he ought to be acknowledg'd as King who should be our King indeed and that he was to come out of the East who should have dominion over all We read in Porphyry of the Oracle of Apollo which saith that other Gods are aerial Spirits but the God of the Hebrews is only to be worshipped which saying if the worshippers of Apollo obey then they must cease to worship him if they do not obey it then they make their God a Iyar Add further if those Spirits had respected or intended the good of Mankind above all things they would have prescribed a general Rule of life to Mankind and also given some certain assurance of a reward to them that lived accordingly neither of which was ever done by them On the other side oftentimes in their Verses we find some Kings commended which were wicked men some Champions extol'd and dignified with divine honour others allured to immodest and unlawful love or to the seeking after filthy lucre or committing of Murder as might be shown by many Examples SECT X. Paganisme decayed of its own accord so soon as humane aid ceased BESIDES all that hath hitherto been said Paganisme ministers to us a mighty argument against it self because that wheresoever it becomes destitute of humane force to support it there straightway it comes to ruine as if the foundation thereof were quite overthrown For if we take a view of all the Kingdoms and States that are among Christians or Mahumetans we shall find no memory of Paganisme but in Books Nay histories tell us that even in those times when the Emperors endeavoured to uphold the Pagan Religion either by violence and persecution as did the first of them or by learning and subtilty as did Julian it notwithstanding decayed daily not by any violent opposition nor by the brightness and splendor of lineage and descent for Jesus was accounted by the common sort only a Carpenters Son nor by the flourishes of learning which they that taught the Law of Christ used not in their Sermons nor by gifts and bribes for they were poor nor by any soothing and flattering speeches for on the contrary they taught that all worldly advantages must be despised and that all kind of adversity must be undergone for the Gospel's sake See then how weak and impotent Paganisme was which by such means came to ruine Neither did the doctrine of Christ only make the credulity of the Gentiles to vanish but even bad Spirits came out of divers bodies at the name of Christ they became dumb also and being demanded the reason of their silence they were compelled to say that they were able to do nothing where the name of Christ was called upon SECT XI Answer to the Opinion of some that think the beginning and decay of Religions depend upon the efficacy of the Stars THERE have been Philosophers that did ascribe the beginning and decay of every Religion unto the Stars But this star-gazeing Science which these Men profess to be skilled in is delivered under such different rules that one can be certain of nothing but only this that there is no certainty at all therein I do not here speak of such effects as follow from a natural necessity of causes but of those that proceed from the will of Man which of it self hath such liberty and freedom that no necessity or violence can be impressed upon it from without For if the consent of the will did necessarily follow any outward impression then the power in our soul which we may perceive it hath to consult deliberate and chuse would be given in vain Also the equity of all Laws of all rewards and punishments would be taken away seeing there can be neither fault nor merit in that which is altogether necessary and inevitable Again there are divers evil acts or effects of the will which if they proceeded of any necessity from the Heavens then the same Heavens and Celestial Bodies must needs receive such efficacy from God and so it would follow that God who is most perfectly good is the true cause of that which is morally evil And that when in his Law he professeth himself to abhor wickedness which a force inserted by him into things themselves will inevitably produce he doth will two things contrary one to the other that the same thing should be done and not be done and also that a Man offends in an action which he doth by divine instigation They speak more probably that say the influences of the Stars do first affect the Air then our Bodies with such qualities as oftentimes do excite and stir up in the mind some desires or affections answerable thereunto and the will being allured or inticed by these motions doth oftentimes yield unto them But if this should be granted it makes nothing for the question we have in hand For seeing that Christian Religion most of all withdraws Men from those things which are pleasing unto the body it cannot therefore have its beginning from the affections of the body and consequently not from the influence of the Stars which as but now we said have no power over the mind otherwise than by the mediation of those affections The most prudent among Astrologers exempt truly wise and good Men from the dominion of the Stars And such verily were they that first professed Christianity as their lives do shew Or if there be any efficacy in learning and knowledge against the infection of the body even among Christians there were ever some that were excellent in this particular Besides as the most learned do confess the effects of the Stars respect certain Climates of the World and are only for a season but this Religion hath now continued above the space of one thousand six hundred years and that not in one part only but in the most remote places