the Christian Faith for that by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that Expression we are to understand miraculous Powers may be concluded not only from the like Vse of the Word in this Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Hebr. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Act. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .4 Act. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8 Act. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 19 Act. 10. See 15. Rom. 19. 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Cor. 6.7 3 Gal. 5. 1 Thes 1.5 but also in many other Places of the New Testament 2. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World to come denotes the Times of the Messiah cannot be reasonably doubted by him who well considers that Christ himself according to the Translation 9 Esa 6. or Exposition of the Septuagint is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of the future Age and that the Apostle writes to the Jews in whose Account there were two Ages the one before the other after the coming of our Saviour which they constantly stiled Holam Habba the future Age or the World to come 2 Heb. 5. as the Apostle intimates in that Expression For unto Angels hath he not put into Subjection the World to come that is whereas the World before Christ was chiefly governed by Angels the Almighty having divided the Nations 32 Deut. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Number of the Angels which were to preside over them 17 Eccl. 17. saith the Septuagint and Set of them a Ruler over every People saith the Son of Syrach according to the constant Doctrine of the Jews embraced also generally by the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just M. Apol. P. 44. vid. Athenag â—g pro Christian P. 27. c. Clem. Recogn l. 4. c. 4.2 Euseb Demonst Evang. l. 4. Antient Fathers the World to come or Christian State is not thus put in Subjection to them but to one far exceeding the Angels even the only begotten Son of God A Discourse tending to evince the Truth of Christian Faith from the extraordinary Gifts and Operations of the Holy Ghost by which it was at first confirmed WHosoever well considers the admirable Perfection of the Christian Faith how far the Doctrines and Precepts of it do excell all other Doctrines and Precepts which either in pretence or truly have been revealed to the World will find sufficient Reason to believe that such an excellent Dispensation took it's rise from the most excellent of Beings For it is 1. A Revelation which represents God to us such in all Respects as Men of Wisdom and Discretion would desire to be their Governor viz. a God of infinite Power to protect of infinite Wisdom to direct us and of the greatest Goodness Love and Compassion to design and to promote our Happiness and Welfare 2. It prescribes such Laws as every wise Man would chuse to live by they being Holy Just and Good 7 Rom. 12. 12. Rom. 1. and Obedience they require being our reasonable Service that is such Service as our own Reason cannot but approve of as fit and proper to be done 3. It is a Dispensation which propounds such Arguments to perswade us to yield Obedience to these Laws as no Man who regardeth his own Interest and truly loves himself can resist they being the most admirable Blessings promised to the Obedient and the most direful and lasting Evils threatned to the Disobedient 4. It is a Revelation which affords us good Assurance of the most powerful Assistance to perform this Duty even the Aids of Divine Grace Now that such a Revelation hath in it the true Characters of a Divine Religion that it contains a Doctrine worthy of God and therefore worthy of all Acceptation and cannot reasonably be thought a politick Contrivance of the Wit of Man much less the Product of wicked and deluding Spirits will appear evident to any who hath Ability and Opportunity to compare it with all pretended Doctrines and Religions which either the Wit of Man or Craft of Satan had before brought into the World Let any Person who thinks otherwise produce any Religion which doth so naturally tend to render Men truly devout and pious towards God Chast and Temperate Patient and Contented under all Conditions more Just and Honest Kind and Peaceable and Fruitful in good Offices towards all Men and which affords more solid Comforts and Supports under the Miseries of human Life let him produce one Book besides the Holy Scriptures composed before they were written which gives us such a clear and true Idea of the Attributes and Works of God prescribeth a more rational Service of him hath Rules of Life more equal in themselves more beneficial to Mankind which doth more fully tend to make Men better in all Respects Relations and Conditions and which doth offer more powerful Enducements to perswade them to be so and then he may have reason to prefer what he hath thus produced before the Pandects of the Christian Faith but if no other Book can vie with the New Testament no other Religion can compare with that which is contained in it