who is no respecter of Persons and not from Men who give and receive Praise and Honour from one another But Politicians usually argue thus Religion say they is very useful to us to keep Men within the Bounds of their Duty and bring them under Subjection to the Sovereign and the Laws of the State It follows therefore that Religion was designed for no other End But this does not follow And to comprehend that Religion was designed for a sublimer and nobler End they ought chiefly to consider that 't is no less repugnant to the Ambition of Princes than the Rebellion of their People that it relates not to the Welfare of any private State but essentially tends to promote Peace amongst Nations and Kingdoms and perfect that Union and Society which ought to reign amongst Men that it despises all Prohibitions Politick Laws and even the secular Power when it endeavours to constrain it that all the Roman Policy tho' armed with the severest and most cruel Punishments that could be thought of was not powerful enough to stop its wonderful Effects that by teaching Men to despise Death and hope for a better Life after this it puts them above the reach as well of the Promises as Threats of Policy and that by sanctifying both their Hearts and Consciences it produces that Effect in them which Policy never durst so much as attempt IX In like manner Rhetorick has been prejudicial to Religion through the ill use Men have made of it The Objects of the Gospel as they were at first offered to Men without any Ostentation of Wit and Learning struck their Minds with such Surprize and Admiration as moved their Hearts and made them wholly renounce their dearest Pleasures and darling Sins This was the only Eloquence used in the Primitive times But the Church afterwards unfortunately taking in the filly Vanities of the Greeks and Romans the Mysteries of the Gospel became then either Matters of Philosophical Disputes or subjects of Eloquence and because this last derives its Original from Poetry whose grand Commendation solely consists in Fiction things came to be either disguised and varnished or heightned and exaggerated and from thence proceed all your Panegyricks Funeral Orations c. and all those Paradoxes and false Tenets set off with glittering Reasons and pompous Language which in time produced so many monstrous Opinions But this we ought the less to wonder at since Eloquence and all the charming Expressions of humane Invention are no less repugnant to Religion than we have shew'd Philosophy to be For if it becomes not Men to endeavour to comprehend by the help of Philosophy those Mysteries which God himself is pleased should remain incomprehensible it certainly as ill becomes them to attempt to set off with false Ornaments of humane Eloquence those Objects which the Wisdom of God design'd should be adapted to every Mans Capacity by the simple manner after which he was pleased to propose them X. Lastly Even Grammar when differently managed according to the Passions and evil Designs of Men mav serve to darken and perplex Religion This gives occasion to some Mens Complaints that the Jewish Grammar is uncertain that the pointing of it is dubious that there are several various Readings both in the Old and New Testament that we are ignorant who it was that collected the Books of Scripture and composed the Catalogue of those Books which are to be held Canonical that the Apostles when quoting the Prophecies in their Epistles altogether make use of the Greek Translation of the Septuagint and are not very exact in reciting all the Words of those Texts they mention that there are many obscure and imperfect places in them for want of Expressions to fill up the Sense c. But 't is certain that this grammatical Exactness or rather Superstition is not very agreeable to our Faith This a certain Author has very well hinted at when he says Scriptura non amat nimium diligentes And the Reasons that may be alledged for it are 1. Because the Objects of the Gospel are of too great and important concern for the Wisdom of God to suffer them to depend upon the insignificant Niceties of Grammar If Men dont usually enquire whether a King's Laws are set forth in such words as are altogether in use or whether there be any Transpositions and Parentheses in them whether the Rules of Grammar are duly observed or who it was that drew them up if it be enough that we know them to be really the Laws of such a Prince and that they are clear enough to be understood by all I say if those considerations are sufficient to incline us to a due Observance of them I do not see how any one can reasonably raise all these Difficulties against the Books of Scripture which have that peculiar Advantage over the Ordinances of Princes that the very same things are often and often repeated in them and consequently need no Grammatical alteration Besides if the Essentials and Substance of Religigion depended upon any such external Alterations it would follow from thence that no Man could be a Christian without being first a Critick and that he must be a perfect Master of Languages before he could be allowed to study the Means of Salvation and consequently that we could make no further Progress in Religion than we had well employed our Time in the Vniversity which certainly is a thing contrary to the Design of God who is pleased to call all sorts of Men to the Knowledge of himself To this we might also add that if Mens Salvation was affixed purely to the Order and Disposition of Words and Syllables they would pay a Reverence to Words and Syllables instead of Mysteries and thus we should inevitably fall into all the Extravagances of the superstitious Cabbalists Suppose you had lived in the Time of the Apostles and had distinctly heard them one after another preaching the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven tho' each of them expressing himself after his particular way 't is certain you would never have made your Salvation depend upon their different manner of expressing their Thoughts but upon those Objects they would have unanimously laid before you and had you been never so little moved at those excellent things which they preached and repeated several ways it may well be presumed you would not have cavilled about a few equivocal Words as perhaps escaped them or the Method and Order of their Discourse or any other insignificant Trifles of this Kind Now the written Word is of the very same Nature with that which they preached and consequently we cannot chuse but pass the same Judgment upon it For those good and holy Men who spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance that is with all Simplicity as was necessary for the Accomplishment of the Design of God imagined not in the least that those who were to come after them would be so nice in their Judgments or raise any such Scruples
