caused the Christians in their Apologies to press earnestly for a fair and impartial Hearing of their Cause beseeching their Enemies that they would not be so injurious to the Truth and to themselves as to despise and condemn what they did not understand They were desirous to undergo any Tryal if they might but be admitted to be heard 6. Yet many who did not actually become Christians had more favourable and just Thoughts of the Christian Religion (l) Ael Lamprid. in Alex. Severo Alexander Severus had the Effigies of Christ in his Chappel and had designed to erect a Temple for the Worship of him and to insert his Name among the Heathen Gods As it is reported that Adrian likewise with the same Intention had commanded Temples to be built without Images in all Cities but was dissuaded by some who consulted the Oracles about it which gave out that all Men would then become Christians and the other Temples would soon be forsaken This which is related concerning Adrian has been by some supposed to be a mistake because the Fathers say nothing of it But Ael Lampridius or rather Spartianus who mentions it being a Heathen might perhaps have it from the Gentiles for it was only in Adrian's Intention to set up the Worship of Christ which might be unknown by the Christians of his time the design being laid aside upon consulting the Oracles It was certainly reported in the Historian's time as he declares and yet this Objection lies as well against the Report as against the Reality of the thing For it is strange that a Report of this nature should be mentioned by no Christian Writer though there had been no Truth in it (m) Euseb Hist lib VII c. 11 Aemilianus the Prefect of Egypt asked Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria when he was brought before him why if he whom the Christians Worshipped be God they could not Worship him with the other Gods Many admired the Doctrin and were convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion who could not free themselves from the Prejudices of their Education they would have been willing to have it taken in among others but could not bring themselves to relinquish all their old Religions for it The Calumnies raised against the Christians had caused the popular Odium and Rage against them but they were Vindicated by (n) Plin. lib. X. Epist 97. Just Mar. Apol. 2. Eus Hist lib. IV. c. 8 9 13. Pliny in an Epistle to Trajan by Serenius Granianu◠Proconsul of Asia in his Epistle to Adrian by Adrian himself in his Rescript by Antoninus Pius in his Epistle to the Common Council or the Community of the Estates of Asia though some ascribe this Epistle to M. Antoninus not to mention his Epistle to the Senate of Rome (o) Just Martyr Dial. Trypho the Jew likewise frees them from the Crimes commonly laid against them and owns the Excellency of their Precepts contained in the Gospel And it is observable that those Crimes which had been wont to be objected against the Christians by their former Adversaries were not mentioned by Julian in Discourses written to oppose them who (p) Epist 49. Fragm Epist p. 305. elsewhere speaks of them in such a manner and so much to their commendation as shews the mighty force of Truth which could extort it from him But the Fear and Shame of Men hindred divers from embracing the Christian Religion who had a truer Notion of Things than to approve of their own (q) Aug. Civit. Dei lib. VI. c. 11. Seneca exposed the Heathen Worship and express'd himself with bitterness against the the Jews but being able to find nothing to blame in the Christian Religion nor daring to commend it for fear of giving Offence to the Heathens he made no mention of it at all These and such as these were the Occasions of the Unbelief of the Jews and Gentiles Though it must be confessed that there is nothing more difficult to be accounted for than the Notions and Actions of Men it is as hard to give an Account how (r) Senec. de Ira. lib. I. c. 25. Plut. in Lycurg Seneca and Plutarch should allow of the Murdering or Starving of poor Infants as they certainly did as why they were not Christians No Phaenomena in Nature can be more variable and uncertain in their Causes than the Opinions and Practices of Men which differ according to their Tempers and Capacities and Circumstances it is sufficient if we can find out any probable Solution and have several to offer which might take place according to several Cases But the Writings of such as opposed the Christian Religion were very slight and frivolous containing a Confession for the most part of the principal Matters of Fact upon which our Faith is established and raising only some weak Cavils which never came up to the main Cause or undertook to disprove the Truth of the Miracles and Prophecies upon which it is founded They could not deny the Miracles upon which our Religion is established and then let any Man judge what Reasons they could have for their Infidelity And indeed the prevaling of the Christian Religion under all manner of Disadvantages as to Humane Means shewed that the Adversaries of it had little to say against it For they must be but poor Arguments which could not dissuade Men from becoming Christians when they must incurr all the Dangers and Sufferings of this World to be so The Books of the first Heathen Writers against the Christian Religion are frequently cited by St. Jerom and St. Austin and other Authors of their Time as commonly known and probably they were extant long after So that their Arguments were baffled and destroyed long before the Books themselves and they had Time and Opportunity enough to do all the Mischief that they were capable of And their Writings are not yet so far lost but that we still know their Principal Arguments which the Christian Writers have not concealed but have given them their full Force and commonly in their own Words Origen was so careful to omit nothing considerable which Celsus had alleged that he was often forced to make Apologies for mentioning the same things over again rather then he would seem to let any things pass which was Material that his Adversary had said without taking Notice of it (s) Ambr. lib. 2. Epist 11. Aug. Epist 43. And some Pieces are preserved entire as the Petition of Symmachus among the Epistles of St. Ambrose and the Epistle of Maximus Madaurensis among those of St. Austin The Arguments of Julian are set down at large by St. Cyril and we Learn from (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Spanhem in Julian oper Praefat St. Chrisostom that the Books of the Philosophers against the Christian Religion were neglected and despised by the Gentiles themselves and were scarce to be found but among the Christians before the Edict of Theodosius Junior to prohibit them There
signal Judgment from Heaven and Moses advanced neither of his and both Moses and Aaron died by the particular Appointment and Command of God for their Offences against him never enjoying nor for a long time before expecting to enjoy the Land of Promise And therefore as they could never have performed what they did but by the Almighty Power of God so they could have no Motive or Inducement to attempt it but his Command and Promise of Assistance revealed to them CHAP. IV. Of the Pentateuch AS the Books entitled to Moses are confessed by all to be of the greatest Antiquity so we have it confirmed to us by the Authority of Heathen Writers themselves that the Books which go under his Name are indeed of his writing besides the unanimous Testimony of the whole Jewish Nation ever since Moses's Time from the first writing of them Which is infinitely better Proof of their being Authentick and entitl'd to the true Author than can be pretended for any Books but the Holy Scriptures Divers Texts of the Pentateuch imply that it was written by Moses and the Book of Joshua as well as other Books of Scripture import as much and though some Passages have been thought to imply the contrary yet this is but a late Opinion and has been sufficiently confuted by Learned Men. It is observable whoever wrote these Five Books that there is no Partiality shewn to any one whomsoever Noah is said to be overcome with Wine and expos'd to the Mockery of one of his Sons Lot is describ'd not only to have been drunken but to have lain with his own Daughters Abraham himself denies his Wife twice and Isaac imitates him in it Jacob gets the Blessing by Fraud and Subtilty from his Brother Esau Joseph's Brethren sell him into Aegypt and he when he is there learns to swear By the Life of Pharaoh The Faults of Aaron and of Moses himself as I have already observ'd are not conceal'd On the other side particular Notice is taken how Melchizedeck bless'd Abraham and receiv'd Tythes of him And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better Heb. vii 7. The Advice of Jethro is recorded and the Prophecies of Balaam himself are punctually set down It was no Design of the Sacred Pen-Man to write a Panegyrick upon any Man but to represent the Failings and Infirmities as well as the Excellencies of each Person and to shew by what various Methods the Providence of God brought to pass his gracious Designs how he turn'd Evil into Good and made use even of the Infirmities and Sins of Men to accomplish his Purposes In the Book of Genesis we have a short Account of the most Memorable and Remarkable Things which had past to the Times of Moses as the Creation of the World the Institution of the Sabbath the Fall of Man the Promise of the Messiah and the Custom of Offering Sacrifices as Types of his Death Who first committed Murther and who first brought in Polygamy the Inventon of divers Arts the Flood the Confusion of Tongues the Original of the several Nations of the World with the Chronology of the whole all which is comprehended in a little Compass but a larger and more particular Account is given of Abraham and his Family For here the Scene begins to open to the main Design of the Work the Book of Genesis being as an Introduction to the rest of the Pentateuch and containing such things as were requisite to be premis'd And in the beginning of the History of Abraham it is noted that the Canaanite was then in the land Gen. xii 6. even at that very time when Abraham erected an Altar to the Lord ver 7. this being a great Encouragement to the Israelites to excite them to follow the Example of their Father Abraham who worshipp'd the True God in a publick and solemn Manner in that Land which they were now going to possess and amongst that People which they were now to drive out and which at that time when the Land was promis'd them were the Inhabitants of it and God who had protected Abraham in so signal a Manner would no less assist them And if we consider those things particularly wherein Moses himself is concen'd as an Agent as well as an Historian there can be no Pretence for any Man to doubt but that at least the principal Points of the History of Moses are true that is that Moses was the Governor or General of the People of Israel who conducted them out of Aegypt that they travell'd for many Years in the Wilderness that they fought divers Battels with the several Nations who oppos'd their Journeying into the Land of Canaan and that Moses gave them the Laws which we find there recorded These are the chief Points of the History of Moses which are as it were the Foundation of all the rest the rest being but as Circumstances to shew the Manner of doing it and the Power by which all this was done And that these main Points are true it was never deny'd by those Heathens themselves who most reproach'd and vilify'd the Jewish Nation They acknowledg'd that Moses was the great General and Law-Giver of the Israelites they own'd that the Israelites came out of Aegypt they could deny nothing of the History it self but only gave wrong Accounts partly out of Ignorance and partly out of Malice and Design of the Manner and Means by which this was effected and the Reasons and Occasions upon which it came to pass From the Books of Josephus against Apion in which he gives an Account of what the most Ancient Authors of other Nations have deliver'd concerning the Jews and from what the latter Heathens Strabo Tacitus Justin and others after the Jews became so odious and contemptible in the eyes of all Nations have written it is evident that the great and fundamental Points as to the Matters of Fact are confess'd and the only Dispute is concerning the Manner in which they were brought about and the Means whereby all was effected Now we take the Histories of all other Nations rather from themselves than from Foreigners and Strangers to their Affairs or professed Enemies and it were extreme Partiality to admit the Accounts we have of the Jewish Affairs from Authors who liv'd so much too late to have any certain Information of the things they write about and who upon every Occasion shew such Disaffection to their Name and Nation and contradict each other and themselves too as Josephus shews it would I say be notorious Partiality to follow such Authors rather than credit the Jewish Records attested and deliver'd down to us by the unanimous Approbation and Testimony of the whole Nation And when I come to consider the Miracles wrought by Moses I shall prove That they were of that Nature and perform'd in such a Manner as that they could not be feign'd or counterfeit at first nor the Account given of them in the Pentateuch falsify'd afterwards and therefore
Divine Inspiration and Authority that they wholly depended and relyed upon them and lived in an uncomfortable Exile upon the sole Hopes and Expectations of seeing the rest of their Prophecies fulfilled And theirfore the Posterity of those who had slain the Prophets had the Highest veneration for the Memory of these Prophets whom their Forefathers had killed they built and adorned their Sepulchres and chose to die any Death rather than renounce the Authority of their Books or part with them even when they had forsaken their Doctrine and changed their Religion for vain Traditions and superstitious Observances and when it was so reproachful to them to erect Monuments of perpetual acknowledgment That they were the the Children of them which killed the Prophets Matth. xxiii 31. they referred themselves to these Prophets for the Authority of their Religion and acknowledged that they had neither Prophecies nor Miracles after the Captivity CHAP. XI Of the Dependance of the several Parts of the Scriptures upon each other and that the Old Testament prove the New and the New again proves the Old as the Cause and the Effect IT is a thing altogether incredible that the Inhabitants of so small a part of the World as Judaea is should lay a Design of imposing upon the rest of Mankind which could prove so successful for so many thousand Years together and that they should be such Masters of Deceit and the World so fond of receiving Revelations from them that at last though the greatest part of that People disclaimed the Books which some few and those the most unlearned among them would impose for Inspired Writings yet the Authority of these Books should be more acknowledged in all Parts of the World than those had ever been in which they all unanimously agreed and the rest should be received for the sake of these more than ever they had been upon their own account which is the case of the Books of the Old and New Testament If the Jews even the meanest and most ignorant of them could do this merely by their own Wit and Device they must have a Genius superiour to that of all Mankind besides For what imaginable Reason is there why the Oracles of all the Heathen Nations should never be much regarded and now in a manner utterly lost and that the Books of the Jews should still be preserved in their full Authority but the power and Advantage of Truth in these and the want of it in them And the Evidence of this Truth is most observable in the mutual Dependence which all the Parts of the Scriptures have one upon another They were penn'd by Men of different Countreys different Ages different Conditions and Callings and Interests from the King to the poor Fisherman and yet all carry on the same Design They are not like the Oracles of the Heathen Gods which must stand or fall by themselves but there is an admirable Series and Connexion between all the Writings of the Holy Scriptures by which the several Parts of them give a mutual support and attestation to each other The Pentateuch and Moses contains the first Lineaments and evident Types and Prophecies of all that is contained in the rest He foretold That a succession of Prophets should arise and that at last the Great Prophet should be sent who is Christ and he foretold all that was to befall the Jews from his own time to the Destruction of Jerusalem And as Moses has given us the general State of the Jews for all Generations so the several Prophets who were sent from time to time according to his Predictions foretold particular Events and more-especially they foretold and described the Times of the Gospel This was the great Design of all Prophecies and the thing that God had spoken by the Prophets which have been since the world bigan Luk. i. 70. For in Christ was the Accomplishment of all the Types and Prophecies in the Old Testament And this Dependance and Coherence between all the Parts of the Scriptures in the Matter and Design of them which is as great as the dependance of one part of any Book written by the same Author can be upon another gives great strength and confirmation to the whole since it is an Evidence that it was all Inspired by the same Infallible Spirit and if one part of Scripture be proved to be true all must be so for besides the particular Evidence which may be brought for any part separately we must consider the Connexion which it has with the rest and the Evidence which is derived upon it by this Connexion if the Pentateuch be once proved to be of Divine Authority than the Prophets who succeeded Moses must be Divinely Inspired because he foretold the succession of such Prophets And if the Prophecies and Miracles of the Prophets were Divine the Pentateuch must be so because they all along acknowledged and appealed to it as containing God's Covenant with his People the Jews and being therefore the ground and foundation of their own Mission if Moses and the Prophets be from God the Gospel must be from him if that be foretold by them And if the Prophecies and Miracles of our Saviour and his Disciples prove their Divine Authority the Writings of Moses and the Prophets must be likewise of the same Authority because they acknowledge them for such and prove their own Authority from them as well as from the Miracles that they themselves wrought And if the Prophecies and Miracles either of Moses or of the Prophets or of our Saviour and his Apostles taken by themselves and apart from the rest be sufficient they must needs be more convincing when they are considered together in their united Force and Light I might further observe That Miracles without Prophecies or Prophecies without Miracles or that one evident Miracle or one evident Prophecy at least That either the Miracles or prophecies of some one Person in the several Ages in which so many Prophets lived would have been a sufficient ground of Faith and that therefore they must all be much rather so in conjunction But I shall only desire it may be remembred That whatever Evidence has been brought in proof of the Divine Authority of the Books of Moses and of the Prophets doth reciprocally prove both the one and the other and that therefore whatever is brought from either of them in Proof of the Gospel has the Evidence of the whole and that the Gospel in different respects doth prove them and is proved by them both deriving Authority from the Books of the Old Testament and communicating its own Authority to them For as the Cause may be proved by its Effect and the Effect by its Cause so both Predictions prove the Things foretold and the accomplishment of the Things foretold verifie the Predictions and Miracles wrought in consequence of Prophecies concerning them have doubly the Divine Seal and Attestation Now the Messias is the Scope and Centre of the whole Old Testament
of Nice inasmuch as they are referred to by that Council and that they are styl'd Apostolical because they were made by Apostolical Men or such as lived next to the Apostles times and delivered in these Canons what they had received from the Apostles Dr Beverege thinks they * Bever Annot. ad Pandect Can. Cod. Can. Eccl. Primit vind Cave Histor Liter in clem Roman were collected into one Body by Clemens Alexandrinus and Dr Cave seemed inclined to be of the same judgment As to the Authority of the particular Apostolical Canon which contains the Canon of Scripture of the Council of Laodicea gives a sufficient Testimony to it so far as it concerns the Books of the New Testament and shews wherein it has been corrupted since All which very well agrees with that which I observed from Tertullian that frequent Councils were called in the first Ages and that they had the Canon of Scripture among other things under consideration which we find set down in the last of the Apostles Canons and from thence in the Canons of the Council of Laodicea no Book being omitted but the Revelation of St John which yet had been acknowledged and received as Authentick from the beginning of those who had most reason to know of what Authority it was but none were inserted into the Canon but such Books as were appointed to be constantly read in the Assemblies of Christians It appears then that the Canon of Scripture was finished by St John and that such Books as were not of Divine Authority were rejected by Councils held when there were living Witnesses to certify St John's Approbation of the Canon or at least those who had received it from such Witnesses the Gospels of the other Evangelists were translated into divers Languages in St John's Life time and we must in reason suppose the same of the other Books of Scripture this is certain that they were all very early translated into many Tongues and dispersed into so many Hands in so many Countries that it was impossible they should be either lost or falsifyed espeble cially since the several sects of Christians were never more jealous and watchful over each other in any thing than in this particular the several Interests and Pretensions of all parties being chiefly concerned in it and no Catalogue of Books could have been received exclusively to all others but upon the clearest evidence XII When it once appeared that the Books which had been doubted of belonged to the Canon of Scripture they were afterwards generally acknowledged and constantly received in all Churches every Sect has since used all Arts and Endeavours to reconcile the Scriptures to their own Doctrines few or none presuming to reject the Authority of any of these Books which they would never scruple to do if they suppos'd they could make out any plausible pretence for it Protestants have refused to admit of the Apocryphal Books as inspired but whoever have gone about to reject any part of the Canonical Scriptures have been universally declared against for it whereof no other reason can be given but the Evidence that is for the Authority of the Canonical Books of Scripture which is wanting for the Authority of the Apocryphal Books Papists own the Authority of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and of the fourteenth Chapter of that Epistle which is directly against praying in an unknown Tongue and they acknowledge the Epistle to the Galatians to be genuine tho the second Chapter be so clearly against the pretensions of the Church of Rome These Espistles indeed were never controverted but the Epistle to the Hebrews likewise is not rejected by the Socinians the Divine Nature of Christ and the Merit and Satisfaction of his sufferings are so plainly asserted in it and they dare not deny the Authority of the Gospel and Epistles of St John tho they are so hard put to it to expound them to their own sense that Socinus was forc'd to pretend to I know not what Revelation to help out one of his explications which he would not have done if he could have found out any colour for not admitting the Authority of a Text so directly contrary to his own Tenents that he could not expect that any thing less than a Revelation should procure any credit to his Interpretation And generally the case is the same with other Sects those that differ never so much one from another in the Interpretation of particular Texts yet agree in the acknowledgment of the Authority of the Canon of Scripture itself or can find out no sufficient pretence to disown it CHAP. V. Of the various Readings in the Old and New Testament IT is to be observ'd that an extrardinary Providence has in a great measure secur'd the Holy Scriptures from those Casualties which are incident to humane Writings For the great Antiquity of many Books of the Scriptures beyond that of any other Books in the World the multitude of Copies which have been taken in all Ages and Nations the difficulty to avoid mistakes in transcribing Books in a Language which has so many of its Letters and of its Words themselves so like one another the defect of the Hebrew Vowels and the late invention as it is generally now acknowledged of the Points the change of the Samaritan or ancient Hebrew for the present Hebrew Character the captivity of the whole Nation of the Jews for seventy years and the mixtures and changes which were during that time brought into their Language in short all the accidents which have ever happened to occasion errors or mistakes in any Book have concurred to cause them in the Old Testament and yet the different Readings are much fewer and make much less alteration in the sense than those of any other Book of the same bigness and of any Note and Antiquity if all the Copies should be carefully examined and every little variation as punctually set down as those of the Scriptures have been But tho from hence it may appear that a peculiar providence has been concerned in the preservation of the Books of the Scriptures yet from humane considerations and arguments we may likewise be assured that nothing prejudicial to the Authority of the Scriptures has happened by any of these means 1. The defect in the Hebrew Vowels and the late Invention of the Points is no prejuduce to the Authority of the Bible as we now have it Tho the Points which crititically determine the exact Reading of the Hebrew Tongue be of a later invention yet that Tongue was never without its Vowels For Aleph Vau and Jod and which some add He and Gnajm before the invention of the Points were used as Vowels as it is evidently proved from Josephus Vid. Walton Prolegom iii. s 49. Origen and St Jerom by the best Criticks in that Language It must indeed be confest that these Vowels could not be so effectual to ascertain the true Reading as the Points have since been but
negligentia presertim tot jam seculis intercedentibus veritatem fuisse corruptam quam ut Propheta erraverit Sicut in hoc ipso nostro opusculo futurum credimus ut describentium incuria quae non incuriose a nobis sunt digesta vitientur Sulpic. Sever Hist Sacr. lib. 1. c. 70. common in all Greek and Latin Authors and to prevent this inconveniency Mr Greaves acquaints us that the Emp erour Vlug Beg Nephew to Tamerlane the Great †Greaves Pyramidogr in his Astronomical Tables the most accurate of any in the East has exprest the numbers of the principal Epocha's first in Words at length and again in Figures and then a third time in particular Tables whose example this excellent Author alledgeth for his own exactness in describing the dimensions of the Pyramids after the same manner supposing it very improbable if any one of these Accounts should happen to be altered that two of them should not agree and that those two which agree shall not express the true number 5. In some places the Alterations which cause the differences in the Chronology of the Septuagint from that of the Hebrew Text are so uniform that they could not be made but by design of some Transcribers or of the Translators themselves For instance in the Lives of the five first Patriarchs and of Enoch the * Vid. Ludovic Capell Chron. Sacr. seventh they add an hundred years before their having children and deduct the same number of years from the time they lived after wards which is conjectured to have been done because they supposed that by years there are to be understood Lunar years or months and so they altered the Chronological account of their Lives For if those be the years meant by the Hebrew account they must have been Fathers of children at 5 6 7 or 8 years of Age. Another conjecture is that it might be supposed that as Mens lives were longer then so the Age at which they were capable of Marriage must not be the same that it is now but must bear proportion to the length of their Lives and therefore they altered the Chronology to make the Patriarchs fathers of children at such an Age as might answer to the Age at which men are capable of having children in these latter times The mention of Cainan the son of Arphaxad both in the Version of the Septuagint and in the Gospel of St Luke tho it be not in in the Hebrew is a matter of greater Difficulty But Bishop * Prolegom ix s 64. c. Walton notwithstanding saw sufficient Reason to conclude however with such caution and candor as became so great a Judgment that the Septuagint followed the Hebrew Copies of those times and the Answers to the Arguments brought to prove the contrary have since been considerably enforced by the Learned †Castigat ad Script Georg. Horn. c. 4. Isaac Vossius There is reason to believe that the Hebrew and the Samaritan Account were the same * Siquidem in Hebraeis Samaritanorum libris ita scriptum reperi Et vixit Mathusala c. Hieron Quaest in Gen. vid. Capell Chron. Sacr. in St Jerom's time and that the difference between them has happened since 6. The Son often reigning with the Father his Reign is sometimes put down as commencing from his Partnership with his Father in the Kingdom and in other places from his Reigning alone after his Fathers decease Thus the difficulties are explained concerning the beginning of the Reigns of Jehoram King of Israel Son of Ahab and Jehoram King of Judah Son of Jehosaphat 2 Kings i. 17. iii. 1. For it is said expressly that Jehosaphat being then King of Judah Jehoram the Son Jehosaphat King of Judah began to Reign 2 Kings viii 16. It is likewise manifest that Jehoash the Son of Jehoahaz King of Israel must reign with his Father 3 years 2 Kings xiii 1 10. This is also applyed in the explication of other Questions by St * Hieron ad vital Jerom. The Reign of Azariah is computed from his taking the Government upon himself at sixteen years of Age in the 27th year of Jeroboam King of Israel for then he is said to begin to reign 2 Kings xv i. whereas his Father Amaziah lived but to the 15th year of Jeroboam's Reign 2. King xiv 17. In the Kingdom of Israel there was a long Interregnum between Jeraboam the second and Zachariah 2 Kings xiv 23. xv 8. Some assign a threefold computation of the years of Nebuchadnezzar's reign the first from his laying Siege to Jerusalem the second from his taking it and the beginning of the captivity the third from his entire Monarchy after the conquest of Egypt Others assign two beginings of Nebuchadnezzar's Reign the one from his coming with his Army into Syria during the Life of his Father the other from his Father's death 7. The Terms of Time in Computation are sometimes taken inclusively and at other times exclusively Matt. xvii 1. we read After six days Jesus taketh Peter James and John his Brother and bringeth them up into an high Mountain apart and in like manner Mark ix 2. But this is said Luke ix 28. to come to pass about an eight days after which is very consistent with what the other Evangelists write For St Matthew and St Mark speak exclusively reckoning the six days between the time of our Saviours discourse which they there relate and his Transfiguration but St Luke includes the day in which he had that discourse with his Disciples and the day of his Transfiguration and reckons them with the six intermediate days The Rabbins * Lightf Harm of the N. T. S. ix also observe that the very first day of a year may stand in computation for that year and by this way of reckoning mistakes of years current for years compleat or years compleat for years current in the successions of so many Kings and the Transactions of affairs for so long a time may amount to a considerable number of years For this reason †Thucyd lib. v. c. 20. Thucydides says he computes the years of the Peloponnesian War not by the Magistrates yearly chosen during that time but by so many Summers and Winters These and several other ways by which Disputes in Chronology may be occasioned are a sufficient Argument to us that they do not imply that there were originally Chronological Mistakes in the Books themselves And if they might so many ways arise without any error in the Original Writings if the same difficulties occur upon so very nice and intricate a subject in all Books in the World and it could be by no means necessary that Books of Divine Authority should be either at first so penned as to be liable to no wrong Interpretations or be ever after preserved by Miracle from all corruption it is great rashness to deny the Divine Authority of the Scriptures upon the account of any difficulties in Chronology CHAP.
