truly since GOD hath implanted in Mens minds the power and faculty of judging there is no part of truth that better deserves the imployment of this faculty about it than that of which we cannot be ignorant without hazard of our Salvation After this whosoever inquires with a godly mind he shall not dangerously erre And where should he enquire after it but in God's most holy Word without which we cannot know whether there be either Church or Priest or any thing else wherein they would have us trust SECT XIX And refuses to be tried by Scripture IT is a manifest sign therefore of imposture that when they cannot for shame but sometimes suffer their Religion to be tried yet they will not have it tried by the holy Scriptures In the reading of which as was excellently said in the conclusion of the foregoing Books no man can be deceived but he who hath first deceived himself For the Writers of them were more faithful and fuller of Divine Inspiration than either to defraud us of any necessary part of Divine Truth or to hide it in a Cloud so that we cannot see it Why then should any body decline this way of trial unless they see themselves so manifestly condemned by the holy Scriptures that they dare not let their cause be brought into so clear a light Which hurts indeed sore eyes but comforts and delights those that are sound showing us so plainly what we are to embrace and what to refuse and being so sure and so perfect a Guide in all such matters that S. Hilary not only commends and admires the Emperor Constantius for desiring a Faith according to what was written But saith He is an Antichrist who refuses this and an Anathema that counterfeits it And thereupon calls to him in this manner O Emperour thou seekest for faith hearken to it not out of new little Papers but of the Books of God There we must seek for it if we mean to find it and if they be silent and can tell us nothing says St. Ambrose who shall dare to speak Let us not therefore bring deceitful ballances they are the words of S. Austin in his second Book of Baptism Chap. vi wherein we may weigh what we list and as we list after our own liking saying This is heavy that is light But let us bring the Divine Ballance out of the holy Scriptures as out of the Lords Treasures and in that let us weigh what is most ponderous or rather let not us weigh but acknowledge those things which are already weighed by the Lord. Yes say they of the Church of Rome we will be put into that Ballance and tryed by the Scriptures but not by them alone Which is in effect to refuse to be tried by them for they give testimony to their own fulness and perfection and plainness too in things necessary and so do all other Christian Writers that succeeded the Apostles who do not send us to turn over we know not how many other Volumes but tell us here we may be abundantly satisfied In so much that the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Father of Constantius now mentioned admonished the Bishops in the famous Council of Nice to consult with these heavenly inspired Writings as their Guide and Rule in all their Debates because they perspicuously instruct us as his very words are what to believe in divine things and therefore they ought he told them to fetch from thence the Resolution of those things which should come in question To which Cardinal Bellarmine indeed is pleased to say that Constantine truly was a Great Emperour but no great Doctor But as herein he speaks too scornfully of him so he reflects no less upon the understanding and judgment of those venerable Fathers assembled in that Council which as Theodoret tells us in his Ecclesiastical History was composed of Men excelling in Apostolical gifts and many of them carried in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus and were for the far greater part a Multitude of Martyrs assembled together who all consented unto and followed this wholsome counsel of the Emperour as he there testifies knowing he did but speak the sense of the truly Catholick Church Which did not meerly bid Men hear it and bring all doctrines to its touchstone but confessed plainly that even the Church it self must be tried by the Scriptures It is the express sentence of the same S. Austin in his Book of the Vnity of the Church Where in the second Chapter he saith the question then was as it is now where is the Church Now what shall we do says he seek for it in our own words or in the words of our Head our Lord Jesus Christ I think we ought to seek it rather in his words who is the Truth and best knows his own Body And in the beginning of the third Chapter thus proceeds Let us not hear thus say I and thus sayest thou but let us hear thus saith the Lord. The Lords Books there are certainly to whose authority we both consent we both believe we both yield obedience there let us seek the Church there let us discuss our cause And to name no more the Author of the imperfect work upon St. Matthew carrying the name of S. Chrysostome declares this so fully that it leaves no doubt in us what course they took for satisfaction in this business Heretofore says he there were many ways whereby one might know what was the true Church of Christ and what was Gentilism but now there is no way to know what is the true Church of Christ but by the Scriptures Why so Because all those things which belong properly to Christ in truth and reality those heresies have also in show and in appearance They have Scriptures Baptism Eucharist and all the rest