Whereas to them that observe what influence the Artificers hand within the Veil hath upon those Engins the whole series of the Causes of those Motions are naked and bare-fac'd Plutarch gives Plato this commendation that finding fault with Anaxagoras for immersing his thoughts too deep into Natural Causes and too eagerly pursuing the necessity of those Effects which happen to Natural Bodies he totally omitted the efficient and final the prime and chief of all Principles and avoiding the other Extreme which some fell into to wit Poets and Divines who only minded the Supreme Cause the rational and voluntary Efficient never came to the Natural and Necessary Causes of things These first ascribing all the second nothing to the Perpessions Collisions Mutations and Mixtures of Natural Beings among themselves Plato waveing these Rocks was the first that joyn'd together the Indagation of both thess sorts of Causes de oracul defect pag. 677. Hitherto appertains that saying of St. Austin De Trinitate l. 3. cap. 2. Itaque licuit vanitati Philosophorum etiam causis aliis ea tribuere vel veris sed proximis cùm omninò videre non possent superiorem caeteris omnibus causam id est voluntatem Dei vel falsis non ipsa quidem pervestigatione corporalium rerum atque motionum sed à sua suspicione errore prolatis The vduity of Philosophers took lieve to attribute these effects to Causes either true but next to hand seing they could not at all discern the supreme Cause of all the Will of God or false and such as were not produced by the pervestigation of Corporeal Matter or Motion but from their own suspicion and errour Were it not that with the Tradition of Religion God hath communicated to Mankind general Maxims to help us in our search into the Nature of things we could never attain to the certain knowledge of any thing And therefore we see all the Grecian Philosophy that was not grounded upon Tradition dwindled at last into Scepticism and veil'd the Bonnet to that of Pythagoras Socrates and Plato who travel'd for theirs into those places where the Tradition had been best preserv'd So true is that Oracle which the Indian Gymnosophist delivered to Socrates in his Reply to the answer that Socrates made to this Question By what means a man might become wise If he consider after what manner it becomes man to live saith Socrates To which the Indian smiling gives this retort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man can understand the nature of humane and mundane things that 's ignorant of divine Euseb. praeperat Evang. referente Grinaeo in praefatione ad Irenaeum Upon which Point the golden Tongue'd Lactantius elegantly Veritatem divinae Religionis arcanum Philosophi attigerunt sed aliis refellentibus defendere id quod invenerant nequiverunt quià singulis ratio non quadravit nec ea quae vera senserant in summam redigere potuerunt de divino praem 7. 7. The Philosophers made a shift to touch with the fingers end Truth and the Mystery of divine Religion but they could not grasp them so close as to hold them as to defend what they had found against opposers because Reason did not square to every one of their Placits singly nor were they able to bring into one Sum and subordinate System their true sentiments And it is Fernelius his observation in his Preface de abditis rerum causis that the latter Platonicks Numenius Philo Plotinus Iamblicus Proclus Quicquid de divinis rebus magnificum attigerunt illud à Christianis viris Joanne Paulo Hirotheo Dionysio furtim excerpsisse ut inde abstrusa Platonis dicta clariùs lucidiusque interpretarentur in verum sensum deducerent attain'd to the knowledge of nothing in divine things that was magnificent but what they stole from Christian Philosophers by whose spoils they were enriched with ability more clearly to interpret and deduce to a true sence the dark sayings of Plato But I digress How the World was produced and how man came to be Sovereign of the rest of the Creatures Reason was in pursuit after but could never attain to the knowledge of till Religion prompts her till sacred Writ informs her That God made man after his own Image gave him that Dominion made him Lord of the Universe as being of that Nature of which the Son of God was to assume Flesh into a perpetual Union with himself which being the highest preferment that the Creature is capable of and an Estate which Angels shall never aspire unto speaks it no wonder that God should make his Angels ministring Spirits for the good of Man But we need not now go so far as the Reason of God's disposal 't is enough we have found out Gods disposal as the ground of Man's Sovereignty Weigh this with all besides that ever was said upon this Question and they are lighter than vanity and let Reason use the utmost of her skill in descanting upon this ground she shall never be able to find the least flaw in it § 5. The longest Sword or over-reaching Wit conveigh no Right Self-love prompted Reason to play the part of an Oratour handsomly to declaim probably upon Man's Dominion over Beasts but how he came to command Spirits she could not deem And that his Power over inferiour Creatures should extend it self to the taking away of their Lives though it was practically concluded by all Nations yet I could never see one sound natural Reason produced for it and do here solemnly challenge the profoundest Atheist to give one irrefragable Argument which he is not beholding to Religion for in defence of that Dominion he daily exerciseth over his Fellow-Creatures and for ought he knows if he travel no farther than Athens to learn his Betters what Staff can he find to beat his Dog with that his Skullion may not as well lay about his own Shoulders what can he plead for his Butchering a Sheep that another may not with as much reason urge against his own Throat How will he handle the Knife with which he carves a Capon and not cut his own Hands too unless it be hasted with Scripture Reasons Bar these and abstain from Flesh till Pythagoras be confuted and thou must keep Lent all thy Life be it as long as Metbuselah's wave these Topicks and where wilt thou gather Arguments to Silence Celsus Orig. in Celsum lib. 4. calum 29 30 31. or Plutarch de solertia animalium while they make these Assertions their Theme Some Creatures as Bees and Ants excel Man in the Science of Government others in the Art of Divination others in Religion as the Elephant that they are dearer to the Gods have a more sacred Converse among themselves than Men c. If the Humane Soul were not better distinguish'd from the Bestial by its Original and Fountain by Gods breathing it into us than by its Effects and Productions we should be hard put to it to prove our Superiority of Reason
