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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	life_n	live_v	1,552	5	5.7392	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56539	Monsieur Pascall's thoughts, meditations, and prayers, touching matters moral and divine as they were found in his papers after his death : together with a discourse upon Monsieur Pascall's, Thoughts ... as also another discourse on the proofs of the truth of the books of Moses : and a treatise, wherein is made appear that there are demonstrations of a different nature but as certain as those of geometry, and that such may be given of the Christian religion / done into English by Jos. Walker.; Pensées. English	Pascal, Blaise, 1623-1662.; Walker, Joseph.; Perier, Madame (Gilberte), 1620-1685. Vie de M. Pascal. English.; Filleau de la Chaise, Jean, 1631-1688. Discours sur les Pensées de M. Pascal. English.	1688 (1688)	Wing P645; ESTC R23135	228,739	434

well 4. * The length of the Patriarchs Lives instead of losing past Histories was a means on the contrary of preserving them for one great cause wherefore we are not very well inform'd of our Ancestors Lifes is because we never liv'd long with them and that they commonly dy'd before we attain'd to Years of Discretion But when Men liv'd so long Children grew up and liv'd a long time with their Fathers and so discoursed a long time with them Now what could they Entertain them of but the Lives of their Ancestors seeing all History was reduc'd to that and that they had not Arts and Sciences which take up a Considerable part of the Discourse of our Life Therefore it is seen that in those first Ages Men were very exact in preserving Genealogies §. XII Types Figures 1. THere are some Figures clear and demonstrative there are others that appear more obscure and that are not convincing but only to those that are perswaded by other ways such Types are like those which some ground upon the Prophesies in the Revelations which they explain as they list themselves but the difference betwixt them is that they have no undoubted ones to uphold them so that there is nothing so unjust as when they pretend theirs are as well grounded as some of ours for they have not any so demonstrative as we have The thing is not therefore alike these things ought not to be equall'd and confounded together because they seem to be like each other on one side being so quite different on the other 2. * One of the chief Reasons wherefore the Prophets vail'd the Spiritual things they promis'd under the Figure of Temporal things was because they had to do with a Carnal People whom they were to make Depository of the Spiritual Testament 3. * Jesus Christ figur'd by Joseph the beloved of his Father sent to see his Brethren is the Innocent sold by his Brethren for twenty Pence and by that means become their Lord their Saviour the Saviour of strangers and even the Saviour of the World which had not been had they not design'd his Ruin unless they had rejected and sold him 4. * In the Person Joseph was Innocent betwixt two Criminals Jesus on the Cross betwixt two Thieves Joseph foretold deliverance to one and Death to the other on the same appearances Jesus Christ saves one and abandons the other after the same Crimes Joseph only foretels Jesus Christ acts Joseph desires him that he saves to remember him when he is restor'd and him that Jesus Christ saves desires that he will remember him when he comes into his Kingdom 5. * Grace is the Type of Glory it is not the ultimate end It was figur'd by the Law and it self is the Type of Glory yet so as it is in the mean time the means to attain unto it 6. * The Synagogue perished not because it was a Type of the Church but because it was but a Figure it is falln into servitude the Figure subsisted till the Truth appeared that the Church might be always visible either in the Shadow that promis'd it or in the essect §. XIII That the Law was Figurative 1. TO prove both Testaments at once it is only needful to see if the Prophesies of the one are accomplish'd in the other 2. * To examin Prophesies they must be well understood for if one thinks they have but one meaning than it will be certain the Messias is not come but if they have a double Sense it is certain he is come in Jesus Christ The main query then is to know if they have two meanings if they are Figures or Realities that is to say if any thing else is to be sought besides what they shew at first or if the first Sense they offer be only to be taken If the Law and Sacrifices are the verity then they must be acceptable and not displeasing to God if they are Figures they must please and displease Now in all the Scriptures they please and displease then they are Figures 3. * To see clearly that the Old Testament is Figurative and that by Temporal things the Prophets meant other Riches It need only be observ'd First That if that it were too mean for God to call Men only to the Enjoyment of Temporal