World though Men will take no Warning by never so many Examples but have need of continual Advice and Exhortation to keep them from the Commission of them Is there the less Certainty in the Mathematicks because Euclid Apollonius and innumerable others of all Ages and Nations have put forth Books and Systems of Mathematicks in several Forms and Methods When many write upon the same Subject it is an Argument of the Excellency and Vsefulness of it not that they are dissatisfy'd in what has been already said by others but that they think more may be said or that some Things may be prov'd more clearly in another Method with more Advantage to some Capacities and with greater Probability of removing the Scruples of some Men. It is undoubtedly very fit that all necessary Doctrines upon which the Eternal Happiness or Misery of Mankind depends should be treated of in all kinds of Ways and Methods and they cannot be too often discours'd of nor by too many Men that no Objection may remain unanswer'd nor Scruple unobserv'd Though a little may be sufficient upon a plain Matter to wise Men yet too much cannot be said upon a Subject wherein all Men are concern'd And it is the great Assurance of the Truth of Religion and Charity to the Souls of Men that has engag'd so many Authors in this Cause Besides the Primitive Fathers and Apologists Men of the greatest Learning and Abilities in latter Ages have undertaken this Subject having made it their Study and Business to consider the Grounds of our Holy Religion And I think few will pretend to more Judgment to discover Truth or to more Integrity to declare it than such Authors who have had no particular Interest or Profession in reference to Religion but were under only the common Obligations of all Christians which if they had valu'd as little as some others they could with as much Wit and Learning have appear'd in the Cause of Irreligion as any that ever undertook it Many of the most Eminent in all Professions and Callings have been the most zealous Assertors of Religion as I might shew by particular Examples which are in every Man's Memory Indeed I believe few Men have so vain an Opinion of themselves as to think they understand their several Studies and Professions better than such Persons who have given undoubted Evidence of their unfeigned Belief of the Christian Religion Men of the greatest Sagacity and Judgment have not been mov'd with such Objections as others so much stumble at but have liv'd and dy'd the Glory of their Age and an Honour to their Religion such were the Learned Prince of Mirandula and that Learned French Nobleman Mornaeus such were Grotius Sir Matthew Hales Dr. Willis and many besides both of our own and other Nations I shall mention but one more who indeed was so Eminent that I scarce need mention him for he must be already in every Reader 's Thoughts I mean the Honourable Mr. Boyle who was as inquisitive and as unwilling to be impos'd upon and knew as much of Nature perhaps as ever any Man not Inspir'd did and had withal as stedfast a Belief and as aweful Apprehensions of Reveal'd Religion which he endeavour'd to Establish and Propagate not only by his own Writings but by the Labours of others which he Engag'd and rewarded by his Last Will and Testament 2. But Men do not always live answerably to what they profess to believe It were heartily to be wish'd that there had never been any Occasion given for this Objection For though it be very inconsiderable in it self yet it does I believe the most mischief of any because Men naturally govern themselves more by the Example than by the Judgment of others or even than by their own Reason But if we will judge aright the Example of one Man who lives according to the Doctrines of Religion ought to be of more weight with us than the Example of never so many who live contrary to their Profession Because when Men profess one thing and act another their Actions are surely as little to be regarded as their Profession And if we will not believe their Profession against their Actions why should we regard their Example against their avowed Principles and Profession It is in all other cases esteemed a good Argument for the Truth of any thing when Men confess it against themselves And the Motives and Temptations are visible by which they are led aside from their own declared Faith and Judgment this Pleasure or that Profit is the cause of it which every Man can point to But when he who lives conformably to his Principles denies himself when he loses and suffers by it he must needs be in great earnest whereas the others are apparently bribed to forsake that in Practice which notwithstanding they cannot but own in the Theory and Principles This was an old Prejudice against Philosophy That the Philosophers did not observe their own Precepts But it was rejected by wise Men as no Argument against the Truth and Vsefulness of Philosophy It is a great Objection against the Men but sure it can be no Argument against the Things themselves that they are disregarded by those who understand their worth and pretend to have a due value and esteem for them And whoever renounces the Faith or takes up Principles of Irreligion because of any ill Practices of others too plainly declares either that in Truth and Sincerity he never had any or that he is very willing to part with his Religion All Men make some pretence to Reason and those Men most of all who are so apt to decry Religion upon this account That many who profess to believe it do not always live up to its Rules and Instructions But they do not consider in the mean time That Men generally act as much against Reason as against Relgion and that therefore this Objection if it can signifie any thing must banish all Reason and good Sence out of the World If there be no True Religion because so few practise it as they ought there can be no True Reason neither because the Lives of so many Men contradict it And some perhaps would be contented that there should be no True Religion rather than that there should be no True Reason because then they must be no longer allowed to be able to Reason against Religion But if the Truth and Reality of Things depend upon the Practice of Men then the same Religion may be true and false at the same time it may be true in one Age and false in another or true in one Countrey and false in the next and must be more or less true or false in the same proportion as the Lives and Manners of its Professors are more or less vertuous or vicious Indeed this is so unreasonable and unjust a Prejudice against Religion though it be grown a very common one that methinks every Man should be ashamed of it especially Men of Reason
in one place rather than in another or why it should think when it is moved in a Right Line or in a Circle or in any Curve Line rather than when it lies still Again There is no reason why Matter should be able to think or not think according to its Situation or Position why it should think in the Brain rather than upon the Trencher or when it is digested and reduced to Animal Spirits rather than when it is in a more compacted Substance and has a different relation to the parts of Matter about it Lastly If any sort of Figure could produce Thought Stones must certainly think as well as the best of us and so indeed might any thing else for what Body is there that may not subsist under all varieties of Figure Neither can any lucky conjuncture of all these together produce a Power and Faculty of Thinking For imagine what Bulk Rest or Motion Situation and Figure you can to meet together they are all alike uncapable of so much as one Thought since there is nothing in the Nature of any of these Accidents or Modifications of Matter but it is as far from any Power of thinking as Matter it self is and therefore Thinking can no more arise from a combination of them together than it can proceed from the amassing together of Matter All the Accidents but Motion have nothing Active or Operative in them but are only Matter under different Modes and Relations And Motion whatever the Figure or Bulk and Contexture of any Body may be can be but Motion still and suppose what Contexture or Modifications you will what is Motion under all Determinations Collisions and Combinations but change of Place And how can change of Place produce Thinking under any variety of Contexture in the Particles of Matter Free-will is impossible to be accounted for by Matter and Motion as Epicurus found who was therefore forced to have recourse to his Declinationes Atomorum for which he is so justly exposed by Tully For neither can Matter determine its own Motion nor can Motion determine it self but must be determined by something External whereas all men find it in their power to determine themselves by an Inward and voluntary Principle It is true indeed that the Soul in its Operations depends very much upon the Temperament of the Body yet the Soul even in this state has Thoughts which have no Relation to the Body or any Material Thing as Thoughts of God and Spirits it s own Reflex Thoughts or Consciousness of its own Operations And if it were now capable of no Thoughts but such as have some dependance upon the Body yet this can never prove that the Soul it self is Material or that Matter Thinks A Man writes with his Pen and cannot write without one Is it therefore his Pen properly that writes and not the Man The Body is the Instrument of the Soul in its Operations here and as the Instrument is fit or unfit so must its Operations be more or less perfect But it is strange that the chief part of us should be of such a Nature that we can form no Idaea of it We may form an Idaea of it though but an imperfect one And do we not know that the Eye the noblest part of the Body cannot see it self but imperfectly and by Reflexion And let any Man try whether he can form a better Idea of a Materal Soul than of an Immeterial one But this Writer by Idaea seems to mean a Material Idea or Imagination and we cannot indeed form a material Idea of an Immaterial Spirit Yet after all which he or any Man else has said the Nature of the Soul is as clearly understood as that of the Body and there is nothing encumbred with greater Difficulties than Extension if that be the Essence of Matter and if that be not it is as hard still to know what the Essence of Matter is The Instance which he brings of Brutes is easily answered Whether they can think or not If they cannnot the Objection falls of it self If they can I should rather suppose that their Souls may be annihilated or may transmigrate and pass from one Brute to another than that the Souls of Men must be Material that the Souls of Brutes may be Material too Another Gentleman of late has asserted (u) Mr. Locke 's Hâ—mane Vnderstanding l. 4. c. 3. §. 6. That it is impossible for us by the Contemplation of our own Idea's without Revelation to discover whether Omnipotency hath not given to some Systems of Matter fitly disposed a Power to Perceive or Think Letter to the Bishop of Bercrâ—â— p. 65. and That there is a Possibility that God may if he pleases super-add to Matter a Faculty of Thinking which is what he likewise calls a Modification of Thinking or Power of Thinking But it seems not intelligible how God should super-add to Matter this Faculty or Power or Modification of Thinking unless he change the Nature of Matter and make it to be quite another thing than it is or join a Substance of another Nature to it But the Question is Whether a Faculty of Thinking can be produced out of the Powers and various Modifications of Matter And we can have no more conception how any Modification of Matter can produce Thinking than we can how any Modification of Sound should produce Seeing all Modifications of Matter are the same as to this Point and Matter may as well be made Matter by Modifying as be made to Think bâ— it This is just as if a Man should maintain That though all Immaterial Substances are not extended and divisible yet some of them may possibly be or Omnipotence may super-add to them a Faculty of Extension and Divisibility for Immeterial Substances may become Divisible and Material by the same Philosophy by which we may conclude that Matter may Think which is the same thing as to become Immaterial and to surpass all the Powers and Capacities of Matter But though I have upon this occasion mention'd this Gentleman here yet it would be a great Injury done him to rank him with the Authors of The Oracles of Reason There is prefix'd to the Pieces an Account of the Life and Death of that unhappy Gentleman Mr. Blount with a pretence to vindicate his Murther of himself because his deceased Wife's Sister refused to be marry'd to him by all the Topicks and Arguments of Reason and Philosophy Which is such an Vndertaking as I am confident was never heard of before to prove that a Man may very gravely and Philosophically kill himself if a Woman whom he ought not to marry will not be his Wife It is strange to see that Men should think it fit to vent such things as these in the Face of the World but this discovers the Reason and Philosophy of these Men and is a fit Preface to such a Book This Wisdom descendeth not from Above Behold the Men in their Principles and Practices the
worought to confirm any sound and useful Doctrine The Confession of the False Gods when they were adjur'd by Christians p. 401. CHAP. IV. The Defect in point of Doctrine in the Heathen Religions The Theology of the Heathens absurd p. 403. Their Religious Worship wicked and impious p. 405. Humane Sacrifices customary in all Heathen Nations p. 406. No Body of Laws nor Rules of Good Life proposed by their Oracles p. 402. But Idolatry and Wickedness approved and recommended by them ibid. CHAP. V. Of the Philosophy of the Heathens The Heathen Philosophy very defective and erroneous p. 411. Whatever there is of Excellency in the Philosophy of the Heathens is owing to Revelation p. 423. If the Heathen Philosophy had been as certain and as excellent as it can be pretended to be yet there had been great need of a Divine Revelation p. 429 CHAP. VI. The Novelty and Defect in the Promulgation of the Mahometan Religion p. 436. CHAP. VII The want both of Prophecies and Miracles in the Mahometan Religion p. 439 CHAP. VIII The Alcoran is false absurd and immoral p. 441 CHAP. IX Of Mahomet That he was Lustful Proud and Cruel appears from the Alcoran it self p. 443 PART IV. CHAP. I. THat there is as great Certainty of the Truth of the Christian Religion as there is of the Being of God p. 447 CHAP. II. The Resolution of Faith The Scriptures considered 1. As Historically true 2. As to their Doctrine which concerns Eternal Salvation p. 451 452. From both these Considerations it follows that they are infallibly True p. 455. In many cases there is as much cause to believe what we know from others as what we see and experience our selves p. 456. And thus it is in the present case concerning the Resolution of Faith p. 460. The Evidence of Sense and of Humane Testimony in this case compared p. 462. The Certainty of both ultimately resolved into the Divine Veracity c. ibid. An Objection from Joh. xx 29. answered p. 467. The Truth of the Christian Religion evident even to a Demonstration p. 470 Newly Publish'd CHristian Thoughts for every Day in the Month with Reflections upon the most Important Truths of the Gospel To which is added Prayers for every Morning and Evening Price 1 s. A Course of Lectures upon the Church Catechism By Thomas Bray D. D. The Third Edition Price 5 s. Very proper to be read in Families A Minister's Counsel to the Youth of his Parish when Arrived to Years of Discretion Recommended to the Societies in and about London By Francis Bragge Vicar of Hitchin Hertfordshire Price 2 s. THE REASONABLENESS AND CERTAINTY OF THE Christian Religion BOOK I. PART I. IN Discoursing of the Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian Religion I shall use this Method I. I shall shew That from the Notion of a God it necessarily follows That there must be some Divine Revelation II. I shall enquire into the Way and Manner by which this Revelation may be suppos'd to be deliver'd and preserv'd in the World III. I shall shew That from the Notion of a God and the Nature and Design of a Divine Revelation it follows That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are that Divine Revelation IV. That no other Books or Doctrines whatsoever can be of Divine Revelation V. I shall from hence give a Resolution of our Faith by shewing That we have the same Evidence for the Truth and Divine Authority of the Scriptures that we have for the Being of God himself because it follows from the Notion of a God both that there must of necessity be some Divine Revelation and that the Scriptures are that Divine Revelation VI. Having done this I shall in the last Place endeavour to clear such Points as are commonly thought most liable to Exception in the Christian Religion and shall propose some Considerations which may serve to remove such Objections and obviate such Cavils as are usually rais'd against the Holy Scriptures CHAP. I. That from the Notion of a God it necessarily follows that there must be some Divine Revelation IN the first Place I shall shew how Reasonable and Necessary it is to suppose That God should Reveal himself to Mankind And I shall insist the rather upon this because it is not usually so much consider'd in this Controversie as it ought to be for if it were it certainly would go very far towards the proving the Divine Authority of the Scriptures since if it be once made appear that there must be some Divine Revelation it would be no hard Matter to prove that the Scriptures are that Revelation For if it be prov'd that there must be some Revealed Religion there is no other which can bear any Competition with that contain'd in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament My first Business therefore shall be to shew from the Consideration of the Attributes of God and of the Nature and State of Mankind that in all Reason we cannot but believe that there is some Revealed Religion in the World There is nothing more evident to Natural Reason than that there must be some Beginning some first Principle of Being from whence all other Beings proceed And nothing can be more absurd than to imagine that that wonderful Variety of Beings in the Heavens and Earth and Seas which all the Wisdom of Man is not able in any Measure to understand or throughly to search into should yet be produc'd and continu'd for so many Thousand Years together without any Wisdom or Contrivance that an unaccountable Concourse of Atoms which could never build the least House or Cottage should yet build and sustain the wonderful Fabrick of the whole World that when the very Lines in a Globe or Sphere cannot be made without Art the World it self which that is but an imperfect Imitation of should be made without it and that less Skill should be requir'd to the forming of a Man than is necessary to the making of his Picture that Chance should be the Cause of all the Order and Fortune of all the Constancy and Regularity in the Nature of Things and that the very Faculties of Reason and Understanding in all Mankind should have their Original from that which had no Sense or Knowledge but was meer Ignorance and Stupidity This is so far from being Reason and Philosophy that it is down-right Folly and Contradiction From a Being therefore of infinite Perfection must proceed all things that are besides with all their Perfections and Excellencies and among others the Virtues and Excellencies of Wisdom Justice Mercy and Truth must be deriv'd from him as the Author of all the Perfections of which the Creatures are capable And it is absurd to imagine that the Creator and Governor of the World who is infinitely more Just more Wise and Good and Holy than any Creature can be will not at last reward the Good and punish the Wicked For Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do Right
Principles of Natural Reason and Religion But when Miracles were perform'd which both for the End and Design of them as well as for the Manner and Circumstances of their Performance had all the Credibility that any Miracle could have if it were really wrought by God's immediate Power to confirm a Revelation if these Miracles have been foretold by Prophecies as on the other side the Prophecies were fulfill'd by the Miracles if they were done publickly before all sorts of Men and that often and by many Men successively for divers Ages together and all agreed in the same Doctrine and Design if neither the Miracles themselves nor the Doctrines which are attested by them can be discover'd to have any Deceit or Defect in them but be most excellent and divine and most worthy of God in such a Case we have all the Evidence for the Truth of the Miracles and of the Religion which they were wrought to establish that we can have for the Being of God himself For if these Miracles and this Religion be not from God we must suppose either that God cannot or that he will not so reveal himself by Miracle to the World as to distinguish his own Revelation from Impostures Both which Suppositions are contrary to the Divine Attributes contrary to God's Omnipotence because he can do all things and therefore can exceed the Power of all finite Beings and contrary to his Honour and Wisdom and Goodness because these require both that he should reveal himself to the World and that he should do it by Miracles in such a manner as to make it evident which is his Revelation But if he both can and will put such a Distinction between False Miracles and True as that Men shall not except it be by their own Fault be seduc'd by false Miracles then that Religion which is confirm'd by Miracles concerning which nothing can be discover'd to be either impious or false must be the true Religion For we have seen that there must be some Reveal'd Religion and that this Religion must be reveal'd by Miracle and we have the Goodness and Truth and Justice of God engag'd that we should not be impos'd upon by false Miracles without being able to discern the Imposture And therefore that Religion which both by its Miracles and Doctrine and Worship appears to be Divine and could not be prov'd to be false if it were so must certainly be true because the Goodness and Honour of God is concern'd that Mankind in a Matter of this Consequence should not be deceiv'd without their own Fault or Neglect by Impostures vented under his own Name and Authority Upon which account the Sin against the Holy Ghost in ascribing the Miracles wrought by Christ to Belzebub was so heinous above all other Crimes this being to reject the utmost Means that can be us'd for Man's Salvation and in Effect to deny the Attributes and very Being of God The Summ of this Argument is That though Miracles are a most fit and proper Means to prove the Truth of Religion yet they are not only to be consider'd alone but in Conjunction with other Proofs and that they must necessarily be true Miracles or Miracles wrought to establish the true Religion when the Religion upon the account whereof they are wrought cannot be discover'd to be false either by any Defect in the Miracles or by any other Means but has all the Marks and Characters of Truth Because God would not suffer the Evidence of Miracles and all other Proofs to concur to the Confirmation of a false Religion beyond all Possibility of discovering it to be so 3. How Divine Revelations may be suppos'd to be preserv'd in the World It is reasonable to suppose that Divine Revelations should be committed to Writing that they might be preserv'd for the Benefit of Mankind and deliver'd down to Posterity and that a more than ordinary Providence should be concern'd in their Preservation For whatever has been said by some of the Advantage of Oral Tradition for the Conveyance of Doctrines beyond that of Writing is so notoriously fanciful and strain'd that it deserves no serious Answer For till Men shall think it safest to make Wills and bequeath and purchase Estates by Word of Mouth rather than by Instruments in Writing it is in vain to deny that this is the best and securest way of Conveyance that can be taken So the common Sense of Mankind declares and so the Experience of the World finds it to be in things which Men take all possible Care about and it is too manifest and much to be lamented that Men are more sollicitous about things Temporal than about Eternal which affords too evident a Confutation of all the Pretences of the Infallibility of Oral Tradition upon this Ground That the Subject Matter of it are things upon which the Eternal Happiness or Misery of Mankind depends Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever Isa xxx 8. 4. It is requisite that a Divine Revelation should be of great Antiquity Because upon the same Grounds that we cannot think that God would not at all Reveal himself to Mankind we cannot suppose that he would suffer the World to continue long under a State of Corruption and Ignorance without taking some Care to remedy it by putting Men into a Capacity of knowing and practising the Duties of Vertue and Religion 5. Another requisite of a Divine Revelation is that it should be fully promulg'd and publish'd to the World for the general Good and Benefit of Mankind that it may attain the Ends for which a Revelation must be design'd THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART II. FROM what has been already Discours'd it appears That these Things are requisite in a Divine Revelation I. Antiquity II. Promulgation III. A sufficient Evidence by Prophecies and Miracles in Proof of its Authority IV. The Doctrines deliver'd by Divine Revelation must be Righteous and Holy consistent with the Divine Attributes and suitable to their Condition to whom it is made and every way such as may answer the Design of a Revelation CHAP. I. The Antiquity of the Scriptures AS it is evident from the Divine Attributes that God would not so wholly neglect Mankind as to take no Care to discover and reveal his Will and Commandments to the World so when there was so great a Necessity of Divine Revelation in order to the Happiness of Mankind both in this World and the next it is not to be believed that he would defer it so long before he made known his Will as till the Date of the first Antiquities amongst the Heathen It cannot be deny'd that some Books of the Seripture are much the Ancientest Books of Religion in the World for it were in vain to pretend that the Works in this kind or indeed in any other of any Heathen Author can be compar'd with