obtains place § 2. The God of Israel hath his Priests amongst the Gentiles § 3. No acceptable Oblation but what Christians offer tender'd to Israels God § 4. The Gospel hath utterly abolish'd Idols made Virmin-Gods creep into holes § 5. Daphnaean Apollo choakd with the Bones of Babilas Heathen Testimony for the silencing of Oracles the Vanity of their Reasons § 6. Gross Idolatry in the Roman Pale by her own Doctors Confessions and Definitions the Legend of the Golden Calf yet not in the proper and prophetick sence CHAP. VI. Touching the Millenium Revel 20. § 1 Pagan Idol's Fall and Satans binding Synchronize Christianity grew upon the Empire by degrees § 2. Charity 's Cloak cast over the first Christian Emperours § 3. Theodosius made the first Penal Laws against Paganism § 4. Honorius made Paganism Capital then was Satan bound CHAP. VII The Millenium yet to come is a Dream of Waking Men. § 1. The Millenaries shifting of Aera's Apes of Mahometans and Papists Alsted's Boreal Empire § 2. Mr. Meed's Principles overthrow the Faith and Placits of the Ancients Christ will not come to convert but destroy the Jews Satans Binding Synchronizeth with the downfall not of Mahometanism but Gentilism § 3. America though anciently inhabited yet unknown to the ancient Church and therefore implicitly only comprehended in her Faith Hope and Charity § 4. The Millenaries impious and uncharitable Conceptions touching the Gogick-war Their Triumphant Church-Militant § 5. Christ will find more Faith in America than in this upper Hemisphere § 6. Satan's Chain shortned in the lower not lengthened in this upper Hemisphere CHAP. VIII That Satans loosing will not be till the Dawning of the day of Judgment Problematically discuss'd § 1. Elect gathered into the Air over the Valley of Jehoshaphat Chancells not all Eastward but all toward that Valley § 2. The Elect secur'd Satan reenters and drives his old Demesne The wicked destroyed as Rebels actually in arms Believers tried as Citizens by the Books of Conscience and Book of Royal Law § 3. Gog. Revel 20. a greater multitude than will meet before the day of Judgment When Prophecies are to be expounded Literally when Figuratively § 4. The Ottoman Army is not this Gogick § 5. The Fire of the last Conflagration carrieth Infidels into the Abyss The Goats are cast into it after they are convict by the Covenant of Grace White Throne New Heaven and Earth Flames of Fire divided § 6. They that are in Christ rise first but Infidels are first judged The Objection from their being in termino § 7. The Jews Septimum Millenarium is the eternal Sabbath The days of a Tree Isa. 65. 28. The Text Paraphrased CHAP. IX The Force of the general Argument from Prophecy urged § 1. Prophetick Events demonstrate the Reveilers infinite science § 2. And Omnipotencie § 3. The Divine Original of the Gospel § 4. Christ Circumstantiated old Prophecies of Jerusalem's Fall § 5. When her Fall was most unlikely § 6. Precognition demonstrates Pre-existence CHAP. X. The Demonstration of Power § 1. Christians Gleanings exceed Pagans Vintage § 2. Christian stories of undoubted Pagan of dubious Credit § 3. Pagan Miracles mis-father'd § 4. Rome's Prosperity whence § 5. Wonders among Gentiles for the fulfilling of Prophecies § 6. For the punishment of Nations ripe for Excision § 7. Empires raised miraculously for the common good CHAP. XI The Deficiency of the false Characters of true Miracles § 1. Heathen Wonders unprofitable § 2. Of an impious Tendency § 3. Not above the power of Nature § 4. Moses and the Magicians Rodds into serpents § 5. The suns standing still and going back The Persian Triplasia § 6. Darkness at our Saviours Passion § 7. Christs Resurrection the Broad-seal set to the Gospel CHAP. XII The Supernatural Power of Salvifick Grace § 1. The Church triumphs over the Schools § 2. Christianity lays the Ax to the Root § 3. The Rule imperfect before Christ. § 4. The Discipline of the Schools was without Life and power § 5 Real Exornations before Verbal Encomiums Christian Religion 's APPEAL To the BARR of Common Reason c. The First Book It was morally impossible that the Apostolical Church should delude the World with feigned Miracles or Stories CHAP. I. The Contents The Age wherein the Apostles flourish'd was sufficiently secured against the Impostures of Empiricks by its Knowledge in Physicks Ignorance in Naturals the Mother of superstitious Credulity The Darkness at our Saviours Crucifixion compared with that at Romulus his Death Heathen Records of the Darkness of Christ's Passion Sect. 1. HOW easily how certainly would the fraud have been detected had our Saviour and his Apostles wrought their wonderful Cures and stupendous Works by the Application of Natural Causes That Age wherein they were done being an Age of the most improved Wits in Natural Science that the benign Genius of any Age had till then or hath to this day produced Pliny that great Secretary of Nature so industrious a searcher into her Mysteries as in pursuit of the knowledge of the Causes of Vesuviums Conflagration he made so near an approach to that burning Mountain while the dreadful fragor of that fierce