in the troubles of this mortal state the Gospel assuresus of their blessed issue at the last The main design of Philosophy was to reconcile the mind to every condition that nothing might be able to discompose its tranquillity As some high Mountains that ascend above the middle Region whiles Clouds charg'd with Thunder break upon the sides and Storms encompass it below yet the top has a pure Sun and calm Air. Thus the Philosophers pretended to raise Man to that height of vertue that the superiour part the mind should be serene and undisturb'd what ever was done to his lower part the body But their Principles were insufficient on which they built their Perswasion Some pretended that Men were abus'd by words and that was the cause of their misery The loss of Estate of Relations of Health were not real evils but only call'd so Sottish Wisdom as if things by the change of names would alter their qualities Call them by what soft titles you please still they are injurious and afflictive to our nature and to perswade the contrary is to deprive us of Sense Others tell us that the evils we suffer are fatal and to resist inevitable destiny is to no purpose But this is to exasperate instead of allaying our sorrows This is to turn our fears into despair to make an afflicted condition absolutely uncomfortable Others direct us to look abroad into the wretched World and compound a Medicine of the miseries of others for our own griefs But this as 't is vicious in its Principle so it affords no true relief For that another suffers in the same or different manner does not lessen the evil that oppresses me Nay if humane affections are not extinguish'd by a sorrowful influence increases it Others discourse of the vanity of Riches Pleasures Dignities and Life it self to make us quietly to part with them But this discourse though true and useful yet cannot afford contentment unless to a Christian whose hopes extend to a future state of blessedness For how mean so ever these things be yet if we know no better they are our felicity Some attribute to naked Vertue a power sufficient to support a Man under the heaviest troubles This they affirm'd to be the true Philosophers Stone that purifies and exalts the basest Mettals turning them into fine Gold that enables a person not only to be content in every state but to enjoy torments and be pleased with the greatest disasters that befal him But they took so high a strain that humane Nature could not uphold The indifference and equality of mind they so much pretended to was but an empty appearance One might discover unquiet agitations under all that feigned insensibility and true servitude under that imaginary soveraignty of their wise Man Indeed without the stedfast belief of another Life the reflection upon unhappy vertue inflames the wounded spirit and kindles in the breast murmurings against Providence so that 't is so far from making the afflicted happy that 't is rather the seed of new misery for the unequal distributions here Christian Religion alone affords us solid and everlasting comfort It does not disguise the nature of things but allows that present afflictions are not joyful but grievous It doth not promise an exemption from misery Nay it foretels that besides the common troubles that rain upon mankind there are some proper to sincere Christians to which they are expos'd upon the account of their holy Profession But it assures them that all things shall work together for the good of those that love God As in mixt bodies the Divine Power is admirable in tempering the qualities of the fighting Elements in such a manner that what in it self is a destructive contrariety becomes only a diversity to preserve the compounded beings that result from them Thus the wise and gracious Providence of God makes all things even the most adverse to conspire for the final happiness of his faithful Servants Their light Afflictions that are but for a moment work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory This makes them to possess their Souls in patience to rejoyce in hope and to be triumphant conquerers over the greatest outward troubles Who can dispute felicity with that person who is upon certain grounds perswaded that nothing shall separate him from the love of God Nay that the worst evils he suffers promoet his supreme happiness For the afflictions that befal a Christian upon the account of Religion render him more dear to God and those that are the effects of his Sins if humbly submitted to and improved for holy ends confirm his Faith in the Divine Mercy The Gospel is that Paradise wherein the Tree of Life is whose leaves are for the healing the Nations 4. Christian Religion promises for the reward of Obedience a Blessedness most becoming the glorious goodness of God to bestow and the reasonable Creature to desire that is the perfection and satisfaction of his most noble Faculties in the clear vision and full enjoyment of God himself in a perfect eternal state The Heathens wretchedly mistook in their opinions about the last end of Man There is a secret instinct