Felicities Secondly That the expressions of the Prophets very clearly mention Temporal Blessings and yet they say their Discourse is Mystical that their Sense is not what they openly express that it will not be fully understood till the last Times therefore they design'd to speak of other Sacrifices of another deliverer c. To conclude it must be observ'd that their Discourses are contrary and destroy each other if it be suppos'd that they did not understand by the Words Law and Sacrifice something else besides the Law of Moses and its Sacrifices there would be manifest and gross contradictions in their Books and sometimes in the same Chapter whence it follows that they must have meant something else 4. * It is said the Law shall be changed that the Sacrifices shall be changed that they shall be without Kings Priests and Sacrifices that there shall be a New Covenant that the Law shall be renew'd that the Precepts they have received are not good that their Sacrifices are abominable that God hath not required them It is said also the Law shall abide Eternally that the Covenant shall be Eternal that the Sacrifice shall be Eternal that the Scepter shall not depart from them seeing it was not to depart till the Eternal King should come Do all these Passages mark that they are Reality no. Do they mark that they are Figure no but that it is Reality or Figure but the former excluding the Reality shew that it is but Figure These Passages altogether cannot be spoken of the Reality all may be spoke of the Figure therefore they are not spoke of the Reality but of the Figure 5. * To know if the Law and Sacrifices are Reality or Figure heed must be taken if the Prophets speaking of these things so fixed their Sight and Thoughts that they looked no farther than the first Covenant or if they design'd something else whereof they were but the Shadows for in a Picture is seen the thing represented To this purpose 't is needful only to examin what they said When they said that it shall be Eternal do they mean to speak of the Covenant of which they say it shall be changed and in like manner of the Sacrifices c. 6. * The Prophets have said plainly that Israel shall always be loved of God and that the Law should be Eternal and they have said their Words were vailed and their Sense should not be understood 7. * The Cypher has a double Sense when one finds an important Letter wherein the Sense is clear and yet where it is said the Sense is vail'd and obscure that 't is so hid that this Letter may be seen and not seen

here on Earth was accepted and received of God in Heaven This is the State of things in our Blessed Lord Jesus now let us consider them in our selves When we are first admitted into the Church which is the World of the Faithful especially of the Elect wherein Jesus Christ entred from the Moment of his Incarnation by a peculiar Privilege belonging to the only Son of God we are Offered and Sanctified This Sacrifice continues through the whole course of Life and ends at Death wherein the Soul truly quitting all the Vices and love of the World with the Contagion wherewith it is infected during the course of this Life it finishes its Offering and is received into Bliss Let us not then grieve for the Death of Believers as Pagans do that have no hope When the Faithful depart this Life they are not lost We lost them upon a matter even from the moment they entred into the Church by Baptism from that instant they were Devoted to God their Life was Consecrated to God their Actions regarded the World only for God at their Death they were wholly freed from Sin and 't is then they were received of God and that their Sacrifice received its accomplishment and reward They did what they had Vowed they accomplish'd the Work God gave them to do they did the Work they were Created for the Will of God is fulfilled in them and their Will is swallow'd up into the Will of God Let not our Will separate what God has join'd together and let us stifle or restrain by understanding the Truth the instinct of corrupt and deprav'd Nature which only has false Glosses and that by its Illusions interrupts the Holiness of those Notions which the Truth of the Gospel doth inspire in us Let us not any longer consider Death like Pagans but like Christians that is to say with hope as St. Paul teacheth seeing it is the special Privilege of Christians Let us not consider a Body as a filthy Carrion for deluded Nature does so represent it to us but as the Living Temple of the Holy Ghost as Faith doth teach us For we know the Holy Ghost dwells in the Bodies of Saints till the Resurrection and that they shall be raised by the Power of the Spirit that resides in them to this effect This is the Opinion of some of the Fathers It was upon this account that the Eucharist was heretofore put in the Mouth of the Dead for knowing they were the Temple of the Holy Ghost it was thought convenient they should be united to this Holy Sacrament but the Church has