Eruption put the most undaunted Spirits into that fright as they fled as fast and far from it as their heels would carry them as he was stifled with its Sulphureous Steam choosing rather to die in the attempt of seeking out than to live in the ignorance of Natures secrets and to throw himself into its flaming Mouth by which it vented what was in its Heart rather than not to know from what abundance of the Heart it s now opened and gaping Mouth spake This unparallel'd Example for our modern Virtuosi who think they infinitely oblige Humane kind and let them never râ—ap the fruit of their ingenuous labours who grudge them that honour by the Experiments they make at the Expence of so much sweat and with the hazzard of stopping their own breath with the Exhalations of their Furnaces This so diligent an Attender upon Natures Cabinet-council was our Saviour's Contemporary by that compute of his age which his Nephew Plinius Secundus gave to Cornelius Tacitus Lib. 6. Epist. 16. requesting from him an account of his Unkles death that he might in his History transmit to posterity the memory of so brave an Exploit A little before him in years and not behind him in sagacity after Natures footsteps flourish'd Mithridates King of Pontus whose name to this day is famous in Dispensatories Regum Orientis post Alexandrum Magnum maximus the greatest of all the Eastern Kings after Alexander the Great so potent as he held the Romans in play 40 years and in his ruine involved almost the whole East and North L. Florus Appianus c. having 25 Provinces under his Dominion and understanding as many Languages as well as the Natives so that he answered all Embassadors in their Mother Tongue Agellius noct Att. l. 17. c. 17. Ingentis
pieces At the lowest rate it demonstrates to what an height those curious cursed arts were then grown to Can we think that St. Paul would have singled out that place where Satan was inthron'd to have wrought miracles in for the confirmation of the Divinity of the Gospel had they not been special miracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Luke stiles them Act. 19. 11 12. Would he have given experiments of the healing vertue conveyed from his body to aprons and handkerchiefs where counter-charming amulets were of that common use as the proverb of Ephesia Alexipharmaca speaks them to have been What would it have profited to have invocated the name of the Lord Jesus over the sick there where were extant such a number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of books teaching how to unravel the Conjurers work had the Apostle not been assured that the vertue of that name and of his own body through that name was both as to cause and effect above every name above any word they could find in their books of curious Arts that name of Judahs Gods imposing having infinitely more power than the word of Ida's Tactyls invention though it came not with that boysterous harshness as did their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as Clemens reckons them in the place above quoted Sect. 2. This Image of Diana this counterfeit of the Divine Magia descending from faln Jupiter was not only worship'd at Ephesus and in all Asia but throughout the Roman Empire In whose Metropolis the Sect of those black Philosophers was grown so numerous under Tiberius as his decree to banish them the City had taken effect if the multitude of Families which that hook threatned to extirpate and their promise to give over the practice of those curious arts had not made the Emperour relent Sueton. Tiberius 36. By this connivance Magical operations attain'd to that perfection in Nero's Reign as men could not promise themselves to find their grounds on that side of the hedge next morning where they left them over-night For Pliny lib. 28. reports that at that time an Olive-yard belonging to Vectius Marcellus was by Magick removed one night unto the other side of the high-way A thing so strange as I should hardly give credit to Livies report but that I find Apuleius make mention of it in his Apologie as a thing so usual and ancient as the Laws of the twelve Tables made provision against it by making it capital The naming of Apuleius his Apology brings to mind the occasion of it which was to purge himself of the crime of Magick wherewith he was charged before Claudius Maximus Lievtenant of Africa as Apollonius Thyaneus was of the same crime before Domitian A pair of the fiercest Pagan adversaries to our Religion August de Civitat 8. 19. The Jews indeed had a sharper edge against us and as strange a back as Hell could forge coming not one whit behind the Gentile in his proficiency in the black Art being grown more Samaritan than the Samaritan himself 1. Not only in their charmings by the explication of the Tetragrammaton Jehovah in twelve and in forty two letters to which they imputed that force as they affirm'd with no less blasphemy to their own than our Religion that Moses wrought all his miracles by means of Shemhamphorash the twelve-letter'd explication of the name Jehovah ingraven on the rod of God And that our Jesus by vertue of the same sowed within his skin effected those great works which he performed And that Rabbi Chanina by vertue of the two and forty letter'd name of God did whatsoever he would The Jews father'd this Art upon Solomon who they say left forms of conjurations of the efficacy whereof one Eleazar gave proof before Vespasian and his Sons and their whole Army Josephus being present as himself reports Antiquit. lib. 8. cap. 2. Yea that whosoever knew these explications being modest humble of a middle age not given to anger or drunkenness and wore them about him would be belov'd above and below in heaven and in earth rever'd and fear'd of men and heir of this and the world to come Buxtorf lexic. voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. But in their Wisemens reading certain verses over wounds laying Phylacteries