the ten Commandements were appointed to be laid which Ark before the said Testament was compleat ever since the Babylonian Captivity had been wanting Petavius himself a learned Jesuite that hath set out Epiphanius except he may be allowed to expunge those words as spurious the last refuge of venturous Criticks when they are plunged and cannot get out doth plainly professe to suspect this to have been the opinion of Epiphanius whereas we have more occasion to suspect of him that he did not understand him or had any thought of those passages of Tertullian and Augustine which would have made Epiphanius his meaning clear enough and as we conceive unquestionable I have now done with those grounds of common notions and principles of humane reason the consideration whereof I conceived would be proper and pertinent to the subject we are to treat of a subject of it self so sublime and so farre above the reach of humane understanding that whoever takes upon him to meddle with it had need to lay wel his grounds before-hand and carefully to circumscribe himself lest he fall into extravagances before he be aware Qui scrutatur Majestatem opprimetur à gloriâ whether that were Solomons meaning Prov. 25.27 or no may be controverted but a true sentence it is however and they shall be sure to find it true that proceed not in such arguments with much warinesse This method of proceeding by certain hypotheses laid for a foundation though it be most proper to Mathematicians yet it is not unusuall to other Artists and Writers It is the very method used by Plato in his Timeus the subject whereof is the Creation of the world of man particularly our subject is the restauration or regeneration of mankinde in Christ which of the two is generally accounted the greater work OF THE INCARNATION of CHRIST ANcient Philosophers that have written concerning the nature of this Universe observe this as a great mystery of nature and a singular evidence of the power and wisdome of God the author of nature that whatsoever is commonly said to dye or to perish is by this death or corruption which they more properly call alteration the cause of the production and generation of something else whereby the course of this worlds generation in generall is continued and maintained It may be applied in some kinde to this sacred subject and mystery of Christ his Incarnation The fall and miscarrying of the first Adam was the cause or occasion at the least of the second Adam Had not the first Adam the first fruits of mankind in whom the whole lump was either to be sanctified or polluted sinned and by his sin undone all that should come from him the second Adam Christ Jesus according to the flesh as the Scripture speaketh had never been born for there had been no need of him For as for the conceits of some either ancient Hereticks or later Schoolmen who have maintained a contrary opinion as neither grounded upon Scripture nor any probability of reason and generally rejected by the more sober of all sides I willingly passe by But on the other side though the Incarnation of the Son of God of all the works of God hath eminently the preeminence yet we may not say or think that therefore the first man sinned or was ordained to sin that the Son of God might be incarnated For so wee should make God the author of sin then which nothing either in it self can be more detestable or more contrary to true piety God indeed to whom all things past present future are equally present as hee foresaw from all eternity the fall of Adam and in him of all mankinde so did he from all eternity decree the Incarnation of his Son for the restauratiō of man Whence are those phrases of Scripture that Christ as a Redeemer a 1 Pet. 1.20 was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world that we were b Ephes 1.4 chosen or c 2 Tim. 1.9 saved in Christ before the foundation of the world or before the world began and again that Christ is the d Apoc. 13.8 Lamb slain from the foundation of the world though as for this last passage I rather embrace their interpretation such hyperbaton's as they call them being very frequent in the Scriptures who referre this from the beginning of the world to the book of life as Apocal. 17.18 rather then to the Lamb slain though I must professe against the reason that is given by some as Ribera the Jesuite upon the place as though there were any absurdity or incongruity in the speech being so justifiable by other parallel places of Scripture But this foresight of God did no ways occasion much lesse necessitate the disobedience of Adam who as he was created with perfect freedome of will so he might had not he been wanting to himself have resisted the temptation of the Devill and have continued in that innocency to which his happinesse and immortality was annexed But it so fell out that Adam used his freewill to his own and all that should be after him being descended from him their ruine and eternall confusion Better it had been for him certainly and better for all that had any dependence of him never to have been for I am not of their opinion that think any beeing better then no beeing then to see himself at once stript of his happinesse and innocency of the son of God become the slave of the Devill and besides his own personall misery the occasion of so much evill unto others