are the reasonable bounds of all such future debates as are bottom'd upon them but ought not to be imposed when the principles themselves are in question nor upon such who make it their business to oppose them as erroneous and mistaken When two Mabumetans are in dispute the authority of the Alchoran is to them a proper Umpirage because a principle granted by both But when a Mahumetan disputes with a Christian the proof of the Alchoran it self must precede any proof he can make of Religion from thence because whatever is it self under question and doubt can never be a Rule to determine other controversies by Nor ought this the fact whereof is so verified to us to seem strange that men should often mistake and generally differ and divide upon all such acquired principles as they do that 't is hard if not impossible to find an instance wherein the whole World have been able universally to take one step together beyond those first and irrisistible institutes of Knowledge and those primary Elements of a rational Being 'T is no way strange to see what is laid as a foundation by one should seem an absolute nullity in the mind of another What one man resigns up himself to as his guide another should reject with contempt If we consider first the difficulty wherewith all acquired knowledg is attained and the various paths men tread towards it How hard it is to reduce things to a Harmony with the rational Nature With what labour and sweat of the mind we come to measure out things by the line of our Reason and to find out those proper Mediums of demonstration that lie in a direct line to the truth of any proposition And how natural is it to doubt and object to the utmost in all rational progression Secondly with what various abilities the World is capacitated for all intellectual attainments and how differently men do improve their knowing faculty First principles arise from the Truth of our Reason in its naked existence but all second Principles from the exercise and improvement of it How few be there that travel so far as their own Reason would guide them or suffer that noble faculty to do what it would do What unequal concerns have Mankind about Truth 'T is the Jewel and delight of some 'T is an absolute Drug to others Some men make the Talent of their Reason ten Talents oothers fold up their knowing faculty in the slumber of a drowzie sensuality The greatest part of the World sit down satisfied with what they do know not what they might know And choose a lazy enjoyment of ignorance and errour rather then an inquisitive possession of Truth Men are not only born of several Statures in the knowing part but they continually render themselves so by the various and different improvement of those abilities they possess Thirdly the faculty of our Reason it self renders all things capable of dispute and debate that are not bounded with visible contradiction to its own Being and are beyond the limits of those primary Laws it necessarily gives to it self and makes various determinations about all such disputable matters and very often where we may well suppose an equal ability on both sides men differ about the same thing The cause whereof must not be imputed to any innate defect in the rational Nature as if God had made us with a lame faculty for whoever denies the truth of that must needs retort the lie to himself because he has no other faculty to judge by but the true Reason of it lies collaterally either first From the difficulty relative to our Reason in the Objects 't is conversant about from whence may well be supposed to arise various and different Sentiments for all things are not in their own Nature capable of positive determinations we meet with few things without some difficulty but with very many things that greatly pose us with some things so much out of our reach that they exceed all bounds of comprehension are beyond the Verge of Problems and serve only to shew us the limits of a finite understanding Or Secondly from the want of such perfect information as is requisite to ground a compleat and perfect Judgment upon There being not a little share of uncertain guess and conjecture mingled with most of our Knowledge of things which nothing but experience can deliver us from Or Thirdly which is most general and an undeniable evidence of Mans fall From the Byass of some Interest or Concern whereby Men are engaged or some natural propensity and inclination they are born with that opposeth and undiscernedly prevails over the true and genuine issues of Reason inslaves them to appetite and sways the Judgment another way 'T was therefore a prudent observation that one made heretofore upon those various Sects that arose amongst the Philosophers in Graece that Qui fuerunt ingenio severo rigido moroso querulo aroganti ij Stoicismum suns amplecti qui vero fuerunt ingenio molli stadiosi tranquillitatis atij ij fuerunt Epicurei qui denique fuerunt ingenio civili modestoque liberali ij Peripateticorum Doctrinam sunt secuti And Aristotle in his Discourse of the Summum Bonum sayes Vnumquemque prout animo affectus est ita de Summâ— Rono judicare atque inde oriri quod alij Summum Bonum collecant in Divitiis alij in Honoribus alij in Voluptate 'T is from hence and from those many other circumstantial impediments we are liable to in all our rational determinations and not from the faculty of our Reason in it self considered that hath been derived that great variety of Judgment and Opinion whereby the World in all the Ages of it hath been divided Of this second sort of acquired and accidental Principles is Mens assent to and belief of the Scriptures as a Book penned by Divine Inspiration and being of extraordinary Mission from God 'T is not of those first born Principles of Reason from which we cannot dissent without an apparent absurdity and therefore is not within the compass of those first praerequisites to all debate and discourse and the standing boundaries of all Ratiocination but is of such a Nature as admits mens doubts quaeries and debates about it And the absolute positive belief of it is not to be imposed upon any man but all men reasoned and discoursed into an assent to it upon such grounds as are most suitable to such a subject and mens satisfaction about it Natural Religion is born with men and is connate with their Beings and must be supposed But all supernatural Religion is discoursed into men and makes its entrance that way Though it be true that in all Sciences there must be some Principles granted yet they ought to be no other nor need to be then such as are general and common to all Mankind and such as lie adequate to every mans Reason And not such as are only the property of one party and are peculiar
