and so is utterly Impossible to be The one my reason tells me God because of his Infinite Perfection never will nor can do And the other it assures me cannot be done The Bible tells us of no one thing in the highest Supernatural Discoveries it makes to us but what is in it self very Possible to be Nor of any thing but what seems to our reason very agreeable to the Nature of God that it Should be and very fit for us to believe when we are told of God so that it is Secondly Never any Book made such a discovery to us of what is truely Natural and so farr Revived and Restored to the truth of themselves as this has done the Natural Laws of our own Beings All impartial Reason being Judge No Humane Wisdome ever did or ever could have given Mankind such a prospect of their Natural Duties toward God and toward Themselves as the Ten Commandements have done or composed such a Systeme of Law Natural or made such an exact Compendium of it None but God that made man at first and knew his Original could have so farr Discovered him to himself and retriv'd to his knowledg so much of his Primitive State and discovered to him What by the judgment of his own Breast he still Ought to be The whole of the Scripture-Religion both as it relates to God and his worship and our performance of Relative duties to each other carries in it the Highest Perfection attainable by our Natural Light And wherein it exceeds it is the most Suitable to it and the most justified by it of any Religion the world has been ever yet possessed of What pure and admirable discoveries of Gods Excellent Nature does it afford us without the least Savour of what is Earthly and from Below So corresponding to a Rational Idea of him that nothing can be more Religion and Worship without the least taint of Idolatry or Superstition Rules of Holy living without the least mixture of Impurity Such Directions for our Behaviour towards God and Man as every mans own Breast Subscribes to as Just Holy and Good Indeed 't is a Religion that so perfects Nature and whatever it reveals that is above nature 't is so graffed upon the Stock of our Natural knowledg and in such a suitable way Super-added to it and so Incorporates with it as is admitable to conceive and could be the effect of nothing but an Infinite Wisdome even of God himself who perfectly knew what was in Man and what would be Best for him and most Agreeable to him What just cause is there to Reject and Disclaim all other Religions upon this single account 'T is impossible That should be a Law Divine and Supernatural that proves any way Destructive to what is truely Natural What Unworthy Vnreasonable and Unnatural conceptions of God and his Being does the Heathen Religion stand justly charged withall How contrary was it to the true dictates of Nature and the natural shame inherent in every mans being to use such horrible Obscene and Lascivious Ceremonies as they did in the worship of some of their Gods How unnatural and Inhumane was it to Murther each other and shed the blood of Mankind as they did in their Sacrifices How may Vices that Nature condemns grew up under the shadow of their Religion and no way reproved yea some allowed and justified by it The Bible spares not one Goes to the utmost extent of all natural Evil and all natural Good The Alchoran also falls slat before the Bible upon this account 'T is so far from perfecting our natural light or corresponding with it that in some things it directly overthrows it And is every where stuft with such absurd ridiculous and incredible sopperies as do inevitably expose it to the just scorn and contempt of all unprejudiced Reason Fourthly We must needs suppose that a Revelation from God a Law Supernatural to which an universal obedience is required should have such a Conveyance to us as is suitable to its Author and that great concern mankind have in it that is 'T were a most irrational admission that God should reveal himself to the world and not do it in such a way as should carry in it Evidence sufficient to every rational enquiry We ought to believe that when God requires our obedience to Laws as Divine he should afford us means sufficient to know that they are so such as may satisfie all reasonable doubts and shame all wilfull Opposition 'T were to impeach the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God to think otherwise Without this neither Gods end nor mans end can be attained Not Gods end for he can never with Justice proceed to reward or punish men by a Law revea'ed unless they have notice sufficient that it is so Not mans end for 't is impossible to be any way advantaged by a Revelation as such unless I be first assured that it is such How general soever pretences to Revelation have been and mens belief of those pretences yet no pretence to Revelation but the Bible alone has in any Age been accompanied with such a rational justification as we ought to expect a Divine Revelation should be to ascertain us that it is so And of this the fact