Law together with inward and outward admonitions both by threats also and promises Nor doth he suffer the effects of wickedness to spread so far as they might have done whence it is that all kind of government could never yet be subverted nor the knowledge of Divine Laws utterly extinguished or abolished Neither may those delinquences which are permitted to be done amongst Men be thought altogether unprofitable Since that as before we have toucht they may be used either for the punishment of other no less lewd transgressors or for the chastisement of such as sometimes wander from the way of vertue or lastly to exact some worthy pattern of patience and constancy from such as have made good proficiency in the school of piety and vertue Lastly even they whose wickedness seems to be winked at for a time are wont to pay dearly for it at last and to be reckoned withal the more severely because they have been long forborn in so much that it is plain they suffer what God would who have done what He would not SECT XIX Insomuch that good Men are oppressed BUT and if sometimes there seem to be no punishment at all inflicted upon prophane offendors and even some good men which may occasion the weak to be offended are sore oppressed by the insolencies of the wicked who many times make them not only to lead a wearisome and miserable life but also to undergo a disgraceful death we are not presently to banish from humane affairs the Providence of God which hath been proved as we have now said by strong reasons but rather as the wisest sort of Men have thought we should conclude and argue thus SECT XX. The same Argument is retorted to prove that the Soul survives the Body FOrasmuch as God hath an eye unto all Mens actions and in himself is most just suffering such things to come to pass as we see they do therefore we must expect that there will be some future judgment after this life to the end such notorious transgressions may not remain unpunished nor well deserving vertue be unrecompenced with due comfort and reward SECT XXI Which is proved by Tradition FUrther to confirm this truth it must necessarily be admitted that the Souls of Men do survive their Bodies Which most ancient Tradition was derived from our very first Parents for from whence else could it proceed unto almost all civiliz'd People as is plain by Homer's Verses and by Philosophers not only of the Grecians but likewise the Druides in France and Brachmans in India and by those relations also which many Writers have published concerning the Aegyptians and Thracians and Germans In like manner touching God's judgment to come after this life many things we see were extant as well among the Grecians as also among the Egyptians and Indians as we learn out of Strabo Diogenes Laertius and Plutarch whereunto may be added that old tradition of the consumption of the World by fire which was anciently found in Hystaspis and the Sibyls and now also in Ovid and Lucan and the Indians of Siam of which thing the Astrologers have noted this to be a sign that the Sun draws nearer and nearer to the earth Yea when the Canaries America and other forein places were first discovered this same opinion of the immortality of Mens souls and the last Judgment was found among the Inhabitants there SECT XXII Against which no contrary reason can be brought NEITHER can there any reason in nature be given to disprove so ancient and common received tradition For every thing that in this World comes to an end perishes either through the opposition of some more forcible contrary agent as coldness in any subject by reason of the more prevalent power and intension of heat or through the substraction of that subject whereupon it depends as the quantity of the glass when the glass is broken or through the defect and want of the efficient cause as light by the Sun-setting Now none of all these can be said to happen unto the soul of Man Not the first because there is nothing that is contrary to the Soul nay it self is of such a peculiar nature that it is apt to receive such things as are contrary between themselves at the same time together after its own that is after a Spiritual and Intellectual manner Not the second for there is not any subject whereon the nature of the Soul hath any dependence if there were in all probability it should be the humane body but that this cannot be it is manifest because when the powers and abilities of the Bodies are tired in their operations the mind alone doth not by motion contract any weariness Likewise the powers of the Body are impaired and weakned by the redundancy or excess of the object as the sense of seeing by the full splendor and bright face of the Sun but the more excellent objects that the Soul is conversant about as about universals and figures abstracted from sensible matter it receives thereby the more perfection Again the powers that depend upon the Body are only busied about such things as are limited to particular time and place according to the nature and property of the Body it self but the mind hath a more noble object and ascends to the contemplation of that which is infinite and eternal Wherefore then seeing that the Soul depends not upon the Body in its operation neither doth it in its essence for we cannot discern the nature of invisible things otherwise than by their operations Neither is the third way of corruption incident to the Soul there being no efficient cause from which the Soul proceeds by a continual emanation For we cannot say our Parents are such a cause since when they are dead their Children are wont to live But if we will needs make some cause from which the Soul proceeds then we can imagine no other save the first and universal cause of all things which as in respect of its power is never deficient so in respect of its will to be defective that is for the Almighty to will the extinction and destruction of the Soul no Man can ever be able to prove SECT XXIII Many Reasons may be alledged for it NAY there are many strong Arguments for the contrary as namely the dominion given unto Man over his own actions the natural desire that is in him to be immortal the force of conscience comforting the mind for well done actions though very troublesome and supporting it with a certain hope and on the contrary the sting of a gnawing conscience at the remembrance of ungodly and wicked actions especially when the Hour of Death approacheth as if it had a sense of an imminent judgment And this gnawing worm of conscience the most prophane wretches and wicked Tyrants have not been able oftentimes to extinguish in them no not then when they most of all desired it as divers Examples do testifie SECT XXIV Whence it follows that the end of