changed this Custom not but the Bodies of Saints are decently buried but because the Eucharist being a Figure of the Bread of Life and for the Living it is not fit it should be given to the Dead Let us not look upon Believers departed in the Fear of God as ceasing to Live though Nature would suggest so but as beginning to live as Truth doth assure us Let us not look upon their Souls as lost and reduc'd to nothing but as vivified and united to the Sovereign Being and by hearkening to these Truths let us restrain the great Mistakes we are so inclin'd unto and those motions of horror which are so Natural to Men. 3. * God has Created Man with two Desires one for God the other for himself but with this restriction that the love for God should be infinite that is to say without any other end but God only and that the love for himself should be finite and referring to God Man in this State would not only love himself without Sin yea he could not but love himself without Sin. Since the Fall Man has lost the first of these Loves and the love of himself being only left in this great Soul capable of an infinite love this Self-love has extended it self and filled the space the Love of God had left and so he loves only himself and all things for himself that is to say Infinitely This is the Original of Self-love it was Natural to Adam and just in his Innocency but it became criminal and immoderate after his Fall This is the Spring of this Love and the cause of its defectiveness and of its excesses It is the same of the immoderate desire of Power of Sloath and of other things The Application is easie to be made upon account of the horror we have of Death This Fear was natural and just in Adam whilst Innocent because his Life being very pleasing to God it was the same to Man and Death would have been horrible because it would have put an end to a Life that was conformable to the Will of God. Since Man Sinned his Life is become depraved his Soul and Body Enemies to each other and both to God. This change having infected so Holy a Life the love of Life remains nevertheless and the fear of Death resting also what was just in Adam is unjust in us This is the Original of the horror of Death and the cause of its defectivenss Let us then clear the horror of Nature by the light of Grace The fear of Death is Natural but 't is in the State of Innocence because it could not enter into Paradise but in finishing an Innocent Life It was just to hate it when it could not happen but in separating a Holy Soul from a Holy Body but 't is just to love it when it separates a Holy Soul from an Impure Body it was just to shun it when it would have broke the Peace betwixt the Body and Soul but not when it calms the highest Dissention To conclude when it would have afflicted an Innocent Body when it would have depriv'd the Body of the liberty of honouring God when it would have separated from the Soul a Body that submitted to its desires when it had destroyed all the Good Man was capable of it was just to abhor it but when it puts an end to a wicked Life when it takes from the Body the liberty of Sinning when it delivers the Soul from a powerful Enemy that resists all the Motions to its Salvation it is very unjust to have the same Sentiments Let us not then quit this Love Nature has given us for Life seeing we have received it from God but let it be for the same Life for which God has given it to us and not for a contrary end And in consenting to the Love Adam had for his Life in Innocency and that Jesus Christ himself had for his let us strive to hate a Life contrary to that which Jesus Christ loved and fear only the Death that Jesus Christ feared which befals a Body well pleasing to God but not fear a Death that punishing a guilty Body and cleansing a Vicious Body should give us quite contrary desires if we have ever so little Faith Hope and Charity It is one of the chief Principles of Christianity that all that befel Jesus Christ should also be fulfill'd in the Body

will not insist upon the Faith by which we certainly know him nor of all the other Proofs which we have seeing you will not submit to them I will deal with you only by your own Principles and I don't doubt by the usual way that you discourse daily of things of the least Moment you will see how you should discourse of this matter and what side you should take in discussing this important Point of the Existence of God. You say we are incapable of knowing if there is a God nevertheless it is certain there is a God or there is not there is no Medium but which side shall we take Reason you say can determine nothing in the case there is an Infinite chaos that separates us at this infinite distance there will a chance happen Cross or Pile what will you lay by Reason you cannot assure one nor the other by Reason you cannot deny neither of both Do not then blame those of falshood that have made a choice for you can't tell if they have done ill or chosen wrong no you will