and others that have written of the American Affairs Certainly all these things are an Argument that God takes care of this Religion and that by his providence it was upheld and propagated VIII These things being considered it is easie to perceive that other Religions are not to be compar'd with this For as to the Jewish Christian Religion indeed gives testimony to it that it also had God for its Authour but 1 its great imperfection shews it was given but for a time onely for whether you consider the promises they according to the letter did contain onely temporal and worldly things in which surely the chiefest Good could not consist and no man can deny but God might give better then they or whether you consider the precepts they for the most part were in prescribing Ceremonies * or whether you consider the latitude and extent it was restrained to one Nation onely neither did God take course that it should be preached to other Nations yea its nature was such that it could not concern other Nations which appears even from the sacrifices which ought not to be offered but in Palestine and by the Tribe of Levi whence it is that even at this day the Jewes being banished from their Native Countrey abstain from sacrificing So neither could the Laws concerning First-fruits Tithes and Festival Assemblies Exod 34.26 Deut. 26.23 also 12.5 6.16.16 be observed by all Nations Either therefore other Nations ought never to worship God and consequently God had in vain given to the greatest part of men the use of reason and will which are the instruments of Religion which to say is absurd as of necessity another Religion was to be delivered by God which should concern all the men in the world For although it was so for a time that the other Nations besides the Jewes were destitute of Divine Revelation and that by the certain counsel of God namely because of the voluntary defection of those Nations from God to idolatry and impiety yet it is absurd to hold that they were so rejected of God for ever 2. That it was to be abrogated the prophesies which are extant in their prophetick Books do shew among which that place in Jeremy 31.31 is eminent where God promises to make a New Covenant with his people different from that of Moses Also Dan. 9.24 where the Coming of the Messiah the desolation of the City Jerusalem the destruction of the Temple and the abolition of Sacrifices is foretold It was granted to Aaron's posterity alone to offer Sacrifice and that in the Countrey of their Fathers but in Psal 110. there is promifed a Priest not according to the order of Aaron but according to the order of Melchisedeck that is such an one as should have neither Predecessour nor Successour in the Priesthood It is foretold in Isaiah 19.19 Chron. 66.18 to the end Mal. 1.11 that the Gentiles also should be worshippers of God and offer Sacrifices to him and be his Priests The Jewes in the Law were commanded to keep Festivals but now Isa 1.11 and so forward God saith That he disdained as their Sacrifices so also their appointed Times and Feast-dayes and that he was weary to bear them and Isa 66.23 it is foretold That if it should come to pass that the Worship of God should be perpetual and not performed on certain dayes onely but every day to wit from Sabbath to Sabbath and from New Moon to New Moon 3. That the Jewish Religion is indeed abrogated and that those prophesies are fulfilled the thing it self shews For that place in which God had fixed the Seat of his publick Worship is taken away and quite overthrown together with the Temple its Ornaments and Sacred Vessels so that the Temple could never be restored although Julian attempted it as Ammianus Marcellinus a Heathen Writer testifieth lib. 23. But he saith that he was hindered by fearfull balls of fire which did spring out of the foundations and consumed men The Priesthoods and Rites of Sacrifices instituted by God belonging to Divine Worship and the distinction of Tribes was taken away so that a great part of the Mosaical Laws lie now neglected by the Jews and can by no means be kept The very people of the Jews so much heretofore beloved of God for their Ancestours now for more then a thousand six hundred years dispersed and banished out of their Countrey are become the laughing-stock the dregs and talk of all other people Nations which is against the promises of the Covenant in which earthly happiness was proposed to the Jews Deut. 28. God indeed threatneth them even with banishment and all kinds of adversity if they should transgress but to them that should from their hearts repent and return to obedience he promiseth that he will shew mercy to them and bring them back from the utmost corners of the world to their Countrey again Deut. 30. Nehem. 1.8 9. But Isa 54.7 c. God saith that he will be angry with his people but a little while but now after so great an interval of time there is as yet no hope of a better condition and return into their Countrey from that time there has not been any Prophet among them there is none sent by God to comfort them which yet was done heretofore in the Babilonish Captivity which though it was most heavy yet it lasted onely seventy years IX Neither ought it to move any one that it was promised that that Old Covenant should be perpetual and everlasting For the word everlasting or perpetual is not alwayes taken for an infinite duration but for a very long time which is usual as well in common speech as in Holy Writ So it is said that the Land of Canaan should be an everlasting possession to the seed of Abraham Gen. 17.8 out of which nevertheless they were ejected in like manner that the sacrifice should be perpetual Lev. 6.20 which notwithstanding is now ceased among the Jews It is said Exod. 21.6 that the Servant should serve his Master for ever The divine Prophet David saith that he would praise God for ever that is all the dayes of his life Psal 52.9 It is said that Samuel should abide in the Temple for ever 1 Sam. 1.22 The hills also are said to be everlasting Gen. 49.26 The earth to abide for ever Eccles 1.4 By that manner of speech therefore are distinguished the Laws that were to endure as long as the Jewish Religion should last from those which were constituted for a certain time such were some of those that were prescribed to the Jews in the Wilderness Exod. 35.26 27. Neither is it to be thought that God did so bind himself by those words that he should not change any thing as to intimate that he would not have any thing changed by men For God made Laws not to himself but to men He has alwayes power of abrogating Laws that have been once made especially those that are not founded in