the Pentateuch for Antiquity And the Antiquity of these Books is one considerable Circumstance whereby we may be convinc'd that they are of Divine Revelation For if God would not suffer the World to continue long in a state of Ignorance and Wickedness without a Revelation we may conclude that he would not suffer the Memory of it to be lost and therefore a Book of this Nature which is so much the ancientest in the World being constantly received as a Divine Revelation carries great Evidence with it that it is Authentick For the first Revelation as hath been proved is to be the Criterion of all that follow and God would not suffer the ancientest Book of Religion in the World to pass all along under the Notion and Title of a Revelation without causing some Discovery to be made of the Imposture if there were any in it much less would he preserve it by a particular and signal Providence for so many Ages It is a great Argument for the Truth of the Scriptures that they have stood the Test and received the Approbation of so many Ages and still retain their Authority though so many ill Men in all Ages have made it their endeavour to disprove them but it is still a further Evidence in behalf of them that God has been pleased to shew so remarkable a Providence in their preservation The Account we have of Divine Revelation in the Writings of Moses is from the Creation of the World for he relates the Intercourse which from the Beginning past between God and Man and this might be delivered down either by Writing or by Tradition till Moses's time For Methuselah living with Adam and Shem with Methuselah Isaac with Shem and Amram the Father of Moses living with the Patriarchs the Sons of Jacob the History of the Creation and of the Manifestations which God had been pleas'd to make of himself to their Fore-fathers could not be unknown to that Age Such a Posterity could not but be zealous to preserve the Memory of so great Honours and Blessings and their living in Goshen separate from the Aegyptians did much contribute to the Preservation of their Antiquities for there they liv'd in Expectation of a Deliverance and of seeing the Prophecies fulfill'd that were made to their Fore-fathers concerning it The famous Prediction made to Abraham Gen. xv 13. could not be forgotten in so few Generations for the coming out of Aegypt was as it was there foretold it should be in the Fourth Generation reckoning from Isaac the first of the promised Seed to Moses exclusively Exod. vi 16. Moses seems to referr to some things that happened near the Beginning of the World as well known in his own time as Gen. iv 22. where he says the sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah For no probable account can be given why Naamah should be mention'd but because her Name was then well known among the Israelites for some reason which it doth not concern us to be acquainted with but which served to confirm to them the rest of the Relation Some have delivered that Naamah by her Beauty enticed the Sons of God or the Posterity of Seth to commit Idolatry Gen. vi 2. And so Gen. xi 29. we read that Haran was the Father of Ischa as well as of Milcah and Gen. xxxvi 24. this was that Anah that found the Mules or the Hot-Baths or that fell upon the Emims or Giants mention'd Deut. ii 10 11. however the word be understood in the wilderness as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father These and such like Particulars must have been preserved and commonly known among the Israelites and were therefore inserted to serve as Epocha's and notes of Remembrance for the better understanding the rest of the History The Story and manner of Life of Nimrod was conveyed in a Proverb Wherefore it is said Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. x. 9. And the Remembrance of Abraham's offering up his Son was retained both by the Name of the Place and by a Proverbial Saying And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh as it is said to this day In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen Gen. xxii 14. And there is no doubt to be made but that there were other the like Remembrances of the most remarkable Transactions Josephus has proved that Authors of all Nations agree that in ancient Times Men lived to the Age of about a Thousand Years and some are known to have lived to a very great Age in latter Times But however it had been more serviceable to Moses's purpose if he had had any other design but Truth that Men should not have been so long lived For when he had so much scope for his Invention if it had been an Invention of his own he would never have fix'd the Creation of the World at the distance of so few Generations from the time in which he wrote but would rather have made the Generations of Men more and their Lives shorter that so he might the better have concealed his Fictions in obscure and uncertain Relations which must be supposed to be delivered through so many hands down to that Age. The distance of Time from the Flood to Moses was more than it is from the Conqust to the present Age but half of this time Noah himself was living and therefore allowing for the greater length of Mens Lives in those Ages than in ours the time when Moses wrote cannot be computed at so great a distance from the Flood as we are at from the Reformation But is it possible to make any Man of tolerable Sense amongst us believe that Henry VIII was the first King of England that he lived above Seven hundred Years ago that there was a Deluge since his time which swept all the Inhabitants away of this Island and of the whole World besides but some seven or eight Persons and that all whom we now see were born of them And yet this as ridiculous as it seems is not more absurd than Moses's Account of the Creation and the Flood must have been to those of his own Time if it were false For it is very reasonable to think as Josephus informs us that Writing was in use before the Flood And it is not improbable as some have conjectured that the History of the Creation and the rest of the Book of Genesis was for the substance of it delivered down to Moses's time in Verse which was the most easie to be remembred and the most ancient of all sorts of Writing and was at first chiefly used for Matters of History and consisted of plain Narration without much of Art or Ornament We read of Instrumental Musick Gen. iv 21. before the Flood and Vocal Musick being so much more natural than Instrumental it is likely that Poetry was of as great Antiquity both in their Hymns and Praises of God and as a help to their Memories which are the two Ends to which Moses
applies his own Songs or Poems Exod. xv Deut. xxxii If it be thought that there was no Writing before the Flood because there is no Account of the Invention of it tho' the Inventors of other infeferior Arts be mention'd this rather proves the contrary and that it was coaeval with Mankind or was the Invention of Adam It is not probable that in so long a Life he should find out nothing for the use of himself and his Posterity though no Invention be attributed to him and Writing is so necessary that the World could very ill subsist without it for above Fifteen hundred Years The Grecians and other Nations have recorded the first Inventors as they supposed of Letters as those who best deserved a Memorial in History and since there is no other mention amongst the ancientest Jewish Writers but that they were before the Flood some of them also ascribing them to Adam this implies that they were of the greatest Antiquity and the Time of their Invention is no more known than that of Ploughing and Sowing and other necessary Arts which were from the Beginning of the World But though it should be supposed that before the Flood they had not the same Conveniencies for preserving the Remembrance of things past that we have had since yet things of this nature could never be imposed upon the generality of Men and if they had less Means of conveying things past to Posterity they had fewer things to convey and all their Histories being concerning the Ancestors of their own Families they were easily remembred and however short and imperfect they could not be so defective as that Men should generally be so grossly ignorant as to swallow such Impostures They had One Day in Seven purposely set apart for the Praise and Worship of God and the Commemoration of his Mercies vouchsafed to Mankind and they who had Proverbial Remembrances of Nimrod the third from Noah could not be ignorant of Noah himself and of the Flood in his time In so few Generations of Men as had past by reason of the long Lives of the Patriarchs it was impossible for Moses to impose upon those of his own Age in things so memorable as the Creation of the World and the Flood and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah c. But when so long after the Flood the Sons of Noah were dispersed into so far distant places of the Earth and their Manners and Customs were different and their Lives shorter it became necessary that a true and lasting Account of those things should stand recorded in a Book of infallible Credit and Authority for the benefit of future Ages lest in process of time the Remembrance of them should become obscure and confused and fabulous Stories should be imposed upon the World for Truth in Matters of so great importance For it has been observed by divers learned Men that the most ancient Histories as well as the Philosophy and Theology of the Heathens contain many things concerning the Creation of the World the first Propagation Mankind the Flood and other particulars which have so plain an agreement with what we read in the Book of Genesis that they are supposed to be taken out of it but they are obscured and disguised under other Names and Characters to conceal from whence they were originally taken and to gain them the better acceptance amongst those for whose use the Books containing them were designed by their Authors And when the Remembrance of God's Dealings with past Ages began to fail and the ways of Humane Conveyance were so uncertain it was requisite that some infallible Account should be given of Gods Dispensations and his Communications of himself in the first Ages which might be transmitted down to Posterity unto the End of the World CHAP. II. The Promulgation of the Scriptures THE End and Design of a Revelation from Heaven must be for the Good of Mankind and therefore it was necessary that it should be known and promulged in the World and that Revelation which has been known to most Nations and farthest divulged carries another Evidence of its Divine Authority For since it is necessary there should be some Divine Revelation it is likewise necessary that it should be sufficient to the Ends for which it was designed and it was revealed not to be concealed or confined to a few Persons but to rectifie the Mistakes and regulate the Manners of Men and therefore that which has been most known and farthest propagated we have reason to think to be a true Revelation If every thing else concurr to prove it true the very Promulgation of it is a considerable Evidence in proof of its Divine Authority Because it is not to be supposed that God would either suffer his own Revelation to be so stifled and surpress'd as to become of little or no use and benefit to the World or that he would permit false Revelations to be more known and divulged either of which would very ill consist with the Intention of Revealing his Will to Mankind It has been already proved That it is not to be expected that God should Reveal himself to every Man in particular and it could not be requisite that he should afford a constant and standing Revelation in all Nations of the World For if Mankind be sufficiently provided for in the Necessaries of Salvation this is all which in Reason can be expected from a Just and Good God to sinful and perverse Man If Men be put in the Ready Way of Salvation and have sufficient Means allowed them to attain it all beyond this is the meer arbitrary effect of Infinite Goodness and depends wholly upon the good Pleasure of God being more than we could promise our selves from his Justice or by Reason foresee from his Mercy it self And his Wisdom so orders and disposes the Effects and Emanations of his Mercy as to render them consistent with his Justice and Honour as He is Governor of the World And if in the first Ages Revelations were frequent and generally known amongst all Mankind till by their own fault and neglect they were with-holden from them it was the great Mercy of God afterwards to continue to those Nations who had despised and rejected him an opportunity of knowing his Will revealed to others And this God was pleased to do by appointing a chosen Seed and selecting to himself a peculiar People to bear his Name before the Nations and by the various Dispensations of his Providence he so disposed of that People that all Nations might be instructed in the things revealed and delivered to them First then I shall shew That in the first Ages of the World the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind Secondly That in succeeding Ages there has still been sufficient Means and frequent Opportunities for all Nations to come to the Knowledge of it 1. In the first Ages of the World the Revealed Will of God was known to all Mankind And here we must have
recourse to the History of the Bible since it is acknowledged by all learned Men to be so much the ancientest Book which can give us an Account of Religion in the World For unless we will reject all History and believe nothing related of Ancient Times we must take our Accounts from such Books as treat of them And till by the Method proposed I have proved the Bible to be of Divine Authority I shall alledge it only as an Historical Relation of Things past in which respect it would be unreasonable to deny it that credit which is allowed to other Books of that nature And this is all that is now desired in order to the clearing of what I am at present upon which is to shew That nothing requisite to a true Revelation is wanting to the Scriptures and therefore that they have been sufficiently promulged and made known to the World In the Beginning of the World God was pleased to create but one Man and one Woman and to People the Earth from them which must exceedingly tend both to the preservation of Order and Obedience amongst Men and to the retaining of the Knowledge of God and of his Ways and Dealings with the first Parents of Mankind But if Multitudes had been created and the Earth had been peopled at once the natural effect of this had been Ambition and Strife Confusion and Ignorance For as the Inhabitants of the World multiplied so did all Sin and Wickedness encrease though all descended from the same Parents and these Parents lived to see many Generations of their Off-spring and to instruct and admonish them which if any thing could have done it must have kept up a sense of God and Religion amongst Men. Adam himself performed the Office of a Father a Priest and a King to his Children and the Office and Authority of these three descended upon the Heads of Families in the several Generations and Successions of Kingdoms amongst his Posterity For that the same Person was both King and Priest in the earlier Ages of the World we learn from the best Antiquities of other Nations and it was so likewise amongst the Jews till God had appointed an Order and Succession of the Priesthood in one Tribe and therefore Esau is stiled a profane Person for selling his Birth-right Omnesque primogenitos Noe donec sacerdotio fungeretur Aaron fuisse Pontifices Hebraei tradunt Hieronym Quaestion seu Tradit Hebraic in Genes because the Priesthood went along with it Heb. xii 16. By all the Accounts we have of the World before the Flood we are assured that God was pleased at first to afford frequent Communications of himself to Mankind and even to the Wicked as to Cain whose Punishment it afterwards was to be hid from the face of the Lord and driven out from his presence Gen. iv 14 16. And when the Wickedness of Men had provoked God to drown the World he revealed this to Noah and respited the execution of this Judgment an Hundred Years and Noah in the mean time both by his Preaching and by preparing an Ark warned them of it and exhorted them to Repentance by preparing of an ark to the saving of his house he condemned the world Heb. xi 7. and he was a preacher of righteousness to the old world 2 Pet. ii 5. He made it his business for above an Hundred Years together to forewarn the wicked World of their approaching Ruine which he did by all the Ways and Means that a Wise and Great Man could contrive proper for that End Noah lived after the Flood Three hundred and fifty Years Gen. ix 28. and it was between One and Two hundred Years before the Division of Tongues and the Dispersion of the Sons of Noah And when all the Inhabitants of the Earth were of one Language and lived not far asunder Noah himself living amongst them the Judgment of God upon the wicked World in overwhelming them with the Flood his Mercies to Noah and his Family in their preservation when all the rest of the World perished and the Commandments which God gave to Noah at his coming out of the Ark with his Promises and Threatnings respectively to the performance or trangression of them must be well known and the sin in building the Tower of Babel for which the Universal Language was confounded and the Race of Mankind dispersed could proceed from nothing but the heigth of Presumption and Perverseness After the Confusion of Languages and the Dispersion of Mankind they could not on the sudden remove to very distant and remote Places by reason of the unpassable Woods and Desarts and Marshes which after so vast an Inundation must be every where to be met with to obstruct their passage in those hot and fruitful Countreys when they had lain uninhabited for so many Years This we may the better understand from the slow progress which was made in the Discoveries of the West-Indies For the Spaniards in those places where they found neither Guide nor Path did not enter the Country ten Miles (f) See Sir W. Rauleigh l. 1. c. 8. §. 3. in ten Years And in those Ages they could not but be ill provided either by their own Skill or by convenient Tools and Instruments with fit means to clear the Countrey which they were to pass and they were likewise unprovided of Vessels to transport any great numbers of Men with their Families and Herds of Cattle which were for many Ages their only Riches and absolutely necessary for their Sustenance for Navigation had never had so slow an Improvement in the World if it had so soon been in that Perfection as to enable them for such Transportation And as for these Reasons the Dispersion of Noah's Posterity over the Earth must be gradual and many Generations must pass before the remoter Parts of it could be inhabited so the several Plantations must be supposed to hold Correspondence with those to whom they were nearest allyed and from whom they went out they must be supposed to own some sort of Dependance upon them and pay them such Acknowledgments as Colonies have ever done to their Mother-Cities It is natural to suppose that they first spread themselves into the neighbouring Countries and as Sir Walter Rauleigh has observed the first Plantations were generally by the Banks of Rivers whereby they might hold Intelligence one with another which they could not do by Land that being overspread with Woods and altogether unfit for travelling And the great affinity which is observable between the Eastern Languages proves that there was a continual Correspondence and Commerce maintained between the several Nations after the Dispersion All which considering the great Age that Men lived in those times must without a very gross Neglect and Contempt of God preserve a true Notion of Religion in the several Parts of the World For Noah himself lived Three hundred and Fifty Years after the Flood his Sons were not soon dispersed their Dispersion was gradual and
from them In Africa besides the Christians living in Aegypt and in the Kingdom of Congo and Angola the Islands upon the Western Coasts are inhabited by Christians and the vast Kingdom of Habassia or Abassinia supposed to be as big as Germany France Spain and Italy taken together according to Mr. Brerewood's computation is possess'd by Christians And till less than Two hundred Years ago Nubia a Countrey of a great extent lying between the Aequator and the Northern Tropick continued as it 's believed from the Apostles times in the Christian Religion In Asia he says most part of the Empire of Russia the Countries of Circassia and Mengrelia Georgia and Mount Libanus are inhabited only by Christians besides the dispersion of them into other Parts under the denomination of Nestorians Jacobites Maronites and Armenians the last of which are a People exceedingly addicted to Traffick (m) Brerewood's Enquir c. 24. and have great Privileges granted them by the Turks and other Mahometans they are found in multitudes in most Cities of great Trade and are more dispersed than any other Nation but the Jews and the Jacobites are reported to be dispersed into Forty Kingdoms In the Promontory extending it self into the Indian Sea are the Christians of Saint Thomas so called because first converted by him who is believed to lie buried at Maliapour and they have continued in the Christian Religion from his time It must be confess'd that in Mengrelia and other Countries the Doctrines of Religion are much corrupted and their Practice very different from the Profession of Christians but however they retain the Gospel among them and it is every Man 's own fault if he make not a good use of those Means of Salvation which God in his Providence has afforded him Of late the New Testament in the Malayan Tongue and Grotius his excellent Book of the Truth of the Christian Religion in Arabick have been translated and printed at the Charge of the Honourable Mr. Boyle and the first disperst over all the East-Indies where the Malayan Language is used and the latter into all the Countries where Arabick is spoken He also contributed to the Impression of the New Testament which was made by the Turkish Company in the Language of the Turks In America it is notorious that the Christians are sufficiently numerous and have sufficient opportunities to instruct the Natives if they were but as careful to improve them to so good an end rather than in pursuit of their own Gain The summ of all is this Before the Flood Revelations were so frequent and the Lives of Men so long that no Man could be ignorant of the Creation and of the Providence of God in the Government of the World and the Duties required towards him And in the first Ages after the Flood God's Will reveal'd to Noah and the Precept given to him at his coming out of the Ark must be well known to all the surviving World and as soon as the Remembrance of them began to decay and Men to fall into Idolatry Abraham and the other Patriarchs were sent into divers Countries to proclaim God's Commandments and to testifie against the Impiety of Idolaters where-ever they came For to publish the Reveal'd Will of God and make it generally known in the World God was pleas'd to chuse to himself a peculiar People and to send them first out of Mesopotamia into Canaan and upon occasion back again into Mesopotamia and then several times into Aegypt and from thence after they had dwelt there some Hundreds of Years into Canaan again at what time he appointed them Laws admirably fitted and contriv'd for the receiving of Strangers and Proselytes After many signal Victories and after other Captivities they were carry'd away captive to Babylon and were still deliver'd and restor'd by a Wonderful and Miraculous Providence and had vast numbers of Proselytes in all Parts of the known World and many Footsteps and Remainders of the True Religion are found in the remotest Parts of the Earth And when by the just Judgment of God upon the Jews for their Sin in rejecting the Messias they were rejected by him from being his People they were dispers'd throughout the World for a Testimony to all Nations that Moses and the Prophets deliver'd no other thing than what God had reveal'd to them since they continue to maintain and assert those very Books which plainly foretell all that Ruine and Destruction that has befallen them for their Infidelity and Disobedience They are a standing Evidence in all Parts of the World of the Truth of the Christian Religion bearing that Curse which their Fore-fathers so many Ages ago imprecated upon themselves and their Posterity when they caus'd Christ to be crucify'd And the Gospel has by its own Power and Evidence manifested it self to all People dispers'd over the Face of the whole Earth To which might be added That the Mahometans owning so much of the Religion reveal'd both in the Old and New Testament afford some kind of Testimony to the Truth of it in those vast Dominions of which they are possess'd All the most remarkable Dispensations of Providence in the several Changes in the World have had a particular Influence in the Propagation of the True Religion Cyrus Alexander the Great divers of the Roman Emperors and of latter Times Tamerlain and several other Princes were great Favourers of it and the worst of Men and the most unlikely Accidents have contributed towards the Promotion of it If it be Objected That notwithstanding all which has been said great Part of the World are Vnbelievers Let it be consider'd 1. That there is no Nation but has great Opportunities of being converted and it is evident from what has been produc'd concerning the Chinese and the Americans themselves that the Christian Religion had been preach'd among them tho' the Knowledge of it was lost through their own Fault before the late Discoveries of those Parts of the World And as Christ came into the World in the fulness of time so in the fulness of time that is at the most fitting season he reveal'd himself to the several Nations of it God who is infinitely gracious to all and knows the Hearts and Dispositions of all Men might defer the restoring his Gospel to the Chinese for Instance till that very time when he saw them best prepar'd for it And it is remarkable That the Discovery of the Indies happen'd about the time of the Reformation that those poor People might have the Purity as well as the Truth of Religion if Christians had been as little wanting to them in their Charity as God has been in the Disposals of his Providence He stays till they have filled up the measure of their iniquities before he punishes a People and for the same Reasons of Mercy and Goodness he waits for the most proper seasons to impart his Revealed Will to them and to have it preach'd to them before would be only to encrease their
