Cannot Conclude without making a little Reflection upon what has been said And 1. How should we love and value and adhere to the Gospel of Christ and the Blessed Author of such a Revelation How are Writers esteemed who treat of Matters which are of very great Use and Service to Mankind in the things of this Life And what a Price do Men set upon those Books wherein Difficulties are cleared up and those profitable Inventions are contained Now what is there of so great Importance as Pardon of Sin and Immortal Life the Doctrine whereof is encumber'd with so many Difficulties which are too hard for Natural Light and Reason but are so clearly plainly and fully Solved by the Holy Scriptures How are Men pleased with an exact Description of a Foreign Country tho' they do not so much as dream of dwelling in it nor have any thoughts or hopes of having so much as one Foot of Land there How then should we value the Gospel that gives us so full and plain an Account of the Heavenly Country and how we may be possessed of all the Glory of it What an Esteem have ingenious Men for a Book of Astronomy that gives an Account of the orderly Motions of the Sun Moon and Stars What an happy Invention is that of those Glasses whereby they discover some lesser Bodies which the naked and unassisted Eye is not able to perceive tho' thereby they have no more Benefit from their Light and Influence than those who are the most ignorant of these Affairs How should we value the Sacred Oracles which do discover the Heavenly State to us which is not to be known by mere Reason and how we may so order our own Motions as to get above and out-shine any of those glorious Luminaries Let us adhere to the Bible for if once we give up that we are off from our Center we shall find nothing whereon our Soul can rest but shall be at our Wits-end Methinks that Courtier spoke like a Man of Sense to the Pagan King Edwin whilst he was considering whether he had best to turn Christian or no when he said thus to him * Bede's Eccles Hist Gentis Angl. l. 2. cap. 13. The present Life of Man upon Earth Sir if compared with that Time which is to us unknown seems to me to resemble a little Sparrow which while your Majesty was feasting within with your Royal Retinue in your warm Parlour during the roaring of the blustering Winds and the falling of great Quantities of Rain and Snow without flew in at one Door and presently flew out at another All the time it was in the House it was well shelter'd from Wind and Weather but as soon as it got out into the cold Air we were altogether as ignorant whither it went as we were whence it came Thus we can give some Account of our Soul during its Abode in the Body while it was housed and harboured therein but where it was Before and how it fares with it Afterwards is to us altogether unknown If therefore Paulinus he was the Christian Bishop who laboured to Convert those Heathens by his Preaching can certainly inform us herein he deserves in my Opinion to be followed And the King after he had heard Paulinus's Sermon spoke like an Understanding Man when he said I have long ago been convinced that the Idols we have Worshipped were meer Nothings because the more diligently I have sought for the Truth in this way of Religion so much the farther was I from finding it But now I openly profess that by this Preaching the way of obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness is clearly laid before us Whereupon he immediately gave Orders for the Demolishing the Heathen Temples and Altars 2. Let us take heed that we do not fall short of Pardon and Heaven Sad was the Case of that wicked and prophane Lord at Samaria who barely saw the great Plenty with his Eyes but never tasted of it he stood at the Gate to let in others but was trampled to Death by the Multitude pressing in upon him Much worse will be our Case if we only hear of the great Provision which God has made for us in the other State and never feed upon it but be trodden down to Hell in the Crowd of our own unpardoned Sins It is a double Misery to be drowned within sight of Shore to miss of that Pardon and of that Heaven that are so plainly revealed and of which we have heard so much and so often 3. Let us clear up our Right and Title to both of them How long have we remained in Doubts and Fears and shall we always continue in that uneasy Posture like a Door on its Hinges moving this way and that but still hanging in the same Place where it was many Years ago To clear up our Right 't is necessary that the following Rules be observ'd 1. Don't give Way to immoderate Worldly Sorrow If we be like a Carkass that lies under the Weight of that Earth which presses upon it and never stirs Hand or Foot to help it self If we lie down under our Burdens only mourning and complaining and indulging our selves in black and gloomy Thoughts we can never expect that God should help us especially if we do worse than this if we sinfully afflict our selves we can't reasonably hope that God should comfort us and raise up them who madly cast or bow themselves down If with our own Hands we plunge the Dagger into our Breast it would be a Miracle if we did not lose