is sufficiently evident All pretensions that way have been either recommended to the world upon the credit of mens bare words or else have obtained a reception by means visibly capable of delusion and imposture What reasonable assurance had the Heathen world of a Divinity in their Oracles which yet made the most probable pretension of any thing amongst them to it 'T is acknowledged by all that lived in those times That the responses of those Oracles were given by persons visible and seen when they did it In some of them by young Virgins which they supposed them to receive in a strange Obscene way not fit to be mentioned and in others of them by a man whom they called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that spake under the Oracle out of the Caverns of the Earth by the Vapours of which they supposed him Inspired and to become an Enthusiast That those Oracles for the most part uttered things doubtful and un-intelligible is evident and sometimes contrary to Truth as we may see plainly set down in Thucidides and other Authors of their own and which never came to pass one Instance of which was singly sufficient to confute their Divinity No Almanack maker writes with less certainty of the Weather then they generally pronounced about future events And the best excuse their greatest Adorers made then for them was That those Daemons that inspired the predictions did not themselves know things future otherwise then by their inspection of the Stars and so could collect from thence but uncertain conjectures Plutarch after all the pains he has taken to give the world a right account of the first rise of those Oracles and the cause of their after ceasing and spent much time in discoursing
particular Answer ought to be given to it As God in making the World has left us undeniable Evidence that he himself is the Author of it but yet has left us without an Answer to many questions men may ask about it and made it very suitable to our reason to think we should be so left and to suppose a sinite capacity not fully able to comprehend the product of Infinite Wisdom and Power so in his Rule over the World we have undeniably Evidence that he does Rule but in the manner of his doing it we see many passages that far out-go our comprehension If any man say that in Gods first make of the World we acquiesce singly in his Sovereignty nor need we go farther therein then the bare act of his Will but in his Rule of the World 't is not so there we expect the visible effects of his Justice suitable to those natural Laws he has given to us and that capacity of judging between just and unjust by which we ascend upward and come to be ascertained that there is a supreme and perfect Justice in God I answer 't is true that Gods Will was the great Reason at first of the make of the world but yet we must look upon his Will as the Effect of his wisdom and it cannot be otherwise God could not will to make any thing that would not be Wisely made when it was made nor can we suppose he should And yet 't were as reasonable to deny Gods make of the World because I cannot see the visible Effects of his Wisdom in every part of it as to deny his Rule of the World because in every passage of it his Justice is not visible to me All the Philosophers heretofore agreed to this as a general Truth that Nature produced nothing in vain And yet never any nor all of them could give a distinct account of the Reason and Use of every particular If there be sufficient ground to assure me that God made the World in the general 't is absurd to question the Wisdom or the Reason of any Particular So if there be Evidence sufficient to establish Gods general Providence over the whole his Justice in Particulars is thereby necessarily implied The being of Providence in general is not only proved upon such rational grounds as every unprejudiced man must needs acquiesce in but in many things we are experimentally convinced of the Being of it from the Effects of it He that denies the existence of Providence can admit but of two ways by which any thing can be supposed to come to pass either from the Moral determinations of Men and their Actings thereupon or else from some purely Natural Cause Now 't is evident that many things have and do come to pass in a visible judicial way which have not their rise from any humane Judgment nor can with any good Reason be derived from any natural operation and can be ascribed to nothing else but Gods supreme Judgment Virtue and Religion have been often rewarded and wickedness brought to a due punishment before Mens Eyes in this World by ways unthought of and undesigned by any and out of the reach of all humane Authority and in such a manner as no man impartially judging can possibly imagine to come to pass by a meerly casual conjunction of natural Causes but must needs acknowledge an effect of Divine Justice therein And of this we are informed by the Records of all Ages and no one Age passeth without some experience of it This