against their so very simple and natural Expressions It is our chiefest Concern to regard the Substance and Essential part of their preaching and that is God's Design to save Mankind by the Death of his Son To this every thing relates and it is supported by Three other very great and important Objects the Resurrection of Christ attested by the Apostles themselves the Completion of all the Prophecies contained in the Old Testament and the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost all which things the Apostles saw and clearly and distinctly taught Men and at last digested in Writing directed by the Wisdom of God when the whole Earth seemed full of Astonishment at the sight of the Extraordinary Gifts God poured down upon Men at the accomplishment of so many Prophecies in the Person of Christ and at the sufferings and Trials of the Witnesses of God And this is the main Substance of the Writings of the Apostles as well as of their Preaching And Divine Providence was pleased that all those things should be digested in Writing in a time when they could not possibly be forged or altered that they should be received and approved of in all Christian Societies of the World that they should be first dispersed every where by an infinite number of Copies and Translations of them then afterwards quoted by almost an infinite number of Doctors carefully preserved almost every where and carried generally into those places whence Persecution had banished and removed the Christians Nay God has pleased that those Writers should all conspire to teach us the same things tho each expressed himself after his own particular way that the manner of their Compositions should be the same with that of their Speaking that they should exactly follow in all their Quotations the Greek Translation which was known of the People and not puzzle the Faith of the simple and ignorant by any critical Remarks which were things beneath those Men who had both seen and handled the Word of Life had declared the wonderful Works of God and received the Gift of Tongues that they might be clearly understood by all Men. It was also necessary that those wonderful Writers should insist rather upon the things themselves that they delivered than the ordering of their Words that so they might keep up the great Character of their Office and we might learn from thence to regard rather the Sense of what they have written than the accuracy of their Expressions They have sufficiently expounded all the fundamental Truths of Religion which tho not very many are yet repeated almost in every Page of their Writings They left to their Disciples the Care of collecting their Writings and setting together those Canonical Books which contain all things necessary for Salvation Not that that Collection has all the Writings of the Apostles but it contains certain Truths often and often repeated by them sufficient to promote the Sanctification of Mankind As for the various Readings they are so few and so inconsiderable in themselves that they alter not in the least the Sense of these Books so far are they from changing the unalterable Substance of Religion in as much as there is no part of the Apostles Writings to which it is not inseparably united and almost every where repeated And as for the Objections about the Hebrew Grammar and Authority of the Books of the Old Testament were all true as is objected which yet is dubious it ought not to disturb us since Christ and the rest of his Apostles have so fully confirmed those Books Those little and inconsiderable Difficulties are far from being prejudicial to our Faith since 't is enough to know that the Scripture is the Word of God as we perceive by the Marks and Characters of it 'T is enough to be certain that it is impossible that either through the Faults of the Transcribers or Negligence of Men or the want of Exactness found in the Translations or lastly through the Multitude of equivocal Terms it should ever want those important Precepts and evident Truths which are necessary for our Salvation and Sanctification and of which 't is as it were a constant Repetition For otherwise God must either have deceived us or his Wisdom have been deceived in being wanting in the preservation of such Means as it purely design'd to maintain and keep up the Faith of Mankind However it be 't is not our present Design to blame in the least either the Care which some take to instruct themselves in the Criticisms of the Holy Scripture or the Respect they have for its Expressions which are indeed worthy to be preferred before all others God forbid we should ever entertain any such impious and foolish Thoughts We therefore here intend only to assert Two things 1 st that all those small Difficulties the Criticks raise against them ought not to be looked upon as any way sufficient to shake the Foundations of our Faith the Wisdom of God having wonderfully provided that our Faith should be established without Respect had to those Difficulties The second is that those very Difficulties are not only of excellent use to humble our Minds but also necessary to keep us from the Superstition of insisting only upon a literal Signification and from that Folly which we may call the Adoration of Words We must therefore grant that all things our Senses Education the Curiosity of the Mind Superstition Philosophy Policy Humane Eloquence and Grammar are as so many Instruments which our Passions employ to make void that Submission which our Faith owes to God that through the ill use we put them to they are converted into so many different ways of shaking off that Divine Obedience and that the Speculations which spring from all these Principles aim at nothing else but the weakning our Faith just as the loose and remiss Maxims of some Casuists tend to the Destruction of Morality it being as difficult for the Vnderstanding to believe as for our Heart to mortifie it self Nevertheless it may reasonably be affirmed 1 st That this Submission of our selves to God is absolutely necessary and that unless we pay it him by readily receiving the Principles of his Religion we must inevitably yield it up to Matter and so give up our selves to the most wretched and impious Ignorance and horrid Darkness of Understanding it being most certain that we shall no better comprehend what Eternity Infinity Extension the manner and necessity of the Existence of Matter is than we already know what passes within God 2 ly That our Heart is disposed to such a submission of Mind in those things which relate to our civil and natural Concern And if it be certain that we do not defer to receive Nourishment till we are fully instructed after what manner Nutrition is made within us and if we are easily induced to beleive the Attraction of the Magnetick Stone tho we are ignorant of the manner of that Operation why should we not in like manner as