a higher Principle than they did It is impossible for the wit of man to contrive any thing so admirably fitted to procure the happiness of Mankind as their Doctrines are no precepts can be more righteous and holy no rewards more excellent nor punishments more formidable than those of the Gospel and which is above all no Religion besides ever afforded nor could all the reason of Mankind ever have found out such powerful Motives to the Love of God which is the only true principle of Obedience Our Religion contains no dry and empty speculations but all its Mysteries are Mysteries of Love and Mercy Others may fear God but it is the Christian only that can truly love him and trust in him and in all conditions in Life and in death look up to him as his Father his Saviour and Comforter This Religion places men in the presence of God and entitles them to his peculiar favour and care it declares God to be their Friend and Protector here and their everlasting Rewarder after Death it promises and assures us of all the happiness both in Body and Soul that we are capable of which is the utmost that can be expected or wished for from any Revelation and the proper and peculiar reason why God should establish Religion in the World It appears from this whole discourse that nothing is wanting in the Books of the Old and New Testament which can be expected in any Revelation They are of the greatest Antiquity and have been Preached throughout the World and have abundant evidence both by Prophecies and Miracles of their Divine Authority and the Doctrine contained in them is such as God must be supposed to reveal Mankind having visible Characters in it of the Divine Goodness and Holiness and having exceedingly conduced to the reformation of the world THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART III. That there is no other Divine Revelation but that contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament THat there is no other institution of Religion besides that delivered in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament which has all things necessary to a Divine Revelation may be shewn in the several Particulars necessary to a Divine Revelation as that no other Religion ever was of like Antiquity or had equal Promulgation that no other had sufficient evidence of Miracles and Prophecies in proof of it and lastly that there never was any other which did not teach many Doctrines that are unworthy of God and contrary to the Divine Attributes and therefore impossible to come from Heaven This I shall prove first of the Religions of the Heathens secondly of the Mahometan Religion CHAP. I. The Novelty of the Heathen Religions THE Novelty of the Religions amongst the Heathens whom we have any certain account of from their Writings in respect of the Scriptures is so notorious having been so often proved by learned men and is so generally acknowledged that it is needless to insist much upon it The Heathens generally were strangers to every thing of Antiquity and therefore must be unable to give any proof of the Antiquity of their Religions The pretences which the Egyptians made to Antiquity so much beyond the times recorded in the Scriptures proceeded from their reckoning by Lunar years or (a) Diodor Sic. lib. i. Plutarch in Numa Var. apud Lactant. de Orig. Error lib. ii c. 12. months but they had so different accounts however of Chronology that as Diodorus Siculus says some of them computed thirteen thousand years more than others from the Original of their Dynasties to the time of Alexander the Great And the Solar year in use among the Egyptians who were most samous for Astronomy was so imperfect that they said the Sun had several times changed (b) Herod Euterpâ— his Course since the beginning of their Dynasties imputing the defect of their own computation for want of intercalary days to the Sun's variation or else affecting to speak something wonderful and extravagant The earliest Astronomical observations to be met with which were made in Egypt are those performed by the Greeks of Alexandria less than CCC years before Christ as (c) Mr. Wotton's Reflections upon ancient and modern Leâ—râ—ing c. 23. Mr. Halley has observed (d) Vitru◠〈…〉 4. The Chaldaeans supposed the Moon to be a luminons Body and therefore could have no great skill in Astronomy besides they wanted Instruments to make exact observations ' All we have of them says the same learned (e) Iâ— Mr. 〈◊〉 Reflect ib. Astronomer is only seven Eclipses of the Moon and even those but very coursely set down and the oldest not much above DCC years before Christ so that after all the fame of these Chaldaeans we may be sure they had not gone far in this Science and though Calisthenes be said by Porphyry to have brought from Babylon to Greece observations above MDCCCC years older than Alexander yet the proper Authors making no mention or use of any such renders it justly suspected for a Fable So little ground is there for us to depend upon the Accounts of Time and the vain boasts of Antiquity which these Nations have made He farther observes that the Greeks were the first Practical Astronomers who endeavoured in earnest to make themselves Masters of the Science and that Thales was the first who could predict an Eclipse in Greece not DC years before Christ and that Hipparchus made the first Catalogue of the fixt Stars not above CL. years before Christ According to that known observation (f) Censorin de Die Natali c. 21. of Varro there was nothing that can deserve the name of History to be found among the Greeks before the Olympiads which were but about twenty years before the building of Rome And whatever Learning or Knowledge of ancient times the Romans had they borrowed it from the Greeks For they were so little capable of transmitting their own affairs down to Posterity with any exactness in point of time that for (g) Id. c. 23. some Ages they had neither Dials nor Hour-glasses to measure their days and nights for by common use and for three hundred years they knew no such things as hours or the like distinctions but computed their time only from Noon to Noon so that it is no wonder that their Calendar was in such confusion till Caesar regulated it The pretensions of the Chineses to Antiquity appear equally vain and upon the same grounds For they understood little or nothing of Astronomy or else the Missionaries by their Skill in that Art would not have been able so much to insinuate themselves with the Emperors of China Indeed the Chineses themselves (h) Martin Hist Sin lib. i. ii Atl. Sinic Praef. Philip Couplet in Confuc Proen Declar. Praef. ad Fab. Chronol Sinicae Monarchiae Le Compt's Memoirs p. 64. 71. 464. confess that their Antiquities are in great part fabulous and they acknowledge
that their most ancient Books were in Hieroglyphicks which are not expounded by any who lived nearer than MDCC years to the first Author of them that the numbers in computation are sometimes mistaken or that Months are put for Years But of what Antiquity or Authority soever their first Writers were there is little or no credit to be given to the books now remaining since that general destruction of all ancient Books by the Emperor Xi Hoam ti who lived but about two hundred years before Christ he commanded upon pain of death all the Monuments of Antiquity to be destroyed relating either to History or Philosophy especially the Books of Confucius and killed many of their Learned men so that from his time they have only some fragments of old Authors left The Chinese are a people vain enough and love to magnify themselves to the Europeans which makes them endeavour to have it believed that their Antiquities are sufficiently entire notwithstanding this destruction of their Books and for the same reason they described the Emperor's Observatory as the most compleat and the best fitted for the uses of Astronomy that could be imagined but upon the view it appeared very inconsiderable and the Instruments were found useless and new ones were placed in their room made by the direction of Father Verbiest This people after all their boasts of skill in Astronomy were not able to make an exact Calendar and their Table of Eclipses were so uncorrect that they could scarce foretel about what time that of the Sun should happen And in a Petition which the Emperor of China in favour it seems to the Missionaries had privately drawn up to be presented by them to himself in publick it is said that Father Adam Schaal made it known to all the Court that the Rules of the Coelestial Motions established by the ancient Astronomers of China were all false And not only the common people of China but the chief Mandarines are so ignorant and superstitious that when they see the Sun or Moon under an Eclipse with Sacrifices and other Rites and with great noise and clamor they apply themselves to rescue them from the Dog or Dragon which they imagine is like to devour them So little credit is to be given to the pretences which the several Nations among the Heathens have made to Antiquity without any ground from History but upon wandring discourses of observations in Astronomy which they had little or no skill in And it has been made evident by divers learned men that the most ancient and the very best of the Heathen Gods were but Men whom the Scriptures mention as worshippers of the True God such as Noâ—h Joseph Moses c. CHAP. II. Of the Defect in the Promulgation of the Heathen Religions THe Propagation of the several Religions profest among the Heathens has been very inconsiderable For they were never extant in Books to be publickly read and examined but their Mysteries were kept secret and concealed from the world and all the knowledge the people had of them was from the Priests Every Country had its peculiar Deities and ways of Worship which were seldom received or known but in those places where they were first set up The (a) Valer-Max de Peregrina Relig. rejecta lib. 1. c. 3. Romans rejected many foreign Religions as abominable and none of their Religions ever prevailed but where they had the temporal Power to uphold them And they lost ground daily by the propagation of the Gospel whilst the greatest part of the Empire made it their business to oppress it and to maintain the Heathen Religions against it It is to be observed that the Christian Religion is at this day Preached in all parts of the Heathen world and has been ever since its first propagation as the Jewish Religion was before but where Christianity has prevailed Heathenism has been never able to maintain its ground and there are hardly any but Christians excepting some few Jews to be found in Christian Countries which makes a great abatement in the disproportion that Heathenism in general may seem to have in its numbers above Christianity But if we examine the particular Religions of the Heathens there is no comparison and the only thing here to be enquired into is whether any particular Religion of the Heathens exceed or equal the Christian Religion in point of Promulgation for who ever can imagine that all or any great number of the Heathen Religions are of Divine Revelation must suppose God to reveal contradictions The Question before us is not whether Heathens are more numerous than Christians but whether any of their Religions has been as fully promulged as the Christian One Herald is enough to promulge a Law to many thousands the City of Nineve was converted by one Prophet and there is perhaps no Nation in the world but has more Christians in it than the first Preachers of the Gospel were CHAP. III. The Defect of the Prophecies and Miracles of the Heathen Religions IT cannot be denied by any man who is not resolved to reject the Authority of all History but that many wonders have been done by Magicians and that many things have been foreshown and foretold among Heathens by Dreams and Prodigies and Oracles which did actually come to pass but then all that can be gathered from hence is that there are invisible Powers and that Devils and wicked Spirits are able to do more than men can do and to know more than men can know for which reason in former Ages there was no more doubt made whether there be Spirits than whether there be men in the world for they were continually sensible of the Operations and Effects of invisible Beings which made them exceedingly prone to Idolatry but not enclined to Atheism And the case is the same now in Heathen Countries where Apparitions and Delusions of evil Spirits are affirmed by all Writers to be very frequent But if at any time evil Spirits by their subtilty and experience and knowledge of affairs in the World did foretel things which accordingly came to pass they were things that happened not long after and commonly such as themselves did excite and prompt Men to Thus when the conspiracy against Caesar was come just to be put in Execution and the Devil had his Agents concerned in it he could foretel the time and place of his Death But it had been foretold to Pompey Crassus and Caesar himself before as (a) Tull. de Divin lib. ii Tully informs us from his own knowledge that they should all die in their Beds and in an honourable old Age. Some Oracles might possibly take their Answers from the Scriptures as that of Jupiter Hammon concerning Alexander's Victories if it were not meerly a piece of flattery which proved true by chance Evil Spirits might likewise be able to inform Men at a great distance of Victories the same day they were won as it is related (b) Ib. of several and in
If we have nothing to object but the imperfection of human nature we may rely upon God that this shall never mislead us in a matter of such consequence whether the imperfection be in our own sences or in the Testimony of others In short the Miracles related in the Scriptures will as effectually prove a Divine Revelation to us as they could to those that saw them but the difference is that they believed their sences and we believe them and all things considered we have as much reason to believe upon their evidence as they could have to believe upon the evidence of their sences Let us consider History as a medium by which these Miracles become known to us and compare this medium with that of Sight If a man would be sceptical he might doubt whether any medium of Sight be so fitly disposed as to represent objects in their due proportion and proper shape he might suspect that any Miracles which he could see were false or wrought only to amuse and deceive him and there would be no way to satisfy such an one but by telling him that this is inconsistent with the Truth and Goodness of God So in this other medium of History which to us supplies the want of that of Sight a man may doubt of any matter of Fact if he Pleases notwithstanding the most credible evidence but in a matter of this nature where our Eternal Salvation is concerned we may be sure God will not suffer Mankind to be deceived without all possibility of discovering the deceit The circumstances have all the marks of credibility in them and therefore if they be duely attended to cannot but be believed and the Doctrine which they are brought in evidence of being propounded to be believed under pain of Damnation require that they should be attended to and considered and that which is in its circumstances most credible and in its matter is supposed necessary to Salvation must be certainly true unless God could oblige us to believe a Lye For not to believe things credible when attended to and known to be such is to humane nature impossible and not to attend to things proposed as from God of necessity to Salvation is a very heinous Crime against God and to think that God will suffer me to be deceived in what I am obliged in Honour and obedience to him to believe upon his Authority is to think he can oblige me to believe a Lye But it may be objected if this be so how comes it to pass that they are prâ—nounced blessed who have not seen and yet have believed John xx 29. Which seems to denote that a peculiar Blessing belongs to them because they believe upon less evidence I answer that they are there pronounced Blessed who had so well considered the nature and circumstances of things the Prophecies concerning the Messias and what our Saviour had delivered of himself as to believe his Resurrection upon the report of others not because others might not have as sufficient Grounds for their Belief as those who saw him after his Resurrection but the evidence of sense is more plain and convincing to the generality of men though Reason proceeds at least upon as sure and as undeniable Principles A demonstration when it is rightly performed is as certain as the self evident Principles upon which it proceeds though it be so far removed from them that every one cannot discern the connexion Demonstrations may be far from being easie and obvious but are oftentimes we know very difficult and intricate which yet when they are once made out are as certain as sense it self The Blessing is pronounced to him who believes not upon less evidence But upon that which at first seems to be less which is less observable and less obvious to our consideration but not less certain when it is duly considered For which reason our Saviour after he had wrought many Miracles that were effectually attested by sufficient witnesses required Faith in those who came to be healed of him because the Testimony of others was the means which in Ages to come was to be the motive of Faith in Christians and he thereby signified to us that there may be as good Grounds for Faith upon the report of others as we could have from our own sences and generally those who came in unbelief went away no better satisfied Wherefore it is said that in his own Country because of their unbelief he could do no mighty work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick Folk and healed them Mark vi 5. He could not do his mighty works because they would be ineffectual and would be lost upon them and he could do nothing Insignificant or in vain if they would reject what had been so fully witnessed to them they would not believe whatever Miracles they should see him do It is very remarkable that amidst all his Miracles our Saviour directs his Followers to Moses and the Prophets and appeals to the Scriptures for the Authority of his very Miracles and that even after his Resurrection he instructs his Disciples who saw and discoursed with him out of the Scriptures to confirm them in the truth of it Luke xxiv 26 27. He requires the Jews to give no greater credit to his own Miracles than that which he implies they already gave to the wrirings of Moses so as firmly and stedfastly to believe that he came from God And we having all the helps and advantages which the Jews had to create in them a Belief of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and many more and greater Motives if it be possible to believe these of the New must therefore have sufficient means to excite in us that Faith which our Saviour required of those who saw his Works and heard his Doctrine which certainly was a Divine Faith and all the Faith which if it be accompanied with sincere and impartial obedience is required in order to Salvation Upon the whole matter I conclude that the Truth of the Christian Religion is evident even to a Demonstration for it is as Demonstrable that there is a God as it is that I my self am or that there is any thing else in the World because nothing could be made without a Maker or created without a Creator and it is as Demonstrable that this God being the Author of all the perfections in men must himself be infinitely perfect that he is infinitely Wise and Just and Holy and Good and that according to these Attributes he could not suffer a false Religion to be imposed upon the world in his own Name with such manifest Tokens of credibility that no man can possibly disprove it but every one is obliged to believe it FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by R. Wellington at the Dolphin and Crown in St. Paul 's Church-Yard Newly Published A Treatise of Medicines containing an Account of their Chymical Principles the Experiments made upon them their Various Preparations and Vertues and the