objection how great soever it may seem to be will be sufficiently removed in every candid opinion if two things be made appear First That there is good ground upon which to establish the belief of a providence in general which hath been proved already And Secondly that a satisfactory account may be given how the present course of the world and this providence may very well consist together And this latter may be done by the consideration of two things First our own great Incapacity to judge of the whole of providence or of very many parts of it And secondly the rational supposition of a Future State The first ought to make us cautious not to impeach providence hastily nor to deny it when we cannot fully comprehend it The second ought fully and finally to satisfy us in all such cases where we see Gods providence and his justice are not in this world reconcileable For the first How reasonable is it to conceive that the ways and methods of God in his providence should not be fully grasped by our comprehension when he is so much above us in those excellent attributes by which they are contrived and brought about The Rule of the world and the harmony of providence in conducting all things to a common end is an effect of the same infinity by which the world was at first produced 'T is unreasonable for us when God Rules to expect an exact and perfect Knowledg of all his proceedings No humane abilities can create a competent Judg of the whole or of very many particular parts of Gods providential Rule over the World and that for these three Reasons First God knows the Aims Ends and Intentions of all Men in what they do he sees the inside as well as the outside of the whole World and proceeds according to the compleatness and intire Circumstances of every Action This we are no way capable of and so in many passages of his Providence no fit Judges of his proceedings 'T is a great piece of folly to judg of Conclusions when we are uncertain of the Premises and to call in question Gods determinations when we know not the grounds of them Secondly God has designs to accomplish and bring about in this World of which we are totally ignorant and 't is very unwise to find fault with what God does and be angry that we cannot comprehend it when we know nothing of those Ends 't is designed to 'T was weakly done of Cato and a great defection from his discretion to fall foul upon Providence because he could not find out a Reason why Caesar had the conquest of Pompey when he must needs be ignorant of that future Monarchy and all the Consequences of it God designed to set up in Rome upon the foundation of his Successes We see often by a subsequent course of Providence great Reason for that of which we could give no account at first The future Events of good Mens sufferings often reveal to us a sufficient Reason for it and reconcile mens opinions to the Wisdom and Justice of Providence The impunity of ill Men in the worst Actions becomes sometimes very intelligible to us even in this World by the after disposal of things This we have excellently discoursed of in Plutarchs incomparable Treatise De sera Numinis vindicta Had the famous Constantine suffered what was due to the eminent sins of his Youth what a loss had the World had of the Virtues of
of And if so these two things will follow upon it First That he that rejects the Bible obliges himself to believe no other books without apparent disingenuity Secondly He that does credit the Authors of this book with the same credit wherewith he credits other Authors and supposes they were men of common honesty that would not knowingly write an untruth cannot then refuse to receive it as a book Divine and Infallible upon as good termes of credibility as he believes any the best humane Author in its Kind to be True because they themselves tell us that it is so which were it otherwise without most impudent falshood they could not do that God himself inspired them to write it That 't was no product of their own but that every part of it is the genuine Dictate of the Holy Ghost But in the second place in the manner of this books conveyance we shall find a further and more unquestionable ground of satisfaction and a Divine witness given by God himself to the Truth of these Writings to assure us beyond all reasonable doubt they were written by men that did not deceive us but such as were Intrusted by himself for that purpose And that is the miracles that were wrought and which visibly accompanied their first publication In the discoursing of which after a due sort these three things will naturally fall under consideration First the Nature of a Miracle in general what propâ—rly it is Secondly What evidence we have for the Fact of those Miracles we say the Scriptures are justified by Thirdly Whether Miracles simply in themselves are always an unquestionable proof of that Doctrine they are wrought to confirm and an infallible justification of the integrity of the persons that work them The two