also to confirm our Faith and Hope and make us rejoyce in hope of the glory of God And so much may suffice to have been said of the Witness of the HOLY GHOST which perfectly agrees with the other two of the FATHER and of the SON who are all one you see still in their Testimony as well as in their Nature So I express'd my self in the Conclusion of my former Discourse about these Three Witnesses * Chap. iv pag. 235. supposing these words though few would have sufficiently testified my right belief in the Holy Trinity and that none would have imagined I waved the farther explication of that passage THESE THREE ARE ONE because I entertained a sense of it differing from that of the Catholick Church I was not conscious to my self of any such Heresy and therefore had no reason to be solicitous to prevent this accusation by diverting from the subject I had in hand unto another Argument But some I have heard have been so unkind to say no more let them examine their hearts from what grounds as to whisper such suspicions And therefore I judge it necessary to take occasion here to declare that I believe these three to be one in the same sense that all Catholick Writers have done who have treated of the ever-blessed Trinity And St. Augustine assures me * L. 1. de Trin. c. 4. that every one who meddled with this argument before him intended to teach this according to the Scriptures That the Father Son and Holy Ghost enjoy the divine Vnity of one and the same Substance in an inseparable Equality Haec mea fides est quia haec est Catholica fides as he concludes that Chapter This is my Faith because it is the Catholick Faith We have but one God because there is but one Godhead and they that are of him have relation to One though we believe them to be Three For this is not more God and that less nor is this before and that behind nor are they separated in will or divided in power nor are any of those things to be found there which belong to divided Beings but to speak all in a few words there is One undivided Godhead in severall Persons as in three Suns cohering together there is one commixture of Light They are the words of St. Greg. Nazianzen Orat. xxxvii p. 601. whom these Whisperers sure if they have read him take for a Catholick Writer in his Discourse concerning the HOLY GHOST To which I will adde what St. Aug. again writes in his Book of Faith to Petrus Diaconus Chap. i. If there should be one Person of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as there is one Substance there would be nothing that could be truly called a Trinity And again if as the Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinct from each other in the propriety of Person they were also severed by diversity of Nature there would indeed be a true Trinity but this Trinity would not be One God But because it is the Trinity in one true God it is true not onely that there is one God but also that there is a Trinity therefore that true God is in Persons Three but in one Nature One. Thus our Blessed Saviour Cateches xi St. Cyrill of Hierusalem observes doth not say I am the Father but I am in the Father And again he doth not say I and the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 am one but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are one That we may neither exclude the Son from the Godhead nor confound him with the Father One as to the dignity of the Divinity because God begat God One as to their Kingdom for the Father doth not rule over some and the Son over others as Absalom who opposed his Father but over whom the Father reigns over those reigns the Son One because there is no difference nor any distance between them for the Father doth not will one thing and the Son another One because the Son doth not make one thing and the Father another but there is one Workmanship of all the Father making all things by the Son I suppose this excellent Man will pass for orthodox among our Censurers though he mention many other regards wherein the Father and the Son I may adde the Holy Ghost are one besides that of their Divinity And therefore I may justly wonder why any should find fault with me if they be so well skill'd in Christian Writers as no doubt they would be thought for saying these three are one in their Testimony as well as in their Nature I took it for a Catholick Exposition else I would have rejected it And if this was its onely fault that it was too short I hope they will rest satisfied now that I have made it longer Unless they be in the number of those whom a late Pamphlet speaks of who judge their Brethren as if they had a faculty to see into their hearts and resolve not to be satisfied with any words they can speak though in all appearance they have no other design in the world but onely according to the best of their understanding sincerely to serve God and his Church As for those who would have a farther search made into this Mystery I leave it to themselves if they please thus to imploy their time after they have considered what the most Catholick Writers have thought of such inquiries We ought to acknowledge saith St. Gregory Nazianzen * Orat. xxvi p. 445. One God the Father of himself and unbegotten and One Son begotten of the Father and One Spirit having its Substance of God of the same nature the same dignity the same glory and the same honour in all things the same but onely that he is not unbegotten as the Father nor begotten as the Son These things are to be known these things are to be confessed within these things we must fix leaving that long babbling and profane novelty of words to those who have nothing else to doe And the forenamed St. Cyrill passes the same sentence on those who curiously pried into this Secret in his days He that begot says he onely knows him that is begotten and he that was begotten of him knows him that begat him Believe then that God hath a Son but how do not enquire for if thou dost thou shalt not find Tell me first who he is that begat and then I will tell thee who the begotten is But if thou canst not know the nature of him that begat do not curiously ask after the manner of the Son 's being begotten ☜ It is sufficient to piety to know that God hath onely one Son one naturally begotten who did not begin to be when he was born in Bethlehem but was before all worlds The Holy Ghost hath in the Scripture revealed no more he hath not told us any thing of the generation of the Son out of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why then dost thou
think of removing to a strange country but confidently rely on his knowledge more then our own Let us remember the words of these Witnesses which say He is the Son of God in whom is Eternall Life Let us trust his judgment who thought it more desirable to go away though upon a Cross then to stay here in the greatest pleasure And since all these Witnesses say He is in heaven let us resolve that we will die looking up to him and saying Lord remember it is the will of the Father that we should have Everlasting Life Thou thy self appearedst to St. Stephen and madest him confident thou wilt receive our Spirit The Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of Truth saith thou art glorified and wilt glorifie us with thy self This thou hast preached to us This thy Bloud hath purchased for us This thou didst rise again to prepare against our coming to thee This thy holy Apostles say thou sentest them to publish to the World This thou hast made us believe and wait for and suffer for and long to enjoy O Dearest Lord and most mercifull Saviour who art the true and faithfull Witness though we miserable sinners deserve to be denied yet deny not thy self let not the price of thy precious Bloud be lost let not the Word of the Father of the Holy Ghost thine own Word fail If thou art not alive I am content to perish But if thou art as thou hast perswaded me then I will not cease to call upon thee I will die with these words in my mouth and be confident thou wilt hear me LORD JESUS RECEIVE MY SPIRIT Thus the blessed Martyr St. Stephen expired looking up stedfastly unto Jesus the Authour and Finisher of our Faith who then appeared in glory to him Whose example all the rest of that Noble Army followed triumphing over death in an assured hope of immortall life Which they had not the least doubt of it is manifest from hence that as Clemens Alexandrinus observes * L. vii Stromat p. 756. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very extremity of their torments they gave thanks to God who they knew would reward their fidelity having in this very way consecrated Jesus to the highest Office of being the Finisher or Crowner of our Faith Therefore their heart was glad and their glory rejoyced And they sang chearfully with the holy Psalmist but with a far greater confidence God shall redeem my Soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me xlix Psal 15. And O thou Lord Greg. Naz. Orat. x. in Caesarium fratrem p. 176. and Creatour of all things especially of this thy Workmanship O thou God and Father of thy Men O thou Lord of life and death O thou benefactour of Souls and dispenser of all good things O thou who didst form all things and in due time thou best knowest how in the depth of thy wisedom and administration wilt transform us by that Divine Artificer the WORD Receive me also hereafter when thou seest most convenient in the mean time governing me in this flesh as long as it will be profitable And receive me in thy fear prepared not disturbed nor hanging back at the last day and dragg'd by force from hence like the lovers of the World and the Flesh but chearfully and willingly unto that everlasting and blessed Life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Id. Orat. xlii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 696. O thou WORD of God! thou Light thou Life and Wisedom and Power for I delight in all thy Names O thou Off-spring and Image of that great Mind O intellectuall WORD and visible Man who upholdest all things by the word of thy power May it now please thee to accept of this Book though not the first-fruits yet the last perhaps that I may be able to offer thee both as a gratefull acknowledgment for all thy benefits and an humble supplication that I may have no other troubles beside the necessary sacred ones of my Charge Stop the fury of any disease which may seize on me or thy sentence if I be removed by thee And if thou art pleased to grant me a dissolution according to my desire and I be received into the Heavenly Tabernacles there I hope to offer acceptable Sacrifices to thee at thy holy Altar O FATHER and WORD and HOLY GHOST for to thee belongs all Glory Honour and Dominion for ever and ever Amen THE END Books written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick and Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Amen-corner THE Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Third Edition Corrected The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to God Or a Book of Devotions for Families and particular persons in most of the concerns of Humane life The 2. Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend The 2. Edition in Twelves A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist in Octavo In two Parts The Witnesses to Christianity or The Certainty of our Faith and Hope In a Discourse upon 1 S. John v. 7 8. In two Parts in Octavo new A Sermon Preached before the King on St. Stephen's day Printed by His Majesty's special command
and to have endeavoured to make any part of his holy Book more clearly understood especially if what I write shall encrease the Faith of any Christian Soul and fill it with an assured hope in Jesus by abiding constant in this belief that he is the Son of God That being the thing which is to be proved by these witnesses it will be necessary to search a little into the meaning of the Phrase before we take their examination about it And it must be confessed that though Jesus be the Eternal Son of the Father God of God begotten of him before all Worlds yet this is not always meant when he is called his Son which is a name in the holy stile not so much expressing his Nature as his high Authority and Sovereign power which he hath received as the Mediator between him and us from God the Father Almighty So I think we are here to understand the Apostle who under the Name Jesus comprehends all that belongs to his person both his Divine and Humane nature and affirms that this person hath Sovereign Authority committed to him by God the Father of all who hath given him Commission and deputed him in his stead to declare his mind and acquaint us with his will and having by himself purged our sins promoted him to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high as that great King and Lord of all by whom we are to be governed now and to be judged at the last day Sure I am in many places of the holy Scripture which say he is the Son of God the meaning is expounded in other places to be this that he is the Christ or the anointed of God That is Jesus who was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary crucified under Pontius Pilate rose again from the dead and afterward appointed S. John and the rest of the Apostles to preach those things to all Nations which we read in the holy Gospel was indeed sent of God according to the ancient Prophecies with his own power and authority and is now by the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour to be our King and Sovereign Lord whom we are all to obey and from whom alone we are to expect all our rewards And there is great reason to think that these are phrases of the very same import here in S. John if we compare but the first Verse of this Chapter with the fifth In the former we read that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God In the latter he tells us that he who overcometh the world believeth that Jesus is the Son of God It is the very same Faith no doubt whereby we are born of God and whereby we overcome the world and therefore it is the very same thing to believe that Jesus is the Christ and to believe that Jesus is the Son of God Express it how you please either of these ways this alone is the Faith which can regenerate a man and put a Divine Spirit into him that is make him a conqueror over the world as Jesus was Let the second Chapter of this Epistle ver 22. be consulted also and there you will find that Christ and the Son are terms equivalent and have the same signification To which if you add some places in the Evangelists they will make you see this more evidently When S. Peter made this confession xvi Matth. 16. that Jesus was Christ the Son of the living God there is no more meant one would think by those words the Son of God than what the other word Christ includes because when our Saviour would have them know that it was not fit for them as yet to divulge this truth which S. Peter confessed he only charges his Disciples ver 20. that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ And if this be not ground enough to conclude the identity as we speak of these words the other Evangelists will put it out of doubt For S. Mark makes the confession of S. Peter to have been no more than this Thou art the Christ viii 29. And S. Luke relates it not much otherwise when he says that he acknowledged our Saviour to be the Christ of God ix 20. To be the Christ or to be the Son the Christ of God or the Son of God according to the understanding of these Divine writers is the very same and in these places nothing different And indeed it is very probable that S. Hieroms opinion is true who believed that the Apostles were not yet such proficients as to understand the eternal generation of our Lord Jesus from the essence of the Father For we find them very ignorant of divers things that were easier to be learnt than this which if they had known they would not have expected to see him settle his Throne upon Earth nor doubted of his Resurrection from the dead and many other things as they did But the comparing of two other places will make this still more manifest In the xxvi Matth. 63. we read that the High Priest adjured our Saviour to tell him if he were the Christ the Son of God They all expected one to appear under this character This was the common title of that great person who they believed would shortly come But they meant no more by it than one appointed by God to be their King as is apparent from S. Luke who relates that question barely thus xxii 67. Art thou the Christ tell us And after our Saviour had made that answer which we read both in him and S. Matthew he tells us ver 70. they all replied again Art thou then the Son of God which was no more than to say must we take this for confessed then that thou affirmest thy self to be sent anointed and set over us by God Wilt thou stand to that which thou just now ownedst when we asked thee that question For without all doubt the Chief Priests and the Scribes intended nothing by that phrase the Son of God but what was comprehended in the other the Christ And therefore when Pilate upon their accusation examined him upon the same matter he asks nothing else but this as this Apostle S. John relates xviii 33. Art thou the King of the Jews which is the plain interpretation of the word Christ For that is not the proper name of any person as Lactantius * Nuncupatio potestatis regni Sic enim Judaei Reges suos appellabant L. 4. Cap. 7. rightly observes but a name of power and dominion signifying him to be their Sovereign For in this stile says he the Jews were wont to speak of their Kings whom they called Christs or Gods anointed Once more when they were enraged at our Saviour for calling himself the Son of God as S. John tells us Chap. x. He justifies himself by a reason which signifies no more but that he called himself the Christ the anointed of God as you