all shall be Man's happiness after this life SEeing then the Soul is of a nature that in it self hath no ground or cause of its own corruption and seeing also that God hath given us many signs and tokens whereby we ought to understand that it is his will the soul should survive the body what more noble end can be propounded to Man than the state of eternal happiness which in effect is the same that Plato and the Pythagoreans spake of saying that it were good for man if he could become most like unto God SECT XXV Which to obtain Men must get the true Religion NOW what this happiness is and how 't is to be attained Men may search by probable conjectures but if any thing concerning this matter be revealed by God that must be held for a most certain and undoubted truth which since Christian Religion pretends to bring unto us above others it shall be examined in the next Book whether or no Men ought to give credit thereunto and assuredly build their faith thereon The Second Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. To prove the Truth of Christian Religion IT is not our purpose in this Second Book to handle all the Points of Christianity but after our hearty Prayers made to Christ the King of Heaven that he would grant us the assistance of his holy Spirit whereby we may be enabled for such a Work we shall only endeavour to make it appear that the Christian Religion it self is most true and certain Which I thus begin SECT II. Here is showen that Jesus lived THAT there was such a Person as Jesus of Nazareth who lived heretofore in Judaea when Tiberius was Emperor of Rome is not only most constantly professed by all Christians who are scattered over the face of all the Earth but acknowledged by all the Jews who now are or ever wrote since those times Nay the very Pagan Writers that is such as are neither of the Jewish nor Christian Religion namely Suetonius Tacitus Pliny the younger and many more after them do testifie the same SECT III. And was put to an ignominious Death THAT the same Jesus was nailed to a Cross by Pontius Pilate Governor of Judaea is confessed also by all Christians though it might seem very disgraceful to them to be the Worshippers of such a Lord. The Jews also do the like though they are not ignorant that upon this account they are very odious to Christians in whose Dominions they live because their Ancestors were the Men that moved Pilate and perswaded him to pass the sentence of Death upon Jesus The Pagan Writers also now named have delivered the same to Posterity Yea the Acts of Pilate were extant a long time after from whence this might have been proved to which Christians never made their Appeal For neither did Julian himself nor any other adversaries of Christianity ever make doubt hereof So that hence it appears that there was never any more certain story than this which we see may be confirmed not only by the testimonies of some few Men but also by the approbation of several Nations otherwise disagreeing and jarring among themselves SECT IV. Yet afterward was worshipped by prudent and godly Men. ALL which though it be most true yet we see how that thorowout the remotest parts of the World he is worshipped as Lord and that not in our days only or those which are lately passed but ever since the time that this was done to wit ever since the Reign of Nero the Emperor when many People that professed this worship of Christ and Christian Religion were for that cause tortured and put to death as Tacitus and others do witness SECT V. The cause whereof was for that in his life time there were Miracles done by him NOW among such as professed Christianity there were always many Persons who were both judicious and not unlearned Such as to say nothing now of the Jews Sergius Governor of Cyprus Dionysius Areopagita Polycarpus Justinus Irenaeus Athenagoras Origen Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus with divers others who almost all being brought up in other religions and having no hopes of any Wealth or Preferment by Christianity yet became worshippers of this Man that died so ignominious a death and exhibited due honour to him as God Of which no other reason can be given but this alone that they made diligent enquiry as became prudent Men in a matter of greatest moment and found that what was bruited abroad concerning the Miracles wrought by Christ was true and relied upon firm witnesses As the curing and that with his word only and before all the People divers grievous and inveterate Diseases the restoring of Sight to him that was born blind the multiplying of a few Loaves more than once for the feeding many Thousands who could testifie the truth of it the recalling of the Dead to Life again and many more of the like kind The report of which things had then such a certain and undoubted original that neither Celsus nor Julian when they wrote against Christians durst deny there were some Prodigies done by Christ and the Hebrews in the Talmudical Books do openly confess it SECT VI. Which Miracles were not wrought either by the help of Nature or assistance of the Devil but meerly by the Divine Power of GOD. THAT these wondrous Works were not wrought by any Natural Power it is manifest by this very thing that they are called wonders and miracles Nor is it possible by the force of nature that any grievous Diseases and Infirmities should be cured meerly by a Man's voice or by the vertue of a Touch and that even upon a suddain And if such Works could have any way been ascribed to a Natural efficacy it would have been said before now either by those that were professed enemies of Christ while he lived upon Earth or by those that have been Adversaries of his Gospel since his death By the like Argument we may prove that they were not jugling delusions because they were done openly in the sight of all the People amongst whom divers of the Learned sort did malign and bear ill will unto Christ not without envy observing all that he did Add further that the like Works were often iterated and the effects thereof were not transitory but permanent and durable All which being duly pondered it must needs follow as the Jews have confessed that these Works proceeded from a more than Natural or Humane Power that is from some Spirit either good or evil That they proceeded not from any evil Spirit may be proved because that the Doctrine of Christ for the confirmation whereof these Works were wrought was quite opposite and contrary to bad Spirits For it prohibits the worshipping of evil Angels and disswades Men from all uncleanness of affections and manners wherein such Spirits are much delighted And this is also plain for that wheresoever the Doctrine of the Gospel was received and established there followed
more easily imprinted on the memory but touching the affections more powerfully and to the very quick than when otherwise spoken at large And therefore the publick Laws were in the most ancient times thus written as Aristotle informs us and that true Religion might be more easily conveyed into Peoples minds and fixed there Apolinarius translated all the Books of Moses as Sozomen tells us L. vi cap. 18. and the rest of the History of the Bible as far as the reign of Saul into Heroick verse in imitation of Homer's Poems Suidas says he put the whole old Testament into such Verse and it is not improbable for what he did upon the Psalms is still remaining If it were my present business I could trace this way of Instruction down to our own times and through our own Nation in which it hath been very effectual as the story of Aldelmus sufficiently informs us Who first brought in the composition of Latine verse among the English a little before Edward the Confessors time and by his excellent faculty in singing wrought such wonderful effects upon the People for the civilizing of their manners and for their instruction in the duties of Religion that Lanfrank by his own Authority thought good to make him a Saint The very same charms Grotius hoped would have the same effect upon the rude Seamen of his Country into whom he desired by his Rymes not only to instil a sense of piety but to inable them to convey it to other Nations with whom they traded And it seems this work was so much famed that it moved the curiosity of a great man in France into which Grotius went after his wonderful escape 1621. out of that Prison or rather Sepulchre as he calls it in a Letter to a Friend wherein it was first projected to ask him very often what the Contents of that Book were which he had written in Dutch upon this subject of Religion Whom he satisfied by translating the sense of it into the Latine Tongue in the Year 1628. and addressing it unto that excellent Person who made the inquiry viz. Hieronymus Bignonius Who together with Grotius and Salmasius the famous Cardinal Richlieu a notable Judge of Wits was wont to say * Epist Cl. Sarravii p. 146. were the only Persons of that Age whom he lookt upon as arrived to the highest pitch of Learning In which Translation he tells Sarravius in a Letter to him that Year he should find if nothing else that he had at least indeavoured brevity with perspicuity Which made it so acceptable every where though no longer in Verse but now in Prose that in the Year 1632. I find he tells Cordesius another Learned Man in France * Epist ad Gallos p. 331. 