even Christ himself like as we have Therefore if any one would know which is the true Church of Christ how should he know it in such a confusion of multitude but only by the Scriptures which he repeats over again a little after he therefore that would know which is the true Church of Christ how should he know it but by the Scriptures To them let us go and in them let us rest and if you are the Disciples of the Gospel may we say to the Romanists as Athanasius does to the Followers of Apolinarius in his Book about the Incarnation of Christ Do not speak unrighteously against the Lord but walk in what is written and done But if you will talk of different things from what are written why do you contend with us who dare not hear nor speak beside those things which are written Our Lord telling us if you abide in the word even in my word you shall be free indeed What immodest frenzy is this to speak things which are not written and to devise things which are strangers to piety To which if we faithfully adhere there is this to be added for our incouragement that though we
from hence also that in the Conclusion of this Work of the Truth of Christian Religion he doth not interpret those words i. Hebr. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense making a purgation or expiating our sins as Socinus doth but in the past time expiatis peccatis nostris having expiated or purged away our sins How they come to be otherwise Translated in his Annotations on that place put forth since his death I can give no Account And in like manner I suppose he satisfied another doubt about a passage in this Book which Sarravius desired him to resolve though I cannot find his Answer to it For he gives a punctual Answer afterward to a Question propounded by a Minister of Rouen who askt him where he had that of Rabbi Nechumias who made that publick Declaration mentioned in the Fifth Book Sect. 14. concerning the appearing of Christ 50. Years before our Saviour to this effect That the time which Daniel had prefixed for the coming of the Messiah could not be prolonged above those Fifty Years Which he tells Sarravius * Epist Claud. Sarrav p. 52. is to be found in the Talmud in the Title Sanhedrin as he remembred and he thought also in Abenada upon Daniel This was in the Year 1640. when he first put out this Book with Annotations containing the Testimonies of those Authors in words at length whom he had alledged but had forgotten it seems to set down where he had this passage of Rabbi Nechumias Nor is it now to be found among the Annotations and therefore they that next Print the Book so inlarged will do well to supply it from hence out of Sarravius Who was the first Person * Epist ad Gallos p. 460. to whom he made a present of it after it came out with the Addition of Testimonies desiring to be admonished by him if in the midst of much business any thing had escaped him which was less exactly spoken while he studied to serve the Christian cause To which He replies immediately That as he could not but esteem it a very great honour to be acknowledged and beloved by the Coryphaeus of all Learning both Sacred and profane so he esteemed this as a Golden Book wherein Grotius had joyned Learning together with Piety consulting that is the Disease of the Age to whose Palate Piety of it self had little savour And as for the immense collection of Testimonies then added he made it appear by them that in all his studies the glory of Christ had alway been before his eyes his holy diligence and industry having discovered so many and such things which had escaped the sagacious eyes of others And not long after he propounded some doubts according to his own desire and mentioned some exceptions as was noted before which some who had no good will to him took at this Golden Book as he again calls it and notwithstanding the harsh censures of some Learned Men this excellent Person still persisted in his high esteem of the worth of this Author and believed all unprejudiced Men would ever look upon him with great Veneration So he tells Salmasius Five Years after * Epist Claud. Sarrav p. 146. 1645 Whether they will or no Grotius will alway be accounted a great Man by you and me and by all that love Equity and Goodness for he is full of envy who denies due praises to such a Hero And a little while after hearing of the news of his death he most sadly bewails it * Ib. p. 171. as the extinction of the bright Star of that Age whose Name would be great as long as either Books or Learning were in honour And while he had breath he saith he would glory in this that he once had familiar acquaintance with a Man who was re nomine Magnus no less great indeed than his Name imported This affection he seems to have carried with him to his Grave and honoured his Memory at such a rate that in the Year 1648. he still says he was proud of the Friendship of that Man by whom to have been known was glorious and who would be reverenced in all future Ages In conclusion he calls him that Blessed Soul even after he himself had pronounced this sentence against Grotius * Ib. p. 196. that he favoured the Papists and not only yielded too much to them in his later Writings but expressed too much disaffection to the reformed in those Countries All this he candidly passed over with this censure * Ib. p. 146. He is the best Man who hath fewest faults for there is no body to be found without some And the same favourable judgment I suppose all serious and considering men will pass