all shall be Man's happiness after this life SEeing then the Soul is of a nature that in it self hath no ground or cause of its own corruption and seeing also that God hath given us many signs and tokens whereby we ought to understand that it is his will the soul should survive the body what more noble end can be propounded to Man than the state of eternal happiness which in effect is the same that Plato and the Pythagoreans spake of saying that it were good for man if he could become most like unto God SECT XXV Which to obtain Men must get the true Religion NOW what this happiness is and how 't is to be attained Men may search by probable conjectures but if any thing concerning this matter be revealed by God that must be held for a most certain and undoubted truth which since Christian Religion pretends to bring unto us above others it shall be examined in the next Book whether or no Men ought to give credit thereunto and assuredly build their faith thereon The Second Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. To prove the Truth of Christian Religion IT is not our purpose in this Second Book to handle all the Points of Christianity but after our hearty Prayers made to Christ the King of Heaven that he would grant us the assistance of his holy Spirit whereby we may be enabled for such a Work we shall only endeavour to make it appear that the Christian Religion it self is most true and certain Which I thus begin SECT II. Here is showen that Jesus lived THAT there was such a Person as Jesus of Nazareth who lived heretofore in Judaea when Tiberius was Emperor of Rome is not only most constantly professed by all Christians who are scattered over the face of all the Earth but acknowledged by all the Jews who now are or ever wrote since those times Nay the very Pagan Writers that is such as are neither of the Jewish nor Christian Religion namely Suetonius Tacitus Pliny the younger and many more after them do testifie the same SECT III. And was put to an ignominious Death THAT the same Jesus was nailed to a Cross by Pontius Pilate Governor of Judaea is confessed also by all Christians though it might seem very disgraceful to them to be the Worshippers of such a Lord. The Jews also do the like though they are not ignorant that upon this account they are very odious to Christians in whose Dominions they live because their Ancestors were the Men that moved Pilate and perswaded him to pass the sentence of Death upon Jesus The Pagan Writers also now named have delivered the same to Posterity Yea the Acts of Pilate were extant a long time after from whence this might have been proved to which Christians never made their Appeal For neither did Julian himself nor any other adversaries of Christianity ever make doubt hereof So that hence it appears that there was never any more certain story than this which we see may be confirmed not only by the testimonies of some few Men but also by the approbation of several Nations otherwise disagreeing and jarring among themselves SECT IV. Yet afterward was worshipped by prudent and godly Men. ALL which though it be most true yet we see how that thorowout the remotest parts of the World he is worshipped as Lord and that not in our days only or those which are lately passed but ever since the time that this was done to wit ever since the Reign of Nero the Emperor when many People that professed this worship of Christ and Christian Religion were for that cause tortured and put to death as Tacitus and others do witness SECT V. The cause whereof was for that in his life time there were Miracles done by him NOW among such as professed Christianity there were always many Persons who were both judicious and not unlearned Such as to say nothing now of the Jews Sergius Governor of Cyprus Dionysius Areopagita Polycarpus Justinus Irenaeus Athenagoras Origen Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus with divers others who almost all being brought up in other religions and having no hopes of any Wealth or Preferment by Christianity yet became worshippers of this Man that died so ignominious a death and exhibited due honour to him as God Of which no other reason can be given but this alone that they made diligent enquiry as became prudent Men in a matter of greatest moment and found that what was bruited abroad concerning the Miracles wrought by Christ was true and relied upon firm witnesses As the curing and that with his word only and before all the People divers grievous and inveterate Diseases the restoring of Sight to him that was born blind the multiplying of a few Loaves more than once for the feeding many Thousands who could testifie the truth of it the recalling of the Dead to Life again and many more of the like kind The report of which things had then such a certain and undoubted original that neither Celsus nor Julian when they wrote against Christians durst deny there were some Prodigies done by Christ and the Hebrews in the Talmudical Books do openly confess it SECT VI. Which Miracles were not wrought either by the help of Nature or assistance of the Devil but meerly by the Divine Power of GOD. THAT these wondrous Works were not wrought by any Natural Power it is manifest by this very thing that they are called wonders and miracles Nor is it possible by the force of nature that any grievous Diseases and Infirmities should be cured meerly