Books of the Old Testament are partly reducible to Three Heads 1 st To a general Preparation of all things for the reception of the Messias who was to come 2 ly To the Representation of his Office and Oeconomy by a Type or Shadow 3 dly To the describing of him after such a manner as to render it altogether impossible for the Elect Souls not to know him when he came Whosoever shall consider the Books of the Old Testament under these Three Notions will certainly discover nothing in them that can perplex his Faith but he will find that every thing therein serves to increase his Knowledg by discovering to him as it were the Scheme of God's Councels and his great Plan and Design of Religion But since 't is not our present Design to dive into the unfathomable Abyss of the Justice Wisdom and Mercy of God so neither shall we enquire into the Reasons which induced him to permit Men to sin or why he was pleased to save some rather than others or upon what account he made use of the Intervention of a Mediatour rather than of any other Means or whether there were any other way to expiate the sins of Mankind but the Death of Christ I say we shall not trouble our selves about any of these vain and fruitless Enquiries And since it is but just we should freely own our Ignorance I think we can never find a better opportunity to acknowledge it than when we are talking about the secret Methods and Councels of God because we can never discover the bottom of them unless we cease to be what we are or he to be what he is Without attempting then to search into the manner of these things which is altogether incomprehensible to us and of which we are not able to speak but imperfectly we freely suppose the Truth of them We do not in the least question but God permits Sin because we are all Sinners We know that a small Number of Men are sanctified to whom the Scripture makes several great and sublime Promises And we are also taught that they are delivered from their Sins by the intervention of a Mediatour and that God had resolved to bring it to pass by such means even before the Foundation of the World But let us now consider how the Wisdom of God prepared and disposed Men for it These Preparations related in the Old Testament are manifold For there are Preparations of Events Preparations of Ceremonies Preparations of Prophecies Preparations of Precepts and Preparations of Tenets As for the Events they all relate to this great Center of Religion Had Abraham always lived in Vr of the Chaldees he must necessarily have fallen into Idolatry as well as the rest of his Kindred or he could never have preserved to his Posterity the Knowledge and Worship of the true God and his Seed consequently could not have been a Seed of Blessing for all the Nations to come It was then absolutely requisite he should forsake his Country as well as his Kindred And had Jacob always lived with his Father Laban the Posterity of the latter would have corrupted that of the former so that Esau having already mixed himself with Strangers the holy Race could by no means avoid being confounded with the profane and so the Promise of the Messias would not have been entailed upon any particular Family or Nation because in Succession of Time it would have been altogether impossible to distinguish it from the rest It was then necessary that Jacob should forsake his Father-in-Laws House and consequently live apart from all other Nations And had it not been for the protecting Providence of God this People who was honoured with his Covenants and intrusted with his Oracles would have absolutely perished in Egypt and together with them the Hopes of a promised Redeemer To preserve therefore such comfortable hopes they were necessarily separated from all other Nations and the better to keep themselves in that State tho' they differed from them all in matters of Policy Manners Inclinations and Religion yet it was necessary they had God for their supream Magistrate who gave them all those wonderful Marks of his Protection we read of in the Old Testament Tho' thev were carried away captives into Babylon for their Sins they were necessarily gathered together again from that Dispersion Seventy years after lest a longer Bondage should have made them for ever lose the Marks of their Election 'T is no difficult matter to perceive that it was in behalf of the Messias only that God was pleased to make so many Distinctions And the Promise of his coming could not be entailed upon every Nation of the World He set apart one single Nation from the rest purposely to intrust them with so great a Salvation And because 't was absolutely requisite this Distinction should remain till the Birth of that Redeemer so for that End he appointed five very remarkable Principles of that Separation The first whereof was the Knowledge of the true God a divine Character of the Election of that People and a Priviledge they could not chuse but be infinitely jealous of especially when they considered what profound Darkness Ignorance and Superstition was then dispersed in the World The second was the Circumcision that sign of his Covenant which God was pleased the Israelites should bear in their Flesh to distinguish them the more effectually from all other Nations For it was not by meer Chance or out of any fantastical Humour that this Custom was first settled among the Jews 'T is not to be supposed they could have received without very powerful Motives to it so painful and difficult a Custom so contrary to the natural Affection of Mothers as appears by the Example of Zeporah nay which even seems at first view somewhat shameful and obscene As for Philo's and other Mens Reflexions on the Customs of the Circumcision they are very pitiful The third Principle of that Distinction was the Land of Canaan which God gave to the Patriarchs and their Posterity after them tho' he did not give them immediatly an actual possession of it He fixed the Hearts of that People upon that particular Land lest they should have been insensibly dispersed over the Face of the whole Earth And the Patriarchs upon their Death-beds strictly recommended the carrying of their Bones into it the better to fix the Hopes and Affections of the whole Nation upon it But lest it should have happened that the Canaanites the Perisites the Jebusites c. who were before in possession of that Land should have intermixed themselves with the holy Generation and consequently corrupted them by their Superstition God himself consented that those Nations should in this Life undergo an exemplary Punishment for their Sins which had been carried on to the utmost pitch of Excess and for that end his Vengeance made use of Josuah and his Armies as Instruments to destroy them utterly The fourth was the Tabernacle and afterwards the