say but I blame them not for having made this choice but for making any choice and as well he that took Cross as he that took Pile have both done ill the best way had been not to have lay'd at all Say you so but there 's a necessity we must lay it is not at our liberty you are imbarqu'd and not to lay God is is to lay he is not which of the two will you bet Let us consider the loss and gain in betting to believe God is if you win you win all if you lose you lose nothing lay then that he is without hesitating Well I must lay but it may be I risque too much let us see seeing there is the like hazard in winning and losing had you but two Lives to win for one you may well lay and were there Ten to be gain'd you would be very unwise not to venture your Life to win ten at a Game where there is no more hazard of losing than winning But here there is an infinite number of Lives infinitly happy to be won with the like hazard of winning as of losing and what you risque is of so little value and short continuance that 't is a meer Folly to spare it in this occasion For it avails nothing to say it is uncertain if one shall win and that 't is sure one does venture and that the infinite distance which is betwixt the certainty of what one lays down and the uncertainty of what one shall win does equal the finite good which one lays down to the infinite good which is uncertain This is not true All Gamsters do venture certain in hopes to win and yet he certainly risques the finite to gain uncertainly the infinite without any contradiction of Reason There is not an infinity of distance betwixt this certainty of what one lays down and the uncertainty of winning that is not true there is indeed infinity betwixt the certainty of gaining and the certainty of losing But the uncertainty of wining is proportion'd to the certainty of what one ventures according to the proportion of the hazards of winning and losing and thence it is that if there be as many hazards of one side as there is of the other the Game is equal and then the certainty of what one plays is equal to the uncertainty of the Game it is so far from being infinitly distant and so our Proposition is in full force when the Finite only is hazarded at a play where there is as much probability of winning as losing and the Infinity to be won this is Demonstration and if Men are capable of admitting Truth they ought to receive this I own I grant it but is there not yet other means of seeing more clearly yes by the Scriptures and by all the other Proofs of Christian Religion which are very many and clear Those who expect to be sav'd you will say are happy in such a State but then they are often terrify'd with the fear of being Damn'd But who is it has more cause to fear Hell either him that thinks there is no Hell and sure to be damn'd if there be one or him that is certainly perswaded there is a Hell and in hope to be preserved from it if there be one Whoever had but eight Days to live and would think the best way was to believe it fell out so by hazard must needs have lost his Senses now were we not sway'd by our Passions eight Days and a hundred Years would be but the same thing What danger can it be to you to resolve on this Course it will make you Faithful Honest Humble Thankful Sincere and Charitable It s true you will not live in filthy Pleasures in Vanity and Fleshly delights But shall I gain nothing else I tell you even in this Life you will be a Gainer and as you proceed in this way you will find so much certainty of profit and so much of emptiness in what you risque that at last you will find you have betted for a thing certain and infinite and that you have given nothing for obtaining it But you say you are so made that you cannot believe Learn at least your own inabillity to believe seeing your Reason tells you you should and yet have not power to do it strive therefore to overcome your self not by desiring more Proofs on Gods part but by diminishing your own Passions You would walk in Faith and do not know the way you would be heal'd of your infidellity and seek not the Remedies inform your self of those that have been in your State and that now are free from Doubts they know the way you would willingly go in and are cured of the Evil you would be freed from follow the Course they took follow their outward Examples if you cannot as yet enjoy their inward Dispositions lay aside those delays wherewith you have been hinder'd I should soon have quitted these Pleasures you will say if I had but Faith and I tell you you would soon have Faith if you would forsake these Pleasures Now 't is your part to begin If it were in my power I would give you Faith but I cannot and by consequence am not able to prove the truth of what you say but you may easily quit these Pleasures and try if what I say be true 3. * Let us not be ignorant of our selves we are Flesh as well as Spirit and thence it is that the instrument which perswadeth is not the only Demostration How few things be there that is demonstrated Proofs do only convince the Understanding Custom gives us the strongest Evidence it inclines the Senses which insensibly draws the understanding after it unawares Who ever demonstrated that to morrow it would be Day and that we shall Dye and yet what is there more universally believ'd therefore it is Custom perswades us hereunto it is that makes so many Turks and