hast divulged the mysteries of the Prophets but thou wilt prostitute also the secrets of the Holy Ghost So the good man desisted and durst not do the Angels any further service who came to listen to him as he was expounding the Prophets Which is as true I make no doubt as all the rest and we may as well believe the Earth quaked for forty mile together when he began his Paraphrase and that if a fly did but sit upon his Book in which he wrote fire came down from Heaven and destroyed it leaving the Book untoucht as believe a syllable of these voices speaking from Heaven to him for they have all the very same Authors Who having got this by the end know not when to have done with it but tell us for the honour of R. Chanina who saw the destruction of the last temple by Titus that a voice came from Heaven which said as David Ganz reports it in his Chronology * Ad An. 4768. The whole world is sustained for the sake of R. Chanina my son A very likely matter that he should lay an obligation on so many and no body know it but this obscure writer Why did not all the world follow him as they did Jesus if he were God's Son and they so much indebted to him This is but a wretchedly dull counterfeit of what they had read of our Saviour who was Gods Son Upholding all things by the word of his power i. Hebr. 2 3. And so are the other tales they tell in the Talmudical Title so often named Chapter the first of a Bath col which came from Heaven as the wise men sat in Council at Jericho saying There is one here who is worthy that the Divine majesty or glory by which they mean sometime the Holy Ghost should rest upon him as it did on Moses but the age wherein he lives is not worthy of that favour Whereupon they all cast their eyes on Hillel a famous man among them And of another voice as they were sitting together at Jafne which said the very same words again and turned all their eyes towards R. Samuel the less And to name but one more R. Juda the Holy Doctor they would have it believed was assured by this voice from Heaven that his Prayer was heard just as our Saviours was in the place I have before open'd For when he was dying and it was not many days before our Saviour's death that he prayed in those words Father glorifie thy name he lift up his ten fingers and said Lord of the world it is known to thee that I have laboured in the Law with my ten fingers and have not received the least advantage thereby no not in my little finger May it please thee that I may have peace in my rest And then out came the Bath col saying those words of Isaiah lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Which together with all other of the same kind deserve to be put under no other Title than that of the Jewish Fables mentioned by S. Paul i. Tit. 14. or old-Wives tales 1 Tim. iv 7. wherewith little children are wont to be entertained being invented it is likely in imitation of the Gospel story to adorn and support the ruinous doctrine of their Rabbins and to bring it into some esteem with their sottish posterity But we may as well believe the idle tale which the factious Donatists told concerning the Father of their Sect August Tract 13. in Johan to whom God gave an answer from Heaven they said as he was praying to him as give ear to this Fable of R. Judah who must be magnified by them because he was the compiler of their traditional Law And as for R. Samuel the less whom I mentioned before he was the man who composed the famous Prayer against Hereticks for their publick Devotions wherein they desire God that he would destroy all Hereticks whereby they mean Christians who began in those days to grow apace And therefore it is no wonder that he is cried up to the skies and must be honoured with praises from Heaven But the best of it is these petty stories want vouchers or those who offer themselves had need to bring some better men to be bound for their honesty They have no John Baptists to attest any thing much less such men as the Apostles who with the power of Miracles and Prophecy were ready on all occasions to pawn their lives that they did not follow cunningly devised Fables when they made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus but were eye-witnesses as you have heard of his Majesty and heard the voice when they were with him in the holy Mount which said This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Those Masters in Israel also are not so cunning in their contrivances nor such masters of their craft but they forget the old Rule which admonishes a Lyar to have a good memory For they contradict themselves while they tell us this Bath col was but the fag end of a voice a kind of Eccho leaping out of another voice and yet make it deliver such long sentences And what likelihood is there that God should grace such men as they who had turned their Religion into vain janglings and idle disputes witness the quarrel between the School of that Hillel now mentioned and the Schoolof Schammai with such Elogiums from Heaven as were fit to be given only to the best of men yea to the Son of God himself One of these four things is far more probable Either that their latter writers have strained the words of their forefathers too far who meant perhaps no more by their hearing a Bath col but that the thing whereof they write was as evident to them as if they had had a Divine testimony for it For in Pirke Avoth I observe R. Joshuah says that jotzeth Bath col the daughter of a voice goeth forth day by day from mount Horeb and proclaims saying Wo to men because of their contempt of the Law Which can signifie no more but that if men would listen to the Law which God gave there they would hear how dangerous it is to disobey it Or secondly there was something of a conjuration in it For in Pirke Elieser I find * Chap. 8. that when there was a dispute only about the Leap-year the Governour of the School pronounced the Name with four Letters and presently they heard a voice saying The Lord spake to Moses and Aaron c. As if they could have this voice whensoever they did but pronounce that single word Or thirdly they were men of a strong imagination which made them fancy they heard a voice from Heaven when it was only a blast of melancholy fumes and vapours whistling in their brain For this may be a fair account of those who thought as some among us have done that they heard such or such a place of
this account because they did not acknowledge him for the Son of God though he did such miracles as Moses and all the Prophets never did xv Joh. 24. If I had not done among them the WORKS which none other man did they had not had sin in not receiving him as their Messiah the Son of God but now they have both seen by those WORKS which he did and yet hated both me and my Father They could not endure such a Messiah as he was though so divinely impowered and consequently had no love to God who had set such plain marks and characters of his approbation upon him Of which his Divine works were the chief for he alledges these as S. John here in his Epistle doth as the last witness and evidence to him upon Earth v. Joh. 36. But I have a greater witness than that of John for the WORKS which the Father hath given me to finish the same WORKS that I do bear WITNESS of me that the Father hath sent me Yea when John himself sent his Disciples to know of him whether he was the CHRIST he plainly shows that he lookt on this as a greater testimony to him than that of their Master which they had received already and therefore gives them no other answer but this Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see the blind receive their sight and the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them xi Matth. 