Preaching a Church at Jerusalem II. Would you know the time 'T was in the space of three years that the Miracles of Jesus Christ his Death Resurrection and Ascension were brought to pass and a few Weeks after the Ascension the Apostles begun to Preach publickly in Jerusalem III. Would you know the witnesses of the truth of these matters of fact We can produce a great number of persons who both lived and conversed with Jesus Christ himself IV. Would you fain know the nature of the matters of fact here attested We shew you that they are very evident and singular ones that the Sick are healed the Winds and Seas hush'd the Dead raised a man put to death who convers'd with his Disciples and ascended into Heaven c. V. If you would know their number we can shew that the whole Life of Jesus Christ was but one continual series of Miracles VI. Lastly Would you know the proofs of all this The Apostles themselves boast of having received miraculous gifts and that too by a good Title as we shall shew in the sequel of this Work In the interim do but unite all these Circumstances together and see what an irresistible evidence arises from their Union How could the Apostles perswade so many persons concerned in this thing so many that had both known and seen Jesus Christ Would they not soon have lost all Credit if search had been made into the places and the truth of what they affirmed strictly examin'd Or rather how is it possible that whilst they ventur'd to publish such things in the very places where they must necessarily have been brought to pass the Jews should not have stopt the progress of the Gospel by discovering to the World so visible and evident an Imposture For the Apostles did not publish only one single matter of fact of this nature They affirm'd also that their Master had raised Lazarus from the Dead together with the Son of the Widdow of Naim and the Daughter of Jairus that he had heal'd almost an infinite number of people possessed with the Devil Deaf Blind and sick of the Palsy and that his fame had spread throughout all Syria Nor were the Apostles content barely to preach all these things they put them also down in writing and their Writings are dispers'd throughout all the World Therefore they hid not themselves but were willing every one should know the certainty of what they testify'd and examine as much as they pleased the matters of fact they related They gave them out to the World and exposed them to be search'd all manner of ways But supposing I should grant those Books to be written forty fifty or sixty years after the Death of Jesus Christ still is it evident that before that time there was a Church at Jerusalem founded by the preaching of the Apostles and it is certain that the Apostles had declared by word of mouth the Miracles and Resurrection of Jesus Christ which are the essential matters of fact contained in those Books For how could they otherwise perswade the World to worship a crucified man or convince them that Jesus Christ was the true Messias How was it possible the Christians should look upon that Book as Divine which went upon a supposition of what was never done By what kind of agreement should four persons who wrote in different times and places and copy'd not one anothers Writings as is plain if we read them over with never so little attention and consider their different manner of relating the same things I say by what kind of agreement should they have conspired to inform us of the same matters of fact if the Apostles had not first of all unanimously and universally publish'd them How could the Apostles have perswaded men to turn Christians had they not declared the Miracles Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ since Christianity can't subsist without these matters of fact Thus we see 't is to no purpose for Impostors to disguise themselves for all their shifts and tricks serve only to discover them CHAP. V. Where we shall more particularly examine whether the Apostles had the Power or the Will to deceive mankind THose men who have a design to deceive the World must have more skill wit and cunning than others which skill wit and cunning will appear in their works in spite of all their Art and subtilty But when I strictly examine those Authors whom we call Sacred I neither find Cunning Wit nor Affectation in their Books Every thing they contain seems to me very simple naked and open They all exactly relate their own Weaknesses and imperfections They do not conceal their true Birth and extraction They discover their ambition in their controversy who amongst them should be the greatest in the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias their gross ignorance in the Questions they asked their Master and one another viz. What meaneth this to rise again from the Dead their cowardise in betaking themselves to flight at the sight of the Soldiers that came to take away their Master and their incredulity in those scruples they raised concerning his Resurection All these things plainly discover the greatest sincerity and impartiality But yet there arises here a certain scruple which seems not altogether inconsiderable and may deserve a little consideration Who knows perhaps some will object but that this is an affected sincerity which prepossesses our minds in their behalf only to deceive us the more securely In order to overthrow this notion I shall not assert that the Writers we speak of were originally Fishermen and Publicans and that it would seem very strange that men of that Birth and Education should affect simplicity and be capable of so refined apiece of policy of which there can hardly be given an example amongst the most able Politicians that ever took upon them to deceive mankind Neither shall I say that since the four Evangelists composed their Writings apart 't would be very surprising that they should all concur in the design of imposing upon the credulity of men by Writing after so simple and ingenuous a manner and that they should not only be entirely conformable to one another in this respect but also should agree with the other Writers of the New Testament 'T is sufficient to observe that they sometimes relate such things as at first view suggest those notions in us which Piety utterly rejects and Incredulity makes use of to oppose the Christian Religion by attacking its divine head This they would never have done had they only affected an ingenuous simplicity Thus it 's ask'd why Jesus Christ who was subject to his holy and ever blessed Mother according to the observation of the Evangelists should make her this answer which is some what rough and severe Woman what have I to do with thee my hour is not yet come Thus Julian the Apostate Celsus Porphirius and other Enemies of the Christian Religion stick not to say that Jesus Christ gave