of the World and such as are under a far different position of the Stars SECT XII The chief Points of Christianity are approved of by the Heathen and if there be any thing that is hard to be believed therein the like or worse is found among the Pagans BUT the Pagans have the less to object against Christian Religion because all the parts thereof are of such honesty and integrity that they convince Mens minds by their own light In so much that there have not been wanting Men among the Pagans also who have here and there said every one of those things which our Religion hath in a body all together As to give some instances true Religion consists not in Rites and Ceremonies but in the mind and Spirit he is an adulterer that hath but a desire to commit adultery we ought not to revenge injuries one Man should be the Husband of one Wife only the league or bond of Matrimony ought to be constant and perpetual Man is bound to do good unto all specially to them that are in want we must refrain from Swearing as much as may be And as for our Food
even a few Geometrical figures espied on the Sea-shore gave the beholder just ground to argue that some man had been there it being evident enough that such things could not proceed from meer chance Furthermore that Mankind was not from all Eternity but at a certain time had a common beginning may be manifested among other things from the progress of Arts and Sciences yea by the very ground whereupon we tread which was anciently rude and untill'd but afterward became possessed with Inhabitants which also the Language spoken in Islands derived from adjacent Countries doth witness The same is apparent by certain ordinances so generally received amongst Men that the institution thereof may not be thought to have proceeded so much from the instinct of nature or evident deductions of reason as from perpetual and constant tradition scarce interrupted in a few places either by the malice or misery of Man such was that of killing Beasts in Sacrifice used in former times and such also are now the modesty and shamefastness about venereal things the solemnities of Marriages and the abhorrence of all incestuous Embraces SECT VII Answer to that Objection concerning the cause of evil NEither ought we to doubt of that which hath been spoken because we see many evil things come to pass the source and cause whereof cannot be ascribed unto God who as before hath been shown is good after the most perfect and absolute degree of Goodness For when we said that God was the author and cause of all things we added withal that he was the cause of such things as really do subsist And no absurdity that I see will follow if we affirm that those things which have true and real existence are the causes of some certain accidents as namely of actions or the like The Almighty we know created both Man and those more sublime Minds the Angels endued with liberty of action which liberty in it self is not sinful yet by its power some sins may be committed Now to make God the author of these evils which are morally evil is no better than blasphemy howbeit there are other kind of evils so called because they afflict some person with grief or loss and these we may affirm to be inflicted by God for the reformation and amendment of some sinner or for punishment answerable to an offence which to say is no impiety since that such evils have nothing in them contrary to goodness but rather they proceed from goodness it self like a bitter potion from a good Physician SECT VIII Against the Opinion of two Principles or causes of things HEre by the way it may be noted that the opinion of those Men is to be abandoned and avoided which make two efficient causes the one good and the other evil for from two Principles opposite to each other there may follow the ruine and destruction but in no wise a well ordered composition of things Neither is this to pass for truth to wit that as there is something good of it self so likewise there must needs be something absolutely evil in it self seeing that evil is a certain defect which cannot be but in a thing that hath existence which very having of existence or being is good SECT IX That God doth govern the whole World MOreover that this whole Vniverse is governed by the providence of God is evident for that not only men which have right reason and understanding but also the fowles and beasts both wild and tame which have in them some thing correspondent to reason do bear a kind of providence or respectful care over the issue which they bring forth Which perfection since it is a part of goodness must needs be attributed to God and so much the rather because he is both omniscient and omnipotent so that he can no way be ignorant of such things as are done or to be done and can easily direct and order the same as he pleaseth To which also belongs that which we have spoken before concerning the moving of things contrary to their proper nature to serve an Universal end SECT X. Yea sublunary things AND that they are much out of the way who shut up this providence within the celestial Orbs and would have it descend no lower than the Moon is apparent both from the reason now mentioned whose force extends to all created things and also from hence that the course of the Stars as the best Philosophers acknowledge and experience sufficiently demonstrates are ordained for the use of Man Now it stands but with equity that that Creature should be more regarded for whose sake another is ordained than that which is appointed for anothers use Neither are they less erroneous that say this providence is extended