and Particular as relating to the Actions and Course of every individual Person Moreover the Notion of Providence is Two-fold the first is natural by which God provides all things necessary for the Life and Sustenance of Man The second is Moral which may more properly be called Previding being no other than the secret End propos'd by God for his concurrence with Man in all his Actions which be they never so Irregular Unjust or Vicious from the Evil Ends propos'd by Men are by the Divine Power and Wisdom made to be the Instruments of Good beyond the Intention of second Causes Prophane Story is not so apt to illustrate this Point as Sacred Writ for Instance The End propos'd by Jacob's Sons in selling Joseph was Revenge God concurs with them in this Action but upon other Ends designing to make this unjust Act of theirs to become an Instrument for their Preservation as appears from the wonderful Accidents throughout the whole Course of that History which Passage also was a Type of what befell our Lord and Saviour who was villainously sold betray'd and barbarously put to death by the Jews to all which God concurs making this wicked Act of theirs to be the sole Means for saving those Murderers and all the World besides by that Atonement which was made for their Sins by the Precious Blood of his only Son This Method is most Consonant to the Nature of God it being impossible there should be any greater Demonstration of his Divine Power and Goodness than to be able to convert Poison into a Cordial and to procure safety out of that which would naturally be our ruin But that we may the better understand the Cause and Reasonableness of God's Operations with Men I must leave my ordinary Road a little and take up with the obscure Traces and Niceties of Metaphysicks by premising some few Propositions which like the Postulata or Axioms in the Mathematicks must be taken for granted for the present to avoid the long Digressions and Perplexities which would follow upon a particular Proof of each of them And 1. God from all Eternity foresees all future Actions of Men his Omniscience being a Noble Attribute and Branch of his Divine Nature 2. This Fore-knowledge of God tho' it imply a certainty of the Action does not lay a necessity upon the Agent no more than my fore-knowledge of the Sun 's rising to morrow Morning is a necessary Cause of the Course and Rising of that Glorious Creature 3. That God's influence upon the Actions of Men is either Physical or Moral Physical for as much as he by his Power is the Preserver of every Creature in its Being and Operations and this Power extends it self to all the Actions of Men whether Natural or Spontaneous 2. Moral by proposing Rewards and Punishments as Motives to excite or to disswade from Action adding sometimes his Positive and Revealed Commands together with his assisting Grace by the impulse of his Holy Spirit but this is a Point which more properly concerns Divinity 4. That God has given Man a freedom of Will viz. a Power to choose or dislike upon the apprehensions he has of Objects for Man otherwise would be nothing but a meer Machine all whose Motions whether Regular or Irregular Good or Evil would be nothing but the contrivance and direction of its Maker and would be reputed all for the Acts of Man because God is pleas'd to produce them in his Presence which is all one as to say that the Feracity of the Garden is an Act of the Water-pots because the Water does run through it by which the Gardner does revive his Flowers 5. That the apprehension which Man has of Objects upon which he forms his Acts of choice or dislike being many times clouded by Ignorance or misguided by Irregular Passions is that which betrays him to the commission of Evil. 6. The Perpetration of which Evil is no further forth the Act of God than that Man in his Existence and consequently in his Operations must depend upon the Conserving Power of his Creator so that God can no more be said to be the Cause of Sin than the Sea whose Nature 't is extinguish Fire can be said to be the Cause of the burning and ruin of some Cities for as much as it supports and carries up the Ships from whence came the Bombs and Fire-works which did the mischief From whence it follows also that the commission of Sin is a Moral Action terminated in something forbidden which may be understood either of the Internal Act of the Will proposing a bad Object or a bad End or else of the External Action or Execution which whether it contain any thing positive in its Nature is with great nicety disputed some distinguishing betwixt the materiality of the Action and the formality or obliquity which is nothing but the regard which the Action has to an unlawful Object The former they make to be Positive the other a mere Privative though this latter seem'd a little difficult For Instance this or that particular Act of murder whether intended or executed does receive its Individuality and Being from the Object on which 't is terminated so that this particular Act