then must we either say with Epicurus that God is not concerned to be obeyed and worshipby the Sons of Men or with the Infidel discard all Revelations of his Will as false or grant that this above all others deserves to be embraced as the must true and perfect Revelation of the Will of God But this Argument hath by much better Pens been handled and improved into so clear a Demonstration of the Truth of Christian Faith that nothing but the disagreeing Lives of Christians which generally fall so exceeding short of what this perfect Rule prescribes or run so counter to it could make Men to suspect the shining Evidence of it I therefore have chosen to insist upon another Argument arising from the Extraordinary Gifts and Distributions of the Holy Ghost by which this Doctrine was at first confirmed in which I hope to make some small addition to the Performances of others and which I shall endeavor to confirm by proving the ensuing Propositions I. That the Gifts and powerful Operations of the Holy Ghost were most assuredly vouchsafed to propagate and confirm the Christian Faith II. That the Assistance of the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to our Lords Apostles and to the Primitive Professors of the Christian Faith are a most full and ample Confirmation of it and a convincing Evidence that it is derived from the God of Truth Now that the Gifts and powerful Operations of the Holy Ghost were thus engaged to confirm and propagate the Christian Faith will be apparent 1. From the Assurance which the Baptist gave 44 Isa 3. 36 Ez. 27. 2 Joel 28. both to the Jews in general and to the Pharisees and Sadducees in particular that the Messiah would suddenly baptize those who believed in him with the Holy Ghost 3 Mat. 7.11 2. From a like Promise which our Saviour made to his Disciples that he would
Spirit and did not in these Epistles and Discourses boast of that which they had not performed or which those Churches to which these Writings were directed had not experienced And first That these Writings were composed and sent unto these Churches in that very Age in which the Apostles lived and propagated the Christian Faith throughout the World may be concluded 1. Because they bear the Names of the Apostles and Evangelists for no Man could pretend they were so had they not really been such but they must put a Cheat upon the World and substitute their own inventions for the Word of God Moreover they have been handed down for such by a more general Tradition and of a firmer Credit than any of the Books of Cicero or Virgil which we indisputably own as theirs for it was a Tradition of the whole Christian World which owned cited read and receiv'd them as such from the Apostles days as is apparent from the Epistle of St. Clement Barnabas Ignatius and Polycarp whilst others which pretended to the same Original were universally rejected by them Besides they did attest them so to be by many sufferings which they had no temptation to endure besides the Truth of their assertion 't was a Tradition which concerned things of the highest moment and which it was their greatest interest to be well assured of they being the sole Ground of their support at present under the sharpest Tryals and of their future hopes and therefore Writings which they were concerned to get hear read and keep they were Books written to whole Churches and Nations yea the whole World of Christians who could not have receivâ—d them easily had the Apostles by whom they were converted given no intimations of them Books of the greatest Opposition to the Superstitions both of Jews and Heathen and which denounced upon them the greatest Plagues and Judgments such as obliged them to search as much as possible into the Truth of what they said and yet these Books were by them not denied to be the Works of those Apostles and Evangelists whose names they bare they were Books which could not be spread abroad in the Apostles days and in their names unless the Apostles had indited them nor be esteemed as the great Characters of the Christian Faith if the Apostles were so forgetful of them as not to let those Persons for whose sake they were written know it they were Books which pretended to a Commission from the Holy Jesus to leave a Rule of Life and Doctrine to Mankind which was intrusted only in the Hands of the Apostles all others still pretending to deliver only what they receiv'd from them they were indited partly to confirm the Christian Faith and to engage Men to believe it partly to put an end to the Contentions and rectify the Errors which had crept into the Church in the Apostles days and needed speedy reformation partly to justisy themselves against false Brethren and to assert the Truth of their Apostleship and partly to preserve their Proselytes from such as did pervert the Faith and partly to instruct them how to bear up in fiery tryals and to support the Souls of Christians under the Miseries they suffered from a persecuting World and therefore they were written on such Grounds as did require a quick dispatch upon these errands to