God Why did that eternal Man leave Children so unlike himself of so short a Life Or what is now become of him If he was eternally he had eternally a power to be and live and did chuse to dye and be no more and not leave the least notice to the World that ever he was Did that first man begin to be He gave not his beginning to himself for before he began to be he was not he had it from no other man for he was the first man did he spring out of the Earth Shew what power the Earth had to prodcue so noble a Creature and if it had that power did it spend it all at once that it should never before or since bring forth another man or any thing like him I know men may dream of strange â—hings and tell their dreams so often that they may forget they were dreams and begin to think them Truths and because wicked man is afraid of God he is willing to set hiâ— phansie aâ— work to hatch pretty conceits which he may play and sport with and divert himself from hearkning to his Conscience and fom all thoughts of God which disturb his quiet and imbitter his delights with fears of Judgment but he shall never be able by reason to satisfie himself that there is no God 3. The content of the whole World perswades me that it is at least a very great unadvisedness and arrogance hastily to dis-believe a God the whole frame and order of Nature convince me that it is very reasonable and highly satisfactory to the mind of man to believe there is a God but far greater satisfaction yet a man may receive from those clearer evidences which God hath given to the World of himself in Prophesies and Miracles Let a Man therefore thus reason with himself First Things have been fore-told many hundred years before they came to pass and these things have come to pass exactly in all circumstances of time place and manner as they were fore-told For my own part I know that I cannot tell what shall be to Morrow or the very next hour and others who have ventured to fore-tell such things have miserably befool'd both themselves and all that gave credit to them onely those few who pretended that they came from God and gave sufficient evidence to the world that they spake by God's Command have been so happy as to gain credit to the God from whom they came as the true God and to themselves as his true Prophets by a timely and evident fulfilling of those things which they did foretel Now seeing that there have been men who have foretold the the things which afterwards came to pass in all circumstances as they were fore-told and such things as did not depend upon the constant course of Nature and such as no man else could foresee and seeing that these men did profess they knew not these things by their own Art or Study nor by any natural means but only by the revelation which they had from God and seeing it is unconceivable how any should know such things but he alone who governs and orders all things I cannot but believe there is a God who sent these men and spake by them 2. Works have been done which not only exceed the power of man to do but are clearly above the power and against the course of nature these are truly called Miracles wonderful works The Fire hath refused to burn them that were cast into it the Waters have stood up like Walls on each hand whilst men have passed dry-foot through the midst of them the Sun hath been made to stand still for a time and the dead have been raised to life with a word these and the like things I am sure man hath of himself no power to do nor can any man imagin by whom they could be done but by him alone who hath the command of nature These things were done by men onely who said they came from God and to witness to the world that they said truly and all to perswade the world to acknowledge God to fear worship and obey him and therefore I cannot but believe that there is a God who sent these men and wrought by them If any man now ask how we know there have been such things as these he will receive a fuller answer in that which now follows to shew what reason we have to believe the Scriptures to be true wherein these things are recorded It is very reasonable to believe that if there be a God he expects some homage and duty from us and because we can of our selves but guess at most what duties they be which we are to pay unto him and so may be mistaken it is farther yet very reasonable to believe that God hath given us some notice of his will and pleasure and some rule to direct us how we may acceptably serve and honour him and that he should therein make known unto us so much of himself as may beget in us an honuorable esteem and reverend thoughts of his Majesty and so much of his works as to convince us that we came from him and do depend upon him and so much of his goodness and bounty as may encourage us to serve him cheerfully and lastly such demonstrations of his truth as may satisfie us that all this is real and no guile or deceit in it The reasonableness of believing this upon supposition onely that there is a God will make it still more reasonable to believe there is a God when we see that there is something which men do receive and own as a rule sent from God to teach us how we are to honour him and that it hath all those things in it which we suppose it reasonable that such a Rule should have Now we have in our hands a book called the Bible or book and the Scripture or Writing by way of excellency and it is believed that in this Book we have the Word of God whereby he hath revealed himself and his will unto us to teach us both what we are to believe and what we are to do and what we are to hope for That then which we are now to be satisfied in is how it appears that this Book doth indeed contain the Word of God Now this Book being made up of two parts the Old and the New Testament and the Writers of the New Testament bearing witness to the Writers of the Old Testament that they came from God it will certainly follow that if the Writings of the New Testament be true and from God the Writings of the Old are so too Therefore a man need do no more but satisfie himself in the truth and Divine Authority of the New Testament And here let a man thus reason with himself 1. I see that we have these Books and I see whose names they bear I see that the men who writ these Books pretend that they spake from God and that we ought to