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
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 the Stoicks thought should be burnt to Ashes and then would follow an immediate restoration of all things But these were but wild and â—oveing Guesses in general no certain determination was Mankind able to make about this matter in particular And yet of how great use is the assurance of it to all the ends of Virtue and Religion and how Sovereign a remedy is it against the terror of Death which Aristotle calls the terriblest of all Terrors to be assured upon safe grounds our Bodies shall be raised again and all the Friends we part with here shall in their Souls and Bodies Re-united Exist for ever But waveing the prosecution of these there be two things in themselves of absolute necessity to the being of all Religion and beyond all possibility of a Natural discovery from whence I shall endeavour to demonstrate the necessity of a Revelation in order to the present and future happiness of Mankind First a certain distinct Knowledge how that Evil we find in Mankind came first to Exist whence the Corruption of Humane Nature came In short how there came to be such a thing as Evil and Sin in the World Secondly how Sin and Guilt arising from the Conscience of it may be removed and Men brought to a Reconciliation with God! and an inward Acquescency about it For the first That there is such a thing as Evil and Sin in Men and Guilt resulting from it needs no proof every mans own Reason determines the Case and the whole transaction of the World is too sad an Evidence of We find in the Prayers of all Nations a Confession of Sin And no worship but some way or other tending to the removal of it which is a publick protest in the Case entered by the whole World against themselves 'T is visible our Inferiour faculties do combate our Superiour and our Wills over Rule us to that which our own Reasons determine against Aristotle in the end of the last Chapter of his first Book of Ethicks confesseth There is somewhat in our Nature that opposeth right Reason Whatever directions the Philesophers and Moralists gave to Conquer our Passions and subdue our Sensual Appetites and to conduct us to Virtue they are all grounded upon this supposal Hierocles a Stoical Philosopher in his Discourse upon the Golden sayings of Pythagoras speaks fully and excellently to this point His words are these Man sayes he is of his own motion inclined to follow the Evil and leave the Good There is a certain strife bred in his affections He hath a free Will which he abuseth bindang himself wholly to encounter the Laws of God And this Freedom it self is nothing else but a Willingness to admit that which is not good rather then otherwise That a certain Knowledge of the Origine of this we call Evil and a clear discovery of the first rise and Cause of it is of absolute necessity to the Being of all Religion and that a Man cannot be Religious as he ought without it is easily proved and will be sufficiently so by a due consideration of these four things First how can we acknowledge Gods Justice in Punishing Mankind and without repining submit to it as we ought unless we know whence this Evil first came what Author it had and how and upon what terms man comes to be guilty of that for which he is punished Secondly how can we be as we ought to be sensible of Gods general or particular favours and adore his goodness in preserving us and providing for us unless we be rightly informed of our own demerits and rebellion again him and that Mankind have deserved a total ruine and subversion which we can never be unless we know the first entrance of evil and the original Cause of it Thirdly how can we properly address our selves to God to repair our ruines unless we perfectly know how the first breach came to be made Lastly how is it possible upon reasonable Grounds to restrain Mankind from Impeaching the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God in making and Governing the world unless we know the first rise and primary Cause of all the disorder we see which is not to be known till we come to the Spring-head of evil and sin With what Impatience did Men use to reproch God and Nature about it as if there were a kind of Malevolens and ill will in the Deity to the happiness of Men One sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor indeed can we well blame the disorder of mens minds that contemplate the present posture of the World and are able to give no satisfying account to themselves how things came at first so to be And that a certain account of evil in its original is impossible to be had without revelation will appear very evident How should any man ever come to discover whence that internal conflict first arose between the Will and the Judgment How a man came to be first so divided against himself one condemning the other No man naturally knows any thing of its Causality nor more of it then that it is so How should any man ever find out from whence or by what means