others it seems probable that the highest degree of Excommunication among the Jews being styled Shammatha which is the same with Maran Atha Sham signifying Lord as †Vid. Grot. Ham. ad 1 Cor. xvi 22. Maran also doth in the Syriac and other Languages and Atha signifying cometh Atha might either Ignorantly or Maliciously be mistaken for Athon which signifies an Ass And it is likely that this Calumny might be first raised by some Body who had been Excommunicated and turned Apostate It would be a very wrong inference from what has been said to conclude that there is no certainty in the Greek and Latin and other Heathen Historians For the Circumstances of the Relation and the Consent of divers Authors may put most parts of History past doubt But it ought to be considered that those which have been mentioned are exceptions to which the Sacred Historians are by no means liable they do not charge one another with Falshood nothing can be discovered of Partiality in their Writings but they tell the most disgraceful Truths of their Ancestors and of themselves and the History it self has so many publick Circumstances that they clear it beyond all suspicion of Deceit If the Names of some Men be omitted upon particular occasions in the Scriptures we find them mentioned there upon others And there is evident Reason that the Names of infamous Men should in some Cases be omitted and should not be inserted in Genealogies and enrolled in the Registers of Honour But when the Memory of Persons and Actions is totally supprest this must extreamly abate the Credit of any History The Jews are the only People in the World that have had their Antiquities by an uninterrupted Tradition delivered down and preserved in an Authentick Book unanimously asserted by the whole Nation in all Ages which they have never changed nor altered but have in great numbers sacrificed their Lives in Testimony of it If the Heathens in divers things contradict the History of the Jews they contradict one another as much in the Accounts of their own Antiquities and what they relate of the Jews is upon uncertain and contrary Reports If they conceal what concerns the Jews it was their Custom to stifle that which did not please them The Histories as well as the Religion of most other Nations were kept secret and not communicated to the People no Book of History among them was ever put into the hands of a whole Nation with a strict Charge to every one to read and study it as the Books of Moses were when the Principal and most Memorable things related were within the knowledge and Memory of all that read them The Jews were under a necessity of preserving their Genealogies with all imaginable Care and Exactness if they would make good the Claim and Title to their Inheritances so that the meanest among them could with the greatest certainty derive his Line from Adam whereas the Persian Kings as we learn from (r) Herod lib. vii c. 11. Herodotus could boast but of a short Descent and the Kings and Emperours of the Romans and of other Nations to advance their Pedigrees were forced to have recourse to fabulous Reports And the Heathen Accounts of the Original not only of particular Families but of the several Nations of the World are acknowledged to be Fabulous or at the best but very uncertain by the most accurate Historians The Account of the Prophecies and Miracles contained in the Scriptures was impossible to be mistaken at first and it has been transmitted with all the certainty that any History is capable of to Posterity And the Writers of the Old and New Testament all agree in the Account of the Creation of the Deluge of Abraham and the other Patriarchs of the Bondage of the Israelites in Aegypt their Miraculous Deliverance from thence and their Journying into the Land of Canaan they all frequently assert suppose or imply the Truth of these things there is a continued Series and Line of Truth observable throughout the whole Scriptures But among Heathen Writers it is otherwise they contradict one another in Matters of any considerable Antiquity if they agree in some material Passages it is commonly with much variation in the Circumstances and with great Uncertainty and Doubtfulness and the things in which they most agree are such as have been taken from the Scriptures which compose a Book that if it were but for the Antiquity and Learning of it is the most valuable of any Book in the World and nothing but Vice and Ignorance and that which is the worst sort of Ignorance a Pretence to Learning could make it so much despised II. If the Histories of Heathen Nations be so little to be relied upon their Philosophy will appear to be worthy of no more Regard which for any thing of Truth and Usefulness there is to be found in it depends so much upon Historical Traditions That Poetry is the most antient way of Writing is not only asserted by Heathen Authors but may with great probability be made out from the Scripture it self Poets were the Chief upholders of the Religion and the Philosophy in use among the Heathens both these were at the first taught in short Maxims which that they might be the better received and the more easily retain'd in Memory were put into Verse without any farther Ornament than just what was necessary to give a clear and full Expression to their Notions and Precepts (s) Xenoph. Conviv Memorab lib. 1. Socrates and the Philosophers of his time had a value for the Verses of Theognis and those which go under the Name of Pythagoras are at least as antient as (t) Apuâ— A Gell. lib. vi c. 2. Chrysippus who alleg'd their Authority Solon himself wrote Elegies whereof some Remains are still preserv'd This gave the Poets a mighty Reputation and we find not only Solon but others of them quoted and appeal'd to by Demosthenes and Aeschines in the Courts of Judicature as well as by Philosophers in their Discourses But the Poets for the more delightful Entertainment of the People not only indulged themselves in that antient and useful way of Instruction by Fables for he (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. Plâ—et was hardly esteem'd a Poet who had been the Authors of none but they became the Promoters of all manner of Superstitions and Idolatrous Worship the Oracles were delivered in Verse every Poet wrote something in Honour of the false Gods and (w) Plat. â—b Socrates himself during his Imprisonment made a Hymn in praise of Apollo By which means the Original Notions of Religion and Vertue were so obscured and corrupted that it was impossible in any Humane way to provide a sufficient Remedy Plato complain'd of the Fictions of Poets but when he set himself to recover Men to a true Sense and Notion of things by the help of some antient Traditions which he had met withal he fell into very absurd and sinful
Papists that no difference is to be found in the several Copies of the Bible which can prejudice the Fundamental Points of Religion or weaken the Authority of the Scriptures p. 135. No less may be said in behalf of the New Testament than of the Old The great care and Reverence which the Primitive Christians had for the Books of it Hereticks could not corrupt the Text and pass undiscovered to the Orthodox or even by other Hereticks p. 140. CHAP. VI. Of the Difficulties in Chronology in the Holy Scriptures THe uncertainty of Chronology in general p. 142. Differences in Chronology do not infer uncertainty in the Matters of Fact themselves p 143. They do not infer that there was any Chronological Mistake made by the Pen-men of the Holy Scriptures p. 145. The total Term of Years is not always exactly distinguished from all the Particulars of which it is composed and this has been the occasion of Mistakes in Chronology p. 146. Another occasion of Mistakes has been that sometimes the Principal Number is set down and the odd or lesser Number is omitted which is added to the Principal Number in other places p. 147. Sometimes an Epocha is mistaken by Chronologers p. 149. The likeness of two Words may occasion Variations in Chronology p. 150. The Numeral Letters were easily mistaken by Transcribers ib. Some Alterations of the Septuagint from the Hebrew seem to have been made with design p. 151. The Terms of Time sometimes taken inclusively and at other times exclusively p. 154. CHAP. VII Of the Obscurity of some places in the Scriptures particularly of the Types and Prophecies HOw it comes to pass that there are some things in the Scriptures hard to be understood p. 157. Some Doctrins are difficult in themselves p. 158. The Learning and Wisdom of ancient Times consisted in Proverbs and Parables p. 161. Many places of Scripture which are obscure to us were not obscure in the Ages when they were written p. 164. The main scope and design of Parables is to be observed and not every word and circumstance to be insisted upon p. 168 The Obscurity of Prophecies and Types considered p. 170. Differences in the interpretations of Phrophecies no Argument for the uncertainty of them ib. It is evident and agreed by Interpreters that Prophecies have been fulfilled tho' they differ about the Time when they were fulfilled p. 171. Some Prophecies purposely obscure and why p. 172. Some Prophecies had never been conveyed down to Posterity unless they had been obscurely written p. 175. Others could never have been fulsilled ib. If Prophecies had been plainer it would have been thought that they had been fulfilled only by design and contrivance p. 177. Men would have committed Sin in many cases to fulfill Prophecies ib. They may sometimes be obscure in Mercy to Men p. 178. And at other times for a Judgment upon the Obstinate p. 179. The obscurity of Prophecies designed to abate the Confidence and exercise the diligence of Men p. 180. Some Prophecies plainly delivered by all Prophets those which are not so delivered of great use even before the Accomplishment This shewn of the Revelation of St. John p. 182. The Nature and Certainty of Types considered p. 177. The obscurities of Scriptures is not such as to be any prejudice to the end and design of them p. 180. CHAP. VIII Of the Places of Scripture which seem to contradict each other NO Reason to expect that the Scriptures should be so penned as to afford no suspicion of Contradiction to injudicious and rash Men p. 184. what Method ought to be taken to make a true Judgment of any Author p. 186. An Objection may imply too much as well as prove too little to be of any force p. 187. Contradictions in Points of Chronology and other things of little moment tho' they should have happened by the fault and negligence of Men would be no Argument against the Authority of the Scriptures p. 190. CHAP. IX Of the Creation of the World and the Preservation of it OF the Time when the World began p. 193. There is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at first made by Mechanical Laws tho' it was preserved according to such Laws p. 194. Sufficient Reasons may be given for the Creation of the World in that manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis p. 196. with respect to the Angels p. 200. with respect to Men p. 203. The Preservation of the World is not performed according to Mechanical Principles p. 208. The Mechanical Hypotheses grounded upon mistake viz. that there is always the same Quantity of Motion p. 208. that there is a Plenum ib. They suppose it move Worthy of God to leave Matter and Motion to perform all by themselves without his immediate Interposition and Assistance p. 210. The Ordinary and Extraordinary or Miraculous Works of God considered p. 211. The Laws of the Material and of the Moral part of the World compared p. 213. The Mechanical Hypotheses inconsistent with our Duty of Prayer to God for deliverance in Sickness and Dangers p. 214. The Mechanical Philosophy proceeds upon a mistaken Notion of God p. 215. CHAP. X. Of other Habitable Worlds besides this Earth ALL things are alike easy to God yet Men are most inclined to admire and Glorify Him for the vastness of his Works p. 218. Wonderful Discoveries lately made upon Earth by Microscopes as well as by Telescopes in the Heavens But Angels who have no need of artificial Helps to discern them glorify God for his Works more than Men p. 219. The use and benefit of the Stars p. ib. The Earth to be considered as the Seat of Mankind in all Ages under which Notion it is no contemptible Place p. 220. The Planets not inhabitable ib. For what uses they may be designed p. 222. CHAP. XI That there is nothing in the Scriptures which contradicts the late Discoveries in Natural Philosophy THe use of popular Expressions implies neither the Affirmation nor the Denial of the Philosophical Truth of them p. 224. How the Sun is said to stand still Jos x. 12. p. 225. The Firmament in the midst of the Waters Gen. 1.6 explained p. 226. The Sun and the Moon how said to be Two great Lights Gen. 1.16 p. 227. The Pillars of the Earth 1 Sam. 11.8 p. 229. The Sky-strong and as a Molten Looking-Glass Job xxxvii 18. ib. The Scripture speaks strictly according to Philosophy p. 230. CHAP. XII Of Man's being Created capable of Sin and Damnation THis repugnant neither to the Justice nor Mercy of God p. 231. The Objection rightly stated p. 233. The Glory of God is more advanced and the Attributes of his Wisdom and his Justice and of his Goodness it self are more displayed by leaving Men to a freedom of Acting than they would have been by Imposing an inevitable Fate upon Mankind p. 234. Freedom of Action conduceth more to the Happiness of the Blessed than a necessity of not Sinning could
is ordinary with the best Writers to express things uncertainly which they were notwithstaning throughly acquainted withal and to seem ignorant of things which they perfectly understood but past over as not worth the taking notice of or not considerable enough for them to own the knowledge of them It is a known Elegancy to say nescio quid or nescio quem when the Author so speaking was not ignorant of the thing or person there meant but either signified his contempt of the person or thing or intimated that it was not worth his while to trouble himself or his Hearers or Readers with a more particular relation The * Credo haec eadem Indutiomarum in testimonio timuisse aut cogitasse qui primum illud verbum consideratissimum nostrae consuetudinis Arbitror quo nos etiam tunc utimur cum ea dicimus jurati quae comperta habemus quae ipsi vidimus ex toto teslimonio suo sustulit atque omnia se scire dixit Cic. pro M. Fonteio Romans out of that Awe and Reverence which they had for Oaths never spoke positively in giving evidence of things which they were certain of and had seen themselves And uncertain forms of Speech are observed †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uip. in Demost Olynth 1. by Vlpian to have been usual thy Aneient Greek Authors in their speaking of things whereof they were very well assured It could be of no use or moment in relation to the miraculous draught of Fishes to know whether the Ship were two hundred cubits or half a cubit or a quarter of a cubit over or under from the Land and it is usual with St John to express himself in this manner Jo. 2.6 6.10 19.14 Either then to keep to the same instance St John might know the precise distance and for the reasons mentioned not declare it or it not being of any use or consequence for us to be more particularly informed in a matter of that nature the Holy Ghost might suffer him to be ignorant of it if he had no other means of knowing it but by Inspiration For the Holy Ghost assisted the Apostles and Evangelists to write infallible Truth but not always to write every little circumstance concerning the things which they relate Many Miracles are wholly omitted and many circumstances not considerable or material to be mentioned are omitted of those Miracles which are recorded But if nothing be related which may lead us into error and nothing omitted which is necessary to be known this is sufficient and is all that can be expected in a Book which is to be a Rule of Faith and Manners to us It is necessary that nothing but Truth should be contained in it but not that every Truth should be in it for then the world itself could not contain the Books that should be written Suppose therefore that St John did not know precisely how many cubits the Ship was from shore what doth this prove That he did not know the Miracle which he there relates Doth it prove that he was not inspired in what he doth relate if he were not inspired in what he omits If he had determined the precise distance and had not known it this might have discredited the Authority of his Gospel but when he has not determined it can this be an argument in diminution of its Authority if he did not know what he did not profess to know Is it not 〈◊〉 good Argument in confirmation of its Authority that he would assert nothing but what he certainly knew if in what he was not persectly assured he mentions no further than he knew of it So St Paul acquaints us when he spoke himself and not the Lord which is an argument to us that in all other cases he did not speak of himself but the Lord spoke by him it is a consirmation of his Integrity that he would impose nothing upon us as of Divine Authority which is not really so because he that told us in any one case that he spoke of himself not as from the Lord would have made the same Declaration in other cases whenever he had written any thing without express Revelation 4. In things which might fall under human Prudence and Observation there the Spirit of God seems not to have dictated immediately to the Prophets and Apostles but only to have used a directive or conducting Power and Influence so as to supply such Thoughts and Apprehensions to them as might be most proper and seasonable and to keep them in the use of their own Reason within the bounds of Infallible Truth and of Expediency for the present case and occasion They might be permitted to insert such things as the state of affairs required which tho not immediately dictated by the Holy Ghost yet were agreeable to the end and design of his Inspiration and serviceable to the Ministry to which they were appointed There seems to be no necessity to assert that St Paul sent for his Cloak and Parchments by Inspiration of the Holy Ghost or that he had any immediate command or direction to salute the particular persons named at the end of his Epistles but only that his Doctrine was immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost and as he might be permitted to put that into his own words but so as never to be suffered to express it otherwise than in such a manner as was fully agreeable to the mind and intention of the Holy Spirit and therefore infallibly true So in these lesser and indifferent matters which some present occasion made requisite to be written of he had the guidance and assistance of the Holy Ghost to prevent him from writing any thing but what was expedient in those circumstances and serviceable to his calling and ministry in the propagation of the Gospel But things of an indifferent nature in themselves might become necessary as to time and place and persons and therefore might in some cases be of Divine Inspiration St Paul's journeying into Macedonia rather than into any other Country was in itself a thing indifferent but the salvation of many souls might depend upon it and therefore he was warned by Revelation not to preach the word in Asia nor to go into Bithynia but into Macedonia Acts 16.6 7 9. In like manner the Salutations of particular persons at the end of his Epistles tho they may seem to us to be of no great importance yet might be of mighty consideration and consequence to those who were concerned in them To be saluted by an Apostle in so particular and solemn a manner might revive their spirits and encourage them to perseverance under their Temptations and Asslictions for his Salutations include his Benediction which was the exercise of his Apostolick Office and Authority in one great branch of it And God himself might direct the Apostle to salute such persons for their support and comfort and encouragement in the Faith Besides the Salutation added at the end of the Epistles are
a confirmation of the Authority of them the persons there mentioned were as so many Witnesses to attest that they were genuine For besides the general concernment of the Catholick Church and of the several Churches more especially to which such Epistles were written the persons who were saluted by name in them were more particularly concerned to take cognizance of them and to know all the circumstances relating to them And St Paul's advice to Timothy to drink no longer Water but to use a little Wine for his stomach's sake and his often infirmities 1 Tim. v. 23. was requisite to be given in that Epistle that it might remain recorded in the Scriptures in confutation of that superstition which some were guilty of in abstaining from things lawful and particularly from Wine out of an opinion of Holiness in refraining from them and of sin in the use of them 5. That infallible Spirit which assisted and inspired the Apostles and other Sacred Writers was not permanent and habitual or continually residing in them nor given for all purposes and occasions as we may observe in St Paul who acquaints us in some things that he had not received of the Lord what he writes But the gifts of the Spirit were bestowed for the benefit and edification of the Church and therefore wâ—re given in such measures at such times and upon such occasions as might be useful for edification We find that in a matter of great concernment and importance to the whole Church the Apostles met together in Councel to decide the controversy both because according to our Saviours promise to them they might expect a more abundant effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them when they were assembled in his name for that purpose and because the thing in debate depended upon Matter of Fact viz. that the Holy Ghost was given to the Gentiles and therefore it was requisite that many should meet together and testifie of that matter Besides several that came down from Judea to Antioch had refused to submit to the Authority of St Paul and St Barnabas and it was necessary that these men should be convinced by the unanimous and joint Authority of the Apostles who being met in a full Councel declared It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Acts 15.28 that is not only to us but to the Holy Ghost to the Holy Ghost as well as to us And this was for an Example and Precedent to the Church in future Ages to determine Controversies by the Authority of Councels 6. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost were bestowed upon men who might have personal failings and were men of like Passions with us Act. 14.25 They had this Treasure in earthen Vessels that the excellency of the Power might be of God and not of themselves 2 Cor. 4.7 But they werechosen to be Apostles and Evangelists and therefore must be so far exempt from error in the execution of their Office and Ministry as not to deliver false Doctrines in their Writings which were to be read and received of all Churches in all Ages of the World for this would have defeated and subverted the design of the Institution of the Apostles and of the Mission of the Holy Ghost and therefore this God would not suffer tho they might be suffered to incur such failings as were no prejudice to the Gospel of Christ 7. There being nothing asserted in the Canon of Scripture but what has some relation to the edification of the Church tho some parts of it have a less direct and apparent tendency to this end than others if any one passage or circumstance should have been erroneous this would diminish the Authority of the Scriptures and make them in some degree less capable to promote the end for which they were written And there being so many particular Gifts the Gift of Wisdom and of Knowledge of Tongues and of Interpretation of Tongues and of discerning of Spirits and so many distinct Offices as Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists and Pastors and Teachers we cannot conceive how those Gifts and these Offices could be better employed than in preserving that Book from error which was to be the standard of Truth for all Ages or how if that Book had not been secured from error by them these Gifts and Offices had answered the end of their appointment Thus much may suffice to prove the Scriptures to be infallible in all the parts and circumstances of them But it may be observed that if the Infallibility of the Sacred Writers had not extended to the words and circumstances but only to the substantial and fundamental points of Religion this of itself were enough to vindicate the Divine Authority of the Christian Religion Nay further if the Scriptures were written only with the same certainty and integrity that is in Thucydides or in any other credible Historian which the most obstinate and inveterate Adversary can never deny yet even then no man without much unreasonableness cou'd reject it CHAP. III. Of the Style of the Holy Scriptures WHen God reveals himself to men he must be supposed to do it in such a manner as is suitable to the necessities and occasions of those to whom the Revelation is made and in such Language and Forms of Speech as that he may be understood by those to whom he reveals himself he may be suppos'd to speak in the Idiom and in the Metaphors and Phrases in use amongst them and to allude to their customs and manner of life to have regard to the condition and state of their affairs and to condescend in some measure to their weaknesses to speak to their capacities so as to be understood in his Laws and to encourage and excite men to obey them For tho the particular reason and design of every Law be not always necessary to be known yet it is necessary that those to whom they are given should know what the Laws are and that they should have their Duty prescribed in such a way as may be effectual to recommend the Practice of it to them The style of the Holy Scriptures is a subject which has been largely discoursed of by Mr Boyle and others What I intend to say upon it I shall reduce to these Heads I. The Grammatical construction II. The Metaphors and Figures and Rhetorical Schemes of Speech III. The Decorum or suitableness of the Matter or the Things themselves IV. The Method I. The Grammatical construction and propriety of Speaking It has been by many observed that there is a great resemblance between the style of the Old Testament and that of Homer the most ancient Book we have besides and it is likewise observable that those things which are by some looked upon as defects in the Scripture style as the using one Gender or one Number or Case or Tense for another the putting Participles for Verbs the Comparative or Superlative for the Positive Actives for Passives or Passives for Actives are particularly taken notice of by