4 5. Where though he mention his heavenly doctrine yet he chiefly insists upon the Witness of the SPIRIT as most apt to affect them and in that very hour when they came to be resolved as S. Luke tells us vii 21. He cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits and unto many that were blind he gave sight This he thought could not but satisfie them if they would believe their eyes especially if they would believe also what they heard that he raised up the dead He could not now give them a clearer and fuller testimony of his Divinity and he relyed so much upon this evidence that when he had cured a Man sick of the Palsy he told the Scribes that he loosed him from the chain of his sins and restored him to health and bad him arise and walk now that he was pardoned on purpose that they might know the Son of Man hath power on EARTH to forgive sins ix Matth. 6. That is to take away all temporal punishment that is due to sin as after his death and resurrection when he came to HEAVEN he had power to take away the Eternal and to give life Immortal Now who could have such a power but God only as the Scribes say very well upon this occasion ii Mark 7. Who could grapple with the Devil the Prince the God of this World xii Joh. 31. 2 Cor. iv 4. but only He who is God blessed for ever as Jesus appeared by these miraculous works to be And indeed it is very remarkable that He wrought his miracles frequently just as God Almighty brings things to pass God says Moses said Let there be Light and there was light He spake as the Psalmists words are and it was done he commanded and it stood fast In like manner did our Saviour say to the Leper viii Matth. 3. Be thou clean and immediately his Leprosie was cleansed And to the foul spirit ix Mark 25. Come out I charge thee thou dumb and deaf spirit and the spirit cryed and came out And to Lazarus Come forth and he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave-clothes Which was a notable evidence that indeed he was the Son of God since he acted so like to the Father Almighty This was so well known that when the Centurion came and besought him for a sick Servant of his who lay in grievous torments and our Saviour promised to come and heal him He modestly declines the acceptance of that favour in a sense of his unworthiness to have him come under his roof and desires him that he would SPEAK THE WORD ONELY and he believed his Servant should be healed viii Matth. 8. The first Cure that we read particularly related being that of the Leper aforementioned v. 3. and wrought by a Word He hoped it is like that his Servant might be cured as easily without giving our Saviour the trouble of coming to his House and laying his hands on him for his recovery Though by the way we may note that herein appeared also his great power that as he could heal if he pleased without touching so he could heal at a great distance Yea the Woman that did but touch not him but the very hem of his Garment v. Mark 29. had vertue or power that is something from the SPIRIT that was in him communicated to her which restored her to perfect health What doth all this note but that he who wrought such things so easily so readily in any place and on all occasions was indeed the Son of God He ought to have been honoured as the Author because he was the Restorer of humane nature There was great reason to acknowledge so great a Benefactor to Mankind to be more than a man for none but God either could or would bestow such blessings It may be said indeed that Moses and some of the Prophets wrought Miracles and yet cannot thence be concluded to be persons of such quality But it may as easily be answered that their miracles were nothing comparable either in their Multitude or Greatness to those of the Lord Jesus For the Multitude remember how S. John concludes his Gospel in which he hath recorded some of them And there are also many other things says he which Jesus did the which if they should be written every one I suppose that even the World it self could not contain the Books that should be written For he went about as hath been often said doing good and filled every place with so many miracles of his mercy that we cannot imagine into how many Volumes it would have swell'd if a record of every one of them had been taken And as for the greatness and the quality of them you find some among those which S. John hath set down which were never heard of before since the World began ix Joh. 32. which might well make our Saviour say as I noted just now that he had done among them the works that no man did xv 24. else they had not had sin that is he could not have charged them with the guilt of refusing to believe him to be the Son of God because it would not have been sufficiently proved But this is not all the reply that may be made to this exception it is far more considerable that Jesus affirmed himself to be the Son of God to which dignity neither Moses nor the Prophets ever pretended The end of miracles was
it was no common thing but the BLOUD of the Holy one of God It witnessed to that WITNESS and proved that as he did not speak contrary to his knowledge so he did not speak contrary to the truth And if the SPIRIT could not be believed in this it would have lost all its credit and never have been believed more we could never have known any thing by the greatest wonders it can work if such things had been done for a deceiver as it is apparent were done for Jesus For that he was raised up to life again we are assured by the testimony of the Apostles and by the testimony of the Holy Ghost of which none can reasonably doubt as it were easie to show if it were not my present business rather to demonstrate that this was an irrefragable testimony of the SPIRIT to him a most powerful means to beget faith and assurance in mens minds that Jesus is the Son of God It was for this very end that S. John wrote the History of his Resurrection and the several signs and tokens they had of it as he tells us in those words xx John 30 31. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name For this plainly reversed the sentence of condemnation which the Jews had pass'd upon him It showed that he was acquitted in a far higher Court than that which judged him worthy of death Whose decree it rescinded and openly declared that he was no Blasphemer when he said he was the Son of God If he had God would have been more concern'd than they to have kept him fast in his grave for ever that there so great a lye might have been buried together with himself For the further clearing of which it will be fit to consider briefly these three things First that before he died he promised his Apostles that he would rise again and gave this also as a sign to all the people whereby they should know that he was the Christ And secondly that he declared this to be the greatest sign he had to give of it And thirdly that his very enemies confess it is a sufficient sign and satisfactory testimony of any truth I. For the first of these that it was a sign promised to his Apostles and predicted to the people there is nothing more easie to be observed in the Gospel story For he tells his Apostles very often that they should see him betrayed and killed but on the third day he would rise again No sooner had S. Peter confessed that he was the CHRIST but from that time forth Jesus began to shew them how that he must go to Jerusalem and there suffer many things and be killed and be raised again the third day xvi Matth. 21. For he would not have them expect a Christ that should reign here on Earth but in Heaven And till he went thither he would not have them so much as preach that he was the CHRIST ver 20. And what he had said here at Caesarea he repeats again when they were in Galilee xvii Matth. 