or Action it self is nothing else but the very Termination on such an undue Object and in which consists they say the very formality and obliquity of Sin In the last Place this propensity in Actions whether Good or Evil whatsoever it be is not of the Nature of a Creature since even by divine Power it cannot subsist of it self it being impossible there should be such a thing as a Thought without something which thinks and something which is thought upon or an Action without an Agent and an Object It is therefore of the Nature of a Relation which can be said only to have an improper and denominative Reality for as much as the Terms related are real Things From these Points thus premised some Rational answer may be given to such Difficulties as shall occur in our further Consideration of Divine Providence over Human Actions Resuming therefore the distribution which I made in the beginning of this Chapter we are first to consider God's Providence in Relation to greater Bodies or Civil Communities or as it extends it self to the Establishment and Revolutions of Kingdoms To prove this we need no more but to reflect upon the Nature and Attributes of God who as it hath been already demonstrated is Omnipotent and gives Life and Power to every Creature in all its Motions and Tendencies As for Epicurus his Reasonings they are foolish when he endeavours to shew that it is beneath the Grandure of a Deity to concern it self in the Transactions of Men and that the Multiplicity and Contrariety of Occurrences would be an interruption to that Tranquility which is so essential to that happy state where there is nothing but quiet and serenity These Notions of Epicurus so soft and gentle so smooth and inchanting would suit
A DISCOURSE OF NATURAL and REVEAL'D RELIGION IN Several Essays OR The Light of Nature A GUIDE TO DIVINE TRUTH LONDON Printed for John Newton at the three Pigeons against the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street MDCXCI Licensed May 18th 1691. The LIGHT of NATURE a Guide to DIVINE TRUTH In the Discoveries it makes of God in respect of Himself and his Creatures In respect of Himself we consider his Existence Chap. 1. and 2. Attributes Chap. 3. God with relation to his Creatures consider'd in his Works Worship His works of Creation Chap. 4. and Conservation His Conservation or Providence over the Universe Chap. 5. and 6. Humane affairs in General Chap. 7. 8. 9. Special Ch. 10. Corrollary of Fate and Fortune Chap. 11. Of God's Worship or of Religion in General Chap. 12. Religious Worships either of False Gods Chap. 13. of the True God Reveal'd Natural Reveal'd Religion Jewish Christian Mahometan The Jewish Religion in its Authority Chap. 14. and 15. Duration Chap. 16 The State of the Jews since their Fall Chap. 17. The Christian Religion examin'd by The Types and Prophesies of the Old Testament Chap. 18. Solution of Objections Chap. 19. Heathen Predictions Chap. 20. The Doctrine of Jesus Chap. 21. Solution of Objections Chap. 22. The Life of Jesus Chap. 23. The Miracles of Jesus Chap. 24. The success of the Christian Doctrine Chap. 25. Of the Mahometan Religion Chap. 26. Corrollar Of the Immortality of the Soul Chap. 27. Of Natural Religion as a means on Chap. 28. The Conclusion CHAP. I. Of God's Existence VVHosoever shall view the World in the several Stages and Revolutions of Time may easily observe that there was never any Nation so overwhelm'd with Barbarism and Ignorance but did readily believe there was something Superior to their own Nature which had Power to hurt and to defend them and in conformity to this Belief they did ascribe more than human Honours to their Demons endeavouring also by their Prayers and Oblations to make them Propitious and Ascribing all their Success and Felicity as well as their Calamities to the Decrees and Dispensations of their Gods 'T is true the Notions they had of the Nature of these Gods were very gross and absurd since they sometimes imagin'd them to dwell in certain Beasts in Brutes in Plants or Images made of Stone Wood and the like believing them almost to be as many in Number as their Worshippers and subject to the same Vicissitudes and Distempers of Passions But how absurd soever they were in their Rites and Ceremonies in this they did all agree that such Numens did precide over them and were therefore to be approach'd with all Veneration and Humility to be invok'd with all Fervour and Constancy and to be appeas'd with some kind of Expiations all which being the concurrent Sense of Mankind in all Ages can be no other than the Law of Nature and must be therefore of Eternal Truth as being deriv'd from that one first and supream Cause which gave Nature its Existence I question whether there were ever any who did absolutely disbelieve the Existence of a Deity not admitting it in some degree or other As for those amongst the Ancients who were Canoniz'd for Atheists such as Diagoras Lucian and the like 'T is plain that they only derided those who were esteem'd Gods in