upon him now and not be hindred by any prejudices which may have been taken up against him among our selves from reaping that benefit which they may receive by reading this excellent Book Which I present again to the view of the English World and have in a manner made a new Translation of it the former which came out near 50. Years ago being so defective that there were few Paragraphs in it which stood not in need of some amendment and in a great number the sense was quite mistaken Who the Translator was I am ignorant but it is certain he either did not understand the Latine Tongue or did not attend to what he was about as appears by innumerable Instances But one may suffice in the Third Book Sect. 3. where he Translates altera Petri the one Epistle of Peter Besides there is plain Arianism in his Translation Book V. Sect. 21. for he says the Son was not uncreate as the Father is when in Grotius the words are the Son is not ingenitus unbegotten as the Father is Yet where the Translation was passable I have let it go as it was that I might not seem to be too curious a Censurer of other Mens labours And I have added such passages as were not there the Book it self having been inlarged by Grotius since that old English Translation I know not how necessary it might be at that time when it was first put into our Language but now I think nothing can be more And to make it of larger use I have added also a Seventh Book of my own In which out of those Principles chiefly which Grotius builds upon in his Six Books I have shown that Christian Religion hath suffered very much by the Church of Rome and that we need not go thither to be assured of the Truth of that Religion but shall be better informed in our own Church by the Holy Scriptures and such works as these I have not quoted all my Authors no more than Grotius did in the first Editions of his Book And it would have made the Work also too long I thought to Translate his Testimonies and add the like of my own Nor would it have been so useful to common Readers who do but perplex themselves
found or have anciently been found consenting with the Books of the Hebrews touching Joshua and others seeing that whosoever gives credit unto Moses which to do no Man can without great impudency refuse the same must needs confess that there were indeed wonderful Miracles anciently wrought by God which is the thing we here chiefly go about to declare As for the Miracles of after Ages suppose of Elijah and Elisha and others there is the less reason to think them counterfeit because in those times Judaea was both more known than formerly and upon the account of diversity of Religion was extreamly hated by their Neighbours Who might have very easily blasted the fame of such Miracles if they had been lies as soon as it began to be spred abroad The History of Jonah who lay three days in the Whale's belly is to be read in Lycophron and Aeneas Hazous save only that in stead of Jonah they have put the name of Hercules whom they so much honoured that to make him appear the more illustrious they were wont as Tacitus and Servius and others have noted to report of him whatsoever magnificent things they heard of in any other places Certain it is that Julian who was an enemy of the Jews as much as of Christians was forced by the evidence of History to confess that such Men lived amongst the Jews as were inspired with the holy Spirit of God and that Fire descended from Heaven upon the Sacrifices of Moses and Elias And verily 't is well worth our observation that amongst the Hebrews there were not only grievous punishments appointed for such Men as did falsly assume to themselves the Prophetical Function but also many Kings and great Men that might have by that means purchased authority to themselves and likewise very many learned Men as was Esdras and others that never durst arrogate to themselves this dignity nor any Man else for divers Ages before the times of Jesus SECT XVI The same is proved by the Oracle and Predictions BUT more unlikely it is that so many Thousand People should be imposed upon in the avouching of a perpetual and publick Prodigy as we may call it to wit the holy Oracle which after a resplendent manner shined from the brest-plate of the High-Priest The truth whereof was so strongly believed by all the Jews to have continued until the destruction of the first Temple that out of all doubt their Ancestors had certain knowledge concerning the same Like to this from miracles there is another argument as forcible and effectual to prove GOD's providence taken from those predictions of future events which among the Hebrews were many and manifest Such was that prophecy of his being made Childless who should attempt to re-edifie Jericho and that of the overthrow of the Temple at Bethel by a King named Josiah foretold above Three Hundred Years before the thing came to pass So likewise the very name and chief acts of Cyrus foretold by Esaiah the event of Hierusalems siege by the Chaldeans foreshown by Jeremiah So also Daniel's prediction touching the translation of the Empire of the Assyrians unto the Medes and Persians then from them unto Alexander of Macedon whose Empire should afterward in part be divided among the Successors of Ptolomy and Seleucus And what evils also the Hebrew Nation should suffer from all these but especially from Antiochus Epiphanes which were so clearly foretold that Porphyry who compared with these Predictions such Grecian Histories as were extant