by a Man's voice or by the vertue of a Touch and that even upon a suddain And if such Works could have any way been ascribed to a Natural efficacy it would have been said before now either by those that were professed enemies of Christ while he lived upon Earth or by those that have been Adversaries of his Gospel since his death By the like Argument we may prove that they were not jugling delusions because they were done openly in the sight of all the People amongst whom divers of the Learned sort did malign and bear ill will unto Christ not without envy observing all that he did Add further that the like Works were often iterated and the effects thereof were not transitory but permanent and durable All which being duly pondered it must needs follow as the Jews have confessed that these Works proceeded from a more than Natural or Humane Power that is from some Spirit either good or evil That they proceeded not from any evil Spirit may be proved because that the Doctrine of Christ for the confirmation whereof these Works were wrought was quite opposite and contrary to bad Spirits For it prohibits the worshipping of evil Angels and disswades Men from all uncleanness of affections and manners wherein such Spirits are much delighted And this is also plain for that wheresoever the Doctrine of the Gospel was received and established there followed
so different in Rites was allowed as the Egyptian the Phrygian the Grecian the Thuscan and the sacred rites of Rome Even then generally the Jews alone were made ridiculous as appears by Satyrs and Epigrams written upon them and sometimes also suffered banishment And as for Christians they were afflicted with most cruel punishments no other cause whereof can be given than that both these Sects did worship one God whose honour was impeached by the multitude of such Gods as the Heathen adored who did not so much vie one with another as with Him Thirdly this was manifest by the manner of their worship which no way beseemed any good and honest Spirit namely by humane bloud by the running of naked Men in the Temples by Pageants and dancings full of nasty filthiness such as may be seen at this day among some People of America and Africa who yet sit in the darkness of Gentilisme Yea which is more there both anciently were and now are People who worshipt evil Spirits which they knew and professed to be such As the Persians Arimanius the Greeks those they called Cacodaemons the Latines their Vejoves and now some Aethiopians and Indians such like Deities than which nothing can be imagined more impious For what is religious worship but a testimony of an infinite goodness that a Man doth acknowledge to be in him whom he worshippeth which if it be exhibited unto a bad Spirit it is false and deceitful implying in it no less crime than high treason forasmuch as the honour due unto the King is not only withdrawn from him but is confer'd upon his enemy and one that hath traiterously revolted from Him Moreover vain is that perswasion which they conceive of GOD that he is good and therefore will not punish this offence because they think so to do were contrary to his goodness For mercy or clemency that it may be just hath its bounds and limits and where wickedness abounds beyond measure there justice doth as it were necessarily require the infliction of punishment Neither is it less blameable that they pretend Fear constrains them to honour wicked Spirits since He that is perfectly Good is as communicative also and therefore the Author of all other Natures which are his productions And if he be then it follows that he hath absolute power and dominion over all creatures as over his workmanship so that nothing can be done by any of them which he hath a desire to hinder Which things being certainly true we may easily gather that evil Spirits can no further do any hurt to him who hath God most high and most transcendently good favourable to him than that God for the sake of some good or other shall think fit to permit Nor can a Man obtain any thing of those evil Spirits by his Prayers which is not to be rejected Because he that is evil is then worst of all when he feigns himself to be good and the gifts of Enemies are mere snares and treacheries SECT IV. Against the worship which in Paganisme is exhibited to Men after their Death MOreover there were heretofore and now also are Pagans that tell us they give honour and worship to the Souls of Men departed But first they should have here also made some manifest distinction between this honour and that which is due unto the most high God Then again all prayers made to them are but vain and fruitless unless those Spirits were able to give us something of which their worshippers have no certainty nor is there any more ground to say that they can than that they cannot But another thing is worst of all to wit that many of them to whom such glory is given by the Heathen in their life time were notoriously wicked and addicted to one filthy vice or other Thus Bacchus was a drunkard and Hercules effeminate Romulus proved a very villain to his Brother and Jupiter a traytor to his own Father So that their honour redounds to the disgrace of the true GOD and of Vertue which he loves whilst Vices which are inticing enough of themselves it recommends to Men by Religion SECT V. Against worshipping of Stars and Elements OF more antiquity