those unrnly lusts and passions those evil and crooked inclinations that naturally infest the minds of men and are a part of themselves that create a guilt in mens own Breasts and prove so ruinous to others came first to exist What footsteps are there in Nature to conduct us to the first cause of these things and the miseries that attend them something indeed we may say Negatively of the Origine of evil but we cannot affirm possitively the least thing about it VVe can much less tell how Mankind came to be wicked then we can tell how they came first to be and yet 't is impossible to know that but by revelation 'T is easie to derive the beings of men in general from some Supreme maker though we can never find out the time when nor the manner how they came first to be made but we can no way at all imagine from whence to derive the evil of their beings or upon what to father the Corruption of humane Nature nor what Date to give it From a Being infinitely perfect and good evil it self could not originally come that is Men could not at the first be made so That we may safely say in the Negative to assert mans Apostacy however any part of the world may dream otherwise 't is demonstrable that man is some way or other degenerated from his Primitive state from the clear evidence of which if we duly consider it results the absolute necessity of a revelation 'T is impossible evil it self should be Con-created with him and be originally appurtenant to him as part of him And 't is thus demonstrable if man had been at the first made as now he is naturally inclined to evil and
Vice had his inclination to evil as well as to that which is good been Created with him his reason would never have approved the one and condemned the other because both natural and upon equal terms in our Constitution To condemn any one part of our original constitution by another had been in it self not only unnatural and unreasonable but it had been directly to reproch our maker and our selves which nothing Created can be supposed to be so Created as naturally to do Nature as 't was first framed could never be so divided against it self A man could never have had any Conscience of evil nor any remorse for it nor could any guilt have been contracted by it had it been as now it is part of himself and at first Created with him 'T is not possible a man should judge in himself that to be evil and repent of it as such which he acted in prosecution of his first make There can be no fault in acting suitably to our original frame and composure nor any punishment due for so doing in the judgment of a rational Being because 't is impossible to do better All Conscience of evil and sin must necessarily arise from an inward conviction that we are not what we ought to be which we must needs be if we be as we were first made VVhenever my Reason tells me I do that which I ought not to do the same reason will tell me I am degenerated and do not what I was first made to do Besides 't is utterly impossible that a man should be originally Made with Opposite Inclinations and an irreconcilable conflict within himself one part condemning another by a Being that is Unity it self in all goodness and one and the same by an infinite Identity in all Perfection We can never with any common sense father Division upon Unity or that which is Imperfect and Evil upon that which is Perfectly Good or primarily derive such a Composition as Man now is from what we know God must needs be Nor can we imagine That inherent Shame we now find in the nature of Mankind relating to much of themselves could be of the Same Date with their first Constitution or that Man should be at the first so created as to be naturally ashamed of any part of Himself or anything relative to his own Being 'T was an Apostacy from what he once was must needs make him turn aside and hide himself from his own eyes 'T was Evil and Guilt must needs be the first Authors of Shame So far we may go in the Negative What we now are is not what we first were But how came the Change Has any ill Genius Since taken up its abode in Humane Nature And imposing upon it Acted it to all this Evil we See Is the world under the Tyranny of any Evil Spirit Or is man-kind degenerated by any Necessary Decay in the course of Nature Or was mans own Will the great root of Evill Came it from a Created Freedom Have men Wilfully defaced themselves If they have When was it done What was the first occasion of doing it Was it done all at once and has it ever since come by Descent and been intailed by a certain Propagation upon the world Or has its entrance been Gradual Were some only the first Authors of it Or has every man in every Age had his share in the Conspiracy In short If we suppose which we ought that Man was Not at first created with an Actual principle of Evil in his breast Whence could it primarily Arise And whence should we come to call it Sin and in the true judgment of Reason Determine against it It must be grounded upon a mans Relation and Duty to God All conscience of Evil and Sin which we have in our own Nature is still with a reference to God to his Nature and to his Will and our Subjection to him If such a thing then as Evil and Sin for they are Conjoyned by the Rational Nature must needs arise from mans Relative Subjection to God it must be by Opposing and Disobeying his Will revealed by some Law And that Law must be either Natural or Supernatural If Natural and Created with him it must needs be the Dictates of his Reason And 't is marvellous hard to conceive how Man while he was intire and untainted in the compleat furniture of his first make should without some very violent Impressions or some very strange concurrence of Accidents go astray from the guide of his own Reason and transgress such a Law as was the chief Ruling part of himself Nor are we able to give to our selves the least