their own Times who indeed had not the least Pretension to Divinity And as for those who believ'd the Eternity of the World or of Matter such as Aristotle Epicurus and the like though such a Belief were utterly inconsistent with the Notions of a True God nevertherless they did in some inferiour manner or other believe the Existence of Divine Beings But whosever they were of this Tribe and whatsoever their Belief was this is certain that they could never erect themselves into a Sect nor make any considerable Body of Men to be of their Perswasion And as for our Modern Atheists or Scepticks as they are known to be Men whose Natural Improvements are but ordinary consisting only in Boldness and some little Gallantries of Wit so is it as well known that they are Men of Sensual and Flagitious Lives and that what they teach is not so much their Judgment as their Design not what they think but what they wish should be For could they make the Being of a God or what amounts to the same thing his Providential Regiment of the World but disputable there would be some Colour they think for their Licentious Courses to which their Lives are Prostituted And yet there was never any Man of Parts who has professedly impugn'd the Being of a God only by some oblique and side Approaches they have adventur'd to Attack him in his Prerogatives either in denying his Providence by reason of some seeming Incongruities in second Causes or admitting his Providence they endeavour in the next Place to make his concurrence with Human Agents to lay a necessity upon the Will for the commission of Evil Actions and by this means they impugn his Goodness or lastly by denying the Souls Immortality or a state of future Rewards and Punishments they labour to destroy his Justice but of these Points more hereafter For the present 't is worth our Consideration what some have excellently well observ'd That Men of this Denomination will be ever talking of their Opinion as if they fainted in it within themselves and would be glad to be strengthned by the consent of others But to return to the Belief and Practice of the Gentiles we are carefully to Consider what there was in their Idolatrous Worship which was founded in the Law of Nature and what it was which depended upon the Will and Genius of the Worshipper That which was founded in the Law of Nature and in which they did all agree was this That there was some Superiour Power which did observe their Actions which did govern all the Occurrences of Life and was Author of all the Good and Evil which did happen to them From this Belief of the Power and Providence of their Gods they formed to themselves two Internal Acts of Devotion viz. Love and Fear as also two External Acts to wit Invocation and Worship Now this Worship consisted chiefly in these Duties First Veneration and Honour Secondly Oblations which were either Expiatory to appease the Anger of their Gods and make them Propitious or else to testifie their Thanks and Gratitude for the Blessings they receiv'd all which flowing Naturally from a belief they had of their Gods and that they were the Original of Good and Evil and consequently of Rewards and Punishments is an evident Demonstration that they did all meet in those general Notions wherein the Worship of the True God was most concern'd CHAP. II. The Belief of the Heathens concerning God NOw he that should give a true Account or History of the Heathen Gods might himself have hopes to be of the Number of them by doing a Work more laborious and difficult than many of
from God since the Consent of the People which is de Jure Naturae cannot be resum'd and transferr'd upon any succeeding Capacity as long as that 's in being on which they conferr'd their Right at first CHAP. VIII Of God's Influence on Human Actions AND here I must beg my Readers leave to digress a little from the Method I propos'd viz. Not to meddle with Arguments of Sacred Authority till such time as by the Thread of this Discourse I should be brought to speak of reveal'd Religion and particularly the Christian But so it is that I cannot make any further Progress till such time as some Difficulties be remov'd which seem to obviate our intended Method under an appearance of being founded or to speak more properly confounded in God's Providential Order For whosoever shall look back a little upon the Government of the late Usurper cannot but meet with many pretended Luminaries I should say Incendiaries of those times who endeavour'd to father the Revolution upon God's singular and gracious Providence and so making it to be of Divine Authority And because such Revolutions may happen again it will not be amiss to examine this Doctrine by the Weights and Measures of the Sanctuary and that we may do this it will be proper to enquire a little as far as our shallow Reason will permit into the manner of God's Operations in the Minds and with the Actions of Men. That we may understand the Question therefore aright I shall premise Two Things First That I shall