unto universal things only and not to particulars for if they will have God to be ignorant of particular things as some of them have professed then verily God could not understand himself neither should he be infinite in knowledge as we have proved him before to be if it be not extended unto every thing But then if God do know these things why can he not also have care of them especially since that particulars as they are particulars are appointed for some certain end both special and general And the common essences of things which by the confession of the said Authors are preserved by God cannot subsist but in their singulars So that if these singulars being forsaken by Divine providence may perish then may the whole kinds likewise SECT XI This is further proved by the preservation of Empires ANother forcible Argument of Divine providence particularly over humane affairs both Philosophers and Historians acknowledge in the preservation of Common-wealths first in general for that wheresoever the course and order of ruling and obeying is once admitted the same always continues there Then also often-times in particular it is evident by the long continuation of this or that very form of government thorow many ages as of a Monarchy with the Assyrians Aegyptians and Franks of an Aristocracy with the Venetians and the like For although Man's wisdom and policy have some stroke in point of governmeut yet if we rightly consider the multitude of wicked men and the harms that may proceed from without and the changes that are naturally incident to humane affairs it may seem impossible for any State so long to subsist unless it were upheld by a constant particular care and by the power of a Divine hand Which is more evidently seen when it pleases God to change Empires and translate them from one to another For to those Instruments whom He thinks good to use in that business as a thing destined by himself suppose Cyrus Alexander Caesar the Dictator Cingi among the Tartars Namcaa among the Chineses all things whatsoever even those which do not depend on humane prudence succeed more prosperously beyond their own wishes than is sutable to the usual variety in humane casualties Which strange correspondence and combination
the downfal of the worship of Daemons and of Magical Arts and one God was worshipped with a detestation of Daemons whose power and authority Porphyry acknowledges was broken by the coming of Christ Neither is it to be thought that any wicked Spirit is so ignorant and foolish as to effect and often bring to pass things that are causes of its own hurt and disgrace and no way conducing to its honour or benefit Besides it stands no way with the wisdom or goodness of God himself to believe that he would suffer so harmless and innocent Men such as feared him to be deceived by the delusion of Devils and such were the first followers of Christ as is plain by their innocent life and by the many calamities which they endured for conscience sake But on the other side if thou affirmest that those works of Christ proceeded from some good Spirits which are inferiour to God in so saying thou dost confess that the same works were well pleasing unto God and did tend to the honour of his name forasmuch as good Spirits do nothing but what is acceptable and glorious unto God To say nothing now of some of Christ's works which were so miraculous that they seem to have God himself for the author of them and could not have been done but by the immediate finger of an omnipotent power as specially the restoring divers Persons from Death unto Life again Now God doth not produce any Miracle nor suffer any such Wonders to be wrought without just cause For it becomes not a wise Maker of Laws to forsake and depart from his own Laws unless upon some good and weighty reason Now no other cause of these things can be given than that which was alledged by Christ himself namely that hereby his doctrine might be verified and confirmed And doubtless they that were Spectators of his Works could conceive no other reason thereof amongst which since there were as was said many godly Men piously and devoutly affected it is horrible impiety to imagine that God did work these things only to delude and deceive them And this was one cause why very many of the Jews who lived about the time of Jesus even such as could not be perswaded to relinquish or omit one jot of Moses his Law such as those who were called Nazarenes and Ebionites did notwithstanding acknowledge that this Jesus was a Doctor or Master sent from Heaven SECT VII Christ's Resurrection proved by credible Reasons BEsides the Miracles that Christ wrought to confirm his Doctrine another like Argument may be taken from his wonderful Resurrection to Life again after that He was Crucified Dead and Buried For the Christians of all Ages and Countries alledge the same not only for a truth but also as the most strong ground and chiefest foundation of their Faith which could not be unless those that first taught Christianity did perswade their Auditors that the thing was so for certain And yet they could not induce any wise Man to the belief hereof unless they could verily affirm that themselves were eye-witnesses of this matter For without such an ocular testimony no Man in his wits would have given credit unto them especially in such times when to believe them was to expose themselves to the greatest mischiefs and dangers But that this was their constant assertion both their own Books and other Writings do testifie For out of their Books it appears that they appealed unto Five hundred Witnesses that had