* In Vit. Homer Plutarch as excellencies in Homer and he says they were usual in Prose as well as in Verse amongst the Antients Whatsoever Soloccisms or Improprieties of Speech are to be found in any part of the Scriptures the like have been observed †Vid. Dan. Heins Proleg ad exercit Sacr. in Homer Aeschylus Sophocles Pindar and Apollonius Rhodius by their several Scholiasts and in Thucydides by Dionysius Halicarnasseus and in Tully by * Dialog Cicuron Erasmus and others Xenophon is observed by †Apud Phot. cod cclxxix Helladius not to be always exact in point of Grammar which he ascribes to his Military Life and his conversation with strangers Many Soloecisms are found in the ancient Inscriptions and in Hyginus an Author as it is generally supposed of Augustus's age which are to be imputed rather to the custom of speech amongst the Vulgar than to the mistake of these Authors For in Languages so difficult as the Greek and Latin are it was impossible but that the common people must often make great mistakes which by degrees became customary and were the character of the * Vid. Schefferi Praefat. Munkeri Dissertat in Hyginum Low and Plebeian Style and in the Greek tongue they ascribed their Soloeâ—isms to the particular Dialect of the people among whom they were most in use The Stoicks who were the most numerous and flourishing Sect of Philosophers in the Primitive times of Christianity had little regard to the Rules of Grammar for they were cautioned by their Master Chrysippus not to be careful about such niceties and they are highly commended by a †Mer. Casaub in M. Antoâ—in lib. â— n. 14. great Critick for expressing their thoughts tho commonly with words very proper and significant yet in a style so free from all Affectation or Curiosity as cometh next to the Simplicity of the Holy Scriptures The design of Revelation is not to teach Words but Things and to express them in such words as may serve for that purpose and if an improper word or a soloecism may be more serviceable to that end it is beyond all exactness and propriety of Language The truth is it is a sign of a little Genius to be over-curious about words as Demosthenes intimated in his Reply to Aeschines telling him that the Fortunes of Greece did not depend upon a Criticism which Tully mentioning says it is * Facile est enim verbum aliquod ardens ut ita dicam notare idque restinctis jam animorum incendiis irridere Cic. Orator an easie matter to pitch upon a word spoken in the heat of discourse and in cool blood to make sport with it But this is at large treated of by Longinus and Seneca speaks excellently to this purpose †Cujuscunque orationem videris sollicitam politam scito animum quoque non minus esse pusillis occupatum Magnus ille remissius loquitur securius quaecunque dicit plus habent siduciae quam curae Senec. Epist cxv If you observe says he that a mans speech is too nice and critical be sure that he has a mind taken up with little things A man of a great mind speaks with the less caution and exactness whatsoever he says he is better assured of the matter of his discourse than to trouble himself much about words This is the reason that so many great Authors have afforded so much work for the Criticks to blame or to excuse them and very often to commend them for departing from the common forms The Old Testament has nothing of this nature but what for ought that can now be known was most proper in the Hebrew tongue whatever it may be in others And as to the New Testament it is penned in such words and in such construction of Grammar as might render it most useful not according to the Attick or any other dialect which was known to so few in comparison that it was confined as it were to one Country or known only to the Learned in others but in such Greek as was generally understood in the remote and numerous Nations where that Language was spoken For which reason so many expressions are taken from the Translation of the Septuagint which was so much in use amongst the Proselytes in all parts of the world In the Preface to the Book of Ecclesiasticus it is observed that the same things uttered in Hebrew and translated into another Tongue have not the same force in them and * Hieron ad Amos. v. 8. in Epist ad Galat. 3. 〈◊〉 St Jerom shews that there was a necessity of making use of such words as were first taken from the Heathen Fables in translating the Scriptures which had no affinity to them but when men speak or write they must do it so as to be understood unless they will do it to no purpose and therefore must take such words as are to be had and are intelligible to those for whose benefit they write and they must be contented too with such Grammatical construction as well as with such words as shall be found expedient to the end for which they write * Hieron in Galat. 1 2. Sometimes again it was necessary to frame new words to express the Propriety of the Hebrew Language as Tully has done in his Books of Philosophy to explain in Latin the terms of it in the Greek tongue And in all respects men must accommodate themselves to their subject and to the capacities of those for whom they undertake to discourse upon it II. Metaphors and Rhetorical Schemes or Figures of Speech Men differ as much in their forms and schemes of speaking as they do in their manners or customs or in their complexions and dispositions Every man has something peculiar in his way of expressing himself which is so easily distinguished by good Criticks from that of others that they seldom fail in it tho there can be no absolute certainty in things of this nature And †Phot. cod cclxv Photius observing that some Orations which pass under the name of Demosthenes were by reason of the difference of style ascribed by certain Criticks to other Authors makes this remark that he had often taken notice of a great resemblance in the style of Orations made by different Authors and of as great an unlikeness in the style of those made by the same man But the different character and manner of style in the several Countries and Nations of the world is much more easily discerned than it can be in particular men of the same Country Thr people of Caria Phrygia and Mysia were not at all polite and neat * Adsciverunt aptum suis auribus opimum quoddam tanquam adipatae dictionis genus Cic. Orator says Tully and therefore they loved a gross and slovenly kind of discourse which the Rhodians not far distant from them never approved of and the other Greeks liked it much less but the
character of a Book of the Scriptures The modern Jews in like manner never dared to pretend to new Books of Revelation but have constantly adhered to the old And what inducement could the Jews have to receive these Books into their Canon of which it consists rather than the Apocryphal Books but the evidence of their Divine Authority which is a thing more especially remarkable in some Books Why should they receive certain Books under the Names of Solomon Esther Daniel and Ezra but not admit into the Canon others going under the same names but because of the difference in their Authority Why should they receive the Books of those whom their fore-fathers had slain and those very Books for which they slew them but upon the clearest evidence It is certain they could be possest with no prejudice in their favour but with very many against the Books of such Authors To give another instance The Book of Ruth contains the affairs and transactions of a particular Family of no great consequence as one might imagine at first view and yet it has been preserved with as much â—are and as constantly received as the rest There is little reason upon human considerations why a relation concerning that Family should be inserted into the Canon of Scripture rather than one concerning any other But the lineage of the Messias is set forth in it and that was a sufficient reason why it should be inserted and therefore by the Divine Wisdom and Providence neither the emulation and envy of other Families nor any other cause or accident hindred its reception and preservation amongst the other inspired Books And in that History there is an account not very honourable for David's Family in deriving his descent from Phares of Thamar and shewing that his Great Grandmother was a Moabitess the Moabites being a people who had an indelible mark of intamy sixt upon them by the Law of Moses Dentr xxiii 3. II. As the Pentateuch was ever acknowledged by the People of Israel after their separation from the Tribe Judah so if they rejected the writings of the Prophets it must have been because all or most of them were written by Prophets who were of the two Tribes and all the Prophets of Israel owning the Temple of Jerasalem to be the true place of Worship the Isâ—aelites and Samaritans must have great prejudices against them upon that account and it cannot be expected that they should receive the Books of any of the Prophets in the same manner as they did those of Moses The Books of Samuel David and Solomon had less regard paid to them upon Reasons of State by the Tribes who followed the Revolt of Jeroboam yet when * Antiqu. Orient Eccl. pist 1. Joseph Scaliger sent to the Samaritans for the Canticles of the Book of Psalms in their Language as well as for the Book of the Law and of Joshua they promised to send him them And it is proved sufficiently by Dr †Hebr. Talmud exercit on Joh. iv 25. Lightfoot that neither the Samaritans nor the Sadducees rejected the Books of the Old Testament tho they did not admit the rest into the same veneration and authority with the Books of Moses nor read them in their Synagogues This is also proved by F. Simon * Crit. Hist V. T. lib. 1. c. 16. 29. Disquisit Crit c. 12. both of the Sadducees and the Karaei and †Epist 70. inter Antiqu Eccl. Orient Morinus likewise proves it of the Karaei who are generally taken for Sadducees F. Simon maintains the contrary and that they have wrong done them in being charged with the opinions of the Sadducces However this is not material to our present purpose since he shews that both the Sadducees and the Karaei or Caraites and all the Jews besides received the entire Volume of the Scriptures without any contradiction * Praefat. de Lipmanno Hackspan likewise has shewed that the Sadducees denied not the Authority of the Books of the Prophets III Concerning the Books whereof we we find mention made in the Old Testament either 1. They are not different from those which are now in the Canon but the same Books under divers Names Or 2. They were not written by Inspiration tho written by Prophets For we are not to suppose that the Prophets were inspired in every thing that they wrote any more than in all they spoke And this shews the care and integrity of the Jews in compiling their Canon that they would not take into it all the Writings even of the Prophets themselves but only such as they knew to be written by them as Prophets that is by Inspiration the Prophets themselves no doubt making a distinction as we find St Paul did between what they had written by the Spirit of God and that in which they had not his immediate and extraordinary direction and infallible assistance Or 3. They might not be written by Prophets For the office of Recorder or Remembrancer or Writer of Chronicles as it is explained in the Margin is mentioned as â—n office of great Honour and Trust and was distinct from that of the Prophets 2 Sam. viii â—6 2 Kings xviii 18. 2 Chron. xxxiv 8. Isaiah xxxvi 3 22. Besides the Hebrews called every small Writing a Book Thus Deut. xxiv 1. â—hat which we render a Bill of Divorcement â—s in the Original a Book of Divorcement the word being the same which Josh x. 13. and 〈◊〉 Sam. i. 18. is translated the Book of Jasher â—o Matt. xix 7. and Mark x. 4. it is in the Greek a Book of Divorcement the word is the same which the Septuagint had used it indeed may signifie a little Book but it often signifies a Book without that distinction and so it is rendered 2 Tim. iv 13. David's Letter to Joab is a Book in the Hebrew and in the Greek 2 Sam. xi 14 15. and Lettets are stiled Books by * Herod lib. 1. c. 124. lib. 6. c. 4. Herodotus Or 4. Tho it should be granted that some Books which were written by Inspiration are now lost it is no absurdity to suppose that God should suffer Writings to be lost thro the fault and negligence of men which were dictated by his Spirit Several things might by the Prophets be delivered by Revelation to the persons whom they concerned which were never committed to writing and others which were written but which were not necessary to the ends of Revelation in general but rather concerned particular times and places and the substance whereof as far as the world in general is concerned is to be found in the other Scriptures might by the carelesness of men never come to the sight and knowledge of Posterity And here I shall observe that the Books of Prophecy have always the Names of the Authors exprest and commonly they are often repeated in the Books themselves but in the Historical Books there was not the same reason for it because in matters
whatever defect there might be in the Vowels it was supplied by constant use and practice and by some general Rules which they observed in the Reading The Bible being a Book which by Divine Commandment was so often and carefully read both in publick and private the Hebrew Text might be exactly read and the true sense certainly retain'd and known and it is no wonder that by constant use and continual practice and custom from their infancy the Jews could read it with ease and readiness without Points which is no more than is ordinarily done now by men who are skilful in that Language and divers have attain'd to it by their own observation and industry If there were the more difficulty in the Hebrew Tongue before the invention of Points there was the more care and study used about it the Jews having times purposely set apart for the reading of the Law studied it with that diligence and exactness that they knew it as well as they did their own Names or better * Joseph contr Ap. lib. ii Josephus expresses it if that were possible and they used so great accuracy both in their Pronouncing and Writing that there could be no danger that any considerable mistake should be occasioned by any defect in the Vowels before the Points were found out This was a great part of the Jewish Learning as †Considerat considere c. x. S. 8. Bishop Walton observes the true Reading of the Text and they who were most accurate and exact therein were honoured most amongst 'em and had their Schools and their Scholars and Disciples whom they instructed from time to time till at length in regard of their many dispersions and banishments that the true reading might not be lost with the Language they began to affix Points to the Text as well to facilitate the reading as to preserve it the better from any alteration or change But this is an objection which never could have been made but in the Western parts of the world for in the East they commonly write yet without points as the Jews likewise write the Western Languages where they live without points in the Hebrew Character * Walt. Prolegom iii. s 40. Morin-Epist 15. 70. inter Antiquit Eccl. Orient The Samaritans still have no points And †Joseph Scalig. Epist 243. the Children of the Turks Arabians and Persians and generally of all the Mahometans learn to read without them * Voss de Sibyll Orac. Isaac Vossius says the Asiaticks laugh at the Europeans because they cannot read as they do without Vowels †Walt. Prolegom iii. s 50. Schickard confest that he had known Children of seven years of age read the Pentateuch meerly by use * Lud. Capel de Punct Hebr. Antiqu lib. ii c. 27. s 4 5 6. Clenard and Erpenius himself who was so famous for the Arabick and other Eastern Languages both of them declared that they learned the Arabick only by their own study and diligence from Books without points and Arpenius had attained to such accuracy in that Language before he had read any Book with the points that Isaac Casaubon so far approved of the Translation which he had then made of the Arabick Nubian Geography into Latin that he was very earnest with him to publish it Ludovicus Capellus besides gives an instance from his own knowledge of one who when he had scarce been taught the Arabick Alphabet made a great progress in that Tongue in four months only by his own industry and without the help of points All these things considered it would be a strange Paradox to pretend that there is no certainty in the Ancient Eastern way of writing and that no body can certainly know what their Authors meant nay that they did not know one anothers meaning as well as we do now in our manner of writing before some certain time when the points are supposed to be first found out II. The change of the Old Hebrew Character into that now in use is no prejudice to the Authority of the Hebrew Text. Because this was but the writing over that which was before in one Alphabet into another the Language being still the same and this if it were done with sufficient care as we have all the reason in the world to believe it was could make no material mistakes and we find it hath not by the agreement between the Hebrew and the Samaritan Pentateuch still extant III. The Keri and the Kelib or the difference in some places between the Text and the Marginal Reading is no prejudice to the Authority of the Scripture For as the various Lections of the Bible are much fewer considering the Antiquity of it and the vast numbers of Copies which have been transcribed in all Ages and Countreys than those of any other Book so many of them may be easily reconciled and the occasion of them as easily discovered Some of them were occasioned by the likeness of several of the Hebrew Letters which were not easily to be distinguisht in Books written in such small Characters * Hieron Proaem in Ezech. Comment lib. 8. as St Jerome complains were used in writing the Hebrew Bibles of his time Others happen'd from Abbreviations and some might proceed from Marginal Glosses It must likewise be observ'd that all the words we meet with in the Margin of the Hebrew Bibles are not to be look'd upon as various Lections for divers of them were placed there by the Jews out of superstition because they scrupled to pronounce certain words and therefore appointed others to be read in their stead But when the Jews were dispersed into divers Countreys their Dialect or manner of Pronunciation must needs be different and as the same words were pronounced differently so they would in time be differently written which gave one chief occasion to the various Lections in the old Testament for from the emulation between the Schools of the Jews at Babylon and those at Jerusalem there arose a set of various Lections under the Title of of the Eastern and the Western Readings but it is acknowledged that they †Vid. Walt. Proleg 8. S. 28. are of no moment and that as to the sense it is much at one which reading is admitted for they concern matters of Orthography rather then of Orthodoxy as Buxtorf speaks and the Jews of Palestine and of Europe who follow the Western Readings yet do not altogether reject the Eastern but in some editions have printed them both * Id. Proleg iv s 9. The different readings of Ben Ascher and Ben Naphtali had the same original the Eastern Jews following the one and the Western observing the other but these concern the Points and Accents only and not either the Words or Letters There is no Antient Book in the World of which we can be certain that we rightly understand it if it be necessary to the right understanding of a Book that it be without various Lections
sign we are resolved to find fault and never to be satisfied with what we have unless we be humoured in every thing But we should do well first to consider how we can expect this at God's Hands or how well we have deserved it of Him The Secret of the Lord is with them that Fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal xxv 14. For the froward is an Abomination to the Lord but his Secret is with the Righteous Prov. iii. 32. There are Secrets and Mysteries in Religion which cannot be supposed to be known to any but those who are thro'ly acquainted with the plainer Doctrines both in the Study and the Practice of them and therefore if no such Reasons as have been now offered could be given for the obscurity of the Scriptures in some places it would be unreasonable however for such Men as make this an Objection to urge it they have no Right to object whatever others may have because they have never used the Means to know whether the Scriptures are so obscure as they pretend or or not But they will never be able to prove that if things necessary both in Faith and Practice be clearly set down there may not be other things deliverd which are hard to be understood and which those may wrest to their own Destruction who are unlearned and unstable that is who have neither Learning and Skill enough to judge of such Matters nor yet Constancy and Stedfastness enough in the Faith to adhere to what they do understand and not to perplex themselves and suffer themselves to be perverted by judging rashly of things above their Capacity The unlearned and unstable only are said to wrest the Scriptures to their own Destruction And tho' it is not in the Power and Capacity of every Man to be Wise and Learned yet it is in every ones Power not to be unstable but constant and stedfast to what he understands and never to depart from it for any By-ends or Respects Let us learn what is easy to be known and Practice what we know before we complain that the Scriptures are obscure Let us study and practise the Scriptures more and this Objection will not appear so formidable But the Truth is those that most use it neither study nor practise them And yet after all their Pretences of Obscurity they have a greater quarrel against the plain parts of Scripture than against the obscure ones they know many places of Scripture which are plainly against them and this makes them set themselves against all the rest What has been here said in general I hope may be in some Measure useful to those who desire to read the Scriptures for their Instruction and Edification and in particular Difficulties Books must be consulted or such Men as may be supposed to understand them But as for all that are fond of Objections and read the Scriptures only in search of thâ—m it cannot be expected that Discourses of this Nature should signify much with 〈◊〉 Teach us O Lord the way of thy Statutes and we shall keep it unto the End Give us understanding and we shall keep thy Law Yea we shall keep it with our whole Heart Great is the Peace that they have who love thy Law and they are not offended at it Psal Cxix 33 34 165. CHAP. VIII Of Places of Scripture which seems to contradict each other I. THough the sacred Writers no where contradict themselves or one another yet they were not solicitous to prevent the being suspected to do so by injudicious and rash Men as they would have been very cautious of giving any pretence for such a Suspicion if they had written any thing but Truth It could not be agreeable to the Sovereign Wisdom and Majesty of God to comply with the Humours and Fancies of Men but rather when he had by an infallible Guidance and Direction prevented the Pen-Men of the Holy Scriptures from writing any thing but Truth to suffer them to write so as that they might be liable to the Exceptions of the wilful and perverse Because it is more (x) Multum enim refert ut est in Epistola Adriani quam recitatcallistratus L. Testâ—uâ— D. De Teâ—tibus qui. simpliciter visi sunt dicere utrâ—m unum eundâ—â—â—qâ—â— meâ—tiatum sermo em attulerint an ad ea quae interrogati sunt ex tempore veriâ—milia respoâ—deriâ—t Grot. in Adject ad Dan. c. xiii 51. suitable to the simplicity of Truth not to be over-nice and solicitous about every Punctilio and smaller Circumstance but to speak fully and intelligibly and then to leave it to Men whether they will believe or not especially in what is told them for their own Advantage the Relators having no end or design to serve by it but only to do them the greatest Good they can and bringing all the evidence for their Conviction that Miracles and Prophecies can afford which are the only Means of God's revealing Himself to Mankind and then suffering in Testimony of what they have delivered Thus our Saviour when notwithstanding all his Mighty works many would not believe in Him but questioned His Authority and reviled His Person and blasphemed the Holy Spirit by which they were wrought was not concerned to work more Miracles merely for the Satisfaction or rather at the captious Demands of these Men when they required him to do it For if they would be convinced by any reasonable Means he had given it them if they would not it would be to their own Prejudice he was not solicitous what they thought of him And thus it is likewise in the Government of the World God has given Men sufficient Evidence of His Being and Providence but if Men will disâ— believe His Providence and deny His Being he doth not vouchsafe by any immediate 〈◊〉 particular Act of His Power to conâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Pretences And if because of some places that are difficult in the Scriptures Men will reject the whole rather than be at the pains to search out the true Meaning of these places or than be so modest and humble as to suppose that there may be ways of Reconciling those which appear to them contradictions tho' they have not yet found them out they must fall under the same Condemnation with those who will deny the Being of God if they cannot satisfy themselves how he made and governs the world or with those that would believe none of our Saviour's Miracles unless he would work them when and where and just in what manner they pleased But the wisdom of God sees that nothing would satisfy these Men and that they only tempt God and design no real Satisfaction to themselves and therefore he cannot be obliged to new model the World and alter the Scriptures for their sakes since there is enough in them for the Satisfaction of all that are sincere in their Enquiries after Truth II. The only way to judge rightly of the particular places of any Book is to consider