Seneca De Clem. l. 1. Quanto autem non nasci melius quà m numerari inter publico malo natos how much more then quà m unum omnis omnibus mali causam extitisse Here a question offers it self though we would be very cautelous of moving questions of this nature where the Scripture it self is silent too much curiosity in this kind having been the occasion of sundry blasphemies and heresies yet because there is some ground for it in the Scripture we may not altogether passe it by The question is Why God would permit Adam to sin which he might many ways have prevented if he had thought fit The first answer is because it became God well if this be not too bold a speech to make good his own order and to maintain his owne work It had pleased God to endow Adam with a perfect free-will He was furnished with sufficient grace to continue innocent and to withstand sin but that grace was conditionall as be used it as he liked it he might either improve it or lose it If therefore we must make a question of it it is more proper to ask why God created Adam with free-will then why God did not hinder the sin of Adam being so created This very question much troubled ancient Philosophers who had the bare light of reason and nature for their guide Why God being so perfectly good as they did acknowledge him would suffer sin
but either not so pertinent or such as might be reduced to these Even of these that we have set down if a man be disposed to multiply questions it may be asked whether by some other cause or way such ends and such effects might not have been contrived and compassed There is no end of such curiosity but as no end so as little fruit There is nothing among men so generally received or approved in the ways and works of God but such as are bold and self-conceited may easily except against and think they might have mended it if they had had the ordering of it So that in the conclusion we must either sink our selves into Atheism then which in other respects and considerations nothing can be more contrary to sense and reason or be forced to acknowledge that it is against reason to discredit the revealed will of God because we see not sufficient reason for his will It was an excellent resolution of Socrates who when he had learned from Anaxagoras who therefore was surnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Reason or Vnderstanding was the cause of all things Plato in Phaedone resolved he would trouble himself no longer to seek the naturall cause or reason of every thing but rest in this fully satisfied that since Reason was the supream cause all things must of necessity both in respect of the generall and of every particular thing be for the best He was in the right certainly and till we come to that our scruples will never be at an end Yet one reason or consideration more I find expressed in the Scripture which must not be omitted which is that by this mystery so contrived and brought to passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifold wisdome of God might be made known both to Angels and to men Vnto me saith Saint Paul Ephes 3.8 9 10 11. his words are full of weight and holy vigor who am lesse then the least of all Saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God who created all things in Jesus Christ To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in heavenly places might bee known by the Church the manifold wisdome of God This manifold wisdome of God though it be observable in all the particulars of this great mystery from the first Conception to the Ascension yet it is most eminently discernible in the circumstances of his Passion as the main part of the story Should a man collect into one the severall observations of ancient Fathers and other Writers in this kind it would arise to a considerable bulk and though it cannot be denyed that in so many some may be found which may savour more of wit then weight yet those ought not to be any prejudice to the solidity of the rest of which kind there will be enough found to fill the most stupid if not extreamly dulled with prophanenesse and infidelity both with delight and with admiration I have not proposed to my self so large a scope neither am I at this time furnished for that purpose Somewhat of this kind to the Incarnation more particularly or at least to the mystery in generall relating we have here collected and set down First that as all things were at the first created 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Word called in the Greek Logos so by the fame Word the restauration of mankind also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the logicall creatures as Philosophers call them should bee Secondly that as by the transgression of one man all were made guilty so by the righteousnesse of one all might be acquitted Thirdly that as pride and infidelity were the two principall causes of Adams sin and by it of the ruine of mankind so faith and humility should bee the means of his restauration Once man in the pride of his heart attempted to be like unto God and God by a mystery of humility became like unto man that he might exalt man to a neerer degree of likenesse unto God Fourthly a woman was the Devils unhappy instrument to draw Adam to sin and of a woman came the Saviour of the world Eve beleeved a wicked Angel in the