upon sick persons charming away serpents and an evil eye of which practices the Jerusalem Talmudists amongst whom our Saviour converst make frequent mention In particular they tella story in Sotah of R. Meirs being too hard for an Inchantress and in Sanhedrim R. Joshuah out-vying a Samaritane conjurer of Tyberias quoted by Dr. Light foot in his Harmony It were endless to trace Josephus through all those passages where he describes Judaea in our Saviours time to have been over-run with Magical Juglers Under Felix saith he Judaea was again full of Magical Impostors and Seducers of the unskilful vulgar who by their inchantments drew companies into the wilderness promis4ng they would shew them from heaven manifest signs and prodigies at the same time a certain Jew out of Aegypt came to Jerusalem professing himself a Prophet who perswaded the multitude to follow him unto Mount Olivet promising that from thence they should see the walls of Jerusalem fall so flat as through their ruines there should be a way opened into the City Joseph Ant. Jud. 20. 6. Which Aegyptian in another place he styles Magician Jos. 〈◊〉 Jud. 2. 12. Nay he scarce mentions a sticker in the Jewish wars upon whom he sets not this brand that he was a jugling conjurer Such was John the son of Levias c. Josep 〈◊〉 J. 4. 4. Sect. 3. The Primitive Church was so beset with these snares of Hell as she thought good to caution her Catechumens of the danger of falling into them â—not only by informing them that in their renouncing the Devil and all his worship at Baptism they renounc'd Auguries Divinations Amulets Magical Inscriptions on Leaves Witchcraft Incantation and calling up of Ghosts Id. Catech. illuminat 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But by inserting into the Greek Liturgies this form of abrenuntiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I renounce Conjurations Charmes Amulets and Phylacteries St. â—yril Catech. Mystag 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Cat. c. But what need we any other Witness of the infamy of that Age for the then general spreading of this Diabolical Art than the Satyrical reflections which their own Poets made upon it Juvenal in his sixth Satyr Horace in his Epode against Canidia and Virgil in his Pharmaceutria do in the chain of their Golden Verses hale that Cerberus out of his Kennel into so clear a Sun-shine so manifestly discover those depths of Satan and bring to light those hidden things of darkness as the reading of their Poems is enough to initiate their over-curious Readers in those mysteries of iniquity which were then working and the translation of them might lay a temptation before the ductile vulgar to essay the efficacy of their
the Alexandrian among whom the fresh memory of Jesus and his Fore-runner the Baptist a person of blessed memory with both him and them must needs lead them to confer upon the Stories of them and to compare Notes With Titus we find him at Antioch where the Name of Christian by which he commemorates Christ's Followers was first imposed upon Christians taken up as the learned Junius thinks by themselves to distinguish them from such as called themselves Galileans and Nazarites as if they embraced the Gospel but of whom for their Judaizing the Church was ashamed and wiped their names out of her Calendar At Jericho at Bethany and all Judaean Towns where Christ convers'd from the Inhabitants and inspection of which places he either saw those manifest tracks or received that full satisfaction of what he reports of Christ's miraculous Works as makes him thus positively assert the Truth of those Matters For where else among whom else could he gain that certain knowledge that he himself requires in an Historian and professeth himself to have had of those things he records both in his Books of Antiquities and the Wars He that promiseth to others saith he the Tradition of Facts really done must himself first have a perfect understanding of those things either because he was present at the doing of them or understood them by those that saw them done which Rule I have strictly observed in both my Treatises Josep contrà Appion l. 1. He could not be a Spectator of the Works of the Effects of them he might upon those persons upon whom they were wrought in those places where Monuments of them remain'd but where could he have better information by Eye-witnesses than the Inhabitants of those Countries and Villages where Christ manifested his Glory and Josephus so long convers'd Of the Truth of such information that he was undoubtedly assured will be yet more evident if we observe how narrowly he was watch'd by those two men of an evil-Eye towards him and his History Appion a learned Gentile Philosopher and Justus so zealous a Jew as Agrippa became his Advocate to the Emperour against the accusations of the Decapolitanes presenting him as the sole Author of his Countries Apostacy from its Allegeance and born and living in that part of Galilee where our Saviour chiefly convers'd How glad would either of these have been to have taken Josepus tardy in so considerable a point of his History and how easily might they have catch'd him tripping here if he had not look'd so well to his feet as to deliver nothing concerning our Saviour but what he was certain of and could make good against all cavils How comes it to pass that those critical Adversaries who scarce leave one Story in either of his Treatises untouch'd against which they could make any plausible Exception have not a word to say against this but because the Evidence of its Truth was so apparent as there was no contradicting of it Nay would not these pick-quarrels have found fault if not with the falsity yet at least with the presumption of this Passage if they had not been convinc'd that he went not upon presumptions but undoubted Grounds Photias de Justo Tiberiadensi writes that in Emulation of Josephus he wrote the