first the whole Design and Contrivance and Method and Stile of it not to criticize upon some difficult Parts of it without any regard had to the rest This is the Method used by all who would criticize with Judgment upon any Author And some Passages of Scripture are explained to our hands to be a Key as it were and a Direction to us in the Explication of others Thus whereas in one place it is said that Jesus baptized in another it is said that he baptized not and the former place is expalined to be meant not of Baptism performed by Himself but by his Disciples who baptized in his Name Joh. iii. 22. iv 1 2. III. It is reasonable to observe whether the Objections be not such as do suppose Mistakes which a Man who could write such a Discourse as they are imagined to be found in could not run into For if they be of this Nature this very Consideration is enough to take off the force of the Objection against the Authority of any Book and we must conclude that the Objections are capable of being answered and that the Mistake lies not in the Book it self but in the Readers who without sufficient Skill or Attention pass a rash Judgment upon it For by all the Rules of Reasoning an Objection may imply too much as well as prove too little to be of any force And the common Rules of Candor and Equity would prevent many Objections which are wont to be made against the Scriptures For if we will but suppose the writers of the Scriptures to have been Men of any tolerable Sense even without Inspiration they could never have committed such mistakes as some would fasten upon them We read Exod. xxxiii 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a Man speaketh unto his Friend yet Vers 20. the Lord answers Moses who had besought God to shew him his Glory Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live Would it not be impudent Trifling to pretend any Contradiction in these two Verses when they are easily understood in a consistent Sense and no Man of any Judgment can be supposed to write Contradictions and lay them so near together When it is said Act. ix 7. that the Men who journeyed with St. Paul heard a Voice but saw no man and Act. xxii 9. that they heard not the Voice of him that spake to St. Paul besides the Explications which are known and obvious to reconcile these Texts those who who will not be at the Pains to consult Expositors or to consider the Importance of the Words may be pleased to observe that St. Luke was a Man bred to Learning and this History of the Acts of the Apostles shews him to have been at least a prudent and wise Man and therefore he could never have written so palpable a Contradiction as the Objection must suppose in so small a Compass concerning one of the most remarkable Things in his whole History relating to a Person with whom he constantly travelled and convers'd I appeal to any Man whether if he had met with two such Passages which seem to contradict each other in Thucidides or Xenophon or even in the very worst Historian he would not be enclined rather to seek out for some way of reconciling them than to suspect that he could so soon forget what he had written so little a while before in an Account of a Thing of that Nature Of the same kind is that Difference which is between the Genealogy of Christ in St. Matthew and that in St. Luke For there is no doubt but the Genealogies of the Jews were then and long after extant in the Publick Registers (x) Ab exordio Adam usque ad extremum Zorobabel omnium generationes ita memoriter velociterque precur runt ut eos suum putes referre nomen Hieron in Tit. iii. 9. they could repeat them by heart with as much readiness as they could their own Names and to insert a wrong Genealogy had been to give up all the Arguments that could be alledg'd for our Saviour's being the Christ Nothing could be more destructive to their Cause than for the Evangelists to produce a false Pedigree when the True one might be so easily produced by any who had a mind to disprove them The Merits of their Cause wholly depended upon the Proof of Christ's Descent from Abraham and David and therefore whatever Difficulties there may now be thought to be in this Twofold Genealogy it was certainly acknowledged by those of that Age and beyond all Dispute or else it would never have been produced by the Evangelists or had for ever ruined their Cause if they had produced it Some Crimes are too great to charge upon Men of any Credit or Reputation and some Errors are so notorious that no Man of common Prudence can be supposed to commit them And therefore when we find an Author rational and consistent in other parts of a Discourse the ordinary Ingenuity and Condor of Mankind will hinder us from supposing him to commit gross and palpable mistakes and it is great disingenuity and folly to shew the less Respect to any Author because he is at least believed to have written by Inspiration or to deny him the Respect due to a Man because God has enabled him to write Infallible Truth IV. If any Contradictions be framed or forced from the various Readings the difficulties in Chronology or whatever elsé of this Nature is to be found in the Disputes of Criticks they prove no more against the Authority of the Scriptures than they do against the Authority of all other Books in the World unless it could be shewn that these Difficulties could not happen in a Book written by Divine Inspiration but that it must be first written in such a manner as to afford no occasion for Disputes and that it must be ever after so preserved by a constant Miracle that it may be subject to none of the Accidents and Casualties to which all other Books are liable On the contrary it can never be proved that God might not permit Books written by Inspiration to be obnoxious to any such Casualties as are not prejudicial to the End and Design of a Revelation But if the necessary points of Doctrine be preserved entire and the Evidence of Matters of Fact be sufficient to prove the Truth of the Miracles and Prophecies in Confirmation of that Doctrine all lesser Matters may be lest to the same contingencies which befall all other Books in the World That the Evidence is very clear and full in Proof both of the Prophecies and Miracles which demonstrate to us the Divine Authority of the Scriptures has been already shewn and if no more could be produced than has by me been brought to prove their Authority yet unless this can be proved to be insufficient from some mistakes or defects in it no such Objections can invalidate it Because no Man can prove that God
might not suffer a Book written by his own Appointment and Authority to be encumbred thro' length of Time and the frailty and negligence of Men with insuperable Difficulties if it be supposed still to retain the visible Marks and Characters of a Divine Original in all the Evidence necessary to prove it from Matter of Fact and in the Doctrines delivered by it For as long as these two things are secured all the rest tho' it be of never so great Use and Excellency yet cannot be necessary in order to the ends of a Divine Revelation And therefore a Book of Divine Revelation might be permitted by God for the Sins and by the Fault and Ignorance of Men to become perplext with abundance of divers Readings and even with Contradictions in the Chronological and less material Points of it For so long as it cannot be proved Defective as to the ends and purposes of a Divine Revelation either for want of evidence to make it appear to be such or thro' defect of the Matter and Doctrine contained in it all other Difficulties will never prove it not to be of Divine Authority because so long as there is no Defect but what might be in any Book tho' we suppose it to be of Divine Authority CHAP. IX Of the Creation of the World and the Preservation of it BY Creation in the Book of Genesis is understood not only the Production of the World out of Nothing but the Formation and Disposal of the several Parts of the Universe But there has an Opinion of late years prevailed very injurious to Religion and repugnant to Reason and the Judgment of former Ages That God only created Matter and gave it Motion to be performed under certain Laws by which all the Phaenomena of Nature both in the Creation and Preservation of Things are brought about without any farther immediate Divine Power or Concourse than what is just necessary to continue this Matter and Motion in Being that is God created Matter and put it into Motion and then Matter and Motion do all the rest in a settled Course and by established Laws without any need of the Divine Aid or Direction This Notion indeed can never be reconciled to the Scriptures but then it is as little befriended by Reason and Natural Religion In proof of which I shall consider I. The Creation of the World II. The Preservation of it and shall shew that neither of them could be performed in this way I. As to the Creation we may consider both the Time and the Manner of it And by the Time of the Creation we may understand either the Time when the Creation of the World began or the Time which was taken up in the Creation of it But this latter sense will come under what is to be said of the Manner of the Creation 1. The Time of the Creation of the World as that signifies the Beginning of Time or of the Worlds Duration must be wholly Arbitrary and absolutely at God's Sovereign Pleasure and Disposal For there could be nothing in eternal Duration to fix the Creation of the World more to one Time than another or to determin why it should begin sooner or later And since it is impossible that the world should be eternal it is evident that the Time of the Creation whenever it was can be no good Objection because tho' the World had been created never so long before there must necessarily have been as much a Pretence for such an Objection For there must have been some Period of Time when the World had existed no longer than it has done now and no beginning of the World can be supposed so long ago but still it might with the same Reason be ask'd why it was not created sooner 2. In considering the Manner of the Worlds Creation I shall prove 1. That there is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at the first made by Mechanical Laws tho' it were preserv'd according to such Laws 2. That there are sufficient Reasons to be given for its Creation in that Manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis 1. There is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at first made by Mechanichal Laws tho' it were preserved according to such Laws whereas I shall afterwards prove that it is not preserved according to them There is no Reason that the World should be first framed according to the Laws of Motion which are established for its Preservation and Government in its fixt and settled State The Origin of the Universe was by the immediate hand of God before the Appointment of the several Laws which afterwards were to take place and we may as well endeavour to reduce the working of Miracles to the standing Laws of Nature as the Creation of the World For certainly of all Miracles the Creation of the World must be the greatest not only as it signifies the Production of Matter and Motion out of Nothing but as it was the putting things into such Order as to make them capable of the Laws of Motion ordained for them It is not yet agreed nor is it ever like to be what these Laws of Motion are which the Philosophers so much talk of and there being such a mutual Connexion and Combination of Bodies and such a Dependance of every Body upon so many others in every Motion it is impossible to know how any two Bodies would act upon each other if they were separate from all Bodies besides or were out of that State which they now are in It is reasonable therefore to imagine that the several Parts of the World must be ranged and settled before these Laws could take place and to reduce the Creation of the World to the Laws of Motion which now prevail in it is to suppose a Creation antecedent to that by which the World was made This is as if an Indian should attempt to give an Account of the making of a Watch by the several Motions which he sees performed in it after it is made and should imagine that the Materials moving in such a manner at last arrived to the exact frame of a Watch. 2. There are sufficient Reasons to be given for the Creation of the World in that manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis It is great Presumption in Men to be too curious and inquisitive about the Reasons of God's Actions for whatever he delivers of himself we ought entirely to believe both the Thing it self and the manner and Circumstances of it Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast Vnderstanding Job xxxviii 4. But this must be said to the Glory of God and to the Shame of all such as Censure and Cavil at his Word that even by Men such Reasons may be given of his Actions as all his Adversaries shall not be able to gain-say God hath ordered all things in Measure and Number and Weight Wisd xi 20. And as to
those who enquire why the World was created in six days rather than in one day or in an instant or in a long compass of Years as the Laws of Matter and Motion they say require It might be sufficient to ask why if it was God's Will the World might not be created in six Days as well as in any other number of Days or space of Time If the Creation had been in an Instant or in a longer or shorter space of Time the Question might with as much Reason have been put why it was not created in six days Shall Men presume to prescribe to God the Time and Manner of his Actions Is not his own Pleasure a sufficient Reason of them The Manner of the Creation and of the Flood which have of late been the Subject of so many Disputes depends solely upon the Will and Pleasure of God and therefore we can know only by Revelation how they were effected and it is in vain to pretend that they must have come to pass in this or that Manner unless it could be prov'd that God could not bring them to pass any other way than that which the Inventor of some Hypothesis thinks fit to propose Most Actions may be performed very different ways and if for instance we had only a general account of the Passage of the Israelites out of Aegypt into the Land of Canaan that Pharaoh pursuing them was drowned with his whole Army that they travell'd in the Wilderness forty Years and had a sufficient Provision of Food and Cloathing and Water for so great a Multitude in so barren a place and for so long a time tho' never so many Conjectures should be made how all this might be and never so many Schemes were drawn of their Journeyings and Encampments if it could be supposed possible that one of all these might prove true yet it would be utterly impossible to know which were it But when we are only told that God created the World in six days and that such and such things were created on each of these Days that he brought a Deluge of VVaters upon the whole Earth for the Sins of Mankind which continued for such a time upon the face of the Earth some Men will needs assign the particular Means and Manner by which both the Creation and the Flood must necessarily have been brought to pass as if the wisdom and power of God and the nature of things could admit of no other way but what they can explain VVe may esteem the Learning and admire the Sagacity and allow the good Intentions of these Authors but when any one advanceth an Hypothesis in contradiction to all others and proposes it not as probable but as the only true Explication of Scripture and positively maintains not only that things might be so if God pleased but that they were so and could not be otherwise this to me seems more unaccountable than any thing I ever met with besides in the very worst Hypothesis We can know nothing of the way and manner how God has been pleased to do any thing but by his own Revelation If each Frypothesis were possible yet no man could be certain which were the right or that any of them were so because God might make use of some other Means than what Men can imagine But when the several Hypotheses destroy one another and every one pretends to set up his own in contradiction to all the rest and none can maintain its Ground any longer than till another has been brought to confute it it were strange if Men should satisfy themselves with such Uncertainties rather than with the plain word of God According to any Mechanical Hypothesis tho' there were no Vacuum so many Accidents must continually intervene in a Chaos of Matter confusedly rolling and knocking one part of it against another that it seems next to an Impossibility that it should ever settle into any Order at least if Matter had been left to its own workings and jumblings according to any Mechanical Laws of Motion the world for ought any Man can prove might not have been made to this Moment So far is it from being possible to understand how upon Mechanical Principles the world should have been made in six Years rather than in six Days consisting of four and twenty Hours It is therefore the boldest Attempt that can be conceived for Men to pretend to assign the several steps and degrees in the process of this wonderful Operation with as much ease and certainty as if they had all the Materials by them in their Laboratory and could perform it as readily as an ordinary course of Chymistry Next to attempt the making of a world what undertaking can be more daring than to pretend to discover how it was made To mâ—ke a World must undoubtedly be the work of God and he alone can declare how he made it But Reasons may be given for the Creation of the world in six Days 1. With Respect to Angels 2. With Respect to Men. 1. With Respect to the Angels It is (a) Aug. super Gen aâ— Literan lib. 4. c. 22. c. De â—ivit Dei lib. 11. c. 7. St. Austin's Opinion that the six Days of the Creation of the World in the Book of Genesis are distinguished according to the Perception which the Angels had of the Creation from whence was framed that Distinction of the (b) Tho. Aquin. Sum. Part 1. Qu. 58 Art 6. Schoolmen between Cognitio Matutina and Cognitio Vespertina And tho' what I am about to say is not exactly agreeable to St. Austin's Notion yet I hope his Authority will warrant my arguing from this Topick to such as may think it new and singular The Angels were the beginning of the Creation and were created probably in the Morning of the first Day For in the Book of Job God says that when the Foundations of the Earth were laid the Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy Job xxxviii 7. from whence we learn that the Angels were created before this visible World and glorified God for his creating it Now the Angels tho' blessed and glorious Spirits yet are finite and are unable to comprehend and fathom the wonderful works of God there are things which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 and the more they know of God and his Works the more they adore and praise Him The whole Scene of the Creation seems to have been laid open in Order before them according to the several Degrees and the various Natures of things whereby they must have had a fuller View and a clearer Understanding of the Divine Power and Wisdom than they could have had if the World had started forth in an Instant and jump'd as it were into this beautiful Frame and Order As he who sees the whole Method and Contrivance of any Curious piece of Art values and admires the Artist more than one does that beholds it in
ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them Male and Female And said for this cause shall a Man leave Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they twain shall be one Flesh Matth. xix 4 5. And St. Paul in like manner to shew that the Woman ought not to usurp Authority over the Man proves it by this Argument For Adam was first formed then Eve 1 Tim. ii 13. and in another place and upon another occasion he observes that the Man is not of the Woman but the Woman of the Man 1 Cor. xi 8. And long before the Prophet Malachi had Argued from the same Topick Malach. ii 15. And Hebr. iv 4. it is noted that God did rest the Seventh day from all his Works from whence the Apostle concludes that he that is entred into his rest he also hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his Vers 10. Now as these and whatever other Arguments are to be found in the Scriptures of the like Nature do evidently suppose the Creation of the World in the same manner as it is related in the Book of Genesis so they explain to us the Reasons why it was thus Created For all these Arguments had been lost and there could have been no ground for them if the World had been otherwise created As certainly therefore as this Arguing from the manner of the Creation is good So certain it is both that the World was so Created and that there was great Reason for it But whatever some Philisophers may think now there is nothing which would have been more disagreeable to the Notions of the Generality of the wisest Men in all Ages than that the World should be made upon Mechanical Principles He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fact Psal xxxiii 9. He Commanded and they were Created Psal Cxlviii 5. This expresses not only the Truth of the History but the general sense of Mankind who have ever had this Notion of God that to command and to do is the same thing with him And therefore the Objection till of late has run the other way that God did rather Create the World in an instant than in six days It was little suspected formerly that divers Years or many Ages were spent in the Creation It was in the Description of the Creation of the World that Longinus observed the sublime Style of Moses and if the Relation of it be admirable the Creation it self in such a manner as is there related must be much more admirable For it is proper for it to be thus described for no other Reason but because it was proper for it in this manner to be done But what would Longinus have said if the Creation had been related to have been performed not by any command which had its immediate effect but by the tedious Process of Mechanical Causes What Grandeur what evidence of the Divine Power and Majesty is there in this more than in any Chymical Operation if the Mechanical Hypothesis were true It were strange Presumption to demand of Almighty God a Reason of all his Actions and not to believe him upon his Word that he has done any thing but when and how some Men conceit it ought to have been done But what I have now said may at least serve to silence the Cavils of such Men. 2. The Preservation of the World is not performed according to Mechanical Laws or Principles The Mechanical Hypothesis supposes that Bodies act upon Bodies or Actives upon Passives in a certain course and according to such Laws as that being left to themselves they necessarily produce their Effects without any immediate Interposition of a Divine Power But this Notion is grounded wholly upon mistakes 1. It supposes that there was at first a certain quantity of Motion infused or impressed upon Matter which still continues passing from one Body to another according to certain Methods or Rules prescribed But this Supposition that there is always the same Quantity of Motion in the World is wholly precarious or rather notoriously false and the best Philosophers have been able to give no Account how Motion can be Communicated without an immediate Impulse or Concourse of the Divine Power 2. By the Mechanical Hypothesis it is supposed as a thing certain that there is a Plenum which at least is very uncertain or rather it has been demonstrated by Mr. Newton that there is a Vacuum not only interspersed but of a Prodigious and almost incredible extent at the distance of the Earths Simidiameter from us And by his Principles Gravitation must proceed from an immediate and constant Impression or Impulse of God For it proceeds from no Action of one Body upon another but is a Quality belonging to all Matter alike and to every particle of Matter however separate and distant from all others The Projectile Motion and that Attractive Force by which the Planets are carried in their Orbits cannot be communicated or performed according to any Mechanical Laws whereby they are determined from a Rectilinear to an Orbicular Motion For Bodies can act upon Bodies only by Contract and therefore cannot Communicate their Motion or any way determin or affect the Motion of each other in a Vacuum so vast as it must be near the Circumference of the several Orbits so that the old occult Qualities and Substantial Terms were not more repugnant to the Mechanical Hypothesis than these Principles are The being of a Vacuum must suppose an immediate Divine Power necessary to keep the System of the World in that order in which we see it continue For otherwise by this Principle of Gravitations being inherent in every Part of Matter all Bodies would press towards the Center and in a Vacuum there can be nothing to hinder their tendency towards it till they come crowding the upon another so that all the Order of things would soon be reduced to one confused Heap or Moss unless some immaterial Power interposed to hinder it It is evident then that the Mechanical Hypothesis is quite destroyed by these Principles For by these here is no Connexion of Causes and Effects according to any Laws of mere Matter and Motion but all must be done by the immediate Power of God Gravitation and the Projectile Motion must be impressed and suspended without any dependance upon surrounding Bodies they must produce their Effects thro' prodigious void Spaces where Bodies have no Communication of Motion from one to another And all being performed by the immediate directing and assisting Hand of God a Man may as well pretend to solve a Miracle Mechanically as to give any Account of the Phaenomena of Nature by Mechanical Laws according to these Principles 3. The Abetters of the Mechanical Hypothesis argue that God acts in the most General and Uniform ways that it is more becoming his Wisdom to let Nature have its course and that constantly to interpose would be a disparagement to the Order