in the humane nature towards a felicity sutable to the more excellent and divine part but stifled under darkness and concupiscence that is become a second nature Reason is misled by Sense after the fickle appearances the deceitful vanishing colours of Good And this is a certain indication that Man is fallen from the degree of his Original Perfection For if he had been never corrupted he should enjoy with assurance true compleat happiness if he had been always corrupted there would be no glimmering Idea of an happiness above what this present World affords no inclination towards it This is the spring of his misery and sin that the spiritual eternal good is undiscerned unregarded whilst he seeks for happiness in numberless vanities The Philosophers themselves were extreamly divided and mistaken in this main point This was indeed the master-piece for which all their Philosophy was design'd and their pretences to make this discovery gave them reputation From all parts some came to Athens as the universal Mart to be furnished with felicity From hence sprung the variety of Sects among them by this Livery they were distinguish't For Philosophy being the rule of life is specified by the end to which it leads From hence arose their sharp contentions every Sect being concern'd to defend their Palladium And as the Wasps fly about with noise and sting those who provoke them make combs like Bees but without Wax or Honey Thus the Philosophers were full of glorious presumptions were vehement against dissenters and had the appearances of Wisdom but afforded no certain light to direct the Mind no Heavenly motives to allure the Will They were not competent nor sincere searchers after true Happiness For I. The darkness wherein all Men are born involved them and without
the mournful remembrance of his lost felicity and harden'd in dispair 1. The Christian Religion gives a full account of the depravation and misery of humane Nature in its first Causes The Heathens felt an insuperable permanent discord in Man between the upper Faculties and the lower Appetites but were utterly ignorant of the Cause of it Now the Scripture reveals that Man in the original frame of his Nature was regular and holy a piece of workmanship worthy the Perfections of his Creator but he abus'd his liberty to break the first Command which was given for the tryal of his Obedience He yeelded to the inticements of a fallen Spirit who was a Liar that he might be a Murderer and by his revolt from God lost his Holiness and made a forfeiture of all the priviledges of his happy State Thus the Fountain was tainted and who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean By the offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation Every Man is now born a slave of Sin a tributary of Death From hence it follows that the most deformed Monsters in villany the most fierce enemies of Religion serve to confirm its Truth as well as the most eminent Saints These shew the vertue of Redemption by the sanctity of their Lives the other the corruption of Nature by their obstinate wickedness 2. The Christian Religion instructs us that God sent his own Son into the World in the humane nature that he might offer up himself an expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of Men to restore them to his Favour This is a Mystery above the flight of any created understanding yet 't is so temper'd and fram'd there is such an uniformity of Wisdom in all its parts it presents such a full and glorious Image of the Deity in all his perfections that it causes the highest admiration and commands belief in those who duly consider it The whole oeconomy becoms the Majesty the Goodness the Holiness and Justice of God His supreme Majesty appears in his pardoning the guilty for the sufferings of another For this is an infallible proof that he is above Law And his inconceiveable Mercy is the only principle and fountain of our Pardon For Man was absolutely uncapable to merit the Favour or to repair the Honour of God so injur'd by his inexcusable disobedience Repentance cannot produce such great effects What merit can there be in the sorrowful sense and confession of that which deserves Eternal Death Besides an extream hatred of Sin an ardent love of Holiness serious Resolutions to follow it what ever it costs which is the best part of Repentance was due to God before the commission of Sin therefore cannot be satisfaction So that pure Mercy is the cause of our forgiveness Moreover God to glorifie his Holiness in declaring his vehement and irreconcileable hatred to Sin and to preserve the Rights of Justice was pleas'd to appoint an all-sufficient Mediator capable to offer himself an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin and to give an infinite value to it This was done by the Incarnation of the Son of God The Flesh and Bloud he took of our humanity was made Divine by union with him and offer'd on the Cross was full payment for our offences Thus Justice and Mercy triumph with equal Glory being equally Victorious For what is more honourable to Justice