related such things as at first shock our thoughts and which Impious men chiefly insist upon such as this complaint of Jesus Christ My God My God c. Besides this the Circumstances with which they relate all the actions of their Master will sufficiently convince us of their sincerity For is it probable the Evangelists should have invented or forg'd the murmurings of the Scribes and Pharisees who reproach'd them saying Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and Sinners c. And that controversy betwixt the ambitious Disciples on whose account it was that Jesus Christ having taken up a little Child told them they must be like that Child if they would qualifie themselves for the Kingdom of Heaven c. a wonderful discourse indeed both for its shortness and simplicity which sufficiently shews us the very Soul of our blessed Lord 'T is not one single Writer of all these that relate those Actions there are three of them who wrote after such a manner as manifestly evinces they copy'd not one anothers Writings And if you would be further satisfy'd the Apostles themselves prove the Holiness of life of their Divine Master by imitating his Actions The Primitive Christians shew us how well the Apostles lived by following their Example If you should desire we should produce some authentical testimonies of Holiness Vertue sweet and peaceable temper of the Primitive Christians there are abundance to be had in the Writings of their very Enemies We need only an indifferent Knowledge of Antiquity to banish all suspicions in that respect Thus the truth appears on all sides and I sensibly perceive it as soon as I frame any Idea to my self of the life and actions of Jesus Christ Yet I am willing however that the Incredulous should not wholly conform their judgment to mine and if this Argument does not move and convince them as much as it does me they need only pass on to the consideration of others CHAP. VIII Of the Prophecies of Jesus Christ THey will perhaps be much more affected with the Prophecies that occur in the Gospel several of which are very expresly delivered But among the rest we shall make choice of one which we shall particularly examin 't is that concerning the final destruction of Jerusalem We may easily perceive how clearly 't is set down by the Evangelists who bring in Jesus Christ foreâ—elling it and how exactly 't was afterwards fulfilled The words of the Prophecy are these And Jesus answering said unto him seest thou these â—reat buildings There shall not be left one â—tone upon another that shall not be thrown down c. And when ye shall hear of Wars and Rumours of Wars be ye not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet For Nation shall rise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and there shall be Earthquakes in divers places and there shall be famines and troubles for all these are but the beginnings of sorrows c. When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet standing where it ought not whoso readeth let him understand then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains Let him which is on the house top not come down to take any thing out of his house c. But wo unto them that are with Child and to them that give Suck in those days For in those days shall be affliction such as was not since the beginning of the Creation which God created unto this time neither shall be again And except that the Lord had shortned those days no flesh should be saved but for the Elects sake c. And then if any man shall say unto you lo here is Christ or lo he is there believe it not For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shew great signs and wonders to seduce if it were possible even the Elect. But take ye heed behold I have foretold you all things It is not requisite that a man should be very well acquainted with the Jewish History to know that this Prophecy was exactly fulfilled Those who doubt it may consult the History Josephus wrote of it There they will hear of Troubles of Wars Rumours of Wars of Famines Earthquakes from place to place which preceeded for some years the final destruction of Judea Therein they will find Jerusalem surrounded with Armies and trodden down by the Gentiles There they will read of a time wherein 't was much better for the Inhabitants of that miserable Country to forsake their abodes in the Cities and to flee to the Mountains There they will see the Temple of Jerusalem burnt down and demolished without having one stone left upon another and surely be convinced that there was never Tribulation like unto the Tribulation of those days They will be no longer ignorant of the Abomination of Desolation set up in the holy place which the Prophet Daniel speaks of when they shall see the Jews rushing into the Temple and there cutting one anothers throats on a solemn feast day But if they would further consult our Ecclesiastical Historians or the Primitive Fathers they would find them all agree in this Relation that the faithful Disciples of Jesus Christ who were at Jerusalem fled to a little City called Pella after having been forewarned of it by the Spirit and there will be no longer reason to think these Words of Jesus Christ obscure But pray ye that your flight be not in the Winter c. There are few people but what perceive the exact Conformity of this prophecy with its Event and we need not at all question the certainty of it But 't is not so very certain that it was not composed after the Event and it will concern us to enquire into it It appears then first that the Gospels wherein 't is related were composed before the destruction of Jerusalem because St. Luke wrote not the Book of Acts till some time after he had composed his Gospel as he testifies himself in these Words The former treatise have I made O Theophilus of all that Jesus begun both to do and to teach c. Acts 1. 1. Besides it seems that St. Luke had written the Book of Acts before the destruction of Jerusalem because he is so far from speaking of that Event that on the contrary he speaks of Jerusalem as of a City that was still in being and wherein there was a flourishing Christian Church But perhaps this is not so much insisted upon It may be further ask'd whether that prophecy might not have been inserted in the Gospel by some Zealous Christians who having seen the destruction of Jerusalem might have took occasion from thence to honour their Master by pretending he had foretold it For the clearing of this doubt we shall observe first that tho' this Prophecy be the same in substance in the three Gospels wherein 't is related yet 't is expressed after a very different