our Blood and Spirits faint and feel a great deal of Pain They that will chew upon nothing but Wormwood and Gall and delight in rolling it up and down in their Mouths are likely to walk in the Bitterness of their Souls all their Days 2. Watch against the Encroachments of Bodily Melancholy This naturally disposes a Man to Fears and Jealousies is the black Root of many idle but vexatious Scruples and perverse Cavillings and will make him refuse to be comforted tho' there be ever so great Reason for it If a Stander-by convince him of some saving Work of God on his Soul and of his Right to Pardon and Eternal Life yet as soon as he is gone all is undone again the Melancholy Christian being like a faulty Watch which may be wound up and go a little while ones Hand is upon it but no sooner is that removed off but it runs down in an Instant and stands still again When such meet with Worldly Crosses from which none are exempted it casts them into deep Fits of Sorrow which in a Serious Person presently runs into dreadful and amazing Fears about his Soul and the supposed miserable and forlorn State thereof As Peter when he was over-shadowed with a Bright Cloud so any other of the Disciples of Christ when cover'd with a Black one Luke 9.33 are apt to speak they know not what especially against themselves All proper Natural Means therefore
because of the Corruption of Human Nature And withal shews whither we should apply our selves for Divine Grace for the changing the habitual Frame of our Souls and the amending of our Lives So much for the Nature of Christianity II. Now for the Proof of it The Word began first to be spoken by the Lord Heb. 2. and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will And he would never have set the Broad Seal of Heaven upon it if it had been a Cheat and an Imposture and so have unavoidably led us into a most fatal Error To this may be added the wonderful Spreading of the Gospel which is very Admirable considering the Strictness of its Precepts the Weakness of the Instruments by whom it was propagated the strong Opposition that was made against it every where by Men in Authority and those of the greatest Wit and Learning the general Prejudices with which the Minds of Men were filled against it and its overturning all other Religions wherein Men had been Bred and Born and which therefore they use to be very tenacious of If it had been a Lye it would never have been so blessed and prospered of God Consider further what a wonderful Reformation it wrought in the Hearts and Lives of all that entertained it Surely that Seal could be no Forgery but must be cut by a Divine Hand which made so many Divine Impressions upon such Multitudes of Souls To all which may further be added The Case of the Jews who tho' scattered all the World over yet contrary to all other Instances in Nature do not mingle and incorporate with any People but keep themselves as a Body distinct from all the Nations among whom they dwell And they are the Filth and Off-scouring of every Place even among the Heathens as well as the Christians The very Mahometans despise them The Indians * Terry 's Voyage into the East-Indies have a very Emphatical way in their Language of calling a Man two or three very ugly Names in one Compound Word yet that of calling a Man a Jew is reckoned worse than all the Terms of Reproach heaped up together They are every where standing Monuments of Divine Vengeance for rejecting the Gospel and a lasting Proof and Testimony of the Truth of our Saviour's Prophecies against them Especially if we consider the many Attempts which they have made but always in vain but more especially their last in the Reign and by the zealous Encouragement of Julian the Apostate Emperor to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem on purpose to prove our Saviour a False Prophet and the miraculous Overthrow of it and his Design by Balls of Fire from Heaven whereby the Workmen were consumed and the sorry Remains of the Foundations of that Temple were entirely razed and he made further to fulfil the Prophecy of Christ by his very attempt to overthrow it which is testified not only by the Christian Authors but by the Heathen Historian * Ammianus Marcel l. 23. also Neither are the Prophecies in Scripture concering Christ to be forgotten such as that of Daniel concerning the Messiah's being cut off within such a compass of Years Chap. 9.24 which tho' it hath its lesser Difficulties yet as to the main Substance is very plain and therefore Porphyry most unreasonably pretended the Book of Daniel was a History forged after the Events came to pass And that Prophecy of Christ's coming before the Destruction of the Second Temple Mal. 3. But above all that which was one great Occasion of the Conversion of that Noble * Earl of Roch. Life by Burnet p. 140 141 142. Man who was once as remarkable for his Debauchery and Infidelity as ever he was for his Wit or Quality viz. the Prophecy of Isaiah in his 53d Chapter concerning the Death of Christ which does so exactly correspond with the History of our Saviour's Passion tho' it was wrote many Ages before Christ's Appearance in the World and