417. it was gone the third time to the Press with some Additions But not with so many it seems as some desired for there were those who wished he would have answered a Book of Bodins which seemed to impugn it This he thought a needless pains for whatsoever it is saith he in a Letter to the same person * Ib. pag. 407. that seems to shake the foundations I have laid upon which the Christian Faith relies I have already obviated it as far as is necessary to perswade a Reader that is not pertinacious As for those Opinions which are commonly received in Christianity but without the exact knowledge of which we may be Christians they do not belong to my Argument In the same Year also 1632 I find it Translated here into the English Language Which He himself afterwards takes notice of in a Letter to Gerrard Vossius 1638 * Inter Epist praestant virorum p. 748. Where he tells him that there were beside the English two High-Dutch Translations of this Book one French and that the English Embassador's Chaplain was turning it into Greek and the Romanists themselves into the Persian Tongue that by God's blessing it might convert the Mahometans None of these could see any Socinianism or other dangerous heresie in it which some of the duller sort of learned Men were forward to charge it with all because he doth not directly prove in this Book the Doctrine of the blessed Trinity Of which he gives this account in the forenamed Letter that he heard a great Man who was Franc. Junius as I take it condemn du Plessis and others for endeavouring to prove that Mystery by reasons fetcht from Nature and by Platonical Testimonies sometimes not very pertinent which ought not to came into a Disputation with Atheists Pagans Jews and Mahometans who must all be first drawn to believe the holy Scriptures that from thence they may learn such things as cannot be known but by Divine Revelation This was the Reason he medled not with the Doctrine of the Trinity directly But if any body doubted of his Orthodoxy in this Point They might see he tells him in another Letter what his opinion was in his Poems then newly come forth and the larger explication of it he reserved to his Notes And for the same cause he did not distinctly treat of some other things particularly about the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Satisfaction for which omission this Book was blamed as Sarravius writes to him by some who had nothing else to do but to find fault with the labours of others To which Grotius returned such an Answer as not only gave him he tells us most full satisfaction in those two Points but inabled him to silence those accusers He doth not intimate indeed what that reply was but as to the former Point it is apparent from his Annotations that he believed our Saviour to be indeed God of God And that passage in the Conclusion of the xxi Section of the fifth Book concerning the Messias being called in the holy Scriptures by the Name of God and Lord I should have translated thus The Messias is called by that august Name of God Jehovah and also of Lord viz. ELOHIM and ADONAI For so he explains himself I have since taken notice in his Annotations and adds this observation that the Talmud in Taanith says that when the time shall come spoken of xxv Isa 8 9. i. e. of the Messiah Jehovah shall be shown as we say with the finger that is Men shall be able to point others to him saying Lo there is Jehovah And as for the other thing it is possible his Answer might be to the same purpose with what he writ to * Epist praestant Viror p. 747. Vossius In which he tells him that if any one desired to know as he had already signified in a Letter to one that said he was accused of Socinianism what his opinion was in the business of Christ's satisfaction even since Crellius had written against him it would appear plainly enough out of his Translation of the LIII of Isaiah in his Disputation against the Jews which you may find here in the V. Book Sect. 19. and
found or have anciently been found consenting with the Books of the Hebrews touching Joshua and others seeing that whosoever gives credit unto Moses which to do no Man can without great impudency refuse the same must needs confess that there were indeed wonderful Miracles anciently wrought by God which is the thing we here chiefly go about to declare As for the Miracles of after Ages suppose of Elijah and Elisha and others there is the less reason to think them counterfeit because in those times Judaea was both more known than formerly and upon the account of diversity of Religion was extreamly hated by their Neighbours Who might have very easily blasted the fame of such Miracles if they had been lies as soon as it began to be spred abroad The History of Jonah who lay three days in the Whale's belly is to be read in Lycophron and Aeneas Hazous save only that in stead of Jonah they have put the name of Hercules whom they so much honoured that to make him appear the more illustrious they were wont as Tacitus and Servius and others have noted to report of him whatsoever magnificent things they heard of in any other places Certain it is that Julian who was an enemy of the Jews as much as of Christians was forced by the evidence of History to confess that such Men lived amongst the Jews as were inspired with the holy Spirit of God and that Fire descended from Heaven upon the Sacrifices of Moses and Elias And verily 't is well worth our observation that amongst the Hebrews there were not only grievous punishments appointed for such Men as did falsly assume to themselves the Prophetical Function but also many Kings and great Men that might have by that means purchased authority to themselves and likewise very many learned Men as was Esdras and others that never durst arrogate to themselves this dignity nor any Man else for divers Ages before the times of Jesus SECT XVI The same is proved by the Oracle and Predictions BUT more unlikely it is that so many Thousand People should be imposed upon in the avouching of a perpetual and publick Prodigy as we may call it to wit the holy Oracle which after a resplendent manner shined from the brest-plate of the High-Priest The truth whereof was so strongly believed by all the Jews to have continued until the destruction of the first Temple that out of all doubt their Ancestors had certain knowledge concerning the same Like to this from miracles there is another argument as forcible and effectual to prove GOD's providence taken from those predictions of future events which among the Hebrews