than this was the worshipping of Stars and of the Elements as Fire Water Ayr and Earth wherein great ignorance and folly was committed For prayers are the greatest part of religious worship which cannot without folly be directed to any object save to intelligent natures but sense tells us that the Elements as we call them are no such things And as for the Stars if any say they are he will never be able to prove it since that no such matter can be collected from their operations and influences which demonstrate their nature but rather we may gather the contrary by their motion which is not variable like to that in things indued with liberty of will but constant and unalterable Besides we have shown before that the course and motion of the Stars is appointed for the use of Men whence Man ought to acknowledge himself to be both liker to God than they in his better part as also more dear unto him And therefore much injury should he do to his own worth and dignity if he submit himself to such things as God hath given to be serviceable unto him whereas on the contrary he ought rather to render thanks for them which cannot do or it is not proved can do so much for themselves SECT VI. Against worshipping of Bruit-beasts BUT nothing is so unworthy as this that Men especially the Egyptians sunk at length into such a sottishness as to worship brute Beasts For though in some of them there appears some shadow as we may call it of understanding yet that understanding is nothing if we compare it with Man's For they can neither express their inward conceptions by distinct words or by writing nor do works of divers kinds no nor works of the same kind after divers manners much less can they attain to the knowledge of numbers dimensions and the celestial motions Whereas on the other side Man by the force and diligence of his wit catches all manner of Animals though never so strong whether wild Beasts Birds or Fishes and so masters them that in some measure he makes them subject to his Laws as Elephants Lyons Horses and Oxen. Yea from those which are hurtful he draws to himself some profit as Medicines from Serpents And hath this use and benefit from them all which is utterly unknown to them that he contemplates the composition of their Bodies the scituation of their parts and comparing both their species and their kinds one with another learns from thence also his own dignity as much as the structure of Man's body is more perfect and noble than that of the rest Which things if any Man rightly consider he will be so far from considering other living Creatures as Gods that he will rather look upon himself as constituted by the most High God
lived in those times and was present when the things were done In like manner it ought to suffice us that whosoever wrote the Books we speak of both lived in the primitive Age and were endued with Apostolical gifts For if any body will say that these qualities might be feigned as the very Names might be in other Writings he says that which is not credible viz. that they who every where press the study of truth and piety would for no cause at all make themselves guilty of the crime of forgery which is not only detestable among all good Men but by the Roman Laws was to be punished with death SECT V. These Pen-men writ the Truth because they had certain knowledge of what they writ THIS therefore must be allowed that the Books of the new covenant were written by those Authors whose Names they bear or by such as bear sufficient witness of themselves To which if we farther add that they were also well acquainted with the matters whereof they wrote and had no purpose to lye or dissemble it will follow that the things which they committed to writing were both certain and true because every untruth proceeds either from ignorance or from a wicked desire to deceive As touching Matthew John Peter and Jude they were all of the society and fellowship of those Twelve whom Jesus did chuse to be witnesses of his Life and Doctrine so that they could not want notice of those things which they did relate The same may be said of James who was either an Apostle or as some think the next a-kin to Jesus and by the Apostles consecrated Bishop of Hierusalem Paul also could not erre through lack of knowledge about those Points which he professeth were revealed to him by Jesus himself reigning in Heaven nor could he or Luke either who was an inseparable companion to him in his travels be deceived about those things which were done by himself This Luke might easily know the certainty of those things which he writ concerning the life and death of Jesus For he was born in the places next adjoyning to Palestina through which Countrey when he travelled he saith he spake with such persons as were eye-witnesses of the things that were done For doubtless besides the Apostles with whom he had familiarity there lived many others at that time who had been cured by Jesus and had seen him both before his Death and after his Resurrection If we will give credit to Tacitus and Suetonius in those things which happened a long time before they were born because we are confident that they diligently enquired into the truth thereof how much more ought we to believe this Writer who saith that he received all the things which he relates from them that had seen the same It is credibly reported of Mark that he was a