not in this place discourse of Evangelical Works or Graces but of Moral Duties nor yet of such as are morally good but of such rather as are morally bad and of the Causes from whence they rise In the next place that in regard to Human Actions the efficient Causes are of Two sorts First Physical or such by which the substance or matter of the Action as I may say with leave from Logick is produc'd There is also another kind of efficient Cause and that is Moral as where one invites another to an Action by proposing a Reward or by counselling or exciting his Will and Affections to make such a Choice Also the final Cause which is term'd by some the Objective comes under this denomination forasmuch as the End or Object in all Animal and Human Actions does influence the Action and excite move and by a kind of secret force impell him to act for the obtaining of such an End or Object Now for the Physical Influence of God on Human Actions it is no way to be doubted that he concurs to them forasmuch as being the Creator of all things they cannot act without him but this kind of influence is general and regards all Human Actions not as good or bad but purely as the Actions of his Creatures like the influence of the Sun which indifferently shines upon the Earth and serves to nourish and to mature hurtful as well as wholsome Plants The stress then of the Question is conversant about a moral Agency as whether God does excite the Will and Affections to sinful Actions by impelling them thereunto by proposing undue Objects or by obstructing them from making any other choice The Great Doctor and Divine of his time and who drew great numbers after him John Calvin seems to have laid the Foundation of those many Erroneous Opinions touching Providence in some bold and Heterodox Assertions of God's being the Author and first Mover of Man to all sinful Actions denying him not only a liberty of doing good but of declining Evil so that whatsoever Sin any man commits does not proceed from the man 's own free Choice for then he might have declin'd it but from a Predetermination in God who does actually excite him to the commission of it This he professedly and strenuously affirms in teaching That Men do nothing Calv lib. 1. Institut c. 18. Sect. 1. but by the secret Approbation of God nor act any thing with deliberation but what he himself hath before decreed and by his secret Direction hath constituted as is fully proved by innumberable and clear Testimonies And a little before he saith It may seem absurd perhaps that by the Will and Command of God a Man should be made blind for which blindness he afterwards suffers punishment this they endeavour to evade by saying That is done by the Permission not by the Will of God but whilst God declares openly that he himself does it this Evasion is baffled Likewise speaking of the Assyrians whom God made use of for the Chastisement of Judah he says They were impell'd by the Will and Appointment of God I confess says he Ibid. Sect. 2. God many times acts in the Reprobate by making use also of Satan's Labour but yet so far only as 't is permitted to Satan to move in it by the impulse of God! O strange we had thought that Satan had been forward enough of himself to tempt us to Sin and that he needed not to be pushed on to it by God! But to proceed he exempts Satan from being any other than the Tool or Instrument which God makes use of to effect wicked purposes It is said 2 Cor. 4. continueth Calvin That Satan Lib. 2. Inst cap. 4. or the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of those who believe not but how can this be unless the efficacy of the Error proceed from God And in this Sense 't is that Calvin expounds that place of St. Paul 2 Thes 2. That the Efficacy of Error Lib. 1. Inst cap. 18. Sect. 2. or of being seduc'd was infus'd by God to the end that they might believe a Lye who obeyed not the truth And in this Sense also 't is that he explains that Passage of the Fourteenth of Ezekiel And if a Prophet be deceiv'd when he hath spoken a thing I the Lord have deceived that Prophet As for Examples he produces that of Shimei's cursing David of Absalom's lying with his Father's Concubines of the lying Spirit which deceiv'd the Prophets and by them Ahab to the end he might perish at Ramoth-Gilead of Satan's misusing Job with many other Passages of the like Nature all which he pretends to have proceeded effectually from God and that the Devil was only the Instrument as was said before to execute what God had commanded And to prevent that Answer which Divines commonly make to such Objections viz. That God may be said to harden the Hearts of Men and to infatuate and darken their Understandings and Minds by withdrawing his Spirit and Grace and to leave Men to their natural blindness and imperfection This he rejects as unsound standing stiffly to his Doctrine to wit That God by the help of Satan does destine Lib. 2. Inst Cap. 4. Sect. 3. the Counsels of wicked Men as he pleases and that he does excite their Wills and confirm and strengthen them in their Purposes And for those who are of another Opinion he looks upon them as