which the Jews who abhor the Notion of a Crucified Messiah and constantly Blaspheme our Lord Jesus Christ still kept in their Hands as a Book Divinely inspired Pilate writ an Inscription on the Cross over the Head of Christ This is the King of the Jews in Latin Greek and Hebrew Characters Every Jew is a Pillar of Brass which God has set up and whereon he has engraven in Capital Letters That Christ was a Teacher that came down from Heaven And this not in two or three but in all Languages under the Heavens And he who hath Eyes to see will read and he that hath an Ear to hear let him understand And I think we ought not to slight the Acts of Pilate which he sent to Tiberius containing a Narrative of the Life Miracles Death and Resurrection of our Saviour These are mentioned not only by * Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 2. Eusebius but also by Tertullian †Apol. c. 5. c. 21. and J. Martyr ‖ Apol. 2da p. 76. 84. Edit Paris who both of them more than once in their Apologies for the Christians boldly appeal to ' em And they must have been Mad-men in so doing if they had not been well assured of the Truth of ' em And one can't but think it highly rational that Pilate should send some Account of so Extraordinary an Affair to the Emperor But that which to me is of great Weight and which I am surprized to find omitted by Learned Men yea by those who have written warmly against them that have endeavoured to put a Slur on these Acts is this That Maximinus in his Perfecution caused Supposititious * Of which see Eusebius Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 9. l. 9. c. 5. c. 7. Acts of Pilate to be Forged full of Blasphemy against Christ which he made to be spread throughout the whole Empire to be taught in the Schools where the Boys were to get them by heart and to declaim upon them that our Saviour and his Religion and Followers might be every-where derided But Providence put an End to his Mirth and Laughter for Divine Vengeance seiz'd him and he died a wretched tormenting Death and just before it publish'd an Edict in Favour of the Christians Now if there had been no Real Acts of Pilate what need was there of these Counterfeit ones and of all this Industry for the spreading of ' em Of all these Heads of Discourse § V I have chosen to insist only on these two viz. The Pardon of Sin and a Future State of Happiness because tho' they have been very lightly touched upon by several yet I do not know any that hath thoroughly handled ' em This Vein hath been scarce open'd and then hath been presently closed again the Skilful Work-men having chosen rather to dig in some other Parts of the
Mine thinking it may be that this might be wrought by the meaner Hand of any Common Labourer which hath encourag'd me to make the following Essay In the first Chapter whereof I have been obliged to encounter some very Learned Men two of which are Deceas'd I have carried it with a becoming Deference to the Authors while I have endeavour'd to Confute their Arguments and Errors 'T is great Barbarity rudely to treat the Ashes of such Men when Dead I have therefore walked softly over their Graves and not trampled indecently upon them In the second Chapter my Subject hath led me to Cite several of the Ancient Heathen Philosophers tho' I have been far from producing all that I could have brought I have done as our Courts are wont to do when a Jury is Summon'd I have Impannell'd as many as I thought necessary to serve my Purpose and have dismiss'd the Supernumeraries Some of the Quotations I have transcrib'd at large out of the Original that the Learned Reader may judge whether I have mistaken the true Sense of my Authors or dealt worse by them I desire no Man to take them as Traders sometimes do a Bag of Money upon Content with a Promise of making them Good he who Examines 'em will find them so And that any one who hath an Ability and a Mind to it may do it with the greater Ease and Readiness generally the first Time that I quote an Author I mention the Particular Page and Edition which I have all along made use of where it was Necessary The Neglect of which in many Writers is as idle as if a Man should direct a Letter to his Friend in London without naming the Street or the Sign of the House where he dwells who thereupon is not to be found without the Expence of much Labour and Time In the rendring of them into English I have endeavour'd to give their true Sense without slavishly Confining my self to a Verbal Translation I hate and despise the Superstition of some Modern Publishers of Books who can't clap in a the or an of tho' it be absolutely necessary to make their Authors intelligible without giving the Reader a very formal Notice of it by a turn'd-up Comma the Solemnity of an Italick Character and introducing the little Particle with a Star prefixed in the Book as one sometimes appears in the Heavens to Usher in the Birth of a Young Prince In some Places I have endeavour'd to give somewhat of a pleasant Turn to a few of their Expressions without which the Reading many Quotations is a dull Business tho' I know by Experience 't is a much duller one to gather and transcribe ' em When there is no Air nor Briskness in the Face the Limner will give a Stroke of his Kindness as well as of his Pencil unless he be as heavy a Creature as the Man that sits or have as little Life and Soul in him as the Picture he draws If any think I have been either too Light or too Severe in a Reflection or two on the Sentiments and Speeches of some of the Old Philosophers I reply I have but followed the Example of Elijah who derided the Prophets of Baal that were as Senseless and Empty Tools as the Idol they Worshipp'd And I think that a Silly Opinion or a Ridiculous Saying deserves no Veneration because it hath been an Ancient one or came from a Man who as many Years as he lived before me yet it may be was not much Older when he vented it than I now am when I smile at it and him Had I been by when the Gibeonites produced their Dry and Mouldy Bread I would not have tasted it Their Broken Bottles Clouted Shooes and Tatter'd Garments for all their seeming Antiquity should never have been laid up among my Rarities And if their Ambassadors tho' doubtless they were Men of Figure and Quality should have endeavoured to have imposed them on me I 'de have presently hurl'd 'em all away and thrown 'em on the Dunghil whence he that had a mind to have fed on used and worn them might have pick'd 'em up if he had pleased I have added an Appendix wherein I have endeavoured to Vindicate Revealed Religion from the Exceptions of Mr. A. W. contained in a * Oracles of Reason p. 197. Letter of his which I find in the Rhapsody of the late unhappy Mr. Blount When he shews more Respect to our Blessed Saviour and his Holy Religion I shall do the same by him I have not said all that I could but I hope I have said so much as Effectually to Silence that Heathen Oracle ERRATA PAg. 36. l. antep r. Homines p. 39. l. 18. dele that p. 132. l. 10. dele Man p. 179. l. ult r. c. 1. p. 228. l. 14. r. carelessly THE PREFACE THOVGH refined and inquisitive Men have aimed at a perfect Comprehension of All things yet the Experience of every Age doth convince us that the Author of Nature hath set Bounds to our Knowledge as well as our Beings There is a certain Measure of Vnderstanding as well as of bodily Stature which we cannot exceed and though in both there is a mighty difference yet there are many Points which are too high for us and above the reach of the most Elevated Minds There 's none of them but what an Ingenious Man would be glad to have cleared up but yet most of them are of a Speculative Nature the Knowledge whereof would be of very little Vse and Service and therefore we may safely sit down in a quiet and contented Ignorance There is an Obscurity on the Face of Light and though it manifests all other Objects yet its Self is in a great measure hidden from us But were we perfect Masters of the Philosophy of it whether it be a Substance or an Accident Fire or the Pressure of the most subtil Matter how it so swiftly spreads and strikes our Eyes it would be no help to the Traveller in his Way or the Labouring Man for the quicker dispatch of his Work Did a Man throughly understand the Cause of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea and could he demonstrate it to proceed from the Motion either of the Sun or Earth or the Pressure of the Moon could he dive as deep into that Secret as some do into the vast Ocean he would not enrich himself by the one as Men do by the other Could the Mariner reason ever so exactly about the Nature of the Wind open the secret Treasures whence it comes and point out the invisible Places whither it retreats and assign the Natural Causes of its giddy and uncertain Motions he could not gather it in his Sails with greater Advantage nor the sooner reach his desired Haven But there are some Points of another Nature the Ignorance whereof will unavoidably create great Perplexity of Mind in any Considering Man Of these I shall pitch upon Two which are of Common Concern to all and of the greatest
man's Friend is laid Plutarch speaks no more confidently when he endeavours to comfort * Consol ad Apol. Edit Xylandri p. 109 c. Apollonius upon the untimely Death of his very promising Son he adopts that Saying of Socrates That Death is like a deep Sleep or a long Travelling into a foreign Country or else 't is a total Destruction of Body and Soul and speaks to the last as well as the two other that he may demonstrate Death to be no Evil. This was one of the Ingredients he uses to make a Plaister to heal the Sore of his distressed Friend And the best that he could say was IF the Saying of the Ancient Poets and Philosophers be true †P. 120. as 't is Probable that it is that Good men are advanced when they die and some of them as 't is reported more highly than others and there be a certain Place appointed for pious Souls in which they live you have reason to hope well concerning your Son that he is got among ' em As for Death saith * Antoninus l. 7. §. 