receive these books as the Word of God and a great part of the world doth receive them as such Now that such men once were in the world and that these books were indeed written by them I have as much reason to believe as the matter will bear that is as much as I can have to believe any thing that was done before I was born and no man can expect more I find that the Histories which are generally received throughout the world do make mention of them and do record the many oppositions and persecutions which they met with in the world because of what they preached and writ And of these that witness of them some indeed are Friends such as believe what they write and build their Salvation upon it and therefore would certainly take what pains they could to be well informed of the truth of it and cannot be supposed being many of them the learnedst men in the world to have taken meerly on trust a thing which they thought of such everlasting concernment to all the world that they feared not â—he most barbarous Torments and Deaths but chearfully suffered all in defence of it Others are Enemies such as believe not what is written but yet witness that there were such men and that thus they writ and themselves write against the things here written Seeing then that we have the concurrâ—nt Testimâ—nies of Friends and Enemies in all ages since these men lived and wrote and that now their Writings have been received and to the death defended by a great and that the most civilized learned and wisest part of the world for neer upon seventeen hundred years if I do not believe that such men there were and that such things they wrote I can believe no History nor any thing which was or was done before I was or that I have not seen and this certainly were most absurd 2. I find that these men who writ these Books do tell us in them that there was one then in the world called Jesus Christ and he was the Son of God and came forth from God to teach men the true knowledge of God and that they were his Disciples Scholars and Followers and were taught by him and by the Spirit of God and were sent forth by him with command to preach what he had taught them to the world and that this is God's Word which they have left us in these Books If then these men speak the truth then is this God's Word All then that I am now to be satisfied in is what reason I have to believe that these men spake the truth 3. That these men spake truth and writ the truth and nothing else I shall have reason to believe If I can find that they had all opportunities of knowing the truth of what they writ and that they have given sufficient testimony of their integrity and fidelity in writing only what they knew 1. That they had all the opportunities of knowing the truth of what they writ I cannot doubt when I consider that most of them were constantly with Jesus Christ and instructed by him and that all they write is either a relation of the deeds of Christ whereof they were eye-witnesses or of such deeds whereof themselves were actors or else such Doctrines as Christ taught them and they received from his mouth 2. That they have given sufficient evidence of their fidelity and honesty in delivering unto us nothing but the truth which they knew I cannot but believe when I consider these things 1. In some of the chief matters of fact which they relate which seem of all others most incredible and which if once believed will certainly give credit to all they say as the Death and Burial and Resurreâ—tion of Jeâ—â—s Christ from the dead on the third day they appeal to the Testimonies of a multitude of witnesses then living and this is not the custome of men not confident of the truth of what they say 2. It cannot be conceived what advantage they could propose unto themselves in delivering such an untruth to the world for they could not but foresee that they were to preach a Doctrine which the reputed Wise-men of the world would scorn and deride as a thing incredible to their reason and contrary to the Principles which their admired Philosopy was built upon a Doctrine contrary to the Religions then professed by the men of the world and for which they were most zealous and all the powers of the world did own and countenance and in all probability would with the Sword endeavour to uphold Yea they found themselves indeed derided and persecuted exposed to hunger and thirst and watchings and stripes and bonds and death and constantly endured all sufferings and shame for the Doctrine's sake which they preached they could not then propose to themselves worldly wealth or honors or pleasures in what they did Nor is it reasonable to think they did it meerly to get themselves an empty name hereby for besides that they were made a laughing-stock both to Iews and Gentiles and wholly disreguarded it it is not usual for men of their breeding and mean way of living to be so ambitiously greedy of a bare name as to forgo their whole livelyhoods endure all miseries and lay down their lives to purchase it yea both their Conversatitions and Doctrines did all along condemn and shew they were not tainted either with falsehood or ambition Did they then believe themselves what they spake and writ or did they not If they did not believe it then did they for the sake of an known and unprofitable lie forsake all that was good and profitable to them in this world whilst they had no hopes of another world and so must needs be perfectly mad but they were no mad men their own writings do abundantly witness for them If they did believe what they writ to be true and had all opportunities of knowing the truth and â—un the hazard of all they had in professing it and making it known unto the world and sought no temporal advantage to themselves bâ— it then sure we have all reason to believe them honest and plain-dealing men and to embrane the Truth which they have left us I consider once more that they were men so unblameable in their Lives that the very worst their enemies could say of them was that they were a company of plain simple and unlearned men If so then is it still more unlikely that they should of their own brains invent such a Religion as so great and learned a part of mankind hath now so long a time embraced as the wisest and the best and which all must grant did require more than a Fools head to invent it Again if these men had an ambition onely to be the Founders of a new Religion then either they had real hopes that the world would accept of it or they had none It cannot be thought they had no such hope for who would suffer what