satissying account of it If a Law Supernatural What that Law was or How or When or by Whom Transgressed we can never discover Nor so much as make one probable Guess towards it No man will ever find an Answer to these and many other endless Enquiries that searches by the Candle-light of Nature Nor is there any one Way-mark set up to direct us No one thing has so point-blank silenced the whole world in all Ages as this has done How miserably involved in their own Confused notions were the Philosophers about this matter Never arriving at the least glimps of truth in the case Sometimes deriving Evil from the perverseness and malignity of Matter sometimes from I know not what fancyed principle of Discord Nor could they issue their Doubts at last into any better Resolve then that there were Two Supreme Beings one infinitely Good and the other infinitely Evil equally the Cause of both the principles of Good and Evil. And so were fain to Canton the Deity and to put both the Principles upon even termes which directly overthrows the dictates of all right Reason to make room for a Solution of this Problem And should we admit such a Cunning contrivance of Nonsense as two contrary Supremes it would but still further Involve us If a man were so made as he is How came it to pass that both the Deities Agreed in the doing of it and are yet perfectly Opposite and Contrary each to other Did one make the Good part and the other the Ill part Or did the Good Deity make man alone and the other Debauch him and Un-make him after 'T will not be easy in a due manner to Share him Between them And if that we naturally call Evil came originally as well as that we call Good from a Being Eternal and equally Supreme Why should the Judgment of right Reason in man be so much for the One and directly against the Other If it be so the Pedigree of the One is no whit meaner nor baser then the Other Nor is it a thing in it self possible to annex that we mean by Evil or Imperfection from whence it naturally results to what is Eternal because Eternity necessarily includes Perfection and cannot be reasonably supposed without it In such a dismal Wilderness of Ignorance and Error has Mankind wandered about
cannot be admitted as such are all 〈◊〉 them found peculiarly appurtenant to the â—iblâ— and cannot belong to any other Books or Writings or to any other Pretences to Revelation whatsoever Having thus established these two general points First that 't is a thing in it self reasonable and fit to believe that there should be some Revelation made from God to the world some Supernatural Laws promulged as the great Rule of mens lives here and Gods Judgment hereafter And that these Laws should be somewhere or other extant upon Record that Mankind might be fully assured and ascertained about them and that they might be visible to all that there should be some such Book as the Bible pretends to be and that 't is greatly unreasonable to believe the contrary And Secondly that in the Judgment of right Reason there are many general qualifications that must necessarily be appurtenant to such a Revelation wheresoever 't is extant and by which 't is but reasonable that Mankind should make a Judgment of every pretence to it and that all those qualifications are found punctually and peculiarly belonging to the Bible and cannot be applied to any other extant pretences to Revelation whatsoever I shall now proceed to the second thing proposed which was a more distinct and particular proof and endeavour to make it appear that this Book is indeed sent us from Heaven and is in truth that Revelation we have good cause to expect from above and that we have all those Reasons concurring to make us acquiesce in it as such from whence a Judgment in such a case ought finally to result That there is so much Evidence to be given in to prove its Divinity as no man ought to desire nor can reasonably expect more in a matter of such a Nature And so much that where mens corrupt Interests and prejudices are not Predominant will appear sufficient to every impartial enquiry And this shall be prosecuted in this Method I will these several ways consider this Book First In the time of its conveyance to the World Secondly In the way and manner of its conveyance Thirdly In the success and effects of it since its conveyance And lastly In it self in the matter of it as we now find it And from each of these considerations will a signal Testimony be given in to its Divinity and when we have taken a view of the whole we shall find that the Book both in the Matter of it and in all the Circumstances that have at any time attended it does eminently relate it self to God as its Author and cannot be reasonably judged the product of any Humane contrivement whatsoever For the first When we reslâ—ct upon the â—â—me of this Books conveyance we shall find two things of very great weight offering themselves to our consideration First the Antiquity of those things it relates to us and informs us of And Secondly the Antiquity of this 〈◊〉 iâ—â—â—lâ— since composed and delivered to us with such a relation The Contents of this Book â—â—ch aâ— far as the first foundations of the Earth and the Heavens and give us an account of Gods Revelations to Man since his first mâ—â—â— and Original and of an Orall and â—erâ—all intâ—â—â—â—â—â—se between God and the World for two thousand four hundred and old years before it was any where extant upon Râ—â—â—â—d or any part of it written Which no other Bâ—â—â— since the World began so much as makes 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—â—â—ce to If we consider the Revelation Histoâ—â—cally contained in this Book 't is what was 〈◊〉 the beginning and of the same 〈…〉 the World it self If we consider the Edition of it in this Book and the time 〈◊〉 this Books aâ—â—ual Publication with all the aâ—â—â—tional Revelations contained