32. Antoninus whether it be a Dissipation of the Elements or a Reduction into Atoms or an Annihilation it is either an Extinction or a Transmigration Or as others read it it is either †Gataker in locum p. 273. a Dissipation of the Elements Resolution into Atoms Annihilation Extinction or Transmigration A Saying that much resembles that of Seneca ‖ Contemnite mortem quae vos aut finit aut transfert Seneca de Provid ch 6. Despise Death which either ends or translates you He that would see more of Antoninus's Uncertainty let him turn to the Places * Lib. 3. §. 3. l. 4. §. 14. 21. l. 6. §. 24. l. 7. §. 50. l. 8. §. 25. 58. l. 10. §. 58. l. 12. §. 5. cited in the Margent To these Philosophers I will add the famous Historian †Vita Agricolae ad finem Tacitus who speaking in very affecting Terms concerning the Death of his Father-in-Law Agricola drops this Passage IF there be any place for the Ghosts of Good men IF as Wise men define the Souls of Great Persons die not with the Body in Peace maist thou rest c. Of the same Strain is the Speech of that noble Roman Lady Veturia a Woman of an admirable Wit and Address and whose Spirit was altogether as great as her Quality who among other Arguments with which she diverted her Son Coriolanus from ruining his own Country when it was entirely at his Mercy makes use of this That if she could but succeed in her Enterprize of prevailing with him to lay aside his she should not only gain Immortal Honour here upon Earth but also IF there be a place saith she * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys Halicarn l. 8. p. 522 523. Edit Wichelii for the Reception of Humane Souls after they are dismiss'd from the Body mine shall go not to a subterraneous and dark one where 't is SAID that miserable Wretches are lodg'd nor to the Plains of Lethe as they are called but to the High and Pure Aether where 't is REPORTED that they who are descended from the Gods do lead a blessed and happy Life I am not without some Grounds of Jealousy that the Whole of her Speech whereof these Words are a part as 't is set down was made for her by Dionysius according to the usual custom of most Historians who are wont to put Words into the Mouths of those Persons whose Actions they relate and don 't so much tell us what They spake as what Themselves would have said had they been to have made a set Oration under the same Circumstances wherein they frequently over-do make them talk much finer than it can rationally be supposed They are capable of doing lay on so much Paint that it easily appears to an observing Eye to be the work of Art and not of Nature But be it the Incomparable Veturia or the Grave Dionysius 't is not very material 'T is evident the Person that spake was very doubtful about a Future State Now if it were thus with the most Learned and Sagacious Men with the most Elevated and Exalted Souls how sad in all likelihood must it needs be with the Body of Mankind If they who had got the Higher Ground above the Heads of the Common People and had the Advantage too of standing on one another's Shoulders could see such a little way before 'em what shall we think of the little Creatures that sate below In short we do not find that Everlasting Life in the other State was in any Heathen Nation an Article of Religion established by Law It was but slightly touch'd on by Philosophers when ever they did name it which was but seldom as a Motive to excite Men to the Practice of Vertue Other Arguments they use and trust to which they did better understand and it is Prudence for a man not to urge those Reasons which are strongest in themselves but rather fight with that Weapon which he is a Master of and knows how best to manage And 't is a shrewd Observation of * St. August de Civit. Dei l. 4. c. 22. l. 6. c. 9. St. Austin That tho' the Heathens had abundance of Gods to whom they did particularly apply themselves to one for one Blessing to another God for another Favour and therefore the Knowledge of the Gods was necessary that they might direct themselves to them aright and not ask Water from the God of Wine c. Yet Varro himself who was very well skill'd in the matter hath not mentioned so much as one God whom they were to pray unto for Eternal Life 'T is true indeed we who have been taught from our very Infancy by the Gospel that there is such a Place as Heaven and so glorious a Reward for the Righteous in the other State may be apt to think that we have hit upon it by the Exercise of our own unassisted Reason or that it was very easy so to have done But herein it fares with us as oftentimes it doth with a Studious Man who having familiarly convers'd with good Authors doth verily think some of those Notions and Expressions too which he hath learnt from them are the genuine Off-spring of his own Mind and Thought Just as Corn that springs up in some places seems to the Husbandman to be the natural Product of the Ground he having never sowed it with that sort of Grain the Seeds of which in Reality were taken up by the Wind from another Field whereto they did originally belong and invisibly dropt down there I can't better express my Sense of this than in the Words of a modern Author who herein speaks very well tho' judging by the main Design of his Book I take him to be a very Singular Unitarian seeing he cuts off all the necessary Articles of our Faith excepting that of the Belief of