the determinate Counsel and fore-knowledge of God for as much as God by his infinite Providence and Goodness made it a Means of conveying the greatest happiness to Mankind in the Redemption of it by the Passion of his only Son when yet we find that the True Moral Cause or Incentive to this wickedness of the Jews was the Devil who entring into Judas made use of his Covetous Disposition and for the lucre of a little Money tempted him to betray his Master We see then that God though he does not excite and impel the Wills of Men to sinful Actions yet is he not an idle Spectator of them as Calvin dreams would follow from hence For we see God acts a Part and a great Part in them not only in his Concurrence to them as a Creator but in making use of them as also of the Evil Inclinations of men for good Ends extracting Medicines out of Poison which indeed is the greatest Evidence of his Wisdom and Goodness And that a Rational Creature should have such a Power from his Creator over its own Actions as to follow the Inclinations and Tendency of its own Faculties is yet a further Proof of the Power and Wisdom of his Creator as 't is a greater Proof doubtless of the Will and Abilities of a Work-man to be able to make a Watch which shall move orderly by Virtue of those Retorts and Springs he gave it when he first made it than if the Hand of the Artificer were always upon the Needle to direct and govern it in its motions It is the Will of God that Sinners should repent and be sav'd and for this End he sent his Son to take our Nature upon him What Evil therefore we fall into is from our selves and reflects not at all on God The Sun that Glorious Creature and the great Instrument by which God governs the Vegetative World and in a manner the Sensitive does contribute to the Life and Growth of all Plants indifferently and that some are poisonous and hurtful proceeds not from the Sun but from the Nature of the Herb and if the Sun by its atractive Beams does raise Pestilential Smells and Vapours which infect the Air and cause Diseases this does not argue the least malignity in that bright Planet nor is the mischief to be ascrib'd to it but to the Lakes Ditches and Dung-hills from whence they rise And thus have I endeavour'd to give such an Explication of God's Concurrence with men as is freest from Ambiguity and which is suitable to the Power suitable to the Wisdom suitable to the Goodness and suitable to the Justice of God whereas the contrary Explication is not only repugnant to all these but fills the Mind with infinite Perplexities and leads its Adherors into fatal Errors CHAP. IX Of God's Influence on Publick and National Alterations HAving spoken to the Calvinistical Doctrine touching God's Concurrence with Men in sinful Actions the next thing to be Discours'd of in order to a Vindication of Divine Providence from false Imputations is that great and popular Point Of his Influence on Publick and National Alterations This being no other than a Superstructure upon the former Doctrine Now the Question is not about submission to a Government which de facto is over us but to inquire whether all such Alterations though brought about or begun by Treasons Rebellions Usurpations Hypocrisie Perjury slanderous Aspersions and Defamations Pious Frauds and perhaps Conquest be of God's appointment or of a Divine Ordinance The Arguments which are brought to prove them such are taken partly from Example partly from Precepts of Scripture though ill expounded and worse apply'd of which the first is that of Jeroboam's Revolt or Rebellion against Rehoboam which is said to be of the Lord who also sent a Prophet with express Commission to Annoint him To this I have already spoken at present 't is enough to say That the Evil of Punishment was denounc'd and executed by God against the House of Solomon for their Idolatry upon his permission of Jeroboam's Sin of Rebellion the House also of Jeroboam being punish'd in like manner by the Rebellion of Baasha for the like Idolatry as Baasha was punish'd for his Idolatry also by other Rebellions and so on to the Reign of Ahab who was chastis'd by Jehu who himself though said to be appointed by God hereunto was no better than the rest till at length the Ten Tribes with their Kings and Government were utterly subverted in a final Captivity Whatsoever then may be inferr'd from hence this is certain that the Children of Israel in adhering to Rehoboam are branded deeply with Rebellion by the Spirit of God and 't is probable too that they had never fallen into that gross Idolatry or Rebellion against God had they not at first fallen from their Civil Duty and Allegiance to their King for we find that the Golden Calves were set up by Jeroboam to this End lest the People going up to Jerusalem the Place of the true Worship might have an opportunity to see their Sin by serving the True God which probably must