were many and manifest Such was that prophecy of his being made Childless who should attempt to re-edifie Jericho and that of the overthrow of the Temple at Bethel by a King named Josiah foretold above Three Hundred Years before the thing came to pass So likewise the very name and chief acts of Cyrus foretold by Esaiah the event of Hierusalems siege by the Chaldeans foreshown by Jeremiah So also Daniel's prediction touching the translation of the Empire of the Assyrians unto the Medes and Persians then from them unto Alexander of Macedon whose Empire should afterward in part be divided among the Successors of Ptolomy and Seleucus And what evils also the Hebrew Nation should suffer from all these but especially from Antiochus Epiphanes which were so clearly foretold that Porphyry who compared with these Predictions such Grecian Histories as were extant in his time could no otherwise tell how to shift them off than by saying that those things which were fathered upon Daniel were written after such time as they came to pass which is all one as if one should deny that that was written in the time of Augustus which hath been published in Virgil's name and was always reputed for Virgil's work For there was never any more scruple made of the former amongst the Hebrews than of this latter amongst the Romans To these things we may add very many and most famous Oracles among the People of Mexico and Peru which foretold the coming of the Spaniards into those Countreys and the calamities which should thereupon follow And hither also may be referred not a few dreams so exactly agreeing with the events which both in themselves and in their causes were wholly unknown to them that dreamed that they cannot without great immodesty be referred to chance or to natural causes of which kind Tertullian in his Book Of the Soul hath collected illustrious examples out of the most approved Authors Spectres also or apparitions belong to this head which have been not only seen but heard to speak as those Historians relate who are the farthest from superstitious credulity and is reported by Witnesses of our own Age who have lived in China and in Mexico and other parts of America Nor are publick trials of innocence by touching of red hot Plow-shares to be despised which the Histories of so many German Nations and the Laws themselves have remembred SECT XVII The Objection is answered why Miracles are not now to be seen NEITHER is there any reason to object against such Miracles because there are not the like to be seen in these days neither the like predictions heard of For 't is a sufficient proof of Divine providence that such things did come to pass at any time which being once granted it will follow that God may be believed with as much providence and wisdom now to cause them to surcease as anciently he used the same Neither stands it with reason that those Laws which were given to the Universe concerning the natural course of things and uncertainty of future events should be lightly or always transgressed but only at such a time when either there was a just cause as when the worship of the true God was almost banished out of the World residing only in a little part thereof to wit in Judaea where it necessarily was to be as it were fortified with new aids against the impieties wherewith it was compassed about or when Christian Religion whereof by and by we shall speak more particularly was first by God's decree to be published thorowout the whole World SECT XVIII And that now there is such liberty in offending THERE are those who are wont to doubt of the Divine Providence because they see so much wickedness hath like a Deluge overspread the face of the whole Earth which Divine Providence they contend if there were any would have made its chiefest business to restrain and suppress But this is easily answered considering that when God had created Man with freedom to do good and evil reserving absolute and immutable goodness to himself it had not been reasonable to have put such a stop to evil actions as should have been contrary to that liberty Howbeit to keep Men from sin God useth every kind of means which is not repugnant to the liberty aforesaid Such is the ordaining and publishing of the
he ought to be acknowledg'd as King who should be our King indeed and that he was to come out of the East who should have dominion over all We read in Porphyry of the Oracle of Apollo which saith that other Gods are aerial Spirits but the God of the Hebrews is only to be worshipped which saying if the worshippers of Apollo obey then they must cease to worship him if they do not obey it then they make their God a Iyar Add further if those Spirits had respected or intended the good of Mankind above all things they would have prescribed a general Rule of life to Mankind and also given some certain assurance of a reward to them that lived accordingly neither of which was ever done by them On the other side oftentimes in their Verses we find some Kings commended which were wicked men some Champions extol'd and dignified with divine honour others allured to immodest and unlawful love or to the seeking after filthy lucre or committing of Murder as might be shown by many Examples SECT X. Paganisme decayed of its own accord so soon as humane aid ceased BESIDES all that hath hitherto been said Paganisme ministers to us a mighty argument against it self because that wheresoever it becomes destitute of humane force to support it there straightway it comes to ruine as if the foundation thereof were quite overthrown For if we take a view of all the Kingdoms and States that are among Christians or Mahumetans we shall find no memory of Paganisme but in Books Nay histories tell us that even in those times when the Emperors endeavoured to uphold the Pagan Religion either by violence and persecution as did the first of them or by learning and subtilty as did Julian it notwithstanding decayed daily not by any violent opposition nor by the brightness and splendor of lineage and descent for Jesus was accounted by the common sort only a Carpenters Son nor by the flourishes of learning which they that taught the Law of Christ used not in their Sermons nor by gifts and bribes for they were poor nor by any soothing and flattering speeches for on the contrary they taught that all worldly advantages must be despised and that all kind of adversity must be undergone for the Gospel's sake See then how weak and impotent Paganisme was which by such means came to ruine Neither did the doctrine of Christ only make the credulity of the Gentiles to vanish but even bad Spirits came out of divers bodies at the name of Christ they became dumb also and being demanded the reason of their silence they were compelled to say that they were able to do nothing where the name of Christ was called upon SECT XI Answer to the Opinion of some that think the beginning and decay of Religions depend upon the efficacy of the Stars THERE have been Philosophers that did ascribe the beginning and decay of every Religion unto the Stars But this star-gazeing Science which these Men profess to be skilled in is delivered under such different rules that one can be certain of nothing but only this that there is no certainty at all therein I do not here speak of such effects as follow from a natural necessity of causes but of those that proceed from the will of Man which of it self hath such liberty and freedom that no necessity or violence can be impressed upon it from without For if the consent of the