first are of an eaâ—y dispatch the difficulty rests in the Latter For the first A Miracle is pâ—operly that which can have no second cause for its Author such a thing as no created Power in the judgment of reason can effect Raising men Dead curing â—iseases by speaking a Word being able in a moment to speak all Languages are things that exceed the bounds of all Natural Ability and such things as can be only related to God as effects of his supâ—eme and unlimited Power And suâ—h is a Miracle Secondly For the Fact of those Miracles we claim in defence of the Bible we are much eased of the labour of proof from a General Concession And 't is of great remark That the Warmest Adversaries the Scriptures have met with have never denied the Fact of those Miracles pleaded in their behalf but indeavoured to invalidate their testimony some other way Neither the Miracles of Moses which we find often mentioned in Heathen Story nor of Christ are denied by any in point of Fact but both fathered upon Egyptian Magick Those of Moses by the Heathens heretofore as we find in Pliny and Apuleius Pliny says There is a very great Magick depends upon Moses and the Cabala Though he might have remembred that never any Law so positively forbad Magick as did that which Moses delivered and those of our Saviour by the Jews and the Heathens since The Jewâ— affirmed that all that our Saviour did was done by a Magical skill he first learnt in Egypt and brought with him from thence And Julian the Heathen says that Peter and Paul were the most expeâ—t men in Magick that ever lived and that â—hrist himself wrote a Boâ—k of that Profession and Dedicated it to them two Our Saviours Miracles in point of Fact are not only acknowledged by the Jews but expresly both by Celsus and Julian two of the most Learned Malicious and Industrious Adversaries that ever opposed the Christian-profession And this we may see in Origin's second book against Celsus of whose wâ—â—kâ— there is nothing left but what is there â—â—peated and Cyâ—ill's sixth book against Juâ—ian And â—n truth the Miracles of Christ and the Apostles and those that succeeded them in the Christian-church were in Fact so many so eminent so visible lasted so long for in the Church for three hundred years in some measure they lasted and the Relation of them has descended down to us by such a Constant Uninterrupted Written and Unwâ—itten Tradition that no man has yet assumed Impudence enough publickly to Gainsay them For the Third Whether miraclâ—s simply in themselves are always an unquestâ—onable proof of that Doctrine they are bâ—â—ugâ—t to Confirme and an infallible justâ—ficâ—tion of the Persons that work them I answer In the general they are not If the Doctrâ—ne be no way Destructive to those Natural noâ—â—ons of God we are born with If it be not evidently to our Reason Dishonoraâ—le to H m tendâ—ng to seduce us from him and oppâ—siâ—e to that Natural Duty we owe him They are But if otherwise if they come in direct Competition with the Law of Nature They are not No Miracles whatever can or ought to oblige me to what my Judgment Dissents from as sinful And that upon these two grounds First The Law of Nature as 't is Previous to all Laws so 't is an unrepealeable Law because t is so perfectly the Result of my Reasonable self that should God contradict it he would cease to deal with me as a Rational Being which is not upon any account to be thought Secondly 'T is not against Reason to suppose a possibility that God may in some cases exert a supernatuâ—â—l power by ill instruments for Trial as well as Eâ—tablishment God has no where told us that he will not so do nor do our own faculties Recoile against it and adjudge it unreasonable that God should exercise the world with such a Trial if he afford means sufficient to Oppose and Resist it Such who deny this Latter and say that a Supernatural power in a way miraculous was never exerted but to confirm and establish a Divine Truth that 't is an Impeachment of Divine Justice and most unreasonable to think the contrary That although many things may be bâ—ought to pass by the Dâ—vil and Ill men that are in their own nature Wondrous miranda and miraâ—itia and utterly beyond the compaâ—s of our Reason to conceive How by any natural power they should be effected yet they are not Miracula they are still eitheâ— natural effects proceeding from â—atuâ—al causes though secret and occult or else delusions some way or other upon us From the opinion of such I dissent and that upon these four Grounds First That which they say does no way answer that end for which they themselves intend it Secondly 'T is against plain Texts of Scripture Thirdly 't is against great evidence of History And fouthly Because the admission of the contrary is no way Destructive to those natural nâ—tions we have of Gods aâ—trâ—butes and his providential Rule over the world Fi st What they say does not answer that end for which they themselves intend it For if God suffer the Devil to exert a natural power in