in his time could no otherwise tell how to shift them off than by saying that those things which were fathered upon Daniel were written after such time as they came to pass which is all one as if one should deny that that was written in the time of Augustus which hath been published in Virgil's name and was always reputed for Virgil's work For there was never any more scruple made of the former amongst the Hebrews than of this latter amongst the Romans To these things we may add very many and most famous Oracles among the People of Mexico and Peru which foretold the coming of the Spaniards into those Countreys and the calamities which should thereupon follow And hither also may be referred not a few dreams so exactly agreeing with the events which both in themselves and in their causes were wholly unknown to them that dreamed that they cannot without great immodesty be referred to chance or to natural causes of which kind Tertullian in his Book Of the Soul hath collected illustrious examples out of the most approved Authors Spectres also or apparitions belong to this head which have been not only seen but heard to speak as those Historians relate who are the farthest from superstitious credulity and is reported by Witnesses of our own Age who have lived in China and in Mexico and other parts of America Nor are publick trials of innocence by touching of red hot Plow-shares to be despised which the Histories of so many German Nations and the Laws themselves have remembred SECT XVII The Objection is answered why Miracles are not now to be seen NEITHER is there any reason to object against such Miracles because there are not the like to be seen in these days neither the like predictions heard of For 't is a sufficient proof of Divine providence that such things did come to pass at any time which being once granted it will follow that God may be believed with as much providence and wisdom now to cause them to surcease as anciently he used the same Neither stands it with reason that those Laws which were given to the Universe concerning the natural course of things and uncertainty of future events should be lightly or always transgressed but only at such a time when either there was a just cause as when the worship of the true God was almost banished out of the World residing only in a little part thereof to wit in Judaea where it necessarily was to be as it were fortified with new aids against the impieties wherewith it was compassed about or when Christian Religion whereof by and by we shall speak more particularly was first by God's decree to be published thorowout the whole World SECT XVIII And that now there is such liberty in offending THERE are those who are wont to doubt of the Divine Providence because they see so much wickedness hath like a Deluge overspread the face of the whole Earth which Divine Providence they contend if there were any would have made its chiefest business to restrain and suppress But this is easily answered considering that when God had created Man with freedom to do good and evil reserving absolute and immutable goodness to himself it had not been reasonable to have put such a stop to evil actions as should have been contrary to that liberty Howbeit to keep Men from sin God useth every kind of means which is not repugnant to the liberty aforesaid Such is the ordaining and publishing of the
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
Thus is there one way in Mathematicks another in Physicks a third in matters of advice and counsel and lastly another kind when a matter of fact is in question wherein verily we must rest content when the testimonies are free from all suspicion of untruth Otherwise down goes not only all the use of history and a great part of the art of Physick but all the piety also that ought to be between Parents and Children which cannot be known other ways And indeed it is the pleasure of Almighty God that those things which he would have us to believe so that the very belief thereof may be imputed to us for obedience should not so evidently appear as those things which are apprehended by sense and plain demonstration but only be so far forth revealed as may beget faith and a perswasion thereof in the hearts and minds of such as are not obstinate That so the Word of the Gospel may be as a touchstone whereby Mens dispositions may be tried whether they be curable or not For seeing these arguments whereof we have spoken have induced so many honest godly and wise Men to approve of this Religion it is thereby plain enough that the fault of other Mens infidelity is not for want of sufficient testimony but because they would not have that to be had and embraced for truth which is contrary to their affections and desires It being that is an hard matter for them to make no great account of honours and other worldly advantages which they must do if they receive what Christ hath taught and so become ingaged to observe his Precepts Which is discovered to be true by this very thing that they take many other Historical Narrations to be true which notwithstanding appear to be so meerly by authority and not by any such foot-steps of them remaining at this day as the History of Christ hath partly in the confession of the Jews who are now in being and partly in those things which are every where found in the Assemblies of Christian People of which it must needs be granted there was some cause Lastly seeing the long duration or continuance of Christian Religion