the Jews 2 Pet. ii 22. Sacrifices and Offerings were to represent to them that they depended upon God for all they had and therefore they were to offer something of every kind in Acknowledgment that they had received all which they enjoyed from him They were likewise designed to signify to them that their Sins deserved Death even Everlasting Burnings The daily Sacrifices were to be Remembrances to them of that Acceptable and Living Sacrifice which they were to offer to God a broken and a contrite Heart and an Innocent and Blameless Life Ps iv 4 5. Cxli. 2. And the Scriptures frequently testify how little Pleasure God took in the Sacrifices of Beasts and in Burnt-Offerings Incense and Oblations and how small Regard he had to them He never required these things for themselves and upon their own Account or because there is any thing acceptable to him in them Psal xl 6 4. l. 8 li. 17. To do Justice and love Mercy is more acceptable to God than all Sacrifices Prov. xxi 3. Jer. vii 22 23. This is so evident throughout the whole Old Testament that the Scribes and Pharisees in the most superstitious and corrupt Age of the Jewish Church could not but confess that the Love of God and of our Neighbour is of more Account in God's sight than all the Sacrifices and Oblations in the World Mark xii 37. The Ceremonial Part of the Law was always to give place to the Moral thus Acts of Charity were to be done tho' it happened that they were performed by the violation of the Jewish Sabbath and the Prophets were upon necessary Causes held exempted from the Legal Observances For I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than Burnt-Offerings Hos vi 6. 3. All the Jewish Worship appointed by the Mosaical Law was Typical of Christ and his Gospel By a Type we are to understand the Likeness and Resemblance which one thing has to another as that of the Impression to the Seal or of the Shadow to the Substance or of the Picture to the Man whom it represents Thus the Death of Christ was typified or resembled or represented and prefigured by the Death of the Beasts which were Sacrificed they were signs appointed to keep up the Remembrance that Christ was to be Sacrificed and were very apt and proper to put Men in Mind of it It was acknowledged by the Jews and received from the Beginning as a certain Rule for the Interpretation of Scripture that there was a Typical as well as a Literal Sense of it relating to the Messias and his Kingdom Circumcision was to signify to them that Christ was to be born of the Seed of Abraham to whom Circumcision was first enjoyned upon the Promise made to him of Isaac from whom Christ was to descend And the Blood shed in Circumcision was Typical of that Blood which Christ was to shed for us The most probable Account of the Origiginal of Sacrifices is that they were at first of Divine Institution and were appointed soon after the Fall of Man as Types of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ who was promised to be sent to die for the Expiation of Sin For tho' there be a natural Reason why we shouuld not Offer unto the Lord our God of that which doth Cost us nothing but should Honour the Lord with our Substance 2 Sam. xxiv 24. Prov. iii. 9. and should present some part of the best of what we have in Devotion and Gratitude to him from whom we have received the Whole Yet no sufficient Reason can be given why Beasts should be Slain in Sacrifice before they were used as far as it appears for Food by Men or how it should be imagined that God would accept of the Blood of any Creature or be pleased with the taking from it that Life which he had given it or why a peculiar Efficacy towards the Expiation of Sin was supposed to be in the Blood unless it had been upon the Account of the Blood of Christ which was Typically prefigured by the Blood of Beasts By Faith whereof Abel offered his Sacrifice and was accepted Heb. xi 4. The Paschal Lamb was a plain Type of Christ for which Reason Christ is styled the Lamb of God and our Passover which is Sacrificed for us Jo. i. 29. 1 Cor. v. 7. And for the same Reason the Feast of the Passover was appointed to the Israelites just before their Escape out of Aegypt to be a Type to thâ—m of that Deliverance which Christ was to accomplish of which their Deliverance out of Aegypt was but a Figure Aaron was a Type of Christ and all the Sacrifices he offered were Types of Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross They were appointed to take away the Legal Uncleanness to restore Men to a State of Legal Purity which was Typical of Moral and Spiritual Purity and to put the Legal Worshipers into such a Condition as the Law required to qualify them for the Legal Service and Worship and herein they were Figures of that one Sacrifice which was to be offered up once for all in Attonement for the Sins of all Mankind Hebr. ix 14. whereby Men might be rendred Capable of paying God an acceptable Service in Spirit and in Truth Legal Purifications were Typical of that Purification which is by the Blood of Christ Tit. ii 14. 1 John i. 9. And the smoak of the Incense ascending signified how the Prayers of the Saints come up before God Rev. v. 8. viii 3 4. The State and Dispensation of the Gospel is exprest by the Prophet Malachi under the Figure of Incense and a Pure Offering Malach. 1.11 The whole Epistle to the Hebrews is written upon this subject to shew that all the Legal Rites and Ceremonial Worship were but Shadows and Types and Figures of Christ and of that Redemption Righteousness and Sanctification which was to be wrought by him and that therefore they were to cease when in him they had received their Accomplishment Their Incense and Purificatitions their Sacrifices their Temple and the Priests themselves were all but so many Types of Christ and his Kingdom under the Gospel Christ had been promised to our first Parents immediately after their Fall and this Promise had been renewed to Abraham with an Assurance that he should descend from Isaac and Circumcision was instituted as a perpetual mark in the Flesh of that Covenant and all Sacrifices from the beginning of their Institution were as so many Types and Memorials of the Sacrifice of Christ which was promised before any Sacrifice had been offered And more especially that of the Passover at the deliverance of the Israelites out of Aegypt was a lively Representation of our Redemption by the Death of Christ They had ever