rewards and punishments are excluded so that the Epicurean Religion is in the very foundation of it wholly Precarious and depends upon the pleasure of men or else destructive to it self and its own Principles The Deity is to be venerated for its excellency sayes the Epicureans that is if Men please to make Laws it shall be so for otherwise 't is in it self indifferent If they say 't is not indifferent but that we are obliged so to do by a natural determination of Reason that 's an acknowledging of the Law of Nature and therein an admission of Providence To say the Deity must be venerated and at the same time to say that all actions and things are in themselves indifferent is plainly to say there are no stated rules for this veneration farther than positive Laws make them and that a man may practise any thing the very worst of things supposing positive Laws not to forbid them and yet be a Religious venerator of the Deity the admission of which is lothsome to all Mankind To say that a Man must venerate the Deity and yet to annex no reward to the doing of it nor any punishment to the not doing of it here nor hereafter is to prepare men to be Religious by telling them before hand if they be so it shall be no whit the better for them and if they be not so it shall not be one jot the worse This notion of Epicurus which yet is the whole of his Divinity so circumstantiated seems to me so weak an attempt toward any thing of Religion that I rather think of him as Cicero does That he was a man perfectly without any Religion and had no belief of a Deity at all For so says he of him in the end of his first Book De Nat. Deor Verius est igitur illud nimirum quod familiaris omnium nostrum Posidonius disseruit In libro quinto De natura Deorum Nullos esse Deos Epicuro videri quaeque is de Diis immortalibus dixerit invidiae detestandae gratia dixisse Two things of which the whole world in all ages have had experience do evidently discover the falshood of this position that all things are in themselves alike to mankind till custome and positive Law make a difference First VVe find men passing a judgment upon themselves in the Closet of their own breasts accusing and excusing themselves about matters no way connizable and no way determined by any positive Law but meerly guided herein by the unavoidable evidence that their own Reason gives in concerning the good or evil of things In all times and ages this Truth hath been established For as Cicero says truely Time wears out errours of opinion but confirmes all Natural truths Every mans own reason carryes an innate condemnation in it to some things as evil and an approbation of others as good and this no way founded in Customes or Laws of times or places but in the very faculty of Reason it self and is neither Created nor can be Abrogated by any thing humane For as Philo say well Lex mentiri nescia est recta ratio quae Lex non ab hoc aut ab illo mortali mortalis non in Chartis aut Columnis exanimis exanima sed corrumpi nescia quippe ab immortali natura insculpta in immortali intellectu If there were no Laws but positive and what had their rise among men were men under no obligation to the natural Light of their own beings How can we conceive rational creatures to make a Conscience to themselves about things no way determined by any such positive Laws What mens Laws reach not no man can be reasonably thought to be concern'd in Conscience about if there be no Superiour Law of God because where there is no Law there can be no offence and so no foundation of Guilt Nor is it conceivable that custome can be the foundation of such Conscience in men and of that different Judgment they make to themselves of things from whence that Conscience ariseth because the principle upon which men go in these natural determinations are generally the same and agreed to by all And 't is highly unreasonable to suppose the whole World should every where agree in a custome of judging things to be otherwise then indeed they be and subject themselves in their own breasts to such an eroneous Judgment and that the constant determination of the publick reason of the world that some things are in themselves good and others are in themselves evil was at first founded in a mistake and that that mistake became customary and universal This is a thing that carries the utmost of improbability in it and is in effect to say mankind is not reasonable and to put the Fool upon the whole World Besides the determinations of our Reason about the good or evil of things are at the present justified to us to be pure and abstracted from all byas either from custome or from positive Laws from the nature of the things themselves and the most genuine judgment of Reason it self in its judging of them And he that will say that we are no way certain but that our best judgment about good and evil may be for ought we know grounded upon custome so mistaken may as well say that all other judgment is so too