the Churches for which they were intended and so the Apostles must be supposed to give early notice of them and to divulge them to the Christian World whilst they to whom they were committed were able to disprove them if they had been false In a Word The Epistle to the Romans must be false or else it must be sent by the Apostle before he had seen Rome 1. Rom. 11 15 28. for it containeth an intimation that he had not seen them a desire to see them and a Promise to come to them The first Epistle to the Corinthians must be indited whilst the Contentions and Disorders touching the Exercise of their spiritual Gifts continued because it was design'd to correct them and whilst St. Paul was in a Capacity to be in Person with them because he saith 1 Coâ— 11 34. Ch. 8 9. the rest will I set in order when I come The second Epistle must be written when the great Famine hapned in Judaea of which Agabus foretold because two Chapters of it are spent in exhortation to a liberal Contribution to it 2 Cor 8.4.11 Acts 30. and St. Paul was himself the Messenger by whom that Charity was sent The Epistle to the Galatians must be indited whilst the Controversie touching Justification by the Law or by the hearing of Faith was hot amongst them whilst their dissatisfactions touching the Apostleship of St. Paul continued and whilst he lived for I Paul saith he 5. Gal. 2. 1 Gal. 2â— Ch. 6.17 testify to yoâ— thus and thus the Truth of what I write I confirm to you by the Oath of God and he concludeth his Epistle thus henceforth let no Man trouble me for I bear in my Body the Mark of the Lord Jesus In his Epistle to the Ephesians he strengthens his exhortation with the Consideration of his Bonds 3. Eph. 1.4.1 1 Phil. 13 19 23 25 27. ‑ 2.12 24. 1 Col. 24 29 ‑ 2.1.4.18.9.10 1 Thes 2.17 ‑ 3.10.5.6 2 Thes 3 2.17 13. Heb. 18 19 23. saying I Paul the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you In that to the Philippians he mentions his Bonds his expectation of deliverance from them by their Prayers his desire to dye his assurance he should live to serve the Church his absence from them and confidence that he should come to them In that to the Colossians he speaks of his present joy his sufferings his labours for the Church his sollicitude for them and those of Laodicea his salutation with his own hand his sending Tychicus and Onesimus to give them an account of his Affairs In his Epistles to the Thessalonians he speaks of his absence from them of his great desire to see them his sollicitude for their stedfastness under the Sufferings they endured for the Faith his comfort when he heard that they stood firm he desires their Prayers that he may be delivered from evil Men and concludes with the Salutation of his own hand In the Epistle to the Hebrews he begs their Prayers that he may be the sooner with them and promises to come with Timothy as for those writ to Timothy Titus and Philemon I hope 't is needless to prove that they were written whilst they lived and were not sent unto them in another World In a Word all or most of these Epistles carry his Name before them his Mark or Token in the Close they mention the Brethren then living and speak of Salutation from or to them in them he is still praying for them or begging the Assistance of their Prayers to omit many other things which are most certain Indications of the Time when they were written 2dly That the
Apostles in these Writings speak the Words of Truth and Soberness in that which they deliver'd touching these Gifts and Operations of the Holy Ghost and did not boast of that which they had not performed in those Churches or of that of which those Churches had no experience will be evident from these Considerations 1. That they suffer'd loss of Goods Life Credit and of all that could be counted dear unto them to confirm the Truth of what they taught and they perswaded Myriads in all those places to which these Writings were directed by them to follow the Example of their Sufferings propounding to them only the first Fruits the Earnest the Comfort of the Holy Spirit here the Joys of Heaven hereafter as the true Motive and Engagement to endure all these dreadful things Now if Persons void of Subtilty and human Artifices as the Apostles were deliver to the World a Doctrine which is according to Godliness and worthy of the God of Heaven as is the Christian Faith if they declare they had Commission from Heaven to divulge that Doctrine and that they expected at present no advantage by it but only the most dreadful Sufferings this being what their Master had foretold and that to which they were appointed 16. Joh. 2 33. 