History of the Jews from the time of Moses unto the death of Agrippa the seventh King of the Herodian Race and last of the Jews who began his Reign under Claudius augmented his Kingdom under Nero and more under Vespasian and dyed in the third year of Trajan to whom Justus dedicated his History I report this quotation at large as well to certifie a mistake of my own touching Josephus his Appeal to Agrippa for the Truth of his Judaick Wars it being this Agrippa and not as I then supposed he whom Caligula preferr'd for that was he of whom the Text of St. Luke speaks who dyed in the fourth of Claudius of worms while Josephus was in his Nonage as also to shew that this Justus had time enough betwixt Josephus his finishing his History under Domitian and his finishing his own under Trajan to examine and find fault in it and that if he could have detected Josephus of falsity in this his Story of Christ the Heathen World and this persecuting Emperour who hated Christians to death would have been sure to have heard of it by Justus Never did any Secular Historian pass a more severe scrutiny than Josephus did and in no part of it more than this of Christ and the Baptist. To proceed therefore in his Testimony § 4. 1. By the Characters he stamps upon Christ's mighty Works he manifestly distinguisheth them from all others and points them out to be those very individual ones which are recorded in the Gospel 1. In that he makes Christ the Maker of them the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Former of them by his own power a word more properly attributed by the Christian Church in our common Creed unto God to express his creating Heaven and Earth without pre-existent Matter or co-existent Helpers than that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Philosophers as Justin Martyr observes in his Protrepticks ad gentes the Christian VVord expressing the Christian Sence of that Article est enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui ex nihilo aliquid facit and Plato's word expressing the Philosophers sence of the Original of the VVorld to wit that of Matter eternally pre-existing was made the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the well order'd Frame of the Universe the confused Chaos was brought into shape by the Ministry of co-eternal petty Gods the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or chief worker drawing the Model and over-seeing the VVork Or if the Sirname of Martyr fright our dainty Scepticks from reading that Author Sir Philip Sidney that Prince of Romancers in his commendation of the Art of Poetry will inform him what the proper importance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is According to which Josephus his applying it to Christ implies that he thought those strange Effects wrought by Christ not to have been educ'd out of the active Potentiality of the Matter upon which or means by which he operated but to have been the immediate Emanations of Christ's Power as the Fountain cause and hereby he discriminates Christ's Miracles not only from the Effects of natural Magick produc'd out of natural Causes though latent to us Owls yet naked and barefac'd to those Spirits that have their name from Intelligence but from those which were wrought by Moses by the Prophets or Apostles those being effected by another Power in another name than their own but what Jesus of Nazareth did he did as having power in himself not as a subordinate Agent but principal That which never man pretended to but he that which never was ascribed to any man but him and yet ascribed to him by such as did not write Christian. He describes Christian Miracles according to the Gospel rule 2. In his affirming these Works to
of his Nurture Nazareth of his greatest Residence in the time of his Ministry Galilee The Confederacy of Herod and Pilate of Jew and Gentile against him the Treason of him that eat of his Bread that dipt in his Dish the Price at which he was sold the Purchase of the Potters Field with that price of Blood All the Puctilio's of his Passion The Piercing his Hands Feet and Side The Distension of his Sacred Body upon the Cross so as one might tell all his bones the Marring of his blessed Face with Buffeting spitting and besmearing with blood trickling down from his Thorn-crowned Head his being numbred with Transgressors his being Crucified between two Thieves the Souldiers dividing his Garments among them their casting Lots upon his Vesture The Jews scornful and malicious deportment towards him hiding their face from him turning their backs upon him rejecting him as not their King when Pilate presented him their giving him Vinegar to drink The very form of words wherewith they taunted him were by Prophecy put into their Mouthes He trusted in God that he would save him let bim deliver him if he will have him Mat. 27. 43. Psal. 22. 8. His making his Grave with the rich his being buried like a noble man for he was before hand by Mary Magdalen anointed against his Burial with most precious Spikenard was perfum'd imbalm'd by Nicodemus a Ruler of the Jews wound in fine linnen by Joseph of Arimathea and laid in that new Tomb which that Honourable Person had hewne out of a Rock in his Garden for himself and to make his Funeral more august the Chief Priests and Pharisees contribute a guard of Souldiers to watch his blessed Corps and take order that his Sepulchre be made fast with a hewen Stone filling the mouth and fastned with Cramps of Iron into the sides of his Tomb the most honourable form of entombing All which things the Evangelists do therefore affirm to be done that the Scripture might be fulfilled and our Jesus demonstrated to be the Person of whom those infallible Oracles spake The far greatest and most substantial part of those things not being applicable in truth to the persons that spake them David in his own person suffered not such like things any more then he did not see