And so in effect say we are no way sure but that all the reason of the world 's nothing else but a great customary mistake Secondly There are natural Laws by which things are in themselves differenced proved to be previous to all positive Laws Because all positive Laws appear plainly to have their rise from those primary Laws of Nature and to suppose them The common principles of Natures Laws have been the common principles of all positive Laws every where How different soever positive Laws have been amongst themselves in other things yet the Grand Maxims of Nature founded upon that innate distinction of good and evil men are born withall have been universally admitted by all Legislators General effects we say must have general causes And that general consent we find in all positive Laws to such natural Maxims does evidently declare such Maximes to be the Universal sentiments of mankind and those original Laws annexed to the beings of men in their first frame and constitution by which things in themselves are primarily discriminated antecedently to all positive Laws and from whence all positive Laws have their subsequent rise Should this Epicurean doctrine be admitted That all things are originally and in their own nature alike till differenced by positive Law or Custome three things would evidently result from it The first ruinous to all policy The second to all Religion And the third destructive to both First No Man that thought all things originally indifferent and the whole world and all the actions of it as to good or evil to be Rasa tabula could ever be obliged farther then force or his own interest prevailed
Moses could not humanâ—ly foresee That so many Prophets would ariâ—â—â—n so many after Ages to justifie explain and carry on what he at the first writ nor could Moses or those Prophets know any thing of the coming of Christ and the Apostles so exactly to fulfill the whole And yet all this and all things relating to the Bible have come as punctually to pass as if all those persons that writ the Bible had lived at one time had all talked together and perfectly agreed the whole business before one word of it was written Nay Moses is so explained and justified by the Prophets and both in such a way explained and fulfilled by Christ and the Apostles Promises and Prophecies are in such a manner made good fulfilled and interpreted as seems utterly beyond the reach of all humane skill and contrivement supposing all the Writers had lived at one time had all consulted together and with their utmost abilities laboured to bring it so to pass What Humane skill can we reasonably conceive could have contrived such a gradual fulfilling throughout the whole Bible as now we see of that promise That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head What Humane Artifice can we conceive could have contrived such a Prophetical Prayer as Gods perswading Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Sem with such a fulfilling of it as that after the World had been Canton'd in Ages then to come into Jew and Gentile from their posterity both Jews and Gentiles who were in the highest enmity each to other should incorporate into one faith and become one under the Gospel by an united subjection to one common Head and so in many others of the like Nature And indeed no man that is not bereft of his wits can Imagine that any company of Impostors could have been the Authors of such a projection as the saving men by Jesus Christ which is the main and grand design of the whole Bible or could have contrived such remote obscure promises of it at first and such gradual and stupendious fulfillings of those promises after 'T is not I say only highly improbable that such a number of men living in such distant Ages should agree to write such a Book but 't is unreasonable to Imagine that admitting they had so agreed yet that they could have produced such a book as the Bible or that a Book so consisting with it self could have been at such remote distances of time contrived by the cunningest Heads of any wicked Impostors whatsoever Nothing less then a Divine and Heavenly Wisdom could have guided so many hands as writ the Bible in so many Ages into such an admirable agreement and punctual correspondency with themselves 'T is not easie to find an agreement between men of the same sect and opinion in any one Age or to find any one man in his own writings if he write much exactly agreeing with himself But to see so many men in writing such a Book as the Bible so harmonizing together as there they do is of singular consideration Throughout the whole Book we find these Writers still proceeding and building forward till the Top-stone is layed without rejecting any thing all things compleated and fulfilled never any thing denied Contradicted or destroyed but we still see a rare use of every part relative to the whole and such a fabrick intirely reared without the least part Mis-placed or any cause seen to entertain a second thought