form of a Serpent and transgressed Mary that blessed Virgin beleeved a blessed Angel and conceived Fifthly that after that in the wisdome of God that is 1 Cor. 1.21 in the Book of nature the sight and contemplation of this Universe which doth so manifestly set forth the infinite power and wisdome of the Creator the world by wisdome knew not God that he is a Spirit but one and onely to be worshipped it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching not grounded upon humane ratiocination philosophy or eloquency of words to confound the wise ver 27. and to save them that beleeve which by the Gentiles was generally much scorned and derided who accounted beleef the character and property of an Idiot We meddle not here with his Nativity the circumstances and considerations whereof are many and distinct from those of his Incarnation and from the generall consideration of this mystery In which kind besides those we have insisted upō many more may be collected that have already by divers been made and some made perchance that have not yet been observed Maximus an ancient learned Writer Martyr in his Meditations called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith very well The great mystery of the divine Incarnation still continues a mystery not onely for that being proportionably to the strength of them that are saved by it manifested that which is not manifested of it is much more then that which is but also because even that which is manifested may be said still hidden or concealed as not in the truth of it utterable by any words or not comprehensible to the understanding of man So he and he goes on and insists in this and the next Chapter in sundry particulars which I forbear to translate Neither his language nor his conceptions are ordinary They that can read him in his own language may understand him not they I doubt that shall reade him translated It is a Plato in Phaed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato's observation that in beleef there may be a kind of unbeleef when a man by satisfactory proofs or evidences being fully convicted in his understanding that the thing is so indeed is neverthelesse not only by the greatnesse sublimity of the things themselves that are proposed but also by the consideration of the means and vilenesse of man so confounded and amazed as that at the same time he neither knows how to beleeve nor yet can tell how to contradict In joy also if excessive there is a kind of unbeleef whereof we read Luke 24.41 And whilest they yet beleeved not for joy Ita
at least because I know what may be objected betweene a man and a childe The same man when he is come to maturity of years and discretion and when he was but a childe or a boy Or as much as is between an extraordinary wise learned and experienced man an ordinary plain rustick capacity How many things seem strange unreasonable incredible impossible to the one which to the others are well known to be nothing so Of Heraclitus the Philosopher his writings some-body once said as I remember What he understood he liked very well what he did not he verily beleeved was as good And can it be that any man should owe lesse civility to God To this very purpose Plotinus the Philosopher if my memory deceive me not hath a pregnant passage The testimonies also of divers Heathens Philosophers and others concerning the weaknesse and imbecillity of mans understanding to comprehend things divine we could produce But because Aristotle is generally acknowledged to have been as a Favourite so a great Patron of nature we will content our selves here with his ingenuous acknowledgement In his Metaphysicks by him called sometimes Theology speaking in a place of the difficulty of that Science he hath these words Arist Metaph. l. 2. c. 1. Ed. in fol. p. 856. It being so that the difficulty of a thing may be taken two ways it may be that the cause of it is not in the things themselves but in us For as the eyes of Bats are to the light of the Sun when it is day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so is the intellect of our souls to the knowledge of those things which of themselves are most clear and perspicuous How unreasonable it is to judge of the ways or works of God by humane either faculties or affections by what hath been said may appear how dangerous it is though that also in part hath appeared yet because it is a point that I would have well cleared I shall instance in one particular more We say commonly one good turn deserveth another and so indeed it is for the most part There be but few whose goodnesse is not in some respect or other if not meerly mercenary yet mixed with a by-respect to themselves and their owne interest Among men it is so whereupon Epicurus inferred that it must be so in God too And because he could not conceive right enough in that according to the Psalmist Psal 16.2 My goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth how man could merit at the hands of God another grosse conceit of his and that too grounded upon the similitude of mans weaknesse concurring that God could not take care of man or of the world in generall without much trouble and distraction to himself it made him to deny a Providence Of this latter the writings of the Epicureans are full it was their chiefest Theme As for the former