constant companion with Peter so that whatsoever he writ are to be lookt upon as dictated by Peter who could not be ignorant thereof Besides the same things that he writes are almost all extant in the Writings of the Apostles Neither could the Author of the Apocalypse be deceived or deluded in those Visions which he saith were sent unto him from Heaven Nor he that writ the Epistle to the Hebrews erre in those things which he professeth either to be inspired into him by the Spirit of God or else taught him by the Apostles SECT VI. As also because they would not lye THE other reason we spake of to prove the truth of the said Holy Writers because they had no will to tell an untruth is twisted with that which we handled above when in general we proved the truth of Christian Religion and of the history of the Resurrection of Christ Those that will accuse any Witnesses for the pravity of their will must produce something by which it may be thought credible their will might be diverted from uttering the truth but this cannot be averred of the said Authors For if any do object and say that they acted in their own cause and did their own business we must see why this should be thought their cause and interest Not that they might get any thing by it in this World or thereby avoid any danger when for the sake of this profession they both lost all the goods of this World and ventured upon all manner of dangers This therefore was not their cause and interest but only out of reverence to God which sure doth not perswade Men to lye especially in such a business whereupon depends the everlasting Salvation of Mankind Such an impious piece of villany we cannot believe they could be guilty of if we consider either their Doctrines every where most full of piety or their life which was never yet accused of any wicked deed no not by their greatest Enemies who objected nothing to them but their want of learning and unskilfulness which did not qualifie them sure for inventing falshoods And indeed if there had been the least spice as we speak of fraud and cheating in them they would not themselves have recorded their own faults and preserved the memory of them as of their all forsaking their Master when he was in danger and Peter's denial of him three times SECT VII A Confirmation of the Fidelity of these Authors from the Miracles which they wrought ON the other side God himself gave illustrious testimonies of their Fidelity by working wonders which either they or their Disciples with great boldness publickly avouched adding also the names of the persons places and other circumstances So that the truth or falshood of their assertion might easily have been discovered by the inquisition of the Magistrate Amongst which it is worthy our observation which they have most constantly delivered both concerning the use of Tongues which they had never learned among many thousand Men and their curing the diseases of the body upon a suddain in the sight of the People Neither were they any whit dismayed with fear either of the Jewish Magistrates of those times whom they knew to be most maliciously set against them or of the Romans who were far from having any good will to them and they were sure would lay hold on any thing on which they might ground a charge of their being inventors of a new Religion And yet neither Jews nor Pagans in the times immediately following durst ever deny that wonders were wrought by those Men. Yea the Miracles of Peter are mentioned by Phlegon in his Annals who lived under Adrian the Emperor Moreover the Christians themselves in those Books that contain a reason of their faith which they exhibited to the Emperors to the Senate and to the Governors do relate these things as most manifest and unquestionable truths yea they openly report that there continued a wonderful vertue of working strange effects at their Sepulchers for some Ages after their Death which if it had been false they knew that to their shame and punishment the Magistrates could have confuted
should mistake in the sense of the Scriptures yet they secure us that if we with honest and upright hearts continue to inquire after the truth designing nothing else that error shall not prejudice us But God will either discover to us his mind or not condemn us for our error of weakness not of wilfulness SECT XX. The Vanity of their appeal to Traditions AS for Interpretations of Scripture by Tradition they may be pretended and talkt of but cannot be produced in most places where we are desirous of that help which we gladly receive when we can have it by a truly Universal consent But as for particular interpretations of the ancient Fathers they do not absolutely agree with each other in their Expositions of those Texts upon which controversies of greatest moment are now grounded Nay they oft times propound divers interpretations alike probable And sometimes plainly intimate their doubtfulness and make but imperfect conjectures in such a manner as if they intended to excite Posterity to seek for further resolution Therefore we shall not dissent from them though we do not assent to all their particular interpretations Nay we cannot more dissent from them than by following their interpretations on such strict terms as the Romanists would bind us all to do when they seem to make for their advantage For then there is not the least surmise or conjecture