Character of the New Testament is infinitely more excellent than that of the Writings of all the Fathers who lived successively from the Apostles down to us wherein any one may easily observe a strange affectation a particular vanity of shewing their parts and learning and sometimes much heat and passion because they were far from the perfection in Christianity which the Apostles had IV. That the best sorts of godly Books written amongst the Christians from the Apostles's time down to us I mean those Books that most establish the peace and tranquility of publick Society and chiefly tend to the Glory of God were written in imitation of the holy Scriptures from which they had their materials to compose them with This is what in my opinion is very sure and certain And as certain it is that if the Apostles were not divinely inspired they must necessarily be Impostors nay such abominable men as desired only to dishonour their Nation and to sacrifice to a vain flattering Idea of Glory the lives and fortunes of an infinite number of persons whom they encouraged to suffer Martyrdom Let us now see whether we can perswade our selves that the most excellent Books that were ever known I mean those Books that are most proper to inspire us with piety with the love of God and our Neighbour that are the source of the best matters that ever were written and the original of the Piety and Vertue of all those persons who were converted by them were only the invention of the most wicked men that ever were Certainly since all Christians in all Ages considered this Book as Divine and as the rule of their Faith whereby they distinguish'd it from all other Books it follows thence that all the Christians were either deceived in the Essentials of it and that their Faith was false or else that Book must in reality be of a Divine Authority For such an Universal Tradition so constant and so necessarily affixed to the end and design of Religion can never impose upon us It has been the Wisdom of Providence as we have already observed to take care that this Book should be left to us as entire as when it came out of the Apostles hands and the Primitive Christians who all assure us that it is of a Divine Authority tell us only but what right Reason obliged them to acknowledge and us as well as them For the Word preached and the Word written by the Apostles differ not essentially from one another so that if the former be Divine the latter must necessarily be so too And who doubts but that Word must be looked upon as Divine which God himself authorised by so many Miracles Perhaps some will reply that it would be of a very dangerous Consequence to reason often after this manner and that altho' a false Prophet should work prodigious Miracles yet we ought not to follow him upon a bare supposition that God never assists an Impostor with his infinite Power But this I own and affirm also that we ought strictly to examin both his Doctrine and Miracles to find out by that comparison the true Original of both And therefore we have this advantage that we not only find here such miracles as excel all the power of Hell such as for example the raising a man from the Dead but that this Doctrine also visibly bears all the Characters of one that proceeded from Heaven Those miracles on the one hand so great and numerous that the people cried out surely this is the finger of God take away all suspicion of the falsity and pernicious consequences of the Doctrine they confirm because the arm of the Lord is not usually employed in favour of an Imposture And on the other hand that Doctrine which is so holy and so perfectly tends to the union and wellfare of Mankind which is so worthy of the love of God to man sufficiently warrants us that the Miracles whereby it is confirmed proceed not in the least from the power of Darkness as the Enemies of Christianity seem to believe Hell never concerns it self either to unite or sanctify mankind All the Apostles expresly declare that the word which they preached proceeded not from themselves but God But I certifie you Brethren says St. Paul in his Epist to the Galatians Chap. 1. v. 11. that the Gospel which was preached of me was not after man for I neither received of man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Thus when the Apostles were assembled together at Jerusalem in the first Council that ever was held and wrote to some Chnrches concerning several questions that were then in Agitation they made use of this manner of speaking For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Act. 15. 28. It appears then that the Apostles spoke by the Order and Revelation of God which was given several ways viz. sometimes by Vision as when St. Peter saw a certain vessel descending from Heaven as it had been a great sheet knit by the four Corners wherein were all kinds of unclean Beasts and he was commanded saying Peter kill and eat Act. 10. 13. on purpose to signify that he ought to preach â—he Gospel to the Gentiles who were no longer an unclean Nation in the sight of God sometimes by Dreams as when a certain Macedonian appeared unto St. Paul commanding him to go into Macedonia and preach the Gospel there sometimes by Exâ—asy as it is probable that St. Paul was caught up into the third Heaven but yet much oftener by the inward dictates of the Holy Ghost formed as it were â—n their Souls as when the Spirit said unto Peter concerning the men which Cornelius sent to enquire for him Go thou with them doubting nothing for I â—ave sent them Act. 10. 20. 'T is true one might very well suspect these Reveâ—ations if one single man boasted of having had â—hem imparted to him but here we have several God did not reveal himself to them after one single manner but after divers They asserted not only â—hat God had revealed some things to them in order â—o induce Mankind to believe it but they wrought many Miracles spoke divers Languages imâ—arted â—hose Gifts to others thereby converted the World â—nd exactly fulfilled the Oracles of God That â—pirit which filled them and was necessarily to fill â—hem because the time of the Calling of the Gentiles â—as come was outwardly produced by such effects â—s undoubtedly will confound the Incredulous if they â—eflect upon them Certainly if it be true as it is that God poured down his Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost 't was only that they might preach unto men by their Ministry unless it be pretended that the Tongues of the Apostles which were exalted after a supernatural manner so far as to speak all sorts of Languages were to confine themselves to that particular employ and not to reveal unto men the will of God But if we ought