of the persons by whom the Doctrine of Christ was preached For they were of the common sort of men Unlearned Fishers Publicans Moreover few such as neither splendour of birth had made illustrious nor fortune conspicuous nor multitude formidable nor power venerable nor wit admitable nor favour of Nobles acceptable nor any Art or Eloquence made fit to bend and allure the minds of Mortals And nevertheless Synagogues Schools Academies Cities Towns Kingdomes and Empires yielded to and believed these simple men What Aristotle what Plato what Chrysippus or Epicurus has got so many Disciples and perswaded so many men of their Doctrine although they were most famous for wit and learning How many thousands of thousands have the Apostles those simple and unlearned Fishers drawn unto Christ So that it was truly foretold them by Christ that they should become Fishers of men 6. By the simple and blunt way of teaching The Apostles used not artificial and elaborate speech neither affected and composed to deceive but vulgar and common Our preaching saith Paul 1 Cor. 2.4 was not with perswasive words of mans wisdome but in demonstration of the Spirt and of power They used not force to compel Dissenters not fraud to deceive the unwary not carnal threats to terrifie the obstinate They used onely perswasion and that simple and inartificial But who would believe that the armed World could by perswasion alone be subdued by unarmed weak men indued with no Authority or priviledge 7. By the most grievous sufferings that were to be born or expected daily by all singular the Professors of Christ There was never any sort of men no Sect that was vexed with so many and so great Calamities as of the Christian Religion All the Powers Malice Wits of all degrees Emperours Kings and People had conspired for their destruction Divers kinds of cruelty most exquisite manners of death were invented The innocent Christians were not onely despoiled of all their Goods not onely banished and exposed to the hatred injuries and contumelies of all men but were condemned to wild Beasts to Mines and Quarries Some were Ston'd some were cast into Rivers one was Sawn asunder another was Flea'd alive another was Roasted in the fire the whole Assembly sometimes with their Meeting-house was burnt together to ashes Witnesses of these things are the ancient Histories written not onely by Christian but even by Heathen Authors Tacitus thus describes Nero's cruelty against the Christians Annals 15. Therefore to extinguish the rumour to wit of firing the City by the command of Nero Nero falsly accused and punished most grievously certain people hated for their wickedness which the common sort called Christians The Author of that Name was Christ who in Tyberius his Reign was put to death under Pontius Pilate Procurator of Judea And their dangerous superstition suppressed for the time burst forth again not onely through Judea where it first began but in the City also whither all wicked and shamefull things run from all parts and are solemnized and esteemed First they were apprehended which confessed that Religion then by their detection an infinite multitude were convicted not so much for setting the Town on fire as for the hate of all men against them Such as were condemned were scorned and mocked and covered in wild Beasts skins and torn in pieces with Dogs or fastned on the Cross or burnt in fire and when the day failed they were burnt in the night to give light Nero had made the prospect of his Gardens fit for that spectacle and caused Shews to to be set forth in the Cirque and himself either apparalled like a Waggoner shuffled among the people or ran the race with them Whereupon pity was taken on those persons though guilty and deserving exemplary punishment seeing they suffered not for any publick good but to satisfie one mans cruelty onely Suetonius also in the life of Nero make mention of the sufferings which the Christians endured when he saith The Christians a sort of people addicted to a new and mischievous superstition were punished So doth this Heathen judge of Christian Religion therefore because it was joyned with contumely of the Heathen gods and their worship But that I may not here relate all the Testimonies of the Heathens touching Christians one most clear Testimony of Pliny junior shall serve instead of all He in Epist 97. ad Trajan lib. 10. of Epistles consulting Trajan what was to be done with Christians and how they were to be punished expresseth 1 The torments they suffered and the Christians constancy In the mean time with those that were convented before me as being Christians I followed this method I asked them if they were Christians those that confessed I asked again and again threatning punishment I commanded those that were constant to be had away For I doubted not whatsoever it was they confessed but that pertinacy and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished As if indeed perseverance in a good cause were pertinacy By and by he writeth that some of them were Roman Citizens afterward by process of time as it useth to be the crime diffused it self So Christian Religion increased by the very sufferings and took growth and strength from the very persecutions Furthermore relating how he had brought some to this that while he led them an example they would call on the gods and supplicate with Wine and Frankincense the Images of Caesar and of the Deities besides would curse Christ he adds Those that are indeed Christians are said to be such as cannot be compelled to any such thing Behold a high commendation of true Christians Secondly he sets out the Religion and Worship of Christians But they affirmed that the sum either of their fault or errour was this That they were wont to meet together on a certain day before day-light to sing among themselves by turns a Song to Christ as to a God and to bind themselves in covenant not to any wickedness but that they would not commit any theft nor robberies nor adulteries that they would not betray their Trust nor being required deny that which was intrusted which being finished it was their manner to depart come together again to take meat but promiscuous harmless At length he saith That having used torments to search out the Truth He found nothing but a wicked excessive superstition But how wicked it was appears from his own relation Thirdly he tells how great a multitude of Christians there was For it seems to me a matter worthy consultation especially because of the number of the endangered for many of every Age of every Degree of both Sexes are and will be brought into danger For the contagion of this Superstition is diffused not onely through Cities but also Towns and Countreys which it seems possible to stop and amend Surely it is manifest enough that the Temples which were now almost desolate begin to be frequented and the solemn worship that was long intermitted
to be repeated and the Sacrifices are every where sold for which lately there was rarely found any buyers Hence it appears from whence so great a hatred of Heathens against Christians sprang to wit because they saw that utter destruction and ruine was seizing on their Idols and Paganish Worships by means of Christian