22 23. And again when they were going up to Jerusalem xx 19. And not many hours before he was apprehended he said again A little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and ye shall see me because I go to the Father xvi John 16. At which words they were greatly troubled because they minded more what he said about his death than they regarded his resurrection which was to follow But the greater their trouble was then the greater their satisfaction was afterwards when they saw him alive again The less disposed they were to believe it the more confident they grew when they saw such a wonder They wept and lamented when he was gone as he told them they would ver 20. But when he came to see them again their heart rejoyced with such a joy as none could dispoil them of ver 22. The ground of which joy you shall see presently when I have also remembred you how he foretold his Resurrection to the people as a testimony that he was the CHRIST It was their wont in all Ages and with great reason to ask for a sign that a man was sent of God And therefore now that Jesus came with such authority as to redress many abuses among them and to reform that Nation and Temple they ask him what sign shewest thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things ii Joh. 18. He had given them signs enough already and therefore makes no other answer but this to let them know what should be the last sign Destroy this Temple pointing to his own body and in three days I will raise it up vers 19. From whence we may safely argue that Jesus having given this as a sign and token whereby it should evidently appear more than by all his miracles that he was the Son of God the Almighty would never have fulfilled this promise and prediction if He had usurped his authority and taken upon him to be his ANOINTED without his leave Nothing was more easie than to quash all his pretences which relyed upon his Resurrection without which his Apostles as I told you had no authority to Preach that he was the Christ It had been but letting him rot in his grave as all men naturally do when they are dead and all the World would have been of the mind of the Pharisees that he was a Deceiver And God sure hath not so little care of the World as to deny them such ready and obvious means of satisfaction about the most important truth We ought to think rather that he would have concerned himself to see that this Temple which he spake of should lye for ever in its ruines and be turned to dust and ashes He who alone could do it would have been so far from rearing it up again that he would have provided it should be prophaned and made the vilest rubbish in the World But there being very good proofs many infallible proofs as S. Luke speaks i. Act. 3. that it was quite otherwayes and that indeed it was raised after three days as he had told the People it was a Testimony from God most high that He dwelt in that Temple and that it was his Holy place where he manifested his glory He declared to them by this that Jesus was no Deceiver but that they ought to believe he was the Christ of God For that a man should be raised from the dead by any other power than that of God's all the World concludes is impossible If any of those lying spirits which love to cheat and abuse the world could do such feats why do we not see this frequently happen that so they might break the force of this testimony and overthrow our belief Above
together to believe it Were they drawn away with mere words And with the danger of their lives followed a poor despicable Preacher when they saw nothing that was wonderful for strange to perswade them to this worship What vain senseless imaginations are these Therefore they believed and suffered themselves to be torn in pieces rather than deny it because they saw all these things done by him and by his Preachers who were sent through the whole world to carry the benefits of our Father to mankind and to bestow the gifts of healing both on their Souls and Bodies But our Writers have not set these things down faithfully They have extolled small matters and ambitiously magnified them beyond their just proportions Why so I beseech you By what reason shall we believe any of your writings if this History of ours must be rejected In which but a few things of the many that were done are recorded by men of truth and honesty Did any God come down from Heaven and write with his own hand the stories that you believe Or is there any thing of that nature writ against ours Then you believe men and so do we Your Books were writ by men and so were ours And whatsoever you will say of ours look for the same to be retorted upon your own Will you have all things contained in your writings to be true so are all contained in ours Do you say ours are false the same we say of yours And how will you help your selves You cannot say that you saw the things that you believe no more than we But others saw them and therefore you believe them and so do we But ours were writ by rude and unlearned men and therefore not to be believed Consider if this be not an advantage to our cause and a stronger reason to conclude that these writings are stained with no lies but delivered with a simple mind ignorant how to amplifie things and so set them off with deceitful dresses As for that which follows concerning the trivial sordid stile wherein they said the Apostles writ it does not in the least render the faithfulness of their relations suspected and therefore I pass it over and omit his reply to it though I cannot well neglect this pertinent observation of Erasmus in his Preface to his Paraphrase upon S. Lukes Gospel The language says he of the Gospel is so simple and rude that if any body compare it with the History of Thucydides or Livy he will want abundance of things and be offended at as many How many things do the Evangelists pass by How many do they but just touch in two or three words In how many places do they disagree in the order of their Narration and in how many others do they seem to thwart one another These things might make a Reader less like them and not give such credit to what he reads For on the contrary they that wrote humane Histories how solicitous were they about their entrance upon their work How scrupulously did they weigh their words What care did they imploy to observe a decent order to set down nothing but what was plausible and exactly described And with what art do they endeavour to set things lively before our eyes With what pleasures do they intice and detain the minds of the Readers that they may not at all grow weary of them And yet these elaborate Monuments for the greatest part are lost and those that remain are not read with any assurance that they report nothing but the truth For who is so credulous as to believe that Titus Livius tells never a tale in his History But there are millions of men found who had rather die ten times than think there is one sentence false in the Evangelical story Is it not plain by this that it is not a business of humane power and prudence but conducted by a Divine vertue What Philosopher is there that ever had the confidence to propound such Paradoxes as these with hope to be believed That one Jesus was crucified and by his death saved mankind that he was God and Man born of a Virgin that he rose again from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father that he taught they were blessed men who mourned hungred and thirsted were afflicted ill-spoken of and killed for the profession of his name and that one day they should live again and see him sit in judgment to give immortality to the pious and endless pains to the ungodly What is there plausible and taking in all this And yet the humble low stile of the Gospel perswaded men of this so that thousands millions will rather forsake their lives than this plain truth which a few private unknown poor mean disciples of his delivered to the World What should move us then to distrust these records of the faithful WITNESSES of Christ which are come down to us through the hands of all Ages since so as they were delivered to them What do we see now more than our Forefathers did in Arnobius his days or those which succeeded that gives us any cause to suspect their truth Are they altered from what they were If any company of men had been so bold as to venture at such a change they would first have mended the stile no doubt and placed things in greater order and method according to the exactest rules of art But that they are untained an uncorrupted and in no material passage vary from what they were in former Ages appears by what all Christian Writers have transcribed out of them into their Books which agrees with that which we now read They are the same now that ever they were They contain a relation of those things which converted as Arnobius says the incredulous world who did not want wit nor learning no more than we but saw great reason to renounce all the fables which had been told of their Gods and to believe what they read here concerning Jesus For it is the testimony of God Almighty they evidently perceived that is recorded in those Books Which when we receive our faith will not be less divine than theirs in the first Age because we both receive the Witness of God only they saw or heard it and we read the record of what they saw and heard Which makes no considerable difference 〈◊〉 the nature of the testimony For the 〈◊〉 â—â—ny of any man standing upon aâ—â—â—â—ed record is as good an evidence 〈◊〉 he were alive in person to give it No man loses his cause when his Witnesses die if they have already given their evidence in any Court of Record And therefore there is no reason that our Lord Jesus should lose his authority among us because the Apostles his WITNESSES have left the world and so has the WITNESS of the Spirit and the Holy Ghost since that which they testified to mankind stands upon authentick record in the holy Gospel which cannot with any show of reason be