of any one Father but must suffice against the joynt Authority of all the rest To which Rule of serving their interest they are so true that they stick not to reject any interpretation of the Fathers when they think good and which is more to prefer their own expositions before theirs And so they do in the matter of all other Traditions though called Apostolical For instance the threefold immersion in Baptism which seems to have flowed from an Apostolical Canon is long ago abolished saith their Canus by a contrary custome And so is the custome of giving the communion to Infants which prevailed says their Maldonate for 600. Years in the Church not only antiquated by them but decreed to be unlawful Which clearly shows that they might if they pleased make an end of all the controversies that trouble the Church without any disparagement but rather with the increase of its Authority For challenging a power to alter even the Institutions of Jesus Christ as they have done in taking away the Cup from the People in the Holy Communion and much more those of the Apostles what need all this stir about Apostolical Traditions or the Decrees of the Church which they may lay aside at their pleasure and have laid aside as appears by many other instances besides those now named that may be given of it But it is sufficient for the direction of every honest hearted Man to know which is as certain as any thing of that nature can be and may be undoubtedly relyed on that nothing is clearer in the Tradition of the Church than this that the Doctors of it declare the Scriptures to be full and perspicuous in all needful matters And therefore there needs no other Tradition but the Tradition of the Scriptures which satisfie us abundantly in the Truth of all those things which are universally received SECT XXI And their guilt in what they say about the holy Scriptures THERE cannot therefore be a greater demonstration of their guilt than this that notwithstanding such evident testimonies from the Scriptures themselves and the concurrent stream of the ancient Doctors of Christ's Church they have been forced to avoid this trial by the Scriptures to say so many scandalous things as they have done in disparagement of the Sacred Writings Many of them are commonly known and I am not willing to repeat the rest but only say this great truth that whether they will or no their Church such as it is receives all its Authority from the Scriptures and not the Scriptures from it For we can have no notion as was said before of a Church or of its authority but from the Scriptures Which therefore must be of greater authority than that which receives authority from them and be first supposed to be infallible before they can make us believe any thing else is so For we must be secure of the proof before we can be sure of the thing proved by it otherwise it is no proof but leaves us as much in doubt as we were before it was alledged If they say and what else can be said with any colour of reason that we must indeed learn their Churches infallibility from the Scriptures but then learn the rest from their Church mark I beseech you what follows Then it is manifest First that they themselves make the Scriptures the Rule of Faith in this one Article at least concerning the Catholick Churches infallibility Which we must therefore believe and for no other reason because the Scriptures which we first infallibly believe do teach and prove it Whence it plainly follows that private Men may and must be assured of the Truth of Scriptures without the help of their Churches Authority before they can believe any thing else because it is the ground for their belief of that infallibility which their Church pretends which to them is the General Rule of Faith And from thence it follows further that the Scriptures which to us are the only Rule of Faith ought to be acknowledged by them to be more than so even the Rule of their Rule of Faith And if it be so what reason can any Man alledge why it should not be the immediate Rule of Faith without sending us elsewhere to seek it in all other Articles of the Creed as well as in that of their pretended infallible Church We may appeal to all the World and call Heaven and Earth Angels and Men to witness between us and the Roman Church as a worthy Champion of our Cause did long ago whether the Articles of Christ's Incarnation his Death Passion Burial Resurrection Ascension Intercession the Resurrection of the Dead and life everlasting c. be not much more plainly set down in the Scriptures to any Mans apprehension whatsoever than the infallibility of the present Roman Church is in such words as these Thou art Peter c. Feed my Sheep or any other from whence they challenge it And therefore why should we be required to learn these or any other part of Christian Faith meerly from their Church when we learn them so easily by the Scriptures in which they are to be found more clearly delivered than any thing we read about their Church Let no Man doubt but if the Holy Ghost will teach us that Article of the Churches Infallibility immediately by the Scriptures without the help of the Churches infallible Authority as they themselves are forced to confess because else the Church can have no authority then He will immediately teach us by the same Scriptures any other Article of our Creed and whatsoever is necessary to Salvation