Witness to the Truth of their Doctrine God himself bears Witness to it and the Jews might have said in this as they did in a very different Case What need we any further Witnesses for we our selves have heard of their own mouths in the Miraculous Gift of Tongues or seen it with our own Eyes in the many wonderful Works which were continually wrought in the most publick manner in Testimony of the Resurrection of Christ Our Blessed Saviour therefore gave as full proof of his Resurrection as if he had appear'd in the Temple or in the midst of Jerusalem to the whole People of the Jews For this had not been more effectual to the Conversion of most of them nor more sufficient to evidence the Truth of the Gospel than his Appearance to his Disciples was and if the Jews had unanimously believed it could not have contributed more to convince Men of the Truth of the Resurrection than their Unbelief has done he sent his Apostles with a Miraculous Power as convincing as his own Appearance could have been and all things considered the Jews afford us as full Evidence in behalf of the Gospel by opposing it as they could have done by their compliance with it And since we have sufficient Testimony to resolve our Faith into the Divine Veracity the certainty is the same whether the Witnesses be more or fewer because it depends upon the veracity of God which is always the same whatever the means be by which our Faith is resolved into it CHAP. XXVII Of the Forty Days in which Christ remain'd upon Earth after his Resurrection and of the manner of his Ascension OUR Blessed Saviour had certified his Disciples of his Resurrection in such a manner as to give them many infallible Proofs of it or else it is impossible for any thing to be infallibly proved and that which is chiefly to be considered in this matter is that he was seen by them not once but often not for a short time or at a hasty Interview but for forty days together and then he performed the common Actions of Humane Life he did eat and drink with them and discoursed with them of the things relating to his Kingdom To whom also he shewed himself alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts i. 3. That which I here design is to make some Observations upon the Conversation that our Saviour had with his Disciples during the Forty days between his Resurrection and his Ascension and upon the manner of his leaving them when he ascended into Heaven 2. The Scriptures acquaint us that our Saviour was seen of his Disciples Forty Days or that he vouchsafed them his presence the greatest part of that time which he remained upon Earth after his Resurrection But in what manner all that time was spent with them we are no where told which is no wonder if we consider how much of his former Life is concealed from us In the Scriptures which are written for our Instruction and in the plainest and sincerest manner in the World to inform us of all things necessary to our Salvation we have nothing taken notice of for Ostentation nor for Ornament but many things omitted in the Life of Christ which are thought needful in Humane Authors to make up a compleat History We have no more mentioned of his Parentage than was necessary to make it evident that he was descended from David and born of a Virgin as the Prophets had foretold of him When he was born we read that the Shepherds and the Wise-Men came to Worship him that he was Circumcised that he was brought to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord and that he was carried into Aegypt to avoid Herod's Cruelty and hereby known Prophecies were fulfilled Afterwards he was brought to Nazareth upon the death of Herod and from that time we read no more of him 'till the twelfth Year of his Age when he Disputed with the Doctors in the Temple And then we are told that he went down to Nazareth and was subject to his Mother and to Joseph and in general Terms that he encreased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and Man as it was before said of him that he grew and waxed strong in Spirit filled with Wisdom and the grace of God was upon him Luke ii 40 52. The next time we read any thing of him is when he was about Thirty years of Age and came to John to be Baptized Thus not only during his Infancy and Childhood there is little related of our Blessed Saviour but his riper years are passed over in Silence in all which time we may be sure that there was no Speech or Action of so Divine a Person but what well deserved the observation of all that knew him and was more worthy of mention in History than all the Renowned Adventures and Exploits or than the Wise or Witty Sayings which adorn the Lives of the Greatest among the Sons of Men. But Modesty Humility and a Contempt of the praise of Men were some of the great and useful Doctrines in which he came to instruct Mankind and he could not do this more effectually than by his own Example in leading a mean and obscure Life little known or taken notice of in the World 'till two or three years before he was to leave it by a Cruel and Infamous Death He did not chuse to spend his time in places of publick Resort and Converse and when he Disputed in the Temple yet nothing of the particulars is mentioned This obscure and unknown Person was to rebuke and comptroll the Pride and Vanity of the Popular Scribes and Pharisees And after he had appeared in the World very much of his Life was spent in privacy and retirement not many of his Discourses are delivered down to us and the greatest part of his Actions are omitted For if they had been all written and described in their several Circumstances many Volumes must have been taken up in the Narrative of them insomuch that St. John supposes that even the World itself could not have contained the Books that should have been written Joh. xxi 25. that is as we might express it in our Language he did a world of things more than these which are related of him and in the same sense of the Word St. James says that the Tongue is a world of Iniquity Jam. iii. 6. The meaning of St. John is that hardly any words could express how many other things were done by our Saviour besides those which he had set down Christ might have employed some accurate Historian to compose the Annals of his whole Life with the greatest exactness imaginable but he was pleased to be represented to the World very imperfestly by such as knew nothing of what belonged to the writing History any farther than to be able to tell the strict and necessary Truth The