I appeal to Lucretius one of Epicurus his greatest Champions Quid enim immortalibus atque beatis Gratia nostra queat largirier emolumenti Vt tantum nostrâ causâ gerere aggrediantur I shall not need to say more concerning this second principle I had not said so much of it but that I conceived it of great importance to us as will appear in the progresse of this Discourse The third is That whatsoever hath been revealed III. c. The matter is thus stated by Gregory Nazianz. in his Invectives against Julian who scoffed at the Christians for their usual Motto Beleeve saying that all their wit wisdom was included in that one word After divers other things by him alledged and retorted upon Julian he thus proceeds By that word saith he we professe to beleeve that it is not lawfull for us to distrust or discredit any thing that is averred by men divinely inspired and that the credit of such with us is such that we account their bare word a sufficient demonstration farre beyond all arguments and evidences of humane ratiocination So he there and so others whom I shall not need to name Now this principle of beleef grounded upon divine revelation as in one respect I grant it may be accounted the proper principle of Christianity because no Religion or Science can justly pretend to such a foundation but Christianity so generally considered why it should as by many it is made be more proper to Christians then to other men I see no sufficient reason For how can it bee conceived that any man or people in the world that really beleeve a Deity or divine nature should make any question of the truth of those things which issue from such a nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who can bee so simple or so phrentick rather saith Theodoret. But if any man apprehend it otherwise yet approved experience will convince him In what esteem Oracles were anciently amongst all Nations no man can be ignorant that is not a stranger to all Histories whence proceeded the Proverb Tanquam ex tripode of those things which are of unquestionable credit or certainty From the same Origine as the Oracles issued also their aruspicina auspicia omina and other such superstitions in some sort or other received and practised amongst all Nations professing by that how desirous and ready they were to be guided and directed in their ways at least in their most important affairs by them who could see into things future with better then mortall eyes Upon this ground politick wise men as Numa Pompilius Lycurgus and divers others mentioned in ancient Histories to make the people the more pliable to their laws and institutions devised means how to possesse them with an opinion that they entertained some commerce with some Deity or other by which they were prompted to such and such things Whether the Romans did not make such a use of their Sibylles verses or whether they really beleeved of them themselves what they perswaded others to beleeve I will not enquire because either way it shews how ready men have been generally to yeeld assent and obedience to divine revelation Hence is that observation of Historians Quiat Curt. l. 4. Ed. Paris p. 74. which many more largely insist upon by Quint. Curtius thus briefly contracted Nullares efficatiùs multitudinem regit quà m superstitio Alioquin impotens Java murabilis ubi vanâ religione eapta est meliùs vatibus quà m ducibus suis parent that is There is not any thing more powerfull to rule the people then superstition or an opinion of religion which otherwise of it self being unruly wild and mutable when it is possessed with an opinion of religion it will sooner be commanded by their Prophets then by their Captains This may be further confirmed by the doctrine of the ancient Masters of Rhetorick who where they treat of authorities as they call them that are brought by Oratours and Advocates for the confirmation of any cause give the first place to those testimonies which they call
made known unto you If all these places being put together contain not a prophesie concerning Christ The Word of God the Son of God who was made flesh and came into the world as to redeem the world by the oblation of his own body so also to reveal the truth of God unto men if all these places I say being put together doe not amount to a prophesie I know not we may call a prophesie Sure we are there is nothing forged or supposititious in all this which of the Sibyls that collection of verses I mean which now goeth under that name and of Mercurius Trismegistus hath been proved For a close of this third point or principle I shall add a passage of Dio Chrysostomus a famous Oratour and Philosopher who lived in Trajanus the Emperour his days and was in great account with him whose words also because he was a great Platonist may be some light to those of Plato's All the discourses and all the devices of men are nothing to divine inspiration and revelation or authority For what traditions or doctrines soever concerning the gods and this Vniverse that are not void of wisdome and truth have been among men all such were begotten in the souls of men by divine will and by a speciall lot or luck Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as may bee knowne by them that were the first Prophets and Professors of Divinity such as Orpheus son to one of the Muses