visible shape while he lived There is not one of his own followers as the learned Mr. Pocock assures us who makes any mention so much as of the Pigeon which as we commonly tell the tale was wont to flie to his ear as if it whispered some revelation to him There was not that small imitation of what is recorded of our Saviour Much less was there any such glorious body seen descending on him as that which came down like a Dove and crowned our Saviours head The Heavens never opened to him nor was he transfigured in the presence of any of his disciples Where are the Books that can tell us of any such thing or so much as of any miracles which he wrought to confirm his Doctrine He himself says in his Alcoran more than once that he was not sent with Miracles but with Arms. And though his followers afterward pretended that he did work miracles yet they never pretend they were done frequently and most of them are very ridiculous and useless and their learned men do not at all rely upon them nor think he proved his Prophecy by this means There is no news of any blind-mans eyes that he opened or of his making the lame to walk or cleansing a poor Leper much less of a dead-mans hearing his voice and arising out of his grave and of such like things done by his followers which we are sure from eye-witnesses our Lord did and gave those that testifie it power to do the same wonders And if we go to enquire of the Witness of Water in Holiness of Doctrine and Life what a sink of dirty stuff is his Alcoran The pleasures of the flesh are the highest that he had in his thoughts to propound to his followers His Heaven is no better than a sensual Paradise But as for the joys of the Holy Ghost or a taste of any spiritual delights he seems to have had no more sense of them than a Swine How should he being an impure lascivious beast himself who had seventeen Wives besides Concubines And not content with these took another mans Wife the wife of his servant Zaid and pretended a revelation for it Which he had the impudence to say told him that God was not only well pleased he should have her but took it ill he had abstained so long from her out of fear what the world would say Whereas he ought to have feared God rather than men What could be expected from such a Brute but such a Book as he has left a mere heap or dunghill rather of filthy nonsence And if we enquire further for the Witness of BLOUD we can find none but the Bloud of other men which bears witness that he was a false Prophet For his business was to shed the bloud of his opposers rather than to give his own as a testimony to the truth The sword was his principal weapon to subdue men to his belief He did not perswade them by arguments but compelled them to yield by force of arms Go says he in the xix Section of the Alcoran and kill all those who will not be converted He was a Murderer as well as a Lyar like the first Deceiver of all so that to save their Bodies rather than their Souls his neighbours found it the best way to submit themselves to his yoke Did our blessed Saviour use any such violence Did he come with a sword in his hand and say Yield your understandings or your throats No he came not to destroy mens lives but to save them He would not let his Apostles call for fire from Heaven to consume any body though it had been as easie for him to do as to send the Holy Ghost in fiery tongues upon them He never did any miracle to the hurt of the smallest living creature though it would have been recompensed by a multitude of noble cures that he wrought for their owners It did not please him that one of his servants cut off but the ear of Malchus though it was in his defence He was the good shepherd who would not kill the sheep but laid down his life for them This we commemorate perpetually to his eternal praise whereas the false Prophet hath left no other memory but that he was more like a Wolf than a Shepherd for he came for nothing but to worry and destroy But he doth not deserve so much regard as to be thus seriously confuted were not all this said rather to make us sensible of the excellence of our own Religion than to disprove that which was taught by him Whose greatest wisdome was that he chose to begin to make his Proselytes and plant his Religion among a company of rude People who were more like Beasts I told you than Men. If they had been Men of any understanding one cannot imagine how they should have given credit to such ill contrived tales as those which he invented But we are told by his own followers that the People of Mecca a place famous for his Tomb at this day could neither write nor read but were perfectly ignorant Nay Mahomet himself was wont to say that he was sent by God to an illiterate Nation Which they expound of the Arabians about Mecca who were not People of the Book as they call the Jews and Christians but as ignorant as they came out of their Mothers Womb says one of their own Authors having never learnt the art of writing or of casting account Which shows how vastly different the beginnings of that Religion were from those of ours which was preached to the wisest and politest People upon Earth as that was to the most rude and stupid The Greeks and Romans soon saw their Countries filled with this new Doctrine Nor was it in the power of their Philosophers or Orators to stop its progress But there were no such Creatures among those wild Arabians and those Philosophers who arose afterwards of this Sect were ashamed it may be made appear by good proofs of the Alcoran So destitute they are of any thing whereby to support the Religion of that Book that they are fain to fly to the Gospel of Christ from thence to gain some authority to it There says the Saracen in Theodorus Abucara Christ wrote these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I send you a Prophet called Mahomet but Christians have blotted it out of their Books For He they fancy is the Paraclet whom our Saviour promises and it is one of the Names they bestow upon this Impostor in their writings who pretends our Saviour foretold his coming as many have observed out of the lxi Chapter of the Alcoran * Hacksp Dialog de Passione Domin Which shows how hard they are put to their shifts when they fly to us for refuge and when Ignorance is the greatest security and support to their Religion at this day It is very remarkable that as our Religion was propagated among the wisest and most learned Nations by the most illiterate men
see their Departure is at hand In which regards I doubt not this Treatise will be acceptable to your Grace because it contains a Description and full Assurance of that happy Life which you shortly expect For there is nothing so reviving in our declining Age as to think that the passage out of this Life leads us not to Death but to Immortality and that it will not take away our Happiness from us but give us a purer enjoyment of it Pleasure not mixed with a mortall body but sincere and free from Grief and Sorrow For when we shall be set at liberty and delivered from this Prison we shall come thither where there is no Labour no Sighing nor Old age but a Life of perfect ease and tranquillity that breeds no trouble nor any other evill but is serene and clear in an immovable Rest and Peace Where the happy Inhabitants sweetly contemplate the nature of things and philosophize not for Popularity and the Theatre but for the finding out solid and everlasting Truth I have but translated the words of Plato * in Axiocho p. 370. or of some other Philosopher that hath borrowed his name who was much pleased in such thoughts as these though he made but uncertain guesses at that blessed state which our Lord hath so clearly revealed and so strongly demonstrated that we have reason with never-ceasing joy both in life and death to give him thanks for so great a Grace For as there is nothing beyond this that the heart of man can wish so nothing of such importance to our present Happiness in this World For which cause the Jews have thought fit to expunge those from the number of Israelites who do not believe the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the dead and to resolve that they shall have no part in the World to come though they otherwise live orderly and observe the Precepts of the Law For such men they saw opened a door to all licentiousness and could never doe so much good by any other means as they did hurt by subverting this Belief Which I have endeavoured therefore to establish by such Arguments as they were ignorant of till our Blessed Lord and Saviour appeared who as St. Matthew observes out of the Psalmist uttered things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the World Maimonides himself saith in his last Chapter of his Book concerning Kings that at the coming of Christ things hidden and profound shall be laid open and revealed to all Which is true of nothing more I have shewn then of that which is the greatest desire of all mankind immortall Life Of which though I have not treated according to the dignity of the Subject yet I am confident I have laid a good Foundation to be improved by the labours of those who have more skill and more leisure And it is a very great satisfaction to have done any thing though never so small for the honour of our ever-Blessed Lord and Master whom it is the highest glory in the world to serve in faithfulness and truth For He will not fail to reward such services with an ample recompence being a Prince so great that nothing is beyond his Power and so gracious that his Servants have reason to expect the best effects of his Good will Which may very well content us whatsoever usage we meet withall at present And should mightily excite us as St. Chrysostom often and earnestly exhorts * Homil. 