will did necessarily follow any outward impression then the power in our soul which we may perceive it hath to consult deliberate and chuse would be given in vain Also the equity of all Laws of all rewards and punishments would be taken away seeing there can be neither fault nor merit in that which is altogether necessary and inevitable Again there are divers evil acts or effects of the will which if they proceeded of any necessity from the Heavens then the same Heavens and Celestial Bodies must needs receive such efficacy from God and so it would follow that God who is most perfectly good is the true cause of that which is morally evil And that when in his Law he professeth himself to abhor wickedness which a force inserted by him into things themselves will inevitably produce he doth will two things contrary one to the other that the same thing should be done and not be done and also that a Man offends in an action which he doth by divine instigation They speak more probably that say the influences of the Stars do first affect the Air then our Bodies with such qualities as oftentimes do excite and stir up in the mind some desires or affections answerable thereunto and the will being allured or inticed by these motions doth oftentimes yield unto them But if this should be granted it makes nothing for the question we have in hand For seeing that Christian Religion most of all withdraws Men from those things which are pleasing unto the body it cannot therefore have its beginning from the affections of the body and consequently not from the influence of the Stars which as but now we said have no power over the mind otherwise than by the mediation of those affections The most prudent among Astrologers exempt truly wise and good Men from the dominion of the Stars And such verily were they that first professed Christianity as their lives do shew Or if there be any efficacy in learning and knowledge against the infection of the body even among Christians there were ever some that were excellent in this particular Besides as the most learned do confess the effects of the Stars respect certain Climates of the World and are only for a season but this Religion hath now continued above the space of one thousand six hundred years and that not in one part only but in the most remote places of the World and such as are under a far different position of the Stars SECT XII The chief Points of Christianity are approved of by the Heathen and if there be any thing that is hard to be believed therein the like or worse is found among the Pagans BUT the Pagans have the less to object against Christian Religion because all the parts thereof are of such honesty and integrity that they convince Mens minds by their own light In so much that there have not been wanting Men among the Pagans also who have here and there said every one of those things which our Religion hath in a body all together As to give some instances true Religion consists not in Rites and Ceremonies but in the mind and Spirit he is an adulterer that hath but a desire to commit adultery we ought not to revenge injuries one Man should be the Husband of one Wife only the league or bond of Matrimony ought to be constant and perpetual Man is bound to do good unto all specially to them that are in want we must refrain from Swearing as much as may be And as for our Food
truly since GOD hath implanted in Mens minds the power and faculty of judging there is no part of truth that better deserves the imployment of this faculty about it than that of which we cannot be ignorant without hazard of our Salvation After this whosoever inquires with a godly mind he shall not dangerously erre And where should he enquire after it but in God's most holy Word without which we cannot know whether there be either Church or Priest or any thing else wherein they would have us trust SECT XIX And refuses to be tried by Scripture IT is a manifest sign therefore of imposture that when they cannot for shame but sometimes suffer their Religion to be tried yet they will not have it tried by the holy Scriptures In the reading of which as was excellently said in the conclusion of the foregoing Books no man can be deceived but he who hath first deceived himself For the Writers of them were more faithful and fuller of Divine Inspiration than either to defraud us of any necessary part of Divine Truth or to hide it in a Cloud so that we cannot see it Why then should any body decline this way of trial unless they see themselves so manifestly condemned by the holy Scriptures that they dare not let their cause be brought into so clear a light Which hurts indeed sore eyes but comforts and delights those that are sound showing us so plainly what we are to embrace and what to refuse and being so sure and so perfect a Guide in all such matters that S. Hilary not only commends and admires the Emperor Constantius for desiring a Faith according to what was written But saith He is an Antichrist who refuses this and an Anathema that counterfeits it And thereupon calls to him in this manner O Emperour thou seekest for faith hearken to it not out of new little Papers but of the Books of God There we must seek for it if we mean to find it and if they be silent and can tell us nothing says St. Ambrose who shall dare to speak Let us not therefore bring deceitful ballances they are the words of S. Austin in his second Book of Baptism Chap. vi wherein we may weigh what we list and as we list after our own liking saying This is heavy that is light But let us bring the Divine Ballance out of the holy Scriptures as out of the Lords Treasures and in that let us weigh what is most ponderous or rather let not us weigh but acknowledge those things which are already weighed by the Lord. Yes say they of the Church of Rome we will be put into that Ballance and tryed by the Scriptures but not by them alone Which is in effect to refuse to be tried by them for they give testimony to their own fulness and perfection and plainness too in things necessary and so do all other Christian Writers that succeeded the Apostles who do not send us to turn over we know not how many other Volumes but tell us here we may be abundantly satisfied In so much that the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Father of Constantius now mentioned admonished the Bishops in the famous Council of Nice to consult with these heavenly inspired Writings as their Guide and Rule in all their Debates because they perspicuously instruct us as his very words are what to believe in divine things and therefore they ought he told them to fetch from thence the Resolution of those things which should come in question To which Cardinal Bellarmine indeed is pleased to say that Constantine truly was a Great Emperour but no great Doctor But as herein he speaks too scornfully of him so he reflects no less upon the understanding and judgment of those venerable Fathers assembled in that Council which as Theodoret tells us in his Ecclesiastical History was composed of Men excelling in Apostolical gifts and many of them carried in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus and were for the far greater part a Multitude of Martyrs assembled together who all consented unto and followed this wholsome counsel of the Emperour as he there testifies knowing he did but speak the sense of the truly Catholick Church Which did not meerly bid Men hear it and bring all doctrines to its touchstone but confessed plainly that even the Church it self must be tried