beheld Jesus after he was risen from the Dead Now it is not the fashion of lyars and dissemblers to appeal to so great a number of Witnesses Neither could it possibly so fall out that so many Men should agree and conspire together to bear false witness Or suppose there had been no other witnesses save those twelve known Apostles the first publishers of Christian doctrine yet this had been sufficient No Man is wicked for nothing And honour for their lying they could not expect in regard that all kind of dignities and promotions were then in the hands of the Pagans or Jews from whom they received nothing but reproach and ignominy Neither could they hope for any Wealth and Riches because this profession was oftentimes punished with the loss of goods and possessions or if it was not yet the Gospel could not be taught by them unless they omitted or neglected all care about worldly goods Neither could the hope of any other worldly advantage move them to utter untruths seeing that the very preaching of the Gospel did expose them to labours hunger thirst stripes and imprisonments To get credit and reputation only among their own Country-men was not so much worth that they poor simple Men whose life and doctrine was abhorrent from all pride should therefore run upon so great inconveniencies Neither again could they have any hope their doctrine would make such progress as to win them any fame being opposed both by the nature of Man which is intent to its own advantage and by the authority of them who then every where governed unless they had been some way animated and incouraged by the promise of God To which we may add that they had no reason to promise themselves that this fame such as it might prove would be durable since they expected God on purpose concealing his counsel in this matter the end of the whole World as nearly approaching which both their own Writings and the writings of those Christians that followed them make most evident It remains therefore that we say if they did lye it was for the defence of their Religion which cannot with any reason be laid to their charge if the thing be rightly considered For either they did sincerely believe that this Religion which they professed was the true Religion or else they were of a contrary mind If they did not believe it to be true nay if they thought not that it was absolutely the best they would never have made choice hereof and refused other Religions far more safe and commodious Nay further though they conceived it to be true yet they would not have professed it unless they had been fully perswaded that the profession thereof was necessary specially for that they might have easily foreseen and partly they could tell by experience what troops of Men would be exposed to death for this profession which without just cause to occasion was no better than plain robbery or murder But if we say they believed that this Religion was true and the very best and by all means to be professed and that after the death of their Lord and Master surely that could no way be so if their Masters promise concerning his Resurrection had deceived them and not proved true For that had been enough to make any Man in his wits disbelieve even that which he had already entertained Moreover all Religions and Christianity more than any other forbids lying in bearing false witness especially in divine things wherefore they could not
lived in those times and was present when the things were done In like manner it ought to suffice us that whosoever wrote the Books we speak of both lived in the primitive Age and were endued with Apostolical gifts For if any body will say that these qualities might be feigned as the very Names might be in other Writings he says that which is not credible viz. that they who every where press the study of truth and piety would for no cause at all make themselves guilty of the crime of forgery which is not only detestable among all good Men but by the Roman Laws was to be punished with death SECT V. These Pen-men writ the Truth because they had certain knowledge of what they writ THIS therefore must be allowed that the Books of the new covenant were written by those Authors whose Names they bear or by such as bear sufficient witness of themselves To which if we farther add that they were also well acquainted with the matters whereof they wrote and had no purpose to lye or dissemble it will follow that the things which they committed to writing were both certain and true because every untruth proceeds either from ignorance or from a wicked desire to deceive As touching Matthew John Peter and Jude they were all of the society and fellowship of those Twelve whom Jesus did chuse to be witnesses of his Life and Doctrine so that they could not want notice of those things which they did relate The same may be said of James who was either an Apostle or as some think the next a-kin to Jesus and by the Apostles consecrated Bishop of Hierusalem Paul also could not erre through lack of knowledge about those Points which he professeth were revealed to him by Jesus himself reigning in Heaven nor could he or Luke either who was an inseparable companion to him in his travels be deceived about those things which were done by himself This Luke might easily know the certainty of those things which he writ concerning the life and death of Jesus For he was born in the places next adjoyning to Palestina through which Countrey when he travelled he saith he spake with such persons as were eye-witnesses of the things that were done For doubtless besides the Apostles with whom he had familiarity