1 Thes 3.3 4. as we read in their Epistles if accordingly they did suffer all that Wit and Malice could inflict upon them and sealed their Doctrine with their Blood I say when all these Circumstances concur what reason can we have to dispute their testimony or think they could be acted by any Motive in the Publication of the Christian Faith but the Conviction of the Truth of what they published Again since Men who are convinced of a future Happiness are naturally so unwilling to quit the Pleasures and the Enjoyments of the World in Prosecution of that Happiness can it be thought that many Myriads who could have no conviction of it if these things were false should with the greatest Joy and Freedom part with Life and all the sweet Enjoyments of it to promote a known Delusion and in defence of those Epistles which made a frequent mention of Gifts and Miracles imparted to them when they had no experience of them especially if thirdly we consider that the Assistance and Comforts of the Holy Ghost were promised to all Christian sufferers and they were told that as their troubles did abound 2 Cor 15. 1. Pet. 4 14. their comforts should abound much more that when they were reproached and exercis'd with fiery Tryals they were happy People because the Spirit of Glory and of God would rest upon them this the Apostles taught them to expect and this say the Apostles ye have found for ye became Followers of the Lord and of us 1 Thes 1â— 6 having receiv'd the Word with much affliction and joy of the Holy Ghost Now if this promise was sensibly made good unto them they receiv'd the Earnest of the Truth of Christian Faith and an assurance of God's concernment to encourage and reward the faithful Christian but if they found no sensible experience of this Pledge and Earnest of these Consolations what reason had they to expect the Blessings of another World or to continue to take joyfully the spoiling of their Goods the Loss of Credit Life and all their worldly Comforts in propagation of that Faith which had so palpably deceiv'd them and to establish the Belief of those Epistles which contained these apparent Falsehoods Secondly If Men in their Epistles to their Proselytes speak largely of the Gifts which they have exercised and of the mighty Works they have performed among them and also of the Power conferr'd upon those very Proselytes to exercise those Gifts and do those Wondrous Works if in those very Writings they appeal to the Senses and the Consciences of those to whom they write and boldly tell them that their Eyes have seen and their own Consciences bear Witness to the Truth of what they say and if those very Writings which contain these bold Appeals are by those very Men to whom they do appeal received and embraced as Divine Epistles there can remain when all these Circumstances do concur no place for doubting of the Truth of this Appeal Now that this was most certainly the Case of our Apostles cannot be reasonably denyed if you admit that they then writ when what they said might easily have been confuted if it had been false for they with the greatest Confidence assert That God confirm'd the Word of his Grace by doing Signs and Wonders by their Hands that he bare witness to it by mighty Signs and Wonders 2 Heb 4. and Distributions of the Holy Ghost as hath been prov'd already Thirdly You have heard them also frequently asserting and testifying that the like Gifts and Operations were vouchsafed to those Churches to which these Letters were directed and that they were all Partakers of this Grace Fourthly For Confirmation of these Sayings they appeal unto the Searcher of all Hearts and to the Consciences of those to whom these Writings were directed even you your selves say they 1 Thes 2.10 11. are Witnsses and God also how holily justly and urâ—â—lâ—mably we behaved our selves among you for neither at any time used we flattering Words as you know nor a Cloak of Covetousnes God is witness Vers 3 4. our Exhortation was not of Deceit or Guile we have not followed curiniâ—â—gly devised Fibles we have not walk'd in Craftinefs nor hundled the word of God deceitfully 2 Cor. 4.2 but do by manifestation of the Truth commend our selves to every Man's Conscience in the sight of God Now these Considerations do mightily confirm the truth of what they have deliver'd in these Books for can it rationally be be conceiv'd that Men of such Abilities to write the deepest Mysteries and the exactest Precepts of Morality should be so strangely foolish as to confirm them chiefly by an Appeal to the Sences and Experiences of those Men who as themselves were well assured had never seen or done or found the least Experience of any of those things they mentioned but if we could suppose that the Apostles had been so strangely inconsiderate can we believe those Writings which contain'd an Appeal of so great Falshood and Hypocrisie and only were confirm'd by Perjury and impudent Appeals unto the Conscience of those Men who never found those Comforts of the Holy Ghost who never had these Gifts of Tongues Interpretation Healing Prophesie c. which these Epistles tell us were their daily Exercise I say can we believe that such Epistles should obtain to be embraced by those Churches to which they were indited and by all other Christians as the Word of God May we not with like Reason think a Mountebank who should in Commendation of his Balsoms pretend that he had wrought great Cures by them upon many Persons present and before their Eyes when both his Conscience and their Mouths were