by the Scriptures It is the express sentence of the same S. Austin in his Book of the Vnity of the Church Where in the second Chapter he saith the question then was as it is now where is the Church Now what shall we do says he seek for it in our own words or in the words of our Head our Lord Jesus Christ I think we ought to seek it rather in his words who is the Truth and best knows his own Body And in the beginning of the third Chapter thus proceeds Let us not hear thus say I and thus sayest thou but let us hear thus saith the Lord. The Lords Books there are certainly to whose authority we both consent we both believe we both yield obedience there let us seek the Church there let us discuss our cause And to name no more the Author of the imperfect work upon St. Matthew carrying the name of S. Chrysostome declares this so fully that it leaves no doubt in us what course they took for satisfaction in this business Heretofore says he there were many ways whereby one might know what was the true Church of Christ and what was Gentilism but now there is no way to know what is the true Church of Christ but by the Scriptures Why so Because all those things which belong properly to Christ in truth and reality those heresies have also in show and in appearance They have Scriptures Baptism Eucharist and all the rest even Christ himself like as we have Therefore if any one would know which is the true Church of Christ how should he know it in such a confusion of multitude but only by the Scriptures which he repeats over again a little after he therefore that would know which is the true Church of Christ how should he know it but by the Scriptures To them let us go and in them let us rest and if you are the Disciples of the Gospel may we say to the Romanists as Athanasius does to the Followers of Apolinarius in his Book about the Incarnation of Christ Do not speak unrighteously against the Lord but walk in what is written and done But if you will talk of different things from what are written why do you contend with us who dare not hear nor speak beside those things which are written Our Lord telling us if you abide in the word even in my word you shall be free indeed What immodest frenzy is this to speak things which are not written and to devise things which are strangers to piety To which if we faithfully adhere there is this to be added for our incouragement that though we
nature that doth communicate any thing of its own unto God neither is he capable of ought that any other thing can impart being as before we said altogether absolute and necessary of himself SECT V. That God is eternal omnipotent omniscient and absolutely good AGain forasmuch as all things that have life are said to be more perfect than those without life and those which have power of acting than those which want it and those endued with understanding superiour to such creatures as lack it and those which are good better than those that come short in goodness it followeth from that which hath been spoken that all those attributes are in God and that after an infinite manner Therefore is he infinite in life that is eternal infinite power that is omnipotent So likewise is he omniscient and altogether good without any exception SECT VI. That God is the Author and cause of all things FUrther more it follows from that which hath been spoken that what things soever subsist the same have the original of their being from God for we have proved that that which is necessary of it self can be but one whence we collect that all other things besides this had their original from somewhat different from themselves Now such things as have their beginning from another we have seen before how that either in themselves or in their causes they proceeded from him which had no beginning that is from God Neither is this manifest by reason only but also after some sort by very sense for if we consider the wonderful frame and fashion of Man's body both within and without and how that each part and parcel thereof hath its proper use without the study or industry of his Parents and yet with such art that the most accomplished Philosophers and Physitians could never sufficiently admire it this verily shows the Author of Nature to be a most excellent Mind concerning which matter Galen hath written well especially where he speaks of the use of the eye and of the hand Yea more the very bodies of mute beasts do testifie the same for their parts are not framed and composed by the power and vertue of the matter whereof they consist but by some superiour and higher cause destinating them to a certain end Neither is this plain by man and beasts alone but also by plants and herbs as hath accurately been observed by some Philosophers This further is excellently noted by Strabo concerning the scituation of the waters which if we consider the quality of their matter ought to be placed in the middle between the earth and the ayr whereas they are now included and dispersed within the earth to the end they might be no hinderance either to the fruitfulness of the ground or to the life of Man Now to propose that or any other end to any action is the peculiar property of an understanding nature Neither are all things only ordained for their peculiar ends but also for the good and benefit of the whole Vniverse as appears particularly in the water but now mentioned which against its own proper nature is moved upward lest by the interposition of a vacuity there should be a gap in the Universe which is so framed that by the continued cohesion of its parts it sustains and upholds it self Now it cannot possibly be that this common end should be thus intended together with an inclination in things thereunto but by the power and purpose of some intelligent nature whereunto the whole Vniverse is in subjection Moreover amongst the beasts there are certain actions observed to be so regular and orderly done that it is manifest enough they proceed from some kind of reason as is plain in Pismires and especially in Bees and likewise in other creatures which before they make any trial do naturally eschew such things as are hurtful and seek after such things as are profitable for them Now that this instinct or inclination of finding and judging things is not in them by their own power it is clear for that they do always operate after the same manner neither have they any vertue or efficacy at all to the doing other things which are no more weighty wherefore they must needs receive their power from some reasonable external Agent which directs them or imprints in them such efficacy as they have and this reasonable and intelligent Agent is no other than God himself In the next place consider we the Stars of Heaven and amongst the rest as most eminent the Sun and the Moon both which for the making the earth fruitful and preserving living Creatures in their health and vigour do so seasonably perform their course of motion that a better cannot be devised For when otherwise their motion through the Aequator had been much more simple we see that they have another motion by an oblique Circle to the end the benefit of their favourable aspects might be communicated to more parts of the earth Now as the earth is ordained for the use and benefit of living Creatures so are all terrestrial things appointed chiefly for the service of man who by his wit and reason can subdue the most furious creature among them whence the very Stoicks did collect that the World was made for Man's sake Howbeit since it exceeds the sphere