and Soul of each particular Christian That as Jesus Christ suffered during his Mortal Life Rose again to a new Life Ascended into Heaven and sate down on the Right Hand of God his Father so also the Body and Soul must suffer die be raised and ascend up into Heaven All these things are fulfilled in the Soul during this Life but not in the Body The Soul suffers and dies unto Sin in Repentance and Baptism the Soul rises to a new Life in these Sacraments and at last the Soul leaves the Earth and ascends to Heaven in Living a Holy Life which makes St. Paul say Conversatio nostra in Coelis est None of these things happen to the Body during this Life but they do afterwards for at Death the Body dies to this Mortal Life at the Day of Judgment it shall rise to a new Life after Judgment it shall ascend up into Heaven and there abide to all Eternity So that the same things arrive to Body and Soul but at different times and the changes of the Body do not happen till those of the Soul are accomplish'd that is to say after Death so that Death is the consummation of the Souls Happiness and the beginning of that of the Body This is the admirable conduct of the Wisdom of God in the Salvation of Souls and St. Austin teaches us on this Subject That God has so order'd it fearing least the Body of Man should be Dead and raised again for ever in Baptism or that he only became Obedient to the Gospel for love of Life whereas the greatness of Faith shines much more when one hopes for Immortality even through the shadows of Death 4. * It is not just we should be without sense and feeling of grief in the Afflictions and sad Accidents that befal us as if we were Angels that have no sense of Nature neither is it just that we should be quite dejected like Heathens that have no sense of Grace but 't is just we should be Afflicted and Comforted like Christians and that the Comforts of Grace should surmount the Sense of Nature to the end Grace may not only be in us but that it may predominate in us that so Sanctifying the Name of our Father his Will may become ours that his Grace may bear sway over Nature and that our Afflictions may be as the Matter of a Sacrifice which his Grace offers for the Glory of God and that these particular Sacrifices may honour and fore-run the Universal Sacrifice wherein whole Nature is to be consumed by the power of Jesus Christ Thus we draw benefit from our own Imperfections seeing they shall serve for matter of this Sacrifice for 't is the aim of all true Christians to make a Benefit of their very Imperfections because all things work together for Good for the Elect. And if we seriously consider it we shall find great helps to our edification in considering the thing in the Truth of it for seeing it is true that the Death of the Body is only the Figure of that of the Soul and that we build on this Principle that we have cause to hope the Salvation of those whose Death we lament it is most certain if we cannot stop the course of our Grief and Sorrow we should at least make this advantage of it that seeing the Death of the Body is so terrible that it causes so much fear in us that of the Soul should cause much greater grief and amazement God has sent the former to those whom we grieve for we hope he has put away the latter let us then consider the greatness of our Happiness by the greatness of our Miseries and let the excess of our Sorrow be the measure of our Joy. One of the most Solid and best Services we can do for the Dead is to do those things they would desire of us if they were living in the World by this means we make them as it were live in us seeing it is their Counsels that live and act in us And as Hereticks are punish'd in the other World for the Sins wherein they have ingag'd their Followers in whom their Poison as yet remains so the Dead are recompensed for those that have follow'd them by their good Counsels and Example 5. * Man is certainly too unable to judge rightly of the state of future things Let us therefore hope in God and not weary our selves by our indiscreet and rash Curiosity Let us refer our selves to God to Govern our Lives and that Grief may not predominate in us Saint Austin teaches us That there is in every Man a Serpent an Eve and an Adam The Serpent is the Senses and Nature the Eve is the Lustful Appetite and the Adam is Reason Nature tempts us continually the Sensual Appetite is ever craving but Sin is not finish'd unless Reason consents Let us then suffer this Serpent and Eve to act if we cannot hinder them but let us pray God that his Grace would