the use of his Tongue whilst he was in the Temple that all the people were Eye-Witnesses of it and that he remained Speechless till the time was come wherein he was obliged to give a name to that wonderful Child which God had given him in his old age notwithstanding the Barrenness of his Wife Supposing the Gospel wherein this matter of fact is related was composed long after that Event still it is true that St. Luke composed his Gospel before his Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles and that he composed the Book of Acts somtime before the destruction of Jerusalem as we have in another place already observed and as it is without doubt true Then supposing also forty fifty or sixty years if you will had past since all these things had happened and before St. Luke composed his Gospel can forty fifty or sixty years be sufficient to perswade several thousands of people nay all the Inhabitants of that great and flourishing City of Jerusalem that they had seen either with their own eyes or that their Forefathers had seen one of their Priests wholly deprived of the use of his tongue because he had seen a Vision in the Holy Place and yet that he recovered it precisely and exactly at the time he was obliged to give a name to his Child Certainly had none but Zachariah's Relations been acquainted with the Event of those things yet it would have argued rashness in any man to invent any thing false concerning them For what an extravagance would it have been in any one to pretend to invent it against the publick Knowledge of a whole and very numerous Nation so solemnly assembled together and so intent upon that Event nay so surprised at that prodigy or if you will according to the Incredulous so fully satisfied that there was nothing in it but a vain Chimaera and delusion And the people says the Historian waited for Zacharias and marvelled that he tarried so long in the Temple And when he came out he could not speak unto them and they perceived that he had seen a Vision in the Temple for he beckened unto them and remained Speechless Luke 1. 21 22. But the manner in which Zacharias was healed is no less surprising And it came to pass says the Evangelist that on the eighth day they came to Circumcise the Child and they called him Zachariah after the name of his Father And his Mother answered and said not so but he shall be called John And they said unto her there is none of thy Kindred that is called by that name And they made signs to his Father how he would have him called And he asked for a Writing Table and wrote saying his name is John And they marvelled all And his Mouth was opened immediately and his Tongue loosed and he spake and praised God And fear came on all that dwel't round about them and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the Country of Judea Luke 1. 59 60 61 62 63 64 65. Thus it appears this History consists of two Parts the first whereof was known to all the City of Jerusalem and the other was spread abroad throughout all the Country of Judea and certainly it is absolutely impossible any one should have in the least designed to impose upon the World in that Respect against that double knowledge they must have had of that matter of fact For then the Evangelist would have taken away all possibility of belief from his Narration by the choice of those Circumstances he inserted into his History Now it does not seem natural for an Author who wrote the History of Jesus Christ and his Miracles in a time wherein it was so strictly examined and the followers of that Sect were adjudged and condemned to Death with so much Severity in a time wherein as he himself makes the Jews of Rome tell it to St. Paul speaking to him at the latter end of the Book of Acts Chap. 28. v. 22. For as concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against I say it does not seem Natural that that same Author who knew it â—ay observed it himself should have published such matters of fact the falsity of which he would soon have been convinced of by twenty thousands of people who must have been present in the Temple with Zachariah or at least heard it related by those who were there present One of the most dangerous errors which the Incredulous plunge themselves in is that they imagin that the same distance of time which is between us and those matters of fact related to us is also to be found between those very matters of fact themselves and those who so related them And they perceive not that whereas with respect to us 't is many ages ago since all those things came to pass yet 't was but a little while since these things must necessarily have happened with respect to the Disciples who published them to the World either by their preaching or writings Now for St. Luke to have invented such matters of fact must either have argued in him a certain drolling Mirth and pleasant Gayety of Spirit in telling such stories so gravely or else he must have had but a very mean opinion of Mens sense and understanding in his time to think they could so easily be deluded and imposed upon The History the Evangelists give us of the coming of the Wise-Men of the East into the City of Jerusalem of Herod's suspicious Concern and the cruel cautions he used to secure his own Crown by commanding all the Young Children that were in the City of Bethlehem and in all the Coasts thereof to be slain from two years old and under according to the time he had diligently enquired of the Wise-men I say this History is much of the same stamp with that we just now consider'd Had the Evangelists only told us in general that the Wise-men saw a Star in the East which they took to be the Star that signified the Birth of the King of the Jews that would have been somewhat more suspicious Had they told us only that those Wise-men came to Jerusalem that would not positively have concluded much But when they tell us that they came publickly to Jerusalem not any way concealing themselves or the cause of their coming and that the whole City was alarmed and concerned at it Does it seem natural that a man should fancy he could perswade so great a City as Jerusalem was that it had been disturbed and surprised at the arrival of Certain Wise-men who were come to worship the King of the Jews That a man who had proposed to himself to relate certain Fables whom it concerned that they should pass for true and certain matters of fact should yet pick out such circumstances as those were to vent abroad to a Nation that knew so very well the falshood of them For if we consider who it was that related these things 'T was