87. in Matth. p. 539. neglecting the suspicions and the reproaches and the praises too of men to study this one thing alone how to be conscious to our selves of no evill which will bring us in the end both here and hereafter the greater glory The God of all Grace bless this Work to the settling and increasing this holy Faith and Resolution in all our hearts whereby we shall also obtain the sweetest foretasts of the Joys of the future State And may your Grace be blest with many of them to support the infirmities of Old age and having finished your days have an easie passage to that better Life and there receive from the Chief Pastour when he shall appear the Crown of glory which fadeth not away Which is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your GRACE's in all dutifull Observance SY PATRICK TO THE READER I Have no other reason to give for adding one more to that heap of Books which men complain is already grown too great but the hope I have of doing some service to our Lord by making a farther search as I promised in the conclusion of the former Part of this Work into the Testimony of these Divine Witnesses concerning ETERNALL LIFE The Hope of which is the most precious Legacy the Son of God hath left us the Hindge upon which all Religion turns without which it would be the greatest Vanity as Lactantius * Lib. vi c. 9. vii 1. often speaks to obey the commands of Vertue for whose sake we must endure not onely many Labours but ofttimes sore Calamities We were born as he discourses elsewhere * Lib. vii 6. to acknowledge God the Maker of us and of the World whom we therefore acknowledge that we may worship him and therefore worship him that we may receive Immortality for a reward of our labours because his service ingages us in the greatest and therefore Immortality is bestowed on us for a recompenc◠that being made like to the Angels we may serve the Father and Lord of all for ever and be the Eternall Kingdom of God This is the Chief of all things this is the Secret of God this is the Mystery of the World to which they are strangers who following their present pleasures have addicted themselves to terrestriall and frail goods and sunk their Souls born to celestiall enjoyments into delights as deadly as they are muddy and dirty And it is the singular Priviledge of Christians as I have demonstrated to be assured of a Good so great by so many most credible Witnesses whose Testimony none can refuse but they that will be so absurd as to believe none at all The Father the Word the Holy Ghost the Water the Bloud and the Spirit declare so unanimously and so plainly that the Lord Jesus will give Eternall Life to his followers that what the Oratours said in flattery to the Athenians in the time of the Chremonidian War may in truth be said to us if we alter but one word that other things indeed are common to us with the rest of the World Athenzus in Deipnosoph L. vi p. 250. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the way that leads men to heaven is known to Christians alone Who have a manifold grace bestowed on them enjoying not onely a Promise of Eternall Life which the World never had before but that Promise attested by so many Witnesses who tell us also it is in the power of him that died for us to conferr it on us as well
constant Auditours of Which made them the more confident to declare these things to others because they had them not at the second hand but immediately from himself And because it is the least of testimonies to say we have heard a thing therefore he adds in the second place that they had SEEN it beheld that is all the marvellous works he did to confirm this Doctrine which he delivered as the word Seen seems to be understood xv Joh. 24. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin but now they have SEEN and yet hated both me and my Father They saw the vast numbers that he fed with a little food the sick that he cured with speaking a word the dead that he raised when all their friends gave them for lost and despaired of seeing them again in this world In short so many instances of his Divine power and authority that if they should have been written every one this Apostle supposes the World would not have been able to contain the Books that should have been written xxi ult But these are recorded which we find in the Gospell as he concludes the foregoing Chapter that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing we might have Life through his Name And lest any should imagine it was but a transient sight they had of these things and their eyes might be deluded as we sometimes are when a thing suddenly flies away from us or that they were but seldom spectatours of these things and so could not gather much from thence he adds in the third place that they had LOOKED on it that is had this evidence continually before their eyes They scarce saw any thing else but miracles They had not leisure ofttimes so much as to eat their meat by reason of the great multitude of people that came to be healed by him They conversed a long time with Lazarus after he was risen and our Lord himself was seen of them forty days after his resurrection speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God And when the Holy Ghost came they themselves to whom the Apostle here writes could testifie the wonderfull variety of spirituall gifts that were poured on believers But because we imagine that to feel a thing is far more considerable for our satisfaction then to see it or look upon it as St. Thomas would not believe those who had seen our Lord and heard him speak but he would put his hands into his wounds before he would be satisfied therefore the Apostle tells us farther that they declared nothing but what they had HANDLED of the word of life That is there was most palpable evidence and demonstration given of the truth of their report They were so near as to touch and feel that their eyes were not deceived when they thought they saw such miracles wrought For their own hands distributed the bread and the fish to the hungry multitude And some of them untied the grave-cloaths of Lazarus when he was raised from the dead And to give one instance for all when he himself rose again from his grave they not onely discoursed with him and saw him eat and drink and beheld him severall times and in severall places but he called them to him and said Behold my hands and my feet handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have xxiv Luk. 39. This very handling of him was a great argument of the Eternall Life which was with the Father but was hereby made manifest unto us for it proves his resurrection and that is a proof of ours Now they having thus heard and seen and beheld and handled these things how could they chuse but publish that Jesus is the Authour of Eternall Life And we receiving such testimony from them how can we refuse to believe their word that we may have fellowship with them in God and his Son i. e. be partakers as they were in that most blessed Life of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ If we do but believe there were such men as St. John and St. Paul and all the rest and if they had eyes and ears and hands like other men if they were men of sound brains and understandings as it appears by their writings they were if any credit may be given to sober persons who protest they heard those voices from heaven saw those miracles which they have recorded conversed with our Saviour after