in it we shall find this Book to be the first born in its kind to pâ—ecede all other Writings whatsoever and in truth to be extant while Thales Mileâ—â—us Hamer Hâ—rmes and the most primative writers the world had were unborn and unthought of Moses wrote of the God of Abraham long before any of the Heathen Gods had a written mention made of them God pleasing so to order it that although the Revelations he made to the World were not written from the beginning yet they were written long before any other Writings were extant And his own Laws were first recorded and all other Writings are of a subsequent Date to this Holy Book First I will evidence this in point of fact and shew that it is so that to this Book is indeed due the right of Primogeniture and that all other Books are of a much after-edition And becondly examine what reasonably results from thence toward that proof of the Bible we are about To all which this must be premised that when we speak of the Bible as thus Ancient we intend actually no more of it then the Writings of Moses the whole Contents of the Bible being above four thousand years in a gradual publication and the Bible it self above a thousand and six hundred years in writing for so long it was from the time that Moses writ to St. John the revealer nor need we intend more to justifie the Antiquity of the whole because 't is all there virtually contained all the rest is superstructed upon that as its â—oâ—ndation and every several part of the Bible after Moses till the Top-stone was laid appears evidently to be writ in direct pursuance of what Moses at first delivered and so much St. Paul affirmed before Foelix that he taught nothing but what was long before extant in Moses and the Prophets For the first That the Books of Moses are in fact the most Ancient I find both Jews and Christians have been greatly concerned to make it manifest as judging it a point that did greatly credit their profession and highly justifie that Religion they adhered to Josephus and others of the Jewish writers have much insisted upon it and amongst the Christian Writers Justin Marter Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius Cyrill of Alexandria in his Books against Julian St. Austin and others But most especially Justin Martyr and Eusebius Justin Martyr in his Parenaetick to the Graecians because they used with great Arrogance to boast of the Antiquity of their own Learning and Religion and upon that account to look with great contempt upon others proves against them out of Pagan Authors and those chiefly their own beyond all reasonable denial that the Books of Moses were of much greater Antiquity then the most Ancient Writers they could make a pretence to And that the Christian Religion being the natural issue of those Writings founded upon them and derived from them was no new or upstart invention but indeed the first and most Antient written and unwritten Truth the World was possessed of and the same thing is afterwards more largely and distinctly proved and made good by Eusebius in his Evangelical Preparation Who thus concludes Quare omnibus Diis ac Heroibus Graecorum multo Vetustior
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
such a way that to the best exercise of my Senses and Reason it seems supernatural and miraculous t is all one to me as if it really were so and to my Judgment must needs be of the same prevalency with a miracle it self nor have I the least way to help my self if I am bound simply to subscribe to whatever is attested to by a Miracle and look no further For that must needs go for a Miracle with me which to my senses and reason seems so to be And t is evident such who make those Distinctions do themselves thereby subject the witness of a Miracle to the Doctrine t is brought to confirm For if those they call Miranda and Mirabâ—lia be in all outward appearance as true miracles as they are acknowledged to be they would then have been so called and that distâ—nction had never been made had not the Doctrâ—nâ—s they are severally brought to confirm been â—â—judged a ground â—uâ—licient to Create the â—istâ—nctiâ—n He that tells me 't is not sit to suppose as not consistent with the Justice of God that in a way Supernatural and â—iraâ—uâ—â—us any wâ—â—ness should be given to a Docâ—â—â—â—â— saâ—se anâ— corrupt and yet tells me the Dâ—vâ—l and â—â— men are often permitted with nâ— any mâ—ans left of conviction by power meeâ—ly natural to â—â—ect such a counterfâ—â— of it that to the best Senâ—es and Reasonâ—â— Mankâ—nâ— is not discoverable fiâ—st must neeâ—â— barely â—uppose the counteâ—cit and next say nothing at all to salve the Justice oâ— God about that matter Secondly 'T is against plain Texts of Scripturâ— What the Magicians did in Egypt in opposition to Moses seems to be plainly and undeniably miraculous turning Rods into Serpents waters into Blood and bringing forth multitudes of Frogs out of the Waters by stretching out the Band with a Rod in it cannot beâ—eckoned otherwise And Pharaoh and the Egyptiaus were satisfied they did the same thing in those kinds that Moses did having the same exercise of their Senses and Reason about both and were hardened thereupon And that what Moses did in those particulars was miraculous is plain for God sayes to him in the 7th of Exodus when he first sent him to Pharaoh When Pharaoh shall speak unto thee saying Shew a miracle for you then thou shalt say unto Aaron take thy Rod c. And in the 105 Psalm those things done by Moses are spoken of as miraculous and in the 27 Verse called The â—igns and wonders which God shewed in the Land of Ham of which t is expresly said in Exodus The Magicians did the same In the 13 of Deut. we find there by Gods direction a Caution given If a Prophet arise or a dreamer of dreams that is one pretending to see Visions or one that spake only from dreams