have begot desires in them to shake off that Yoke which Usurpation had laid upon them The whole Order and Method of God's Providential Influence in such like Cases may be read more visibly in that Rebellion or short Revolution under King David who for that hardly to be expiated Sin against Vriah mov'd God to bring his Judgments upon him and amongst the rest this was one viz. To raise him Evil from his own House and Loins For this is ascrib'd to God 2 Sam. 12. and so deeply was King David affected with the sense hereof that when he heard of Absalom's Conspiracy like a man destitute of help and abandon'd by God though he were known at other times to have been a Soldier of an undaunted Valour he quitted the Royal City in a most dejected manner attended with a small Troop marching in a Penitential Order or Procession and not like an offended Soveraign so that his abject Behaviour drew Tears from all the Spectators excepting Shimei who doubtless was the Head of a rascally Mob to insult upon injur'd Majesty pelting him with Stones and Curses Nay this Man after God's own Heart was brought to so low an Ebb that his Prophetick Spirit deserted him and left him expos'd to Terrours And yet we find that all these Calamities were compass'd by Human Means and such as we meet with usually in Courts His Son Absalom we find was well enough qualified to manage a Revolt for of the two Rebellious Sons with which good King David was curs'd for so it was that he had two of them Absalom and Adonijah Absalom was much the more dangerous not only as being supported by that Oracle of a States-man Achitophel but being himself also of a most plausible and insinuating Behaviour and aggravating always the miscarriages of the Court Ministers in that there was no Person of Integrity about the King
in such Circumstances as those the Jews lie under to give a History or Account of their Families and Pedigree who though they be blown and scatter'd into all Corners of the Earth yet have they no footing in it having no City of their own no Magistrates nor Judicature Nor are they suffer'd to purchase a yard of Land any where amongst the Christians And as for what 's reported of their inhabiting some Mountains of Arabia or elsewhere under a Civil Government of their own it is without colour of Truth and utterly inconsistent with the Turkish Maxims And as they have no Propriety in the Earth so have they but a precarious Right even to the Waters for whatsoever Traffick they drive at Sea they are not suffer'd to have a Ship of their own but are forc'd to venture all in Christian or Turkish Bottoms and under the covert of Merchants their profest Enemies for fear of Reprisals and Forfeitures Their Necessities make them industrious and subtil and have taught them all the Arts of shifting and cheating which renders them most odious And even those States who admit of them do it out of Policy placing them many times over their Gabels and Customs as the fittest Instruments of Exaction and who know all the sordid and detestable ways of Confiscations and of screwing the Strings to the height Where they are permitted to live publickly though their Conversion be pretended 't is nothing less For if a Jew become a Christian his Goods are forfeited upon pretence of being got by Usury and unjust Practices verily a notable Argument to perswade them to become Christians 'T is such a piece of Policy certainly as cannot consist with the Maxims of true Christianity no more than it can consist with Prudence and Honesty to suffer them to oppress the People amongst whom they live by their many Cheats and by their intolerable Usuries and Brokeage whilst they pay perhaps some share of their Ill-gotten Wealth to the Government in a way of Composition for their Permission and Privileges so that in effect they are us'd only as Spunges to suck the Radical Moisture of the People which may be squeez'd out of them again at Pleasure in which Case 't is hard to judge whether are the greater Jews they or such Christians And yet for all this they are held in the same distrust with Thieves and Murderers being lockt and chain'd up every night within their nasty Quarters Such severe usage cannot but fill them with dismal Resentments and hence it is that they are the greatest Masters in the Hellish Arts of Poisoning and the most refin'd Instruments of secret Murders and Treachery and prone to all manner of Villainy Notwithstanding that their Religion does require them to abstain from Blood it would be both their Meat and Drink too had they the Power in their hands Notwithstanding their Religion does for the most part consist in Forms of Purifying in cleanness of Apparel in frequent Washings and abstaining from all Pollutions of Meat and Ordure yet are they the most noisom Creatures in the Universe more unclean and nasty than the Swine they loath and distinguishable from all Mankind by their rank and abominable Smells Their Habitations generally speaking are like so many Styes of Scavengers and their very