they did to promote that which they did not hope would prevail And if they had any such hope whence did it arise They could not hope that all the mighty Princes and great Scholars of the world and men bred and born and zealous in other Religions would easily be led into a new one by a few poor inconsiderable unlearned men nay if they hoped by their own Authority and credit to impose this new Religion on men why were they so free in discovering their own meanness and what 's more their own failings and infirmities which sure must needs prejudice men from receiving it onely upon their commendation of it Or did they hope that the Doctrine would commend it self and so venture it to be tryed onely by it's apparent purity and goodness Then was this plain-dealing and honesty and if men embraced it for this then is it truly such and indeed we cannot imagine but that which is received by so great a part of Mankind and yet is so contrary to the Religions to which men were before wedded and so cross to the designs of worldly ambitious and voluptuous men who are usually both the greatest and mightiest part of mankind must needs have some more than ordinary apparent excellency in it and power manifestly going along with it and so we find still more and more reason to believe it Will any man yet say that perhaps these few well-meaning honest men were deceived as such men are apt to be by the craft of him whom they followed What colour of reason hath any man to suspect this First the works he did were such as they saw and not onely they but his Enemies were convinced they were real Secondly those works were enough to convince them that what he taught them was nothing but the very truth First that wonderful works were wrought by Jesus Christ and his followers they who are no Friends to either but Enemies do witness Neither can any man perswade himself that the writers of Scriptures durst have published these things to the World at that time when there were so many men alive who would have disproved them and declared them lyars and marred their whole design and credit if they had been false They tell us not of things done in a corner where others could not see but in the streets and Market-places and publick Assemblies and in the presence of thousands who had seen and tasted of them Secondly the works done were sufficient to prove the Doctrine taught to be of God 1. They were professedly done to that end that men might believe it was from God and therefore it must be believed that they were such as were fit to produce such a belief for if they had not been such as men must reasonably think they were done by the power of God only there could be no hopes the Doctrine would be believed to come from God because of them 2. That they were such as did truly manifest a divine power the works themselves are enough to convince us For who but God or they with whom God wrought could make the blind to see the lame to walk the deaf to hear a few loaves to satisfie and much more than satisfie many thousands Who could raise the dead to life again command sicknesses to depart the winds to cease the Seas to be calm the Devils to be gone Who could raise himself from the dead and go up into Heaven in the sight of Men and discover the thoughts of men's hearts and such like wonderful works as the world saw done by Jesus Christ and his followers but by the power of an Almighty God Was not all this enough to convince men to believe that these men came from God and spake from God Lastly If after all this it shall appear that the things which are written in these books are such things as do well become the Majesty and wisdome and goodness of God to make known and fit for man on supposition that there be a God to know what mâ—re can be thought requisite to satisfie any reasonable man both that there is a God and that these books contain his word Now that the things are truly worthy of God and fit for man to know he cannot chuse but confess that reads and understands them they being such as all men must acknowledge are apt to beget in man a due and honourable esteem and reverent thoughts of God setting him forth before our eyes as the alone maker preserver and governour of all things glorious in incomprehensible Majesty infinite in power and wisdom and holiness and knowledge and justice and goodness shewing us our dependence on him and his Providence over us and how that in his goodness and bounty consists our Life his Will is our Law his favour our onely happiness and his displeasure our destruction These Books shew us how good God was to us at first in making us with immortal Souls and beautiful Bodies and providing all things necessary for the good of both and in giving us the command and use of other Creatures and how man fell by disobeying God from that good and comfortable estate into all manner of misery the severe judgments of God on those who stubbornly continue in their Rebellion against him and the wonderful courses that God hath taken to restore us to happiness and the singular mercies of God to all that fear him And what things can we imagine fitter than these to perswade man to honor and fear and love and obey God Again if we consider the Doctrines commended therein to our Faith as the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and the sending of the Holy Ghost and the way of pardoning sins and saving sinners by the death and Resurrection of the eternal Son of God and the like these things are wonderful and Mysterious and because they are so they are the fitter to beget in us Humility and Reverence and admiration and being so comfortable to oblige us to all love and obedience If we look upon the Laws and Rules of Life of worshipping God watching over our selves and loving our Neighbours we find them all to be full of all Purity and Holiness Justice and Equity such as we must needs in reason judge fit to be observed and the things commanded such as tend most evidently to the glory of God and the universal good of all mankind so that the wit of man cannot possibly conceive what could have been wiser or better Lastly if we consider the promises and rewards proposed for the incouragement of obedience and the threatnings and punishments denounced against all disobedience we find them such as truly becomes an eternal God and most apt to beget obedience to the Laws of God for they are not lite and momentany nor reaching as those of men to the body onely and this present Life but they are infinite and eternal of Soul and Body both Considering all these things I cannot imagine