or to Alter Of which no instance can be given in the promoting of any humane Science whatsoever The Harmony we find in this Holy Book is of great Remark upon these three accounts First 'T is a harmony that results from exceeding Different Styles and the greatest Variety of Matter 'T is not so many mens bare agreement together upon any few plain points but t is so many mens agreeing together who have writ Historically Prophetically Doctrinally with wonderful variation both for Matter and Manner of all the Sublimest notions the minds of men are capable of as well as of the plainest truths of things in Heaven in Earth in Hell of all sorts of things relating to God and Men and of the whole business of this World and the next Secondly 'T is a harmony resulting from an involved Correspondency of the parts one with another and of every part with the whole now we see it conjoyn d in such a way as could not be foreseen or contrived by any humane wisdom in the writing of any one distinct part There is in the toâ—um compositum of the Bible such a peculiar Oeconomy relating to the whole in the conjunction of all the parts and likewise such an united consent in all the parts when together relating to their conjunction in all the Doctrines Prophecies Promises Types Histories to promote the same thing and such a Dependency each upon other in order to it the whole in its connexion is so issued into one great and common end as must needs argue a further and greater design in producing the whole then what any Individual Men could possibly have at several distant Times in writing the paâ—ticular Parts Thirdly 'T is such a harmony as has been and still is dayly more and more discoâ—erable to us by the Accidents of Time And the products of Ages and Generations have shewed us much of it that lay hid and we knew not of before The more experience we have of this Book the more we find it at unity with it self and the more we search into it the deeper harmony still we discover Every Age proves a fresh Interpreter and the successive Revolutions of this whole world reveal to us more and more of its rare and admirable Concord and we come to find things that seemingly most differ'd in the highest and safest agreement Which when we consider by how many several Pens and at how many several and distant times this Book was handed down to us could not be the effect of any Humane Artifice nor is it a thing that any Writers by the strength of their own abilities could possibly in their own Times design or provide for Nor can we suppose it the effect of any other cause but an Infinite Comprehension and Foresight And that the Writers of this Book were in all times guided in what they wrote by the Supreme Wisdome of that one God who is constant to himself and the Same for ever This consideration of the Pen-men God made use of for the Writing of this book and those Humane circumstances that attended their doing it goes thus far That there is at least as much if not More Ground to believe this book upon that single account as there is to Receive any other Humane Authors we are most satisfied in Indeed as rational inducements to credit those men that wrote the Bible considering Who they were that wrote it and how and when and upon what Termes they wrote it as to credit any other Authors we least doubt
his dealings with an Apostate Creature Secondly Such a strange prodigious Excellency appears in the whole business of our Redemption such a floodgate of Divine and Supernatural Truth is let open by it that not only the wisest Men but the Angels themselves look with the highest admiration upon it Indeed all the Ends of God and Men are so attained by it and in a way so sutable to the Nature of Both that nothing but the Boundless Wisdom of God could have contrived it In what a stupendious and unthought-of way is God in all his Attributes Manifested Exalted and Glorified After how excellent a manner is the Evil of the World both in respect of the Guilt and Dominion of it obliterated and expunged To how astonishing a degree is the whole Interest of Man-kind provided for And to how great a Happiness here and hereafter is the World recovered And this in a Way and by Means far out of the reach of the wisest Thoughts by the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel In which there are three things of singular remark First That a Man is brought thereby to as near a converse with God in the truest exercise of his Rational Faculties as our Nature will bear and as can be had in this World considering that infinite distance there is between the Nature of God and our present composure Secondly The greatest present and future happiness is proposed to Man-kind upon such qualified Terms and with such regard to the Impotency of Humane Nature as is admirable to consider 'T is not made ultimately to depend upon Perfection of Action but Sincerity of Intention Thirdly Provision is made for the greatest and noblest Homage that Man-kind can pay unto God