is reported to have been in Thracia and another certain Shepheard in Boecria taught by the Muses And whosoever they be that take upon them to vent any doctrine of their own abroad for true without divine rapture or inspiration their doctrine is certainly both absurd and wicked The fourth is IV. That those books of the Old and New Testament c. I said before I presupposed I had to doe here with Christians who were already satisfied concerning the truth of those books It is well known that such have been of old and are at this day too many who though they professe to admit and allow for divine the same Scriptures that we doe and pretend to the faith and doctrine therein contained as much as we yet do not beleeve of Christ as we doe I have no direct aim at them in this Discourse intended only for the further satisfaction and confirmation of Orthodoxe Christians in this main point no direct aim I say but as the handling of this argument upon Scripture grounds may prove a conviction of their impiety and infidelity As for them that professe against this ground of either Old or New Testament which we build upon they will not neither directly or indirectly come within our reach But how then may some object perchance can we as we first maintained give a rationall account of our faith and stop the mouths of Atheists and Infidels if we cannot prove the Scriptures to be the Word of God upon common grounds of humane reason and ratiocination To which we answer that although we doe not apprehend those grounds so evident and so uncontrollable as to oblige every rationall man to a present and ready assent and therefore not to be reckoned among those common notions though reducible to them and principles we have spoken of yet that the Scriptures by them that are learned may be maintained upon grounds of reason sufficient to convince and to convert an Infidel who with simplicity of heart without strong prejudice or worldly engagements to the contrary doth seek the truth we doe professe to beleeve and should be sorry were it our aim or argument if we could not make it good One argument onely I shall insist upon here which by ancient Christians as being both popular proper I mean for vulgar capacities and solid was much pressed and whereof they found good use The testimony of a known professed enemy or adversary hath always among all men been accounted a very pregnant evidence And what relation there is between the Old and New Testament is well known to all Christians and may soon be demonstrated to them that are not Now then what greater evidence of the truth of the Old Testament can any man require then the Jewes our greatest and most malicious adversaries Then the Jews I say who by a speciall Providence though scattered and dispersed through the whole world continue to this day a distinct Nation from all other Nations of the world and to this day so zealous for Moses and all other Scriptures of the Old Testament that in all places for testimony of the truth of those Scriptures they are ready if they be put to it to lay down their lives and to forgoe whatsoever is dearest unto them Whose predecessors also that too by a speciall admirable Providence have been of old so curious and so provident for the preservation of those Scriptures which they acknowledged that they devised an art of which art either for invention or accuratnesse there is no parallel in all the ancient learning of the Heathens how to prevent not the losse of it onely but the corruption also by any either addition or diminution or alteration in words or syllables yea letters and tittles How much this argument of the Jews testimony was made of by the ancients and of what consequence it then proved may appear by Saint Augustine who speaks of it in sundry places of his Works In the twelfth of his books against the Manicheans he saith Quid enim est aliud hodieque gens ipsa Judaeorum nisi quaedam scriniaria Christianorum basulans leges prophetas ad testimonium assertionis Ecclesiae that is For what to this day are the Jews but as it were the registers or record-keepers of the Christians bearing up down the Law and the Prophets with them for a testimony to the Church Saint Augustine in these words doth allude to the custome of the Jews who then in every Synagogue were wont and use it in most places I beleeve to this day to have sacred chests or desks wherein to keep their holy Bible not onely for its safety but in reverence to it also What Saint Augustine cals Scrinium Tertullian inditeth armarium in his De Habitumuliebri ch 3. And Epiphanius in his Treatise De Ponderibus mensuris where he treateth of the difference of Canonicalll books from others he useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such books saith he speaking of that which is called Wisdome and others of like nature are accounted by them usefull and profitable but are not in the number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Canonicall for which cause also they are not laid up with the Canonicall in the aron that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the chest or capse of the Testament Lamp Alardi Epiphyll Phiolog I wonder that any man could so mistake Epiphanius as though he had beleeved that the whole Jews Bible or Old Testament had been kept in the Ark where the two Tables containing