corruption as Saint Peter argues And therefore as the same Apostle dictates those Prophesies were not of private interpretation that is as Saint Philip in answer to the Eunuchs question resolves the Prophets did not speak those things of themselves but of some other man to wit the Messias 2. Can any thing be imagined more purely contingent than those things Is it conceivable how so long before there could be a Foreknowledge of their Futurity by the Prophets inspection into their Natural Causes The Learned Vossius de Origine idol lib. 2. cap. 48. doth explode the madness of some Modern Astrologers who affirm that all the Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles or any body else were the natural and necessary effects of some Conjunctions of Planets and were not ashamed to ascribe to the Horoscope the Birth of Christ of a Virgin and all his stupendious works and those great Changes which have faln out in respect of Religion ascribing the rise of the Jewish to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Saturn of the Chaldean to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Mars the Aegyptian to the Conjunction of Jupiter with the Sun The Mahometan to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Venus the Christian to the Conjunction of Jupiter with Mercury and the Antichristian to Jupiters Conjunction with the Moon all which is to be read in Albumazar lib. 2. de mag conjectul tract 1. dissect 4. Say that such Conjunctions might possibly incline those parts of the World under the Dominion of their Influence to imbrace those several Religions yet he must be of a Facile Faith that can believe it was possible for our Divine Prophets to read their Predictions in the Book of the Starrs who if they had had an everlasting Almanack in their heads from what Positions of the Heavenly Bodies could they have Prognosticated the concentring of so many emergencies upon one man from what Conjunction of Planets or Lincaean inspection into Matters of State a Book more tost and to better purpose than the other by those prudent Judicial Astrologers who had a mind not to shame their Profession could David foresee the agreement of Herod and Pilate who the day before were at enmity and on the day of our Saviours Passion were made Friends and that in order to our Saviours Crucifixion at Jerusalem which according to Gods determinate Counsel revealed to David could not be effected till those Rulers under the Gentile Empire stood up in their Masters quarrel and with the people of Israel took councel together against the Lord and his Christ as the Church dictates Act. 4. 25. 27. From what sowr and crabbed Aspect of the Planets could David foretell their turning of Drink into Vinegar From what influences the distilling of the Blood of God from Christs Head Hands Side Feet In what Ephemeris did the Prophet read that astonishing Darkness that invelopt the Earth Briefly in what Cause but the Will of God revealed to them by himself could they see those strange events that fell out that one Year that acceptable Year of the Lord that one Week that great Week as the Ancients stiled it that one Day that Day of Redemption Let the most expert Astrologer erect a Scheme set up all the Lamps of Heaven in that posture wherein they stood at our Saviours Passion and try if he can by their Light discover the least appearance or likelihood of a reason that in such a juncture such things must fall out by the course of nature That at that time for instance those Prophetick Forms which the Jews used in derision of Christ that had hung as it were frozen at the Prophets lips so many hundred of years should be thawn and drop into the Mouthes of that Generation That the Legs of the Thieves should be broken and not our Saviours That his Side should be pierced and not theirs c. 3. Those Prophecies are so plain and the Application of them in their Effects to the Blessed Jesus so natural as we need not strain courtesie with the Letter it self to wrest it from its most obvious sence in making the Buckle and Thong meet in making the accomplishment kiss the Oracles Here need no Salvoes of the Prophets Credit by understanding them to speak figuratively The Text is so easie as it needs no other Gloss than the plain History of the Gospel the same words the same things which the one foretells to be done the other tells as done Bethlehem answers Bethlehem Nazareth Nazareth Aegypt Aegypt as face answers face David declaring the case of his own soul used the phrase of Broken Bones Metaphorically to shew the dislocation of its Faculties by his great Fall But Moses in describing
the Course of Nature that he can make knots and snarles on Natures Skeane but not unravel them nor untie them that he can rend the seamless coat of her orderly progress but not darn it up again 4. Say he had kept pace with God in these three steps which he manifestly did not yet Israels God outgoes him at the fourth and the rest of the following VVonders he that could turn God permitting him Rods into Serpents could not turn Dust into Lice but his Instruments at that Miracle are forc'd to quit the Field and confess that was the Finger of God He cannot without a toleration from Heaven produce the most contemptible Insect the divine Art out-vies him in the frame of the vilest Animals § 5. VVe have seen the God of this world beaten upon his own Dunghil the Prince of the Air worsted in his own Region outvied by the lowest degree of divine Miracles lagging behind Omnipotency while it lights and walks afoot how less able is he to Lacquy it by its side while it rides triumphing in the production of Miracles of the first and second Rank Such as was the Sun 's standing still in the days of Joshuah and its going retrograde upon Ahaz his Dial at the request of Hezekiah which I instance in as being Accidents indisputable as to Matter of Fact the first being so famously known and universally taken notice of as it occasion'd that Fiction of the VVorld's expending a whole day upon the Birth of Hercules Cujus in ortu mundus expendit diem Senec. Her fur though Asterages turn'd day into night and misapplyed that to the Grecian which belonged to the Phaenician Hercules Joshua and the last being observed as far as Babylon whence Merodac Baladan having heard it was done in favour of Hezekiah sent his Embassadors into Judaea who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land 2 Chron. 