of humane power to bring the heavenly bodies in subjection to him neither is it to be imagined that they will ever submit themselves to man of their own accord it follows therefore that there is some superior mind or spirit by whole sole appointment those fair and glorious bodies do perpetual service unto man though he be placed far below them which same mind is no other than the framer of the stars even the Maker of the whole World Also the motions of these stars which are said to be Excentrical and Epicyclical i. e. in a Circle within the Orb of another Star do plainly shew not the power of matter but the appointment of a free Agent The same do the Positions of the Stars testifie some in this part others in the other part of Heaven together with the so unequal form of the Earth and of the Seas Nor can we refer it to any thing else that the Stars move this rather than another way The most perfect form also and figure of the World viz. roundness as also the parts thereof shut up as it were in the bosom of the Heavens and disposed with a marvellous order do all expresly declare that they were not tumbled together or conjoyned as they are by chance but wisely ordained by such an understanding as is endued with super-eminent excellency For what Ninny is there so sottish as to expect any thing so accurate and exact from chance He might as well believe that Stones and Timber got casually together and put themselves into the form of a House or that out of Letters shuffled carelesly as it hapned there came forth an excellent Poem A thing so unlikely that
for the love of Religion and that such a Religion be induced to tell untruths Besides these Men were of an upright conversation their life was spotless and unblameable even in the judgment of their adversaries who had nothing to object against them save their simplicity which of all other dispositions is the most unlikely to forge a lye Nay there were none among these Primitive Christians whereof we speak who did not suffer grievous torments for professing that Jesus was risen and many of them were put unto most exquisite pains of death for bearing testimony of the same Now granting it to be possible that a Man in his wits may be content to endure such things for some opinion which he hath conceived and really believes in his mind yet that for a falshood which he knows to be so not only some one Man but a great many Men who are like to gain nothing at all by making that falshood to be believed should consent to suffer such cruel torments is a thing altogether incredible Now that these were not Mad-men both their conversation and their writings do abundantly testifie Likewise what is spoken of the first Apostles may also be said of Paul who openly taught that he saw Christ sitting in Heaven who also was not inferiour to any in the Jewish Religion nor might he have wanted dignities and preferments if he would have followed the foot-steps of his Fathers Whereas on the contrary by taking upon him the profession of Christianity he became liable to the hatred and malignity of his kinsfolks and ingaged himself to undertake difficult dangerous and laborious travels thorough the World and last of all to undergo a disgraceful death and torment SECT VIII Answer to the Objection that the Resurrection seems impossible SUCH and so great testimonies no Man can disprove or gainsay unless some will reply that the thing it self is impossible to be done for so are those things which imply a contradiction as they speak Howbeit that cannot be affirmed of this matter It might indeed if one could say that one and the self same Man lived and died at the self same time But that a Man may be restored from death to life especially by the power and vertue of him who first gave life and being unto Man I see no reason why it should be accounted for a thing impossible Neither hath it been thought impossible by wise Men For Plato writes that this was done to Eris an Armenian And the like is related of a certain Woman by Heraclides a Philosopher of Pontus of Aristaeus by Herodotus and of another by Plutarch all which whether true or false do shew that in the opinion of learned and wise Men the thing was conceived to be possible SECT IX The Resurrection of Jesus being granted the Truth of his Doctrine is confirmed NOW if it be neither impossible that Christ should return to Life again and it doth sufficiently appear by great testimonies wherewith Rabbi Bechai a Master of the Jews was so convinced that he acknowledged the truth of this thing and this Christ himself also as both his Disciples and others confess did publish a new Doctrine as by a Divine commandment truly it necessarily follows that that Doctrine is true For it doth not consist with the divine Justice and Wisdom to honour Him after so excellent a manner who had committed the crime of falsifying in so weighty a matter Especially considering that before his Death He had foretold to his Disciples both his Death and the kind of it and his Resurrection to Life again adding this withal that these things should therefore come to pass that they might testifie and confirm the truth of his Doctrine And thus much for the Arguments which arise from the facts themselves which were done Let us proceed to those which arise from the nature and quality of his Doctrine SECT X. Christian Religion preferred before all others AND here truly we must say that either all kind of divine worship whatsoever must be rejected and utterly banished from among Men which impiety will never enter into the heart of any one that can believe there is a God who takes care of all things and withal considers how Man is endued with excellency of understanding and liberty to chuse what is morally good or evil and upon that account is capable as of reward so of punishment or else this Religion is to be admitted and approved of for the very best not only in regard of the outward testimonies of works and miracles aforesaid but also in consideration of such inward and essential properties as are agreeing thereunto namely because there is not neither ever was there any other Religion in the whole World that can be produced either more honourable for excellency of reward or more absolute and perfect for precepts or more admirable for the manner according to which it was commanded to be propagated and divulged SECT XI For excellency of reward FOR to begin with the reward that is at the end propounded to Man which though it be the last in fruition and execution yet is it the first in his intention If we consider the institution of the Jewish Religion by the hand of Moses and the plain or express covenant of the Law we shall find nothing there promised save the welfare and happiness of this life as namely a fruitful Land abundance of Corn and Victual victory over their Enemies soundness of Body length of Days the comfortable blessing of a hopeful Issue and surviving Posterity and the like For if there be any thing beyond it is involved in dark shadows or must be collected by wise and difficult reasoning Which indeed was the cause why many in particular the Sadducees who professed themselves to be followers and observers of Moses his Law had no hope of enjoying any happiness after this life As for the Grecians who received their learning from the Chaldeans and Aegyptians and had some hope in another World after this life was ended they spake thereof after a very doubtful manner as appears by the disputations of Socrates by the Writings of Tully Seneca and others And the Arguments they produce for it are grounded upon uncertainties proving no more the happiness of a Man than of a Beast Which while some of them observed it was no wonder if they imagined that Souls were translated and conveyed from Men to Beasts and again from Beasts into Men. But because this opinion was not confirmed by any testimonies or grounded upon certain reason and yet it was undeniable that there is some end proposed to Man's actions therefore others were induced to think that vertue was the end or reward of Mens endeavours and that a wise Man was happy enough even though he were put into that tormenting brasen Bull made by Phalaris Howbeit this fancy was justly distasteful and improbable to another sort who saw well enough that Man's happiness especially the highest could not consist in any