he rose from the dead as there are no Writers in the world deserve credit if they do not nay if they deserve more credit then any considering what they did and suffered as you shall hear for the testimony of that which they saw and heard and wrote to the world there is no doubt this Life was manifested most apparently to them and they had reason to bear witness of it and shew it to us And we cannot but rest satisfied that it is the will of God to give Eternall Life by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. No question to be made of it unless we will question all Histories in the world and believe nothing that is reported and delivered to us by others Which if it were once resolved there would be an end of most of the trade commerce and business that is managed in the world And deeds and evidences which men have from their ancestours would become void and present possession would be the onely title they could have to their estates But for our farther satisfaction let me briefly shew that the APOSTLES gave a continued Testimony to this truth all the three ways whereby St. John saith He came by WATER by BLOVD and by the SPIRIT I. As for the purity of their Doctrine which is one part of the Testimony of Water I have given an account of it in the first part of this Discourse Which demonstrates it was of that nature that it had been an idle attempt to preach it and endeavour to plant it in the World had they not believed and been able to prove that their Master who employed them would give them and all those who obeyed their word the reward of Eternall Life To which if you adde the holiness of their Life which is another part of this Testimony you cannot think that men of such sincerity in all other things would have affirmed so confidently as they did that which they did not take to be true nor have protested they saw and heard and felt such things as they never had any notice of But if you will needs suppose they might be so vile which is very unreasonable yet who can think they would have denied themselves so much as they did for their Master's sake in which a great part of their piety consisted if they had not been sure that he would lead them by such means to everlasting life This extraordinary contempt of all present things even of life it self as you shall
man much excelling all the modern Jews who could find no places to this purpose plainer then those cited by Albo some of which he alledges and adds others * in his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no less weak and obscure Such as that iv Deut. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord are alive every one of you this day They that were good says he Moses onely acknowledges for the living and he witnesses to them immortality by adding ye are alive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this day For this to day is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 world without end If he could have met with any plain promises who can think that a man of his parts would have used such sancifull proofs as this And yet this place I find R. Gamaliel most relied on when after a long dispute with the Sadducees who would not be satisfied that the Resurrection could be proved out of the Law he at last referred them hither * Manasseh ben Israel L. i. de Resur c. 1. But he explained the words thus As ye are all alive to day so you shall live also in the world to come For he supposes some of those whom Moses speaks of were dead and yet the text says they were alive because their union with God by cleaving to him made them immortall Which is not much better then the next proof which follows in Philo who fansies that in x. Lev. 2. where it is said Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tokens of their immortality is proclaimed And that to say they died before the Lord is as good as to say they lived for it was not lawfull to bring a dead thing into the presence of God And this says he is that which the Lord presently adds I will be sanctified of those who draw nigh to me for the dead as it is in the Psalms praise not God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the work of the living Just thus he proves in another Book * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 164. with the like force that Abel lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an happy life in God because the Scripture saith the voice of his bloud cried out against his wicked Brother Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how could he be able to speak if he was not in being An argument which rather proves Moses spake nothing clearly of these things for if he had this Writer would not have contented himself with such slender inferences Which are as weak as that of R. Johanan who proves the Resurrection from that in xviii Num. 28. where they are commanded to give the Lord 's Terumah to Aaron the Priest Who did not live saith he to enter into the land of Canaan and therefore must be raised again to receive the portion of the Lord in that good Land And yet this is as strong an argument as that of R. Solomon who concludes it merely from the two Jods in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ii Gen. 7. where it is said the LORD God formed man c. This signifies says he that man must be formed twice once in this world and once in the next at the resurrection of the dead There are more of this nature in the Gemara of the Sanhedrin * Vid. Coch. c. xi n. 2 3 9. which I shall not trouble the Reader withall but onely note that the weakness and uncertainty of these proofs make the Samaritans brag of the advantage they have of the Jews because they say in their Pentateuch which therefore they would have to be the true copy of Moses his Law there is an express text to prove the Resurrection and the Life to come which the Jews cannot shew So desirous were all that had the possession of these Books to find these Truths plainly recorded there which even those words which the Samaritans pretend to be a part of their Law do not contain All is dark and doubtfull after their best glosses and inferences and we can conclude nothing certainly but that God did not reveal these things to Moses who was sent to make a covenant of another nature with the Israelites Whence it was that they were so much disputed by a great party among the Jews as every body knows the Pharisees affirming and the Sadducees denying Which left the minds of the multitude in much doubt while they saw these two Schools so resolutely opposing one the other And if we pass from the Law to the Prophets especially to the Prophet Isaiah who as Abarbinel says in his Preface to him speaks more clearly of the Resurrection of the dead then all the rest we shall not receive much greater satisfaction For the places from whence it is deduced do so evidently belong to another sense in the first intention of the Prophet that it forces us to confess this Doctrine was but obscurely delivered in those days and that we could not have been certain of any other sense without the benefit of a Revelation The proofs which Abarbinel brings are xviii Isa 4. xxiv 18 21 22 23. xxv 8. xxvi 19. lxvi 8 14 24. and such like which when we have seriously examined it will excite us with the greater admiration to acknowledge the infinite grace of God towards us who do not see these things through shadows nor have need of long discourses to extract this heavenly Doctrine out of our Books but in express terms reade So God loved the world that he gave his onely-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life iii. Joh. 16. And this is the promise that he hath promised us even ETERNALL LIFE 1 Epist ii 25. What is there in all the Prophets like to this I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die xi Joh. 25 26. The clearest place is that in Daniel xii 2. And yet if we reade the words going before not to say Mr. Brightman * Ib. in xx Rev. 11. Grotius and other learned Writers upon the place we shall not be able to deny that he is speaking of a particular Resurrection from exceeding great oppression to a long state of prosperity Which typified indeed in a very admirable manner as Ezekiel's dry bones and many other things did the state of the Generall Resurrection and eternall Blessedness but did not plainly reveal it This was reserved for our Lord Jesus Christ who brought life and immortality to light by his Gospell and openly proclaimed that ALL not MANY as it is in Daniel that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation v. Joh. 28 29. II. But we shall see more reason to bless the infinite goodness of God towards us Christians