instructed in the Rewards and Punishments of the Life to come and Temporal Rewards and Punishments were appointed by Moses as Pledges and Types to represent and prefigure to them those of a Future State For that Abraham and the Patriarchs before him had a true and full Notion of a Life after this we are certain from Heb. xi 10 13. And we have as great Certainty that Abraham did instruct his Children and his Houshold after him Gen. xviii 19. and Moses wrote of Christ Jo. v. 46. Gen. iii. 15. xii 3. xlix 10. Deut. xviii 15 18. These things were delivered in the Books of Moses and well understood by the Generality of the Jews in all Ages the Sadducees were singular in denying the Resurrection of the Dead and some other Doctrines in which all the rest were agreed But if there were any Obscurity or Difficulty in the Books of Moses they had besides the Priests a constant Succession of Prophets for many Ages to Interpret them and to maintain and inculcate those Fundamental Doctrines of Religionâ— The Rewards of Heaven are declared Psal xvi 11. xvii 15. Prov. xv 24. Eccles xii 14. Dan. xii 2 3. The Torments of Hell are asserted Psal xvi 10. Eccles xi 9. xii 14. Isai xxxiii 14. Dan. xii 2. The Resurrection of the Dead Psal xvii 15. Isai xxvi 19. Ezek. xxxvii 1. Dan. xii 2. Hos xiii 14. And in the Book of Job which is of the greatest Antiquity Job xiv 12. xix 26.27 In that Expression that David and others Slept with their Fathers is implyed not only the Imortality of the Soul but the Resurrection of the Body For it implies that there was not a total end of them but as they Slept so must they awake and rise again Psal xvii 15. And this Expression is taken from the Old Testament and applied to the same Sense in the New Our Saviour speaking of Regeneration says to Nicodemus art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things Joh. iii. 10. and he bids the Jâ—ws search the Scriptures of the Old Testament for in them says he ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Joh v. 39. it was in them fore-told that a much clearer Revelation was to be made by the Gospel Jer. xxxi 31. When our Saviour by his Resurrection gave a fuller Manifestation of a future Immortal State than could be given by any other Means and brought Life and Immortality to Light thro' the Gospel 2 Tim. i. 10. Yet this it self was Typifyed in the Old Testament by raising Dead Men to Life again and the Translation of Enoch and Elijah into Heaven was for a Testimony and Assurance of a Future State both of Body and Soul The Doctrin deliverd by Moses and the Prophets was as effectual a Caution and warning to Men to keep them from the place of Torments as a Message from the Dead could have been Luke xvi 31. The Old Testament therefore is not deficient in any necessary Point of Salvation but the Ceremonial Law was enjoyned as a suitable Help and Expedient for the retaining those Truths which had been revealed before Which was so well known (x) Origen contra Cels lib. 2 that Celsus puts this as an Objection into the Mouth of the Jews whom he brings in Arguing against the Christian Religion that it taught them nothing but what they knew before concerning the Resurrection of the Dead and a future Judgment and a State of Rewards and Punishments in another World And it cannot be denied that the Apocryphal as well as the Canonical ' Books teach these things The Honour and Authority of our Religion amongst Men depends very much upon a right Knowledge and a due consideration of this Subject And those who profess never so great Veneration for the New Testament but have little esteem for any part of the Old understand neither the one nor the other as they ought They refer all along to each other and must stand or fall together for the one is but a Draught as it were or Model of the other all things being though obscurely yet sufficiently taught in the Old Testament which are fully and lively exprest in the New The Sum of all is this The Faith in the Messias to come and the Principles of Religion and Morality had been delivered down from the Beginning by Adam and Noah to their Posterity And when Moses by God's Direction and Appointment gave Laws to the Children of Israel the End and Design of these Laws was the preservation of this Faith and Practice amongst them And this was effected by visible Objects and sensible Remembrances the Jewish Dispensation was ordain'd in condescension to the Circumstances and Capacities of those Ages and that Nation in such a manner as was most suitable to their Condition and most Worthy of God the rest of the World had wholly given up and abandoned themselves to Carnal Ordinances and Superstitions and God who produceth Good out of Evil made use of this Fondness and Dotage of Mankind to the Preservation and Advancement of Truth and Holiness amongst Men. The Ceremonial Worship was no farther acceptable to God and no otherwise design'd by Him than to keep his People from running into Idolatry to which they had so great a Proneness to put them in mind of their own Sinfulness and Unworthiness to preserve a Sense of Moral Duties and of an inward and spiritual Service and to retain a Remembrance and Expectation of that Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction which had been foretold and was in the Fulness of time to be offered upon the Cross for the Sins of the World Thanks be to God that we are instructed to worship him in Spirit and in Truth without so many burthensome Ceremonies but in those Ages of the World nothing would have seem'd more strange and absurd than a Religion without some Pomp and Solemnity of Ceremonies And God appointed for his People those which were innocent to restrain them from all that were wicked and hurtful He appointed the Sacrifices of Beasts to be Types of Christ's Sacrifice and to withhold them from Humane Sacrifices which were practised in other Nations and enjoyn'd by other Religions he commanded them to abstain from certain Meats that they might not eat of Things offer'd to Idols and these innocent Ceremonies he made useful and serviceable to the Great Ends of Faith and Righteousness Nothing impracticable can be supposed to be prescrib'd by God to any People nothing which is above their Abilities and present Attainments and therefore would be of no use and benefit to them But rather the Divine Goodness would condescend to their Infirmities and comply with them in giving them such Laws as may be agreeable and convenient for them in their present State and may fit them for an higher and more excellent Dispensation Whatsoever we may think of it now nothing at the time when the Law was given would have look'd like Religion that had
Witness to the Truth of their Doctrine God himself bears Witness to it and the Jews might have said in this as they did in a very different Case What need we any further Witnesses for we our selves have heard of their own mouths in the Miraculous Gift of Tongues or seen it with our own Eyes in the many wonderful Works which were continually wrought in the most publick manner in Testimony of the Resurrection of Christ Our Blessed Saviour therefore gave as full proof of his Resurrection as if he had appear'd in the Temple or in the midst of Jerusalem to the whole People of the Jews For this had not been more effectual to the Conversion of most of them nor more sufficient to evidence the Truth of the Gospel than his Appearance to his Disciples was and if the Jews had unanimously believed it could not have contributed more to convince Men of the Truth of the Resurrection than their Unbelief has done he sent his Apostles with a Miraculous Power as convincing as his own Appearance could have been and all things considered the Jews afford us as full Evidence in behalf of the Gospel by opposing it as they could have done by their compliance with it And since we have sufficient Testimony to resolve our Faith into the Divine Veracity the certainty is the same whether the Witnesses be more or fewer because it depends upon the veracity of God which is always the same whatever the means be by which our Faith is resolved into it CHAP. XXVII Of the Forty Days in which Christ remain'd upon Earth after his Resurrection and of the manner of his Ascension OUR Blessed Saviour had certified his Disciples of his Resurrection in such a manner as to give them many infallible Proofs of it or else it is impossible for any thing to be infallibly proved and that which is chiefly to be considered in this matter is that he was seen by them not once but often not for a short time or at a hasty Interview but for forty days together and then he performed the common Actions of Humane Life he did eat and drink with them and discoursed with them of the things relating to his Kingdom To whom also he shewed himself alive after his Passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts i. 3. That which I here design is to make some Observations upon the Conversation that our Saviour had with his Disciples during the Forty days between his Resurrection and his Ascension and upon the manner of his leaving them when he ascended into Heaven 2. The Scriptures acquaint us that our Saviour was seen of his Disciples Forty Days or that he vouchsafed them his presence the greatest part of that time which he remained upon Earth after his Resurrection But in what manner all that time was spent with them we are no where told which is no wonder if we consider how much of his former Life is concealed from us In the Scriptures which are written for our Instruction and in the plainest and sincerest manner in the World to inform us of all things necessary to our Salvation we have nothing taken notice of for Ostentation nor for Ornament but many things omitted in the Life of Christ which are thought needful in Humane Authors to make up a compleat History We have no more mentioned of his Parentage than was necessary to make it evident that he was descended from David and born of a Virgin as the Prophets had foretold of him When he was born we read that the Shepherds and the Wise-Men came to Worship him that he was Circumcised that he was brought to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord and that he was carried into Aegypt to avoid Herod's Cruelty and hereby known Prophecies were fulfilled Afterwards he was brought to Nazareth upon the death of Herod and from that time we read no more of him 'till the twelfth Year of his Age when he Disputed with the Doctors in the Temple And then we are told that he went down to Nazareth and was subject to his Mother and to Joseph and in general Terms that he encreased in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and Man as it was before said of him that he grew and waxed strong in Spirit filled with Wisdom and the grace of God was upon him Luke ii 40 52. The next time we read any thing of him is when he was about Thirty years of Age and came to John to be Baptized Thus not only during his Infancy and Childhood there is little related of our Blessed Saviour but his riper years are passed over in Silence in all which time we may be sure that there was no Speech or Action of so Divine a Person but what well deserved the observation of all that knew him and was more worthy of mention in History than all the Renowned Adventures and Exploits or than the Wise or Witty Sayings which adorn the Lives of the Greatest among the Sons of Men. But Modesty Humility and a Contempt of the praise of Men were some of the great and useful Doctrines in which he came to instruct Mankind and he could not do this more effectually than by his own Example in leading a mean and obscure Life little known or taken notice of in the World 'till two or three years before he was to leave it by a Cruel and Infamous Death He did not chuse to spend his time in places of publick Resort and Converse and when he Disputed in the Temple yet nothing of the particulars is mentioned This obscure and unknown Person was to rebuke and comptroll the Pride and Vanity of the Popular Scribes and Pharisees And after he had appeared in the World very much of his Life was spent in privacy and retirement not many of his Discourses are delivered down to us and the greatest part of his Actions are omitted For if they had been all written and described in their several Circumstances many Volumes must have been taken up in the Narrative of them insomuch that St. John supposes that even the World itself could not have contained the Books that should have been written Joh. xxi 25. that is as we might express it in our Language he did a world of things more than these which are related of him and in the same sense of the Word St. James says that the Tongue is a world of Iniquity Jam. iii. 6. The meaning of St. John is that hardly any words could express how many other things were done by our Saviour besides those which he had set down Christ might have employed some accurate Historian to compose the Annals of his whole Life with the greatest exactness imaginable but he was pleased to be represented to the World very imperfestly by such as knew nothing of what belonged to the writing History any farther than to be able to tell the strict and necessary Truth The
Opinions of their own besides the general Prejudices which they lay under with the rest of the World And all Men of any Learning and Education studied the Books of the Philosophers and were commonly addicted to one Sect or other It must be confest that Vanity and the Praise of Men was the chief aim of many of the Philosophers as Tertullian and others of the Fathers object and therefore they were very unlikely to become Proselytes to a Religion which was looked upon in the World with such Disdain and Contempt Philosophy in general if we believe (y) Instit lib. I. c. 1. Quintilian was in his time by most used as an Artifice and Disguise to conceal the worst of Vices under a morose Look and a Habit different from that of other Men. And from such Philosophers as these we must expect that the Scriptures should be read with no manner of Candor or good and serious Intention (z) Contra Celf. lib. II. Origen gives Instances of the wilful Abuse of the Scriptures by some of his Time who cavilled at half Sentences without taking notice of the Coherence which they have of the rest And he complains that (a) Ib. lib. I. Celsus seemed never to have read the Scriptures though he pretended to a very exact Knowledge both of the Jewish and Christian Religion but understood little of either (b) Philip. Sidet apud Dodw. Append. ad Dissert in Irenae e. Cod. MS. Baroc Athenagoras who before him had read the Scriptures with more care and sincerity tho' with the same Design became converted and wrote in Defence of that Religion which he intended to oppose (c) Euseb contr Hier. Lactant. Institut lib. V. c. 2 3. De Mortib Persecut c. 16. Hierocles likewise had read the New Testament with a design to write against it but he who could believe the Miracles of Apollonius Tyaneus and prefer that notorious Impostor to our Blessed Saviour and Maximus Aegiensis Damis the Philosopher and Philostratus to St. Peter and St. Paul shews so strange a partiality as might be expected only in him who opposed the Christian Religion by his Persecutions more than by his Arguments for Hierocles was the chief promoter of the Persecution under Diocletian 2. The Gentiles looked upon the poor persecuted Condition of the Christians as an Argument against their Religion and were not only prejudiced against a New Religion which must expose them to Sufferings by that fondness which Men naturally have for their own Ease and Safety but (d) Aug. Civit. Dei lib. I. c. 29. when they saw the Christians in Distress they would upbraid them as the Psalmist's Enemies reproached him saying Where is now thy God They considered their own Religion as the Religion of their Country and of their Ancestors which was what Tully said for it when he ruined all the Grounds and Pretences in behalf of it They alleged that this had been the Religion of their Forefathers and that the Roman Empire had arrived to so much Power and Greatness under its Influence This was so much insisted upon as is to be seen in Zosimus Symmachus and others that Orosius set himself to answer it in a particular Work and St. Austin who put him upon Writing it thought himself concerned in his own Works to oppose so unreasonable but fatal a Prejudice 3. The Consequence of these Prejudices against the Christian Religion both in Favour to the Religion of their Country and in Fondness for their old Opinions and out of an Abhorrence of Afflictions and a Disregard of those who were so much exposed to them as having but small pretence to any part of the Divine Care the Consequence I say of these Errors and Prejudices was that the Gentiles despised the Christian Religion before they understood any thing of it For many Men of Learning and Observation were so little acquainted with it that they did not distinguish Christians from Jews as we see by (e) Sueton in Claudio c. 25. Suetonius They knew not so much the true Pronunciation of the Name of Christ or Christian but were wont to write (f) Nam nee Nominis certa est notitia penes vos Tertul. Apol. c. 3. Sueton ib. Lactant. Lib. IV. c. 7 Chrestus and Chrestianus This the Apologists much insist upon that they condemned and persecuted what they did not understand the Christians desired no more than a fair Hearing and if they might but be suffered to make their Religion fully known to their Adversaries they begged no further Favour 4. It was believed (g) Aug. de Civit. Dei Lib. XVIII c. 53 54. that the Heathen Oracles had delivered that the Christian Religion should continue no longer than Three hundred and sixty five Years and it is observable that Julian the Apostate died A. D. CCCLXV according to some Chronologers tho' others place his Death Two Years before It seems the Devil had some great Expectation from his Reign but at or near that very time in which he had foretold that the Christian Religion should have an end if the Computation were to be made from the Nativity of Christ he saw an end of all his hopes in the Death of that Emperor who was so zealous in his Service and had given out severe Threatnings against the Christians of what they were to expect if he had returned victorious from that Expedition in which he perished And this Prediction had respect probably to his Reign though the Greek Verses in which it was delivered might be altered afterwards or so contrived at first as to extend it to a longer time leaving it uncertain from whence the Calculation was to begin However this Oracle kept many of the Gentiles from being Christians till they saw the time past which they supposed to be meant by it as St. Austin assures us 5. The Heresies and Schisms which soon arose in the Church gave great Scandal and Offence to such as judged of these things at a distance and in the gross without examining into the Occasions of them The (h) Just Martyr Dialog Jews not only Blasphemed Christ in the Synagogues but made choice of Men on purpose whom they sent from Jerusalem into all Parts of the World to vilifie him and his Religion (i) Id. Apol. 2. And because Christians spoke of Christ's Kingdom this was understood to their Prejudice as if they had been for setting up a Temporal Kingdom by Rebellion And the evil Doctrins and Practices of divers Hereticks confirmed Men in any ill Opinion which they had conceived of Christians in general The absurd Doctrins and Heresies of the Gnosticks and other Hereticks were by the Enemies of the Gospel in their Censures and Invectives applied to all Christians without distinction and were taken upon Trust by most Men. (k) Orig. cont Celf. lib. 6 7 8. Celsus makes Objections from the erroneous and wicked Notions and Practices of the Ophitae the Valentinians the Marcionites and others This
was a long Succession of Philosophers and Sophists who made it their business to oppose the Christian Religion The Shool of Platonists which continued at Athens for some Ages would revive or reinforce any Arguments that had been used by their Predecessors in Opposition to Christianity Proclus and Damascius who were of this School lived about the middle of the Sixth Age and the Writings of Damascius were extant (u) Phot. cod CLXXXI CCXLII. LXXVII in Photius's time in the middle of the Ninth Age the History of Eunapius was then likewise extant and is (x) Voss de Graec. Hist said to be preserved at Venice We have the Abridgment of it by Zosimus and a sufficient Specimen of his malicious Invectives in his other Writings And it is probable that these and many other Books of the like nature which are now lost continued much longer than any Accounts which we have now remaining of them mention Of about Thirty Answers (y) Holstein de Vit. Script Porphyt c. 10. which were written to Porphyry by several Authors not one of them is now to be found When the World was satisfied of the insufficieny of his Objections the Answers to his Books were as little regarded as the Books themselves but underwent the same Fate with them The Jews who from the beginning of Christianity before but especially since the Destruction of Jerusalem have in vast Numbers been spread all over the World and have ever been the most implacable Enemies of the Gospel had the greatest Opportunity to detect any falshood in it and have never omitted any Advantage of improving and enforcing the Arguments against it and and therefore would be sure to retain any thing considerable which had been objected by their Fore-Fathers or by the Heathens with whom they conversed The Jews have been a perpetual restless Enemy in all Parts and Ages of the World and nothing material in this Case would escape their Observation But out of the Writings of the Ancient Jews which are still extant many things have been alleged by many Learned Men of our own and other Nations in confirmation of our Religion from the Confession of the Jews themselves The Unbelief therefore both of the Jews and Gentiles of those Ages is no material Objection nor altogether so unaccountable as the Unbelief of too many now who were born among Christians and have had their Education in the Christian Religion The Truth is Example is always the weakest Argument in any Case and can be of no Force or Authority against the clearest rational Evidence CHAP. XXXI That the Confidence of Men of false Religions and their Willingness to suffer for them is no Prejudice to the Authority of the True Religion THE Christian Religion doth infinitely surpass all others in the Number of its Martyrs of both Sexes of every Age and Nation and Rank and Condition Mistaken ignorant Zealots may often have suffered for other Religions but Men of the highest Station and Worth and inferiour to none in the Knowledge and Experience of every thing that the World esteems Excellent have renounced all and upon choice and after a full consideration of the Merits of the Cause have laid down their Lives for the sake of the Gospel Tyrants of the greatest Power and Cruelty have made it their Aim and Ambition by all sorts of Tortures to extirpate the Christian Religion they esteemed their Persecutions matter of Triumph and a fit subject for the (a) Gâ—uter Inscript p. 238 280. Inscriptions of Monuments erected to their Memories But the invincible Patience and glorious Sufferings of the Christians prevailed against all the Rage and Force of their Enemies If the Martyrologies of all Religions were to be compared there would soon appear so manifest a difference between the Christian Martyrs and the Sufferers for other Religions that nothing would be needful to be said upon this subject But remembring with whom I have to deal I am resolved to take every thing at the lowest and argue with them upon their own Terms Let us for a while set aside whatever of this nature might be said in preference of the Christian Martyrs and suppose the Numbers and Zeal of the Martyrs for so we must call them at present of other Religions to have been as great as can be imagined yet the Cause it self makes a plain difference between them An ignorant Zeal in a wrong Cause is no Argument against the Goodness of any Cause which is maintained and promoted by such a Zeal as is reasonable and proceeds upon sure Grounds Indeed it were very hard and very strange if that which is true should be ever the less certain or the less to be regarded and esteemed because there may be other things that are false of which some Men are as firmly persuaded and are as much concerned for them as any one can be for the Truth it self And yet this is the wisest thing that many have to pretend against the certainty of the Religion in which they were Baptised that there are many Impostures in the World and none is without its Zealots to appear in Vindication of it I am confident no Man ever parted with any thing but his Religion upon so weak a Pretence A false Religion is not the only thing for which Men are wont to have an undeserved Value but their Country their Friends and themselves they are commonly as much mistaken in and do as highly overprize Is there then no real difference or solid worth in any of these Some of the most unlikely Countrys in the World have been admired by the Natives as if they were the Garden of Eden and the Place of Paradise Though there is nothing easier than to make a distinction concerning different Countrys And it is as easie to distinguish between the Elysium of the Heathens or Mahomet's Paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven and between the Ways which lead to them There is nothing especially if it be of any Moment and Consequence to them for which Men have not shewn themselves passionately concerned and it is not to be expected that they should be so much more infallible in Religion than in other things or should be so much less in earnest about it as not to discover the same Frailties and the same Affections which are visible in all the other Actions and Business of their Lives It is often seen in most Cases that some are as earnest and zealous in a false Cause as others are in a True but doth this prove that there is no difference between Falshood and Truth When two Men of opposite Parties are equally confident of the Goodness of their Cause it is certain that but one of them can be in the right and it is as certain that one of them must be at least so far in the right as he contradicts the other because as the two Parts of a Contradiction cannot be both True so they cannot be both False If then a confident and zealous