Synagogues the only Places of that little Worship and Religion they profess do stink even to a Proverb In a word like the Progeny of Cain they are kept alive only to wander about the Earth with Marks of Guilt and Terrour and with which they have been branded ever since the Murder of the Righteous Abel the great Shepherd whose Offering was more acceptable to God that History being a pregnant Type of the Jews and Christ and for this purpose let us Consider some further Circumstances which attended that doleful Tragedy The Jews in the Crucifixion of the Blessed Jesus made Cruelty to be a thing of Pastime and Recreation They made a mock King of him and after they had expos'd him to all derision and scorn they wallow'd in his Blood and sported at his bitter Anguish and Dolours This indeed was the most mournful Spectacle the Sun ever beheld nay behold it it could not for 't was then Eclips'd which Eclipse was Miraculous and Supernatural for as much as the Moon at the time of our Saviour's Passion was not in Conjunction but in Opposition to the Sun or at the Full. Now let us see God's Justice in the Counterpart About Six years after our Saviour's Baron ad An. Christâ— 4â— Passion it was that the Jews of Alexandria were treated ignominiously by the Inhabitants of that City at the Command of Flaccus their Governour Their King Herod Agrippa was mock'd and derided in the Person of one Carrabas an obscure Fellow whom they dress'd up in Royal Robes after the Jewish Garb to adorn the Pageantry and then treated him with all manner of insult and scorn At the same time also it was that some of the Jews were Whipt and others Crucified The Jews began their Passover with the Blood of the Messiah who was the Paschal Lamb indeed and on that very day did they begin to require his Blood at their Hands and to usher in the Feast by making them the Sacrifice Again the Death which was inflicted on the Messiah was Crucifixion the same did Titus retaliate on the half famish'd Jews who fled out of the City to the Number of Five hundred daily till at length there were not sufficient Crosses for Bodies nor space for Crosses In the last Place the Jews pretended they had no other King but Caesar and that what they did was to prevent the Romans from taking away their Government just therefore was it that those very Romans whom they thought to flatter by such a detestable Parricide should revenge their Treachery by taking away their Government Now that the People whom God particularly delighted in and which were engag'd to him by so many Mercies and he to them by so many Promises should fall under such an universal and perpetual Dereliction as never happned to any other People of the Earth to any degree could not but proceed from such a detestable and most execrable Crime so that God do's now shew as great a Miracle in not suffering the Jews to be ruin'd and so to be deliver'd from their Misery as he did formerly in delivering them from their Enemies and in defending them though a little and inconsiderable Nation amongst so many Potent Governments which surrounded them all which Calamities are the dreadful Effects of that almost inexpiable Murder and of that dire Imprecation of theirs Let his Blood be upon us and our Children CHAP. XVIII That the Types and Prophecies of the Messiah were fulfill'd in Jesus HAving hitherto prov'd the Period of the Jewish Religion not only in its causes and the certainty of its Predictions but also in its effects and consequences it follows in the next place that we enquire into the Christian
Religion Now that this and this only is the True Religion and the ordinary way by which the Will of God is now made known to Men and by which we may attain Salvation is demonstrable from the Authority of its Author who was Jesus of Nazareth The Divine Authority of Jesus and his being the promised Messiah or Saviour of the World shall be prov'd from these Three General Arguments The First is taken from the Types and Prophecies concerning the Messiah and their accomplishment in the Person of Jesus Christ The Second General Argument is taken from the History of his Life Doctrine and Miracles to which may be added the Testimonies and Confessions even of the Adversaries of our Religion The Last Argument is taken from the wonderful Effects which attended the Doctrine of Jesus Christ being no less than the Conversion of the World I begin with the Prophecies As to the time of the Messiah's Birth it was to commence upon the dissolution of the Jewish Government as hath been already shewn in the precedent Chapter which Period hapned about the Time of Jesus Christ's appearance as hath been prov'd already also Next for the place of his Birth it was to be in Bethlehem Judah according to the unanimous Consent of the Jewish Sanhedrim upon the inquiry made by Herod and which was occasion'd by the Magi who came to Worship Jesus This the Jewish Priests and Scribes prov'd from that Prophecy of Micah chap. 5. where we read But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little