lived in those times and was present when the things were done In like manner it ought to suffice us that whosoever wrote the Books we speak of both lived in the primitive Age and were endued with Apostolical gifts For if any body will say that these qualities might be feigned as the very Names might be in other Writings he says that which is not credible viz. that they who every where press the study of truth and piety would for no cause at all make themselves guilty of the crime of forgery which is not only detestable among all good Men but by the Roman Laws was to be punished with death SECT V. These Pen-men writ the Truth because they had certain knowledge of what they writ THIS therefore must be allowed that the Books of the new covenant were written by those Authors whose Names they bear or by such as bear sufficient witness of themselves To which if we farther add that they were also well acquainted with the matters whereof they wrote and had no purpose to lye or dissemble it will follow that the things which they committed to writing were both certain and true because every untruth proceeds either from ignorance or from a wicked desire to deceive As touching Matthew John Peter and Jude they were all of the society and fellowship of those Twelve whom Jesus did chuse to be witnesses of his Life and Doctrine so that they could not want notice of those things which they did relate The same may be said of James who was either an Apostle or as some think the next a-kin to Jesus and by the Apostles consecrated Bishop of Hierusalem Paul also could not erre through lack of knowledge about those Points which he professeth were revealed to him by Jesus himself reigning in Heaven nor could he or Luke either who was an inseparable companion to him in his travels be deceived about those things which were done by himself This Luke might easily know the certainty of those things which he writ concerning the life and death of Jesus For he was born in the places next adjoyning to Palestina through which Countrey when he travelled he saith he spake with such persons as were eye-witnesses of the things that were done For doubtless besides the Apostles with whom he had familiarity there lived many others at that time who had been cured by Jesus and had seen him both before his Death and after his Resurrection If we will give credit to Tacitus and Suetonius in those things which happened a long time before they were born because we are confident that they diligently enquired into the truth thereof how much more ought we to believe this Writer who saith that he received all the things which he relates from them that had seen the same It is credibly reported of Mark that he was a constant companion with Peter so that whatsoever he writ are to be lookt upon as dictated by Peter who could not be ignorant thereof Besides the same things that he writes are almost all extant in the Writings of the Apostles Neither could the Author of the Apocalypse be deceived or deluded in those Visions which he saith were sent unto him from Heaven Nor he that writ the Epistle to the Hebrews erre in those things which he professeth either to be inspired into him by the Spirit of God or else taught him by the Apostles SECT VI. As also because they would not lye THE other reason we spake of to prove the truth of the said Holy Writers because they had no will to tell an untruth is twisted with that which we handled above when in general we proved the truth of Christian Religion and of the history of the Resurrection of Christ Those that will accuse any Witnesses for the pravity of their will must produce something by which it may be thought credible their will might be diverted from uttering the truth but this cannot be averred of the said Authors For if any do object and say that they acted in their own cause and did their own business we must see why this should be thought their cause and interest Not that they might get any thing by it in this World or thereby avoid any danger when for the sake of this profession they both lost all the goods of this World and ventured upon all manner of dangers This therefore was not their cause and interest but only out of reverence to God which sure doth not perswade Men to lye especially in such a business whereupon depends the everlasting Salvation of Mankind Such an impious piece of villany we cannot believe they could be guilty of if we consider either their Doctrines every where most full of piety or their life which was never yet accused of any wicked deed no not by their greatest Enemies who objected nothing to them but their want of learning and unskilfulness which did not qualifie them sure for inventing falshoods And indeed if there had been the least spice as we speak of fraud and cheating in them they would not themselves have recorded their own faults and preserved the memory of them as of their all forsaking their Master when he was in danger and Peter's denial of him three times SECT VII A Confirmation of the Fidelity of these Authors from the Miracles which they wrought ON the other side God himself gave illustrious testimonies of their Fidelity by working wonders which either they or their Disciples with great boldness publickly avouched adding also the names of the persons places and other circumstances So that the truth or falshood of their assertion might easily have been discovered by the inquisition of the Magistrate Amongst which it is worthy our observation which they have most constantly delivered both concerning the use of Tongues which they had never learned among many thousand Men and their curing the diseases of the body upon a suddain in the sight of the People Neither were they any whit dismayed with fear either of the Jewish Magistrates of those times whom they knew to be most maliciously set against them or of the Romans who were far from having any good will to them and they were sure would lay hold on any thing on which they might ground a charge of their being inventors of a new Religion And yet neither Jews nor Pagans in the times immediately following durst ever deny that wonders were wrought by those Men. Yea the Miracles of Peter are mentioned by Phlegon in his Annals who lived under Adrian the Emperor Moreover the Christians themselves in those Books that contain a reason of their faith which they exhibited to the Emperors to the Senate and to the Governors do relate these things as most manifest and unquestionable truths yea they openly report that there continued a wonderful vertue of working strange effects at their Sepulchers for some Ages after their Death which if it had been false they knew that to their shame and punishment the Magistrates could have confuted