so stregthen our Adam that he may continue Victorious that Jesus Christ may be Conquerer and that he might Reign for ever in us §. XXXI Sundry Meditations 1. THe more knowledge we have so much the more we find that there are perfect Men. Common People see no difference betwixt Men. 2. * One may have good Sense and yet not perceive all things aright for there are some that may judge aright in some things that are deceived in others some draw true Consequences from few Principles others draw right Consequences from things where there be many Principles for example some do well comprehend the effects of Water wherein there is but few Principles but whose Consequences are so fine that 't is only a very diligent search can attain to it yet these may not it may be be any great Geometricians because Geometry comprehends a great many Principles and some kind of Wit may be such that it can penetrate a few Principles to the bottom and yet may not penetrate those things wherein there are many Principles There are then two sorts of Wits one that penetrates vigorously and profoundly the Consequence of Principles and that is the Polite Wit the other comprehends a great many Principles without mingling them and that 's the Wit of Geometry the one is strength and clearness of Wit the other is largeness of Wit. Now the one of these may be without the other Wit may be strong and narrow and also may be large and weak There 's a great difference betwixt the Wit of Geometry and a refin'd Wit In the one the Principles are clear but remote from common usage so that one has some difficulty to look that way for want of use but turn a little that way and the Principles will appear plainly and one must have the Understanding very corrupt to reason ill upon such Principles as must needs be seen But in the refin'd Wit the Principles are in the common use and visible to the sight of all

this Law may be easily seen only by Reading it where it doth appear that all things are dispos'd with so much Wisdom Equity and Judgment that the Antientest Greek and Roman Legislators having some knowledge of it have form'd their principal Laws by it which appears by that they call their Laws the Twelve Tables and by the other Proofs mention'd by Josephus But this Law is at the same time the strictest ●nd most rigorous Law in the World obliging this People to keep them within bounds in observing a thousand particular laborious Duties under pain of Death so that it is as wonderful that it should always be kept for so many Ages by so head-strong and impatient a People as this whereas all other Nations chang'd their Laws from time to time although more easie to be kept 2. * This People is yet more admirable in their Sincerity They keep with great respect and fidelity the Book wherein Moses declares they have ever been ungrateful to God and saith that they will be so also after his Death but he calls Heaven and Earth to witness against them that he hath warn'd them of it that to conclude God growing displeas'd at them would disperse them over the Face of the Earth that as they provok'd him by Worshipping those which were not Gods he would provoke them by calling a Nation that was not his People nevertheless this Book that renders them so perverse they keep it as safe as their Life It is a sincerity that cannot be equall'd in the World nor has not its Root in Nature 3. * Moreover I do not find any cause at all to question the truth of this Book which contains all these things for there is a great difference betwixt a Book made by a single Person and that he disperses amongst the People and a Book that is made by a whole People 4. * This is a Book made by Authors that were contemporaries any History that is not Contemporary is Suspitious as the Books of the Sybills Trismegistus and many others that have been cry'd up in the World and have been found false afterwards But 't is not so with Contemporary Authors §. IX Of the Injustice and Corruption of Man. 1. MAn is visibly made for thinking it is his greatest Merit and Dignity his whole Duty is to think as he ought the true method of thinking is to begin by ones self by ones Author and by ones latter End. Nevertheless what is it is thought of in the World Seldom of these things but of taking ones Pleasure of growing Rich of getting Reputation of becoming a King without thinking what 't is to be a King or to be a Man. 2. * The thought of Man is a thing admirable by Nature It must needs have very great faults to be undervalu'd yet it has such that nothing is more ridiculous How great is it by its Nature how despicable through its Defects 3. * If there be a God he it is that ought to be lov'd and not the Creatures The Reasoning of the Wicked in the Book of Wisdom is only grounded upon this That they perswade themselves there is no God this being granted say they let us enjoy the Creatures But had they known there is a God they would have concluded the quite contrary And it is the conclusion of