31. 31. to congratulate Hezekiah and to enquire concerning the Circumstances of that Miracle so famously known as Dionysius the Areopagite Ep. 7. ad Polycarpum affirms that the Persian Priests and Magi kept up the Memorial thereof in the Rites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the triple Mithra Not because this day was almost as long as three days as Pachymerius and Maximus mis-expound Dionysms for that makes this day longer than that in Joshua whereas the Text Josh. 10. 14. saith there was no day like that equal to it in length before or after it Nor is their Argument so conclusive if we expound it of the Sun 's going back as well as the shadow with St. Austin de mirabil script l. 2. c. 48. and the Fathers generally as that Vatablus Burgensis and Montanus needed by its force have been put to that miserable shift they betake themselves to viz. that the Sun kept its ordinary motion and its shadow only by the Ministry of Angels was made to fall back on Ahaz his Dial. For it might go ten Degrees back and over those ten degrees forward again and so on his daily Course and not make that day from Sun-rise to its Setting 32 hours If the degrees of Ahaz his Dial were either Quadrants or half-hours the Sun might keep his ordinary pace in going back and forward and not reach the length of Joshua's day or he that could make it go back might make it to mend its pace as to redeem so much time that that day might possibly be not much longer than an ordinary one and yet sufficiently miraculous and so conspicuous for the Sun 's going back as the Persians might well take notice of it and celebrate its memorial in the Rites and Denomination of the Triplified Sun because of that threefold course it then took first forward next backward and then forward again So that the authority of Dionysius still stands firm notwithstanding the Learned Vossius his so easie rejecting it upon that mistake which Pachymerius and Maximus led him into as if the Areopagite had affirm'd the Persians to have given that appellation to Mithra or the Sun by reason of its tripling the length of that day when in truth all he affirms of them is that they kept the Memory of this Miracle in the Celebrities of the Triplasia which he might certainly know they did that being a Matter of Fact and which they might do in commemoration of the Suns tripling his Course It is true indeed Dionysius thought that day to be tripl'd and from thence to have arisen that Persick Name but in this being matter of Opinion and an Opinion so directly opposing the Text in Joshua we may safely forsake him and question his judgement But we cannot reject him in what he barely reports as a Matter of Fact without questioning his honesty to wit that the Persians kept up the remembrance of the Suns going back and changing its Course I will not here enter a Debate with our Modern Philosophers about that question whether it be the Sun or the Earth that moves for let it be granted that it is natural to one of them to move in that course that hath been traced above 5000 years and I matter not to whether of them they assign the Task of Motion or bequeath the Privilege of Rest which of them soever it be that moves what Second Cause can be imagin'd to make it once stand still and once to move back ward Did some hooked prominent Atom catch hold of some weightier quiescent Body and forc'd the Earth or Sun to lie at Anchor a whole day or put a stop to one of them as a long Skewer for Kitching-similies are fittest to illustrate their new Kitching-Philosophy stays the Spit from turning if it touch the Drippin-pan What second Cause can be imagin'd of its going back ubi pedem fixit Where set he his foot while he wheel'd one of those Orbs Westward and Eastward backward and forward as we turn a Globe in a Frame Or was it with so great a violence as lasted ten hours driven back by falling foul upon some other Vessel sailing in the Super-lunary Waters through neglect of crying Ware Oars untrain'd curiosity may quest through the Universe before it can set any other Author of this Motion but him that is the Author of Being none could set back this Universal Watch this measure and standard of every Inch of Time none could slacken or hasten the going of it but its Maker § 6. Though it will not be granted me that 't is natural for the Sun to move yet I hope Providence will bless these Lines out of the hands of such Brutes as question whether it be not as natural for the Sun to shine as for Fire to burn whether its Beams of Light flow not necessarily from its very Being as streams from the Fountain I demand then whence proceeded its Opacity and the suspension of its Light at our Saviour's Passion That it was at that time exempted from the Dominion of all second Causes which by their