Man is brought to do the Most he can in a way most sutable to his Being as a Free and Rational Agent and yet to the highest Self-resignation and God has the Glory of all his Actings Never such Sanctity and Conformity to the Divine Nature Never such willing and chosen Obedience Never such inward integrity and love to God nor such self-denyal for God as the Gospel produceth And yet men still depending upon Divine Assistance for all this The glory of the Whole redounds to God His goodness alone is magnified Man is so debased and God so exalted Man becomes so Happy in that Debasement and God so Glorious and both in a way so suitable to the Creator of all things and a Creature Indeed the Righteousness of Man is introduced in such a Subordination to the Righteousness of God as fills us with the highest Admiration and could never have been the effect of any Human Projection The manner also by which the Scriptures have introduced the full and perfect discovery of Christ from the beginning is such the design of it appears so to be laid as evidently points us to God The whole Scriptures even the difficultest parts of them seem in a wonderful way to issue and unravel themselves into Christ as their great and common End If we dissect the Bible and rip up the Entrails of both Testaments after how excellent a manner does Christ appear to be the great Soul of the Whole And how strange and prodigious a vein of Divine Wisdom do we perceive running throughout all the Parts relating to Him What a curious piece of Divine Skill to any considering Mind is the Scripture-Method of revealing our Saviour In what peculiar unthought-of yet strangely proper and agreeable Expressions is he promised In what deeply Mysterious yet fully significant Types and Shadows represented What a dark and obscure yet lively and compleat Image was drawn of him under the Law With what un-imaginable variety of Predictions and Prophesies was he foretold And with what a strange concurrence of all parts of the Old Testament was Christ brought forth in the New The New Testament is such a Counterpart of the Old and the Old such a Justification of the New and between both there appears such a harmony resulting from such a strange variety about this Matter as none but God himself could ever have tun'd them into And indeed the whole of this business both for Matter and Manner appears an eminent effect of divine Wisdom and cannot be ascribed to any other cause Secondly We find the Laws contained in this Book to be of such a nature that they reach the Inside as well as the Outside of all Man-kind Pierce into the Secrets of every Man 's own Breast govern a Man 's most retired Thoughts speak with absolute Authority to the Grounds and Principles the Design and Tendency of all mens Actions And this seems much to evidence their Divinity Who but God himself can exercise a Dominion over the Mind speak to the Heart and judge of the first and invisible risings of disobedience there Two things upon this account are very considerable from what we find in this Book First That 't is throughout equally directed to the mind and to the thoughts of men as well as their outward Actings Forbids inward coveting and lusting upon the same penalty that it does the grossest Practice of evil This as 't was never done in any Heathen Laws so 't were absurd for any Humane Authority to attempt it because things of that nature are onely connizable by an Infinite Knowledge Secondly This Book does not only pretend to an invisible dominion in that kind But it makes such a discovery to us of the inside of the World speaks so exactly to what we find within our selves does so effectually command us has such a justification from every man 's own Breast that we cannot but reasonably suppose that God himself was the Author of it Who but He that perfectly knows what is in Man could have encompassed him round with such a Law A Law that divides between the Soul and the Spirit and is a discerner of the Thoughts of the Heart Who but He could have given such an exact Rule to the manifold Thoughts and Inventions of Men There 's not a private Closet in any Man's Soul into which the force of this Law does not some way or other extend it self There 's not a Mental Case can happen that 's left undetermined but falls under some Regulation or other from this Book In short Here 's a Book that tells us the Good and Evil of all our Thoughts becomes a perfect Law to our Inward parts punctually speaks to all that 's in our Hearts Nay tells us more than we before knew of our selves and yet find to be true Is not this likely to be the Voice of God None but he that made us that sees within us and from a Supream Soveraignty over us judges upon the Whole that belongs to us can we reasonably imagine could have promulg'd such a Law Thirdly The design and tendency of this Book and the influence it hath upon Humane Life does greatly perswade us that 't is from God and can have no other Author The evident tendency of it is to