the Wise There is a God let us not therefore enjoy the Creatures Then all that invites us to cleave to the Creature is Evil because it hinders us either from serving God if we do know him or to seek him if we do not ●now him Now we are full of Concupiscence ●hen we are full of Evil therefore we should ●bhor our selves and every thing that fastens to ●ught else but God only 4. * When we would think of God how ma●y things do we find that would hinder us and ●hat tempt us to think of something else All ●his is Evil and even born with us 5. * It is not true that we are worthy others ●hould love us it is not just we should desire it were we born reasonable and with any degree of Knowledg of our selves and others we should not have this Inclination yet 't is born with us then are we born unjust Every one seeks-himself this is against all order we should be for the general to be for ones self is the beginning of all disorder in War Peace and Oeconomy c. 6. * If the Members of Societies Natural and Civil tend to the good of the Body the Societies themselves should tend to a more general Body 7. * Whoever hates not in himself this Self-love and this instinct of preferring himself above every thing is very blind seeing there is nothing more opposite to Justice and Truth for it is false that we deserve it and it is unjust and impossible to attain to it seeing all desire the same thing It is therefore an evident injustice that we are born in which we must free our selves from and yet we cannot divest 8. * Nevertheless no other Religion but the Christian ever observ'd this was a Sin nor that we were born in it nor that we were bound to resist it nor ever thought of pr●scribing any Remedies 9. * There is an intestine War in Man betwixt Reason and the Passions he might enjoy some rest had he Reason and not Passions o● had he Passions and not Reason but having both the one and the other he cannot be without Wars not being able to have Peace with the one without having variance with the other so that he is always divided and contrary to himself If it be an Ignorance which is unnatural to live without searching what one is it is yet a far more terrible one to live ill in believing God All Men almost are in one or the other of these two Mistakes §. X. Jews 1. GOD intending to shew that he could form a People Holy with an inward Holiness and fill them with an Eternal Glory did accomplish in the things of Nature what he was to have done in those of Grace to the end it might be seen that he could do things invisible seeing he did those that were visible He sav'd his People from the Deluge in the Person of Noah he brought them out of the Loyns of Abraham he redeem'd them from their Enemies and brought them into a Land of Rest The design of God was not to save from the Deluge and cause a great People to proceed from Abraham only to bring them into a Land of Plenty but as Nature is a Symbol of Grace so these visible Miracles are Images of invisible ones that he design'd to do 2. * Another Reason why he made the Jewish Nation was that intending to wean his People from Carnal and Perishable things he would shew by so many Miracles that 't was not for want of Power 3. * This People was plung'd in these Earthly Thoughts that God lov'd their Fa●her Abraham his Body and what should proceed

from him and that for that cause he multiply'd them and separated them from all other Nations not suffering them to make Alliance with them that he brought them out of the Land of Aegypt with those mighty Signs he wrought for them that he fed them with Manna in the Wilderness that he led them into a flourishing and plentiful Land that he gave them Kings and a Magnificent Temple therein to offer Sacrifices to be cleansed by shedding their Blood and that he might at last send them the Messias to make them Masters of all the World. 4. * The Jews were accustom'd to see great and wonderful Miracles and looking upon the great wonder of dividing the Red-Sea and the Promis'd Land but as an Epitome of the great things to be perform'd by the Messias they expected he would do far greater Wonders and that all Moses had done was only a Pattern 5. * Having therefore persisted in these Carnal Errors Jesus Christ came in the fulness of time but not in the outward Splendor as was expected and therefore they did not believe it was him After his Death St. Paul came teaching Men all these things were but Figures that the Kingdom of God was not in the Flesh but in the Spirit that the Babylonians were not Mens Enemies but their Passions that God dwelt not in Temples built with hands but in an humble and contrite Heart that the Circumcising the Body was nothing but that of the Heart 6. * God not being willing to discover these things to this unworthy People and being pleas'd nevertheless to foretel them that they might be believ'd plainly foretold the time and sometimes spake of them plainly but for the most part in Types to the end that those who liked