intervention could possibly rob the lower World of its Light may easily be made appear by an enumeration of such Particulars as have been observed for this 5000 years to hinder its illuminating at once the Hemisphere of the Earth and so much more easily as the impediments are fewer than to take up a long discourse being but these two 1. The Interposition of the Body of the Moon which in that juncture could not be the impediment for at the Passover when our Saviour suffer'd the Moon was at the Full and visibly arising that evening in the East when the Sun set in the West we may therefore with as much reason charge a Theft committed at London upon a person that was in India when that fact was done as charge the Moon with this Robbery of the Suns Light I shall run no hazard of my credit before equal Judges by becoming her Compurgator in this case 2. The Cloudiness of the Skie But the Air was at that time so serene as the Stars appeared and might be seen all over the Heavens as Phlegon a Gentile Chronologer hath left upon Record Dies horâ sextâ in tenebrosam noctem versus ut stellae in caelo visae sunt Chron. Euseb. and that record probably taken out of the Roman Rolls where it was extant in Tertullian's time If the Clouds were not so thick but that the Stars might be seen through them they could not hinder the shining of that greatest Light the Sun Besides this Darkness was universal Mark 15. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Darkness was over the whole Earth Erasmus indeed limits this to the Land of Judaea but Melchior Canus lib. 11. cap. 2. Doth sufficiently confute that Opinion which needs not any other Confutation than this that it was observ'd at Heliopolis in Egypt and if that Testimony of Dionysius be scrupled that of the Graecian Historians who write of it cannot be excepted against Scaliger animadvers in Chron. Euseb. But Clouds do but screen and stand in the light of some particular and small Regions so that when the Sun hath nothing else to hinder its shining it will cast its beams on one City on one part of a City when the other part is clouded This Darkness therefore could not proceed from any Natural Cause but was simply and nakedly the Effect of the suspension of its most natural power of giving Light Ex retractione radiorum solarium Voss. harmon Evang. l. 2. cap. 10. the retraction of its Beams from the unthankful World at the Will of its Creator on purpose to convince men that that Jesus who was then a crucisying was both Lord and Christ or as the Centurion from that Argument concludes the Son of God the King of Israel according to the sign given by the Prophet Zachary chap. 14. 6. In that day the light shall not be clear nor dark it shall be one day a day by it self at evening time it shall be light the Sun shall be turn'd into darkness and the Moon into blood and Joel chap. 2. 31 c as St. Peter applyed those Texts Acts 2. this is that that was spoken of by the Prophet Joel c. § 7. I will conclude with that which is both the sum of the Christian Faith and the seal of it the Resurrection of the blessed Jesus The sum of it If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God raised up Christ from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. The Seal of it whereof he hath given assurance made demonstration to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Act. 17. 31. Shall I need to shew the demonstrableness of this Argument so cogent as he must shut his eyes against the clearest and most undoubted Sentiments of common Reason that does not acknowledge the Finger the Hand the Arm of inconquerable Omnipotency to have been at work in breaking the Chains of Death and bringing Christ thence after the pains and anguish of the Cross had exhausted his Vital Spirts and made his sacred Body inhospitable to that his precious Soul which he breathed into the hands of his Father after they who were set to watch him were so well satisfied that he was dead as they thought it needless to break his Legs and yet to make all sure ran a Spear to his Heart whence issued as an indication that there was no need of that neither in order to his dispatch but only that the Prophecies of him might be fulfill'd Water and Blood And lastly after he was buried and a Guard of Soldiers set about the Sepulchre by the procurement of his most watchful Adversaries who feared he would rise again as he had said and thereby declare himself to be the Messias These Circumstances speak a total privation of Life the extinction of the vital Flame the breaking of the golden Cord and Marriage-ring which coupled together that lovely Pair the Humane Flesh and Reasonable Soul whereof the Man Christ consisted And I appeal to common Principles to give sentence and determine those Questions Whether the Flame of Lifes Taper can be blown in again but by the blast of that Breath which blew it in at first Whether that Cord can be knit again by any hand but that which drew it Whether the Bowels of the Earth our common Mother whither Bodies return that they may see corruption be a fit Matrix wherein the Corps may be ripen'd naturally into an aptitude for the reception of the Soul In our first moulding the Spermatick Matter Courts the humane Form and when by Second Natures hand the Hand maid of the first Nature its gradually purified into an immediate fittedness for the reception of its Bridegroom God knits first the Band. And after the Band is broke the Soul after a sort courts the Corps by its propensity to a reunion to that without which it cannot be perfect But the fullen Corps is deaf to all such motions resists all methods of cure all applications of Medicines which the now more illuminated and intelligent Soul can possibly make and doubtless if an herb grew any where that could restore these beloved Mates the Souls of Philosophers that could see so well through the Casement being now in the free Air and having their eyes clarified with the dust of Death would spy it out are fruitless this work must be let alone for ever as no man can redeem his own Soul so no Soul can restore its own Body As the matter in the Womb would never have had its desires of Union to a reasonable Soul gratified if God had not infused the Soul so the Soul in a state of separation will never have its longing after reunion gratified till God restore to it its Body He that brought the Man to the Woman at first must after the sleep of Death bring the Woman to the Man or they will never meet Nay the bringing of soul and body together again after their Divorce implies that seeming Contradiction as the Disciples by