which were an inseriour sort of Prophets that saw things more obsemâ—ly of which kind soever it was and shall give thee a Sign or a wonder any Miraculous or Supeâ—natural thing the word signifies and the Sigâ— or the Wonder come to pass if he say let us follow strange gods which thou hast not known Thou shalt not hearken to him for the Lord your God proveth you c. In the new Testament our Saviour tells us in the 24 of Matthew of false Prophets that should arise and shew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great Wonders and miracles even such as if it were possible would deceive the very Elect. And in the 13 of the Revelation we read of another Beast rising up that doth great Wonders so that he maketh firâ— come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sigh of men and dâ—ceiveth them that dwell on the Earth â—y Reason of those miracles which he hath power to do in the sight â—f the Beast And in the 19 Chapter we are tolâ— of the taking of the false Prophet who wrougâ—t miracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in the same Book we read of The Spirits of Dâ—vils woâ—king miracles Thirdâ—y 'T is against great Evidence of History for though I doubt not but that for the most part the World has been abuâ—ed and deluded with pretensions this way which we have good Reason to think when we consider what a superiour power to what is amongst men the Devils have by their Angelical Natuâ—e and what sâ—â—ange and secret operations there are in Nature it self of which we can give yet no better account in many things for ought I see then Arislotle did long since when he derived them from invisible Causes that he called Occulâ— qualities and also when we consideâ— how the Woâ—ld in all Ages has generally doted upon the Art and Practice of Magick the Reason of which Pliny sayes was not only because such stâ—ange things were brought to pass by it but because there was also a concurrence in it of three such eminent Sciences as Physick Mathematicks and Religion yet 't is no way reasonable to reject all the account we have in Story of Supernatural and Miraculous things that were brought to pass in the Heathen World Nothing more frequent in History then relations of such things it seems an unreasonable resistance of Historical Evidence to think there was noâ—hing real of that kind that there was nothing supernatural in all the business of Esculapius of Iarchas so famous amongst indian Brachmanâ—s in the times of the Apostles Tespesion amongst the Gymnosophists of Ethiopia Simon Magus of whom we have such strange Stories and most especially Apollonius Tyenaeus who liv'd in the time of Domitian though leasily grant much of what they all pretended to was visibly but a Counterfâ—it of it nor can I wholly disbelieve what I find in the Roman Story about Clauda Vestalis Tucia and other of the Vestal Virginâ— nor many other reports I find in credible Authors about such things especially that Story of Vespasians curing a lame and withered I high by treading upon it and a Blind man in Egypt by spitting upon his Eyes of which latter Cure Tacitas and Suetonius Historians of great Credit both gives us a very full and perfect account and very exactly agree in the Circumstances of it and as Dr. Jackson says in his Book upon the Creed both those Cures were well known to the most Judicious Roman writers of those times and so constantly avouched by them as can leave no place sayes he for suspition in Ages following Fourthly The admission of the contrary is no way destinctive to those natural notions we have of Gods Attributes and his providential Rule over the World because God never puts men under any rational necessity by it to credit a falshood He never permits men to be exercised with any such Trial but when there is Evidence sufficient accompanying it to assure us 't is but a Trial of our stability and so intended 'T is no way unreasonable to suppose that God who is infinitely wise and above us in the ways and Methods of his Supreme Rule should for Holy and excellent Ends we cannot
reach exercise the World with the greatest Trials even Trials from an appearance of his Almighty power so long as he still affords a plainly Superiour Evidence to Truth and so Circumstantiates things that there is abundant ground of distinction To make this appear is of chiefest concern in discoursing of this matter how Gods Miracles can be an infallible Evidence if the Devil and Ill men be sometimes inabled for so it is to be understood for by no inherent power of their own can they do it to act also in a Supernatural and miraculous way for if a miracle by whomsoever wrought be not a sufficient proof of any Doctrine 't is wrought in confirmation of t will then be said the Testimony from miracles seems to to be much Invalidated and Mankind to be left at great uncertainty about it That God when he is pleased to establish Divine truth to the world by the power of miracles does make that Testimony unquestionable and clearly Distinguish the witness given by His miracles from any witness the Devil or his Instruments can give by any either seeming or real operations of that kind will very evidently appear these three ways First from the order of his proceeding Secondly from the manner of his proceeding and Thirdly from the maâ—ter about which he proceeds First God maks the miracles he works from Heaven an infallible Testimony by the order of his proceeding He primarily and in the first place before false Doctrine and worship can have any such pretence by the power of Miracles settles and fixes his own truth and makes that so setled a Rule to us to try all other Doctrines by God has been ever beforehand with the Devil and his Instruments in this kind Nor have they ever been suffered to attempt the World this way till truth was First so unquestionably setled that there was abundant ground