than satisfaction equal to the offence And what can more commend Mercy than the most free and undeserved bestowing the high price requisit for it Thus the Gospel affords to us a just and compleat Idea of the Divine excellencies in the Redemption of Man The design manner and the effect are most worthy of God Where might such a contrivance of Wisdom be fram'd but in the Divine mind where could such an excess of compassion be found but in the heart of God Thus it became God who is Love to magnifie his Love to advance his dearest Glory and overcome our guilty disaffection to himself For while terrible apprehensions of the Deity possess the heart 't is frozen with a stony rigor which the hope of Mercy only can dissolve Thus it appears that the Doctrine of the Gospel is worthy of all acceptation 2. The Christian Religion sets before us a rule of life pur and perspicuous in nothing superfluous or defective but comprehending the intire duty of Man This was necessary in order to his recovery For in his fallen state the Law of Nature is active in some things but dormant in others The best Morals of the Heathens are dasht with impure permissions But the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World It forbids all Sin in all its degrees not only the consummation of it in the act but the first conception of it in the thoughts and desires Which argues that the Lawgiver was more than a Man having an inspection into the heart which is only visible to God and only accountable to him It teaches us to worship God the supream and purest Spirit with the highest esteem and with purity of affections It enjoyns all relative duties to Men in a most perfect manner What things we would have others to do unto us supposing our selves in their circumstances we are obliged to do to them This one Law of Christ eminently contains all others that respect society This is the primitive rule of commerce and directs our carriage towards all persons with justice and equity kindness and decence The Gospel also with respect to our selves gives a perfect rule to make us holy and blessed It teaches us the contempt of the World the valuation of Heaven the restraint of corrupted sense and the Angelical exercise of our affections In short it commands the practice of all Vertues and that we should aspire to the most eminent degrees in them But especially it enjoyns humility and love to God the foundation and perfection of all vertues of which the precepts of Philosophy take little notice Humility that is a lively deep sense that nothing is properly ours but sin and misery arises from the consideration of our absolute dependance upon God for our being and all the benefits we enjoy in Nature or Grace From hence gratitude springs 'T is most reasonable that our lives should be a continual expression of Obedience from a noble and free principle of love to God and be design'd for his Honour and that for all our advantages temporal or spiritual we should only glory in him In this Philosophers were very defective They consider'd Man with respect to himself or to other Creatures without him and accordingly the product of their Precepts was a certain moral honesty to do nothing unbecoming the reasonable Nature nor to break the civil Peace But they did not consider duly his relation to the Creator in whom he lives moves and has his being from whom proceeds every good and perfect gift And by
proof to us than that Oracular Revelation For God spake but once in that Voice but he speaks by the Prophets to the end of Time That was more astonishing but less instructive to us than Prophecies that are continually unfolded and verified by Events Before I finish this Argument I will briefly consider what is objected against some Doctrines of the Gospel viz. The Trinity the Divine Incarnation the Mean state and Sufferings of the Son of God in the World These Points have been opposed by the Jews and other Infidels as mere Impossibilities directly contrary to the Reason of Mankind To this I answer We must distinguish between what is incomprehensible to Humane Reason and what is repugnant to it between the things which Reason cannot perfectly understand how they can be and the things which it perfectly understands that they cannot be Natural Light may not be able to discover the being of some things and the manner of their existence which really are But what it sees to involve a contradiction is absolutely impossible Now there is no Point in the whole complexion of the Christian Faith that is repugnant to Reason The unity and supreme equality of the Three Persons in the Godhead transcends our conception but Reason cannot prove it to be impossible For the Essence of God is not of the same condition with created Substances so that although in the whole compass of the Creatures there is no like instance but one Nature is always joyn'd with one Subsistence yet it does not follow that the Divine Nature may not subsist in Three Persons All the difficulty that is pretended to be invincible is this That the manner of it is incomprehensible And 't is necessarily