there lived many others at that time who had been cured by Jesus and had seen him both before his Death and after his Resurrection If we will give credit to Tacitus and Suetonius in those things which happened a long time before they were born because we are confident that they diligently enquired into the truth thereof how much more ought we to believe this Writer who saith that he received all the things which he relates from them that had seen the same It is credibly reported of Mark that he was a constant companion with Peter so that whatsoever he writ are to be lookt upon as dictated by Peter who could not be ignorant thereof Besides the same things that he writes are almost all extant in the Writings of the Apostles Neither could the Author of the Apocalypse be deceived or deluded in those Visions which he saith were sent unto him from Heaven Nor he that writ the Epistle to the Hebrews erre in those things which he professeth either to be inspired into him by the Spirit of God or else taught him by the Apostles SECT VI. As also because they would not lye THE other reason we spake of to prove the truth of the said Holy Writers because they had no will to tell an untruth is twisted with that which we handled above when in general we proved the truth of Christian Religion and of the history of the Resurrection of Christ Those that will accuse any Witnesses for the pravity of their will must produce something by which it may be thought credible their will might be diverted from uttering the truth but this cannot be averred of the said Authors For if any do object and say that they acted in their own cause and did their own business we must see why this should be thought their cause and interest Not that they might get any thing by it in this World or thereby avoid any danger when for the sake of this profession they both lost all the goods of this World and ventured upon all manner of dangers This therefore was not their cause and interest but only out of reverence to God which sure doth not perswade Men to lye especially in such a business whereupon depends the everlasting Salvation of Mankind Such an impious piece of villany we cannot believe they could be guilty of if we consider either their Doctrines every where most full of piety or their life which was never yet accused of any wicked deed no not by their greatest Enemies who objected nothing to them but their want of learning and unskilfulness which did not qualifie them sure for inventing falshoods And indeed if there had been the least spice as we speak of fraud and cheating in them they would not themselves have recorded their own faults and preserved the memory of them as of their all forsaking their Master when he was in danger and Peter's denial of him three times SECT VII A Confirmation of the Fidelity of these Authors from the Miracles which they wrought ON the other side God himself gave illustrious testimonies of their Fidelity by working wonders which either they or their Disciples with great boldness publickly avouched adding also the names of the persons places and other circumstances So that the truth or falshood of their assertion might easily have been discovered by the inquisition of the Magistrate Amongst which it is worthy our observation which they have most constantly delivered both concerning the use of Tongues which they had never learned among many thousand Men and their curing the diseases of the body upon a suddain in the sight of the People Neither were they any whit dismayed with fear either of the Jewish Magistrates of those times whom they knew to be most maliciously set against them or of the Romans who were far from having any good will to them and they were sure would lay hold on any thing on which they might ground a charge of their being inventors of a new Religion And yet neither Jews nor Pagans in the times immediately following durst ever deny that wonders were wrought by those Men. Yea the Miracles of Peter are mentioned by Phlegon in his Annals who lived under Adrian the Emperor Moreover the Christians themselves in those Books that contain a reason of their faith which they exhibited to the Emperors to the Senate and to the Governors do relate these things as most manifest and unquestionable truths yea they openly report that there continued a wonderful vertue of working strange effects at their Sepulchers for some Ages after their Death which if it had been false they knew that to their shame and punishment the Magistrates could have confuted
the keepers of these Books For first of all the Ten Tribes were led away captive by the Assyrians into Media then afterward the two other Tribes And many of these also after Cyrus granted them liberty to return setled themselves in foreign Countries The Macedonians invited them with great promises to come into Alexandria The cruelty of Antiochus the civil Wars of the Maccabees together with those of Pompey and Sossius from without did disperse and scatter abroad many of them The parts of Africa about Cyrene were full of the Jews so were the Cities of Asia Macedonia Lycaonia and likewise the Isles of Cyprus Crete and others Also what a number of them there was at Rome may be learned out of Horace Juvenal and Martial Now it is not possible that such Multitudes so far distant one from another should be cozened in this kind neither could they ever accord all in the coining of an untruth Add moreover that almost Three Hundred Years before Christ at the appointment and care of the Kings of Egypt those Books of the Hebrews were translated into the Greek Tongue by those that are