and the large extent thereof can be ascribed to no humane power therefore it must be attributed to miracles or if any deny that it came to pass through a miraculous manner this very getting so great strength and power without a miracle may be justly thought to surpass any miracle The THIRD Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. To prove the authority of the Books of the New Covenant AFTER that a Man is once perswaded by the reasons abovesaid or is induced by any other arguments to believe that this Religion which Christians profess is the truest and absolutely the best if he desire to learn all the parts thereof then must he have recourse unto the most ancient writings that contain the same Religion which commonly we call the Books of the New Testament or rather new covenant For he is very unreasonable who denies this Religion to be contained in those Books as all Christians affirm Since it is but equity to believe every Sect be it good or be it bad when it says its opinions are to be found in such or such a Book as we believe the Mahometans that the Religion of Mahomet is contained in the Alcoran Forasmuch then as we have before proved that the Christian Religion is most true and it is manifest withal that it is contained in these Books if there were no other ground yet this alone is sufficient to prove and avouch the authority of those Books But if any body requires a more particular demonstration of it I must first lay down this Rule which all indifferent Judges will allow that it is incumbent upon him who will impugne the authority of any writing received for many Ages to produce Arguments which prove that Writing to be false which if he cannot do that Book is to be defended as in possession of its Authority SECT II. Here is shown that such Books were written by the Authors whose names they have prefixed WE say then that those Books which are not in question amongst Christians and carry before them a certain Name are the very Works of those Authors whose names they bear Because those primitive Fathers Justin Irenaeus Clemens and others after them do quote those Books under these very names As also because Tertullian witnesseth that there were Original Copies of some of those Books extant in his time And besides all the Churches received those Books for authentical before there were any common publick Meetings Neither did ever the Pagans or Jews raise any controversie about this as if these were not the works of those Men whose they were said to be but Julian himself plainly confesseth that those were the writings of Peter and Paul Matthew Mark and Luke which Christians under those names have read and received For as no Man in his wits can doubt that those Writings which go under the names of Homer and Virgil are truly theirs because the one hath been so long time received among the Latine and the other among the Greek Authors in like manner it were more absurd to bring the Authors of those Books in question which are granted almost by all the Nations in the World SECT III. Some Books were anciently doubted of IN the Volume of the new Covenant there are some Books indeed now received which were not so received from the beginning as the second Epistle of St. Peter that of St. James and Jude two of St. John the Elder the Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews Yet this is certain that they were acknowledged by many Churches which appears sufficiently from hence that the ancient Christians use their Testimonies as Sacred Which makes it credible that such Churches as from the beginning had not those Books either were ignorant of them or doubtful Yet afterward when they were better informed touching the same they admitted them into the Canon as we now see according to the example of other Churches Neither can any good reason be given why any Man should counterfeit those Books since there is nothing comprised in them neither can ought thence be collected which is not abundantly expressed in other Books unquestioned SECT IV. The Authority of such Books as have no Titles is proved from the quality of the Writers AND here let no Man mistrust the verity of the Epistle to the Hebrews because the Writer of it is unknown nor doubt of the two Epistles of St. John and the Revelation because some Men do question whether the Author of them was John the Apostle or some other of that name For the name is not so much to be regarded as the quality or condition of Writers Hence it is that we receive many Books of History whose Authors are to us unknown As that concerning the Alexandrian War by Caesar because we may perceive that whosoever writ the same
but to all People and not after that mankind had lived above the space of Two Thousand Years but even from the beginning of all Neither Abel Enoch Noah Melchisedeck Job Abraham Isaac or Jacob though all of them were godly men and dearly beloved of God knew this part of the Law but were altogether ignorant or very little acquainted therewith yet notwithstanding for all that they received the testimony of their confidence in God and of God's love unto them Besides neither did Moses exhort Jethro his Father in law to the receiving of these rites nor did Jonah the Ninivites neither did any other Prophets reprehend the Chaldeans Aegyptians Sydonians Tyrians Idumeans and Moabites for not admitting those ceremonies though when they writ unto them they reckoned up their sins exactly enough These then were peculiar precepts introduced either