things Mystical should be satisfi'd and those who liked things prefigur'd might see them therein Upon this account it was that when the Messias appear'd the People were divided those that were spiritual believed in him those that were Carnal rejected him and remain'd to be his Witnesses 7. * The Carnal Jews understood not the greatness nor the humiliation of the Messias foretold in their Prophesies They did not know him in his Greatness as when 't is said The Messias shall be Davids Lord although he be his Son that he was before Abraham and had seen him they did not think him so great as he was from all Eternity neither did they know him in his humiliation and in his Death The Messias say they abides Eternally and this Man says he shall dye they did not believe in him Mortal nor Eternal they only sought in him a Worldly greatness 8. * They so much loved the things figuring and so intirely expected them that when the Substance came in the time and manner foretold they were wholly ignorant of him 9. * Those that have pain to believe seeking a Cause wherefore the Jews believed not If it were so evident say some why did they not believe But 't is their refusal is the very ground of our Faith We should not be near so forward to believe had they believ'd we should then have had a far greater pretext not to believe and to doubt It is admirable to see the Jews to be such great lovers of Predictions and yet Enemies to the accomplishment thereof and that this aversion it self was foretold 10. * To give credit to the Messias it was requisite that there should be preceding Prophesies that they should be made by Persons unsuspected and of great dilligence and fidelity and of extraordinary Zeal known to all the World. To bring all this to pass God chose this Carnal People to whose keeping he commited the Prophesies which foretold the Messias as the Redeemer and dispenser of Carnal things which they so much doted upon so that they had an extraordinary Zeal for these Prophets and published to all the World the Books wherein the Messias was promis'd assuring all Nations that he was to come and in the very manner foretold in their Books which they expos'd freely to every Bodies sight But be●ng deceiv'd by the Messias his coming in a mean and poor Condition they became his greatest Enemies so that it is come to pass that the People that were the most unlikely of any in the World to favour us do appear for us and by the Zeal they have for their Law and Prophets do bear and keep with the greatest exactness imaginable our Evidences and their own Condemnation 11. * Those who rejected and crucified Jesus Christ and to whom he was a scandal are the very Persons that preserve the Books that Witness of him and that mention that he shall be an offence and scandal therefore in denying him they plainly shew it was him and he was equally prov'd to be the Messias not only by the righteous Jews that believed in him but also by the wicked Jews who rejected him both being foretold by the Prophets 12. * Therefore it is the Prophesies were hid those that were Spiritual which this People hated under the Temporal which they loved had the Spiritual Sense been discover'd then they would not have liked it and not being able to support it they would not have been so Zealous in preserving their Books and Ceremonies And if they had loved these Spiritual promises and that they had preserv'd them uncorrupt till the coming of the Messias th●● Testimony had not been so strong because of their favouring them therefore it was convenient the Spiritual Sense should be hid But on the other hand had the Spiritual Sense been so hid that it had not been discern'd it would not have serv'd to prove the Messias What then was done This Mystery was hid in a number of passages under Temporal things and yet was plainly shew'd in some besides the Time and State of the World were foretold as clea● as the Sun at Noon day and this Spiritual Sense is so plainly manifested in some places that not to know and discern it requires as much blindness as the Flesh imposes on the Spirit when 't is subject to it See here the way of Gods governing things This Spiritual Sense is vail'd with another Sense in a great many places and shew'd plainly in some but very seldom indeed yet in such a way that in those places where 't is hid it may be understood both ways whereas in the places where it is manifested it can be taken but in one sense and can only agree to the Spiritual So that this could not lead into Error and there could none but so Carnal a People as they were be therein mistaken For when good things were promis'd abundantly what hinder'd them from understanding true Spiritual Riches but only their Covetousness that understood it of Worldly Riches But those whose hope and trust was in God referr'd these things to God only for there are two things that divide the Will of Men Covetousness and Charity not but that Desire may subsist with Faith and Charity with the