amongst the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from Everlasting This Prediction we find actually accomplish'd in the Birth of Jesus Luke the 2. where we read that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and in the days of Herod c. in which Prophecy we have an Account not only of Christ's Human Nature in the History of his Birth but also of his Divine Nature in his goings forth which have been from of old from Everlasting Amongst the things that were foretold of the Manifestation of Jesus there is this viz. That he was to have his Messenger or Fore-runner who was to make Proclamation of his coming which is describ'd by Isaiah to be the Voice of him that crieth in the Wilderness Isai c. 40. prepare ye the way of the Lord make streight in the Desart a High-way for our God c. and the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all Flesh shall see it This Description we find to be verified of John the Baptist by his own Answer which he gave to the Jews for when they ask'd him who he was he told them that he was the Voice of one crying in the John 1. Wilderness c. and spoken of by Isaiah and that there was one amongst them who coming after me is preferred before me And the next day seeing Jesus coming to him he cried out Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world This is he of whom I said after me cometh a man who is preferr'd before me and I knew him not In which Passage we have many Noble Descriptions of the Nature and Offices of the Messiah as First his Sacerdotal Function in his being the true Paschal Lamb to purge the Sins of the World and of which the Jewish Passover was but a Type In the next Place we have an account of his Divine Nature for John look'd upon himself to be but as his Shadow Christ as the Substance John was the Voice only of the Forerunner which sort of People we know are of a servile and much inferiour Nature to those by whom they are employ'd and yet John was by Christ himself accounted the greatest of all the Prophets which thing appears from his Miraculous Birth as also from his Austere and Exemplary Life for which Reason he was called Elias by Christ and was foretold by Malachi Malac. c. 3. Thirdly from his Excellent Doctrine Preaching Repentance and Amendment of Life to all sorts of People and Preparing them by Baptism And Lastly from his Integrity Courage and Constancy in reproving Herod for his Incest for which he deserv'd a Crown of Martyrdom To all which we may add the Testimony of the Jews themselves who all of them held John in the highest Veneration of Sanctity in so much that Josephus attributed the Misfortunes Joseph lib. 18. c. 7. and Over-throw of Herod's Army to the Murder of this Saint Now if this great Saint was but as a Voice or a poor transitory thing which vanishes in a Moment in respect of Christ Christ certainly must be more than a Man And if we consider the Circumstances of this interview betwixt Christ and John we have further Matter of wonder For though they were near of Kin and Contemporaries yet had they no knowledge of one another before which shews that they liv'd in great Solitude and Retreat before they enter'd upon their Functions Neither did they take the least notice of their Consanguinity but entertain'd one another with Discourses of a sublimer Nature From the Time Place and other Circumstances of the Birth of Christ let us proceed to consider his Person and Offices and this we have amply describ'd by Isaiah For unto us a Child Isaiah c. 9. is born unto us a Son is given Here is his human Nature and the Government shall be upon his Shoulders and his name shall be call'd Wonderful Counsellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace here is his Divine Nature Of the encrease of his Government and Peace there shall be no End Vpon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it and to establish it with Judgment and with Justice from hence forth even for ever Here we have his Extraction and the Perpetuity of his Kingdom which could not be Temporal since the Jews cannot shew any such Prince whose Government had no End It remains therefore that his Kingdom was Spiritual and such a one it was that Christ was invested with as is evident to all the World This we have more amply describ'd by the same Prophet by the Rod out of the Stem of Jesse and that the Spirit of the Lord Isai c. 11. shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsel and of Might the Spirit of Knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Christ's Prophetick Office as also that of his Mediator-ship was fore-told by Moses A Prophet shall the Lord thy God Deut. 18. raise up unto thee from the midst of thee like unto me unto him shall ye hearken according to all that thou didst desire of the Lord thy God in Horeb c. viz. When the People seeing and hearing the Thunder and Lightnings entreated Moses to speak unto them and not God least they should be consum'd by the dreadful Majesty of his appearance That