for the avoiding of some evil which the Jews were prone unto or for the trial of their obedience or for the signification of some future things Wherefore it is no more to be wondred that these are abolished than if any King should abrogate some Municipal Statutes which belong that is to particular Corporations to the end he might establish one law within his dominions Neither can there any reason be alledged to prove that God did so bind himself as that he would change nothing of the same For if it be said that these precepts are called perpetual the same word Men oftentimes use when they would signifie that that which they command is not yearly or accommodated to certain times suppose of War Peace or Scarcity Yet they are not thereby hindred from making new constitutions of the same things specially when the publick good requires it Thus in like manner some of the Divine precepts given to the Hebrews were temporary during the Peoples abode in the Wilderness others were strictly tied to their habitation in the Land of Canaan therefore to distinguish these from the other he calls them perpetual whereby might be understood that they ought not any where or at any time to be intermitted unless God signified that it was his will so to be Which manner of speaking since it is commonly used by all people ought to be less wondered at by the Hebrews who know that in their Law it is called a perpetual statute and a perpetual bondage which continues only from one Jubilee to another And the coming of the Messias is called by them the accomplishment of the Jubilee or the greatest Jubilee of all Thus in the Hebrew Prophets there was anciently a promise of making a new covenant as in Jerem xxxi where God promiseth that he will make a new covenant which shall be put into their inward parts and written in their hearts neither shall men have any need that one shall learn Religion of another for it shall be manifest unto all Yea further the Lord will forgive them their former iniquities and will remember their sin no more which is as if a King after great enmity and discord amongst his Citizens and Subjects should for the establishment of peace and tranquillity among them take away all diversity of Laws and make one perfect Law common to them all promising forgiveness of faults by-past if hereafter they do amend And this which hath been said might suffice but we will survey every part of the Law which is abrogated and shew they were neither such as in themselves could be well pleasing unto God nor ought they to continue for ever SECT VIII As the Sacrifices which of themselves were never well-pleasing unto God THE first and chief thing to be considered are the Sacrifices which many of the Hebrews think were invented by Man before that they were commanded by God And true it is indeed the Hebrews were desirous of abundance of Rites and Ceremonies so that there was cause enough why GOD should enjoyn them very many if it were but for this reason lest they should return unto the worship of false Gods by the remembrance of their sojourning in Egypt Howbeit when their Posterity made too great account of them as though of themselves they had been acceptable unto God and a part of true piety then did the Prophets reprehend them for it About Sacrifices saith God by David in the fiftieth Psalm I will not so much as exchange a word with thee as if I were desirous to have thy burnt offerings continually before me I will take no Buliock out of thy house nor he-goats out of thy folds For every beast of the forest is mine and so are the cattel upon a thousand hills I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wila beasts of the field are mine If I were hungry I would not tell thee for the World is mine and the fulness thereof thinkest thou that I will eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the bloud of goats Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high Some there are among the Hebrews who say that this is spoken because they that offered those sacrifices were of an impure mind and dishonest conversation But the words now alledged shew another matter to wit that the thing in it self was no whit acceptable unto God For if we consider the whole series and order of the Psalm we shall and that God in these words speaks unto the godly for he had said Gather my Saints together unto me and hear my people which are the words of a Teacher and one that instructeth Then having ended those words now alledged as his manner is he speaks unto the wicked But unto the wicked God saith To the same sense we may cite other places as in the 51. Psal Thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings The sacrifice of God is a broken Spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise So likewise in the fortieth Psalm Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire but hast tied me to thee as he whose ear was boared through to be thy servant burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required Then said I Loe I come In the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart I have preached righteousness in the great Congregation Loe I have not refrained my Lips O Lord thou knowest I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great Congregation The like we read in the Prophet Isaiah chap. 1. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts and I delight not in the bloud of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my Courts Answerable to this place and the