called the Seventy Interpreters So as then the Grecians had the sense and substance of them though in another Language whereby they were the less liable to be changed Nay more these Books were translated both into the Chaldee Tongue and into that of Jerusalem that is the half Syriac a little before and a little after the time of Christ Other Greek translations afterward there were as namely by Aquila Symmachus and Theodotion all which Origen compared with that of the Seventy Interpreters and after him others also who could find no diversity of history or of any matter worth speaking of Philo lived in the Reign of Caligula and Josephus survived the times of both the Vespasians which two Writers alledge out of the Hebrew Books the same things that we read at this day Now in these very times began Christian Religion to be more and more propagated being professed by many of the Hebrews and by sundry Persons that had learned the Hebrew Tongue who if the Jews had falsified in any notable part could have quickly discovered it by comparing more ancient Copies and so have made it publickly known But they are so far from doing this that on the other side they alledge many testimonies out of the old covenant to the same sense and meaning that they are used by the Hebrews which Hebrews may sooner be accused of any other fault than I will not say falshood but of so much as negligence about these Books which they have so religiously and exactly described and compared that they know how often any one Letter is found therein The last though not the least argument to prove that the Jews did not purposely corrupt or alter the Scripture may be because the Christians out of the very Books which are read by the Jews do evince and as they trust very strongly that their Lord and Master Jesus is that same very Messias which was anciently promised to the Jews their Forefathers Which above all things the Jews would have taken care should not have been done when the controversie arose between them and the Christians if ever it had been in their power to have changed what they listed The Fourth Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. A particular Confutation of the Religions opposite to Christianity THE Fourth Book beginning with that pleasure which many Men are wont to take in beholding the danger wherein others are while they are in none themselves shows that it ought to be the greatest pleasure of a Christian Man in this life not only to rejoyce and bless himself that he hath found out the Truth but to lend his help also to others that wander up and down in the Labyrinths of Errour and to make them partakers of so great a benefit Which we in some measure have indeavoured to do in the former Books the demonstration of that which is true containing in it self the confutation of what is false yet in regard that all kinds of Religions which oppose themselves to the Christian Viz. Paganism Judaism and Mahometism besides that which is common to all have certain errours proper to every one of them and their peculiar Arguments which they are wont to oppose us withal it will not be amiss to make a particular Disputation against every one of these First beseeching the Readers to free their judgments from leaning to a Party and from long custome and prejudice as impediments of a good mind that with the greater indifferency they may take cognizance of what shall be said SECT II. And first of Paganisme that there is but one God Created Spirits are good or bad the good not to be honoured but as the most high God directs TO begin then against Pagans If they say that there are divers eternal and coequal Gods we have confuted this Opinion before in the first Book where we taught that there is but only one God who is the cause of all things Or if they by the name of Gods do understand the created Spirits which are superior to Men they then either mean the good or the bad if they say the good first they ought to be well assured that such are so indeed otherwise they commit a dangerous error in receiving enemies in stead of friends and Traytors for Ambassadors Then it were but reason that they should in their very worship make an evident difference between the most high God and those Spirits And likewise be satisfied what order there is among them what good may be expected from each of them and what honour the most High is willing should be bestowed on every one of them All which being wanting in their Religion it is plain from thence how uncertain that Religion is and how it were a safer course for them to betake themselves to the worship of one Almighty God which even Plato confessed was the duty of every wise Man specially for that to whomsoever God is propitious and favourable to them these good Angels must needs be serviceable and gracious being the Ministers and Servants of the most High SECT III. Evil Spirits adored by Pagans and how impious a thing it is BUT it was the bad not the good Spirits which the Pagans did worship as may be proved by weighty reasons first because these adored Angels did not throw off their worshippers unto the service of the true God but as much as in them lay laboured to abolish the same or at least in every respect required equal honour with the Almighty Secondly because they procured all the mischief they could to the worshippers of the one most High God by provoking both Magistrates and People to inflict punishments upon them For when it was lawful for Poets to sing of the murders and adulteries committed by the Gods and for the Epicures to take away all divine Providence and any other Religion though never