account Perhaps we should not think it at all hard to conceive if the Holy Ghost had been pleased to reveal its Nature a little more clearly to us But such is the wonderful Conduct of God who is resolved to humble us and not to satisfy our vain Curiosity nor indulge the Pride of our Understanding which is too greedy of Knowledge 4 thly Because we are not wholly destitute of Images there being several capable to illustrate that Object tho never so incomprehensible in it self Thus for instance the same Soul is an Vnderstanding as it perceives a Will as it has a desire and a Memory as it recalls the things past to the Mind all which three Faculties are comprehended in one and the same Understanding In like manner also the same Light is in the Heavens a Sun in the Air Brightness and in the Cloud a false Sun 5 thly To all this we may yet further add that the greatest Difficulties of this Mystery proceed from those Speculations in which School Divinity has involved it to the great Scandal of our Faith and eternal Confusion of our Reason For who can endure the Liberty those Metaphysical Divines have taken in pretending to form and decide ridiculous rash and impious Questions concerning that greatest Mystery of our Religion Can we think any reasonable Man could read all their impertinent Questions without Indignation As whether several Divine Persons could take but one and the same Person Whether the Word could have taken upon him in an Hypostatical Union the Form of an Angel of a Beast of a Woman of an insensible Being of an Accident of an Act of Sin of a Devil so that if these Propositions were true God is a Sin a c. Whether the Word has taken the Soul in an Hypostatical Union rather than the Body or the Body rather than the Soul Whether if Man had not Sinned the Word would not have taken our Flesh upon him Whether Humane Nature was first united to the Essence or the Person Whether the Humane Nature was united to the Divine by several Unions Whether a Divine Person may take upon it self the Form of a created Person Whether Humanity was united to the Person of Christ by way of Accident or of Substance Whether the Humane and the Divine Nature are a part of Christ and whether Christ be two several things Whether Christ be of a create or uncreate Unity How it came to pass he did not take upon him the very individual Nature of Adam Whether this Proposition Christ is Man was true during those three Days he remained in the Grave Lastly Whether Christ should have died of old Age had he not been crucified in his Youth c. These are the only Difficulties that occur in the Christian Religion As for the rest 't is so essentially so visibly and so necessarily agreeable to Reason that we cannot but wonder that our Incredulous Adversaries have not yet perceived it This we have already sufficiently proved in several places of this Work and we cannot well insist further upon it without repeating again what has been already said It is sufficient therefore to observe that Christ is as it were the Reason of Nature Society and Religion He is the Light enlightening every thing without which we should fall into infinite Troubles and Perplexities Christ is the Center of all Events which seemingly relate to his coming he is the Center of Truths which are the more clearly revealed the nearer we approach him the Center of all the Mosaical Ceremonies which are meer Extravagance in themselves if they relate not to him the Center of all Virtues which have no sufficient Force or Motives able to induce us to practise them but by the consideration of Life and Immortality revealed to us in Christ the Center and Foundation of the inviolable Rule of Conscience which would be nothing else but Errour and Illusion if the Christian Faith were a Fable The Center of all those Characters of Wisdom visibly diplay'd in all the Works of God since nothing but the Christian Religion can lead Man to the true End of his Creation none but that can justify the Wisdom of God the Center of all the Hopes of Man for what is there that he could hope for if Christianity were a Lye The Center of all the Evidence and Certainty that is in our Knowledge for what is there that we could be certain of if our Soul were only a Disposition of Atoms and had no such Spirituality and Immortality as that imputed to it by the Christian Religion There need have been only a different Configuration of Parts to form first Notions quite contrary to those we now have Let any one therefore closely consider the Matter and it will appear to him that if we deny Christ who teaches to know our own selves in revealing to us Life and Immortality no Salvation can be expected either for Reason or Conscience X Portraiture of the Christian Religion Or the Proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion THere is nothing truer than that the Jewish Religion is great noble and divine and we cannot reflect on the Greatness of its Miracles the Sublimity of its Morality the Purity of its Doctrin the Holiness of its Precepts and the Completion of its Prophecies without immediately acknowledging it to be stampt with Divine Characters But yet we shall find it altogether defective if we separate it from Christianity since its Essence consists in its relation to that We cannot conceive without it how God can be the God of one Nation and yet not be that too of other Nations also that the Deity should be contained in a material Ark and being the Father of Spirits should so carefully seek after an external and corporeal Purity that unwilling to satisfy his Justice he should require Sacrifices of Men or if willing to be appeased by Offerings and Oblations he should demand such mean ones of them which were unworthy the Majesty of his God-head that God who made Heaven and Earth should dwell in a Temple made with Hands or that he who created all things visible and invisible should take pleasure in an external Pomp that he who made the Smelling which he wants not himself should delight in the smell of Incense or that his Voice properly so called should be heard to which Thunder it self scarce bears the Resemblance of an Echo I say we can never conceive any of these things without the help of Christian Religion For who can reconcile the Wisdom seen in the Religion of Moses with the Imperfections discoverable in it How could that Lawgiver prove so contrary to himself And how could so many Characters of Divinity be attended with so many seemingly superstitious Customs and trivial Ceremonies Consult but the Christian Religion and you 'll then no longer wonder at it there you will find both the Reason and Wisdom of every thing that surpris'd you in the Old Covenant All the Customs contained in the