so for 't is impossible that what is Infinite should be comprehended by a finite mind The Incarnation of the Son of God wherein the Essence of Christianity consists is not contrary to Reason Indeed 't is impossible that the Divine Nature should be substantially chang'd into the humane Nature and God cease to be God in becoming Man but the Union of the Deity to the humane Nature is not impossible For what repugnance is there either in respect of God or the Creature Is it impossible that the Supreme Goodness should communicate it self in the strictest degree of union to the Reasonable Creature or is the Reasonable Creature incapable to receive the highest Favour This is a great Mystery but the Divine Omnipotence is not to be limited by our narrow thoughts 'T is most reasonable to believe that God can do what we cannot discover how it is performed Seneca prudently observes that extraordinary effects in Nature are unaccountable to us as to their immediate proper Causes whilst we only consider the usual Principles by which it works Nay in the most common works of Nature how many things are so perceptible to Sense that none is so stupid as to deny them yet imperceptible to Reason as to the manner of their production Who understands the admirable conjunction of the Soul and Body in Man how two Metals of so precious and so base alloy Gold and Lead a Spirit and Matter the one celestial the other earthly should so strictly combine and notwithstanding such diversity in their natures and properties imbrace with such concord in their inclinations Now if the sharpest Eye fixt with the greatest attention cannot discern the manner of this Natural Union when the thing is above all doubt can there be any pretence to disbelieve Supernatural Mysteries because we are not able to comprehend how they are effected 3. There being infallible proofs that Jesus Christ was sent from God to make known his compassionate Counsels for the Salvation of Man the consequence is clear and necessary that the Doctrines of his Gospel are to be receiv'd though never so incomprehensible to the natural understanding There is no Demonstration more sure than the Principle of Faith God has declar'd so therefore 't is true 'T is injurious to his Honour to require any other proof of his Word than his Word 'T is incomparably more certain that God cannot deceive us than that our Understandings are not deceived Now what is the main subject of the Gospel It instructs us that the Word was God and the Word was made Flesh. Can there be a more plain Declaration who Jesus Christ is that we may conceive aright of his Natures his Virtues his Prerogatives and Merits It is not possible without violence to interpret the words otherwise than they plainly signifie that a Divine Being assum'd the Humane Nature and was God-Man This was also declar'd by Jesus Christ. For when the Jews supposing him to be a meer Man taxt him for the violation of the Sabbath in his doing a miraculous Cure on that day he replied to their exception My Father works hitherto and I work that is as God is not subject to the Law of the Sabbath but uninterruptedly does the Works of his merciful Providence so I his Son work in all times without limitation This expression the Jews truly understood to import no less than an equality with God a Son being of the same Nature with his Father and therefore charg'd him with Blasphemy Our Saviour allows their Interpretation but vindicates it from Impiety by a further declaring his Cōmunion with God in his Will and Power that he perform'd Divine Works that he might receive the same Divine Honour as the Father had And shall we not believe this Testimony that Jesus Christ gives of himself Did not the WORD understand the meaning of his own Expressions could Truth deceive was it possible for Wisdom to speak improperly Was Power defective and unable to declare what it would have us to understand How unreasonable is it then to object how can this be What pride is it to rebel against the Divine Revelation what obstinacy to remain unsatisfied unless we discover how terms so distant in themselves the highest Being GOD and the lowest in the Sphere of Rational Beings Man should be so strictly united How they should be so intimately joyn'd without confusion of Natures in one Person that 't is truly said God was humbled to the form of a Servant and Man is rais'd to the right-hand of God Here 't is our duty to subject our noblest faculty the Understanding to Divine Revelation In the Doctrines of Faith as well as in the disposures of Providence 't is sufficient to check presumptuous Curiosity that God is the Author I shall add one Consideration more If Jesus Christ was not what he declar'd himself to be the Son of God he was a most Impious Man For 't is Impiety in the supreme degree for any in the pure order of Creatures to assume Divine Honour But the quality of his Doctrine and sanctity of his Life infinitly clear him from such a vile Charge For is it conceivable that a Person guilty of the highest even Sacrilegious Pride should be an Instructer of the most