to secure unbyassed and unprejudiced men from any seduction were the temptation to it never so great This was the case at first under the Old Testament God by most eminent and undeniable miracles from Heaven established the Doctrine and Worship published by Moses and thereby fixed that as the great Standard and Rule of all Religion before the Devil had ever attempted to impose any Systeme of his own upon the World in such a way and that being so setled aâ—ter-propâ—ecie was not to be judged of singly by a power of working Miracles God himself had directed the contrary but also by its coâ—foâ—mity to that established Rule and therefore if any Prophet arose though attended with a Miraculous power and indeavouâ—ed to introduce a Doctrine destructive to whâ—t was so already established and to withdraw them from the worship of that God to whom by Moses his Law they were Primarily subjected they were obliged not to hearken to him but to reject his Doctrine as a vile and wicked temptation And 't is of great remark and an eminent justification of Gods proceedings in this kind that the most that ever the Devil was suffered to do was at first in opposition to Moses when he by a power of miracles came to settle that Divine Law for never any false Prophet after could reach to do what the Magicians then did and God in that very way plainly and openly to satisfie the World for ever after in this matter determines the Cause against him And Moses so far out went the Magicians in a Miraculous way that they were forced to this confession This is the singer of God By which expression seems not to be meant that this particular work of turning Dust into Lice in which the Magicians faâ—led is an effect of a Power Divine and Supernatural and all that was done before both by Moâ—es and us which were works every whit as great was done by a power meeâ—ly natural But This is the singer of God that is To stop us that now we have tried to do the like we find we cannot that we should â—e able to go no â—â—â—ther that our power of working Miracles should fail us and be taken from us and Moses should be still able to proceed So under the New Testament the Gospel was first eminently established by uncoâ—â—ollable miracles as the great Standard and Rule of all suture Doctrines And acquaints us that there is no further Revelation to be expected before the wonders and Miracles of Seducers were extant And when God has by a miraculous power once unquestionably established his own truth all pretences to Miracles be they feigned or real they come too late Truth is in possession and by that all things are to be tried and whatever is found opposite to it is but reasonably to be reckoned as a Trial and a temptation only to prove us The Broad seal of Heaven is already solemnly and openly set And let the Devil bring what shews he can of the same impression they are still to be rejected And whatever the Devil has been at any time able to do of that kind has been but this second hand work and to seduce men from a truth beforehand unquestionably estabâ—lished and to which there was Reason sufficient whatever could be done to perswade to the contrary for all men to adhere And this made St. Austin when the Donatists much urged upon him in their justification a power they had of working Miracles to tell them The truth was that way fully setled before and we had warning enough not to be seduced from the Orthodox Doctrine of the Gospel by any such pretensions Secondly The manner of Gods proceeding in his working of Miracles to ascertain the World does sufficiently secure us against the danger of being seduced by Impostors that way and any Miracles they can produce if we consider First The grand occasions upon which God still works them Of how vast concernment was the rearing up of both Testaments and justifying the descent of Christ into Humane Nature Secondly The number of them How far have Divine Miracles out-gone all others in that kind Thirdly The Eminency of them Fourthly The Perspicuity of them to all sorts of men Fifthly Their performance without the least outward means wherein there might possibly lye a deceit Sixthly The long and lasting continuance of them In all these respects are Divine Miracles differenced from all Diabolical Actings that way which for the most part have been fictitious and discoverable so to be and when real comparatively but few and in no sort bearing any proportion to any of these Circumstances wherewith Divine Miracles have been openly accompanied And 't is also to be noted that very many of those Miracles we are told of amongst the Heathens admitting them true were not wrought to confirm or justifie their Religion but upon other occasions often for ends concealed and wrapt up in the Counsels of God which we know not of and sometimes for other ends then to establish their Religion visible as it seems to be in the case of Vespasian whom God had designed
such attempts have still been discovered and openly sham'd How many Hereticks have carryed about their own Confutation whilest they possessed this Book and yet have not been suffer'd to change or alter such passages as have been most Cogent against themselves The Bible passed through the Arian-world with all those plain Evidences it contains of the Divinity of our Saviour When Emperours Câ—uncils and indeed upon the matter the whole Christian-world wâ—â—etainted with that Heresie the Bible scapd the infection when the alteration of two or three plain texts would have done them more service then all the volumns they wrote in their own Defence And great designs were on foot that way yet they were still disappointed as is evident by what we find in St. Ambrose The Jews to this day need no other Confutation then their own Bible Moses and the Prophets in whom they trust are theiâ— greatest Accusers All sort of Hereticks to this day are possessed of the Bible as Uriaâ— was of Davids Letters to Joab which contained his own Ruine and as Goliaâ— was of hiâ— sword which served at last to cut off his own head Secondly The success and effect of this Book since its conveyance gives in a Signal and most undeniable Evidence to its Divinity If we consider the ways and means by which it has introduced it self and upon what terms the Religion contained in it has gained that reception we find it has had amongst Man-kind 'T is of admirable consideration that a Religion directly opposite to the whole corrupt interest of humane Nature and calling men to the highest Mortification and Self-denial upon the account of an Invisible World to come nakedly proposed by men upon a worldly account always inconsiderable without any the least Earthly supports A Religion perioding the Jewish Religion and totally subverting all other Religions A Religion opposed disowned to the utmost by the Jews themselves though it derived it self wholly from them and pretended to be the natural product of their Religion and the true Completion of all they believed and expected a Religion in oppostion of which the whole World besides were agreed and indeed both Jews and Heathens perfectly concurred I say 'T is of admirable consideration that such a Religion so circumstanced against all the Religion the Wisdom and the Force of the World should at first make its entrance and be embraced by so great a part of Man-kind and within the space of thirty years or thereabouts after its first Publication for so it was be spread not only throughout all parts of the Roman Empire but also amongst the Parthians and remotest Heathens To no other Cause but it s own Innate worth and the Divine evidence from Heaven attending it can it with any tolerable colour of reason be ascribed The zeal men had for all other Religions in which they were Educated sufficiently prompted them to hate abhor and persecute it The Learning and the Wisdom of the whole World was employed to render it despicable and to bring it under contempt And all the force of the Roman Empire was every where violently at work for its total Suppression and Extirpation And yet against all these seeming invincible oppositions did the Bible prevail The power of that great Empire could not withstand the naked proposal of a simple Truth And both Judaism in the main of it as a National Establismment and Heathenism finally fell before it This Book and the Religion it contains as it avows it self to be solely from God and comes to us with a commanding voice from Heaven speaks to us in God's own Name and upon that single account requires our obedience And those that wrote it neither had nor pretended to have any other Authority but what was Divine and from Above So it has introduced it self by Means suitable thereunto Never was there at first any Force used to compel men nor any Arts practised to deceive men about this matter No man can prove out of any Story that ever the Apostles or the Primitive Professors of this Religion raised Arms to introduce or promote it Or that any Humane Authority did countenance or assist it The Christian Religion has this to say for it self above all others That 't is to debtor to the Sword either in a Civil or Military way Neither the Sword of Justice nor the Sword of War can lay any claim to it as a Product of theirs The greatest part of the Roman World â—ad embraced it and were become Criâ—tians before Constantine publickly owned it It ows nothing to any violent course for its Primitive Reception nor indeed to any Humane contrivement Neither the subtilty of Philosophers nor the Eloquence of Orators assisted in this matter It never advanced one step further in its first publication than its own Innate Excellency the Divine evidence attending it procured it acceptance nor did it ever gain a Convert but where it could approve it self by Divine Evidences to the Reasons Consciences of men to be Divine I make a peremptory demand to all Antiscriptural men to grant me this as a truth not capable of any denial That for three hundred years together the Gospel by its own Divine strength withstood the most furious and violent Winds Tides of all humane opposition and by no other assistance but what was purely Divine travelled most parts of the World over It offered it self to mens reception upon no other terms but by an Appeal to the Judgment and Concience and was contenteâ— to stand and fall by the Rational determination of every mans own Breast and sâ— prevailed Such who embraced it haâ— no other way of Contest but Holiness oâ— living and Patience in suffering 〈◊〉 both which they were very Eminent To the first their very Enemies the Heathens bore testimony Pliny and others speak of the Christians harmless and holy behaviour For the latter Never was any Religion so begun and propagated by such indefatigable Sufferings How few Martyrs for Religion can the Heathen World boast of If we admit Socrates for one how few Successors had he And those few they pretend to seem by all Circumstances to be such as had no other end but to perpetuate their own names to Posterity by suffering for such things as they thought the World would highly magnifie But for Christian-Religion we find innumerable sufferings of Men and Women of all Ranks Qualities Ages and Conditions In many of which we cannot suppose any thing but Conscience and hopes of a future Reward could possibly be the Motive Being persons of such mean parts and conditions as could no way be thought to design a Name to themselves hereafter Nor indeed can we reasonably suppose an esteem upon Earth and vain-glory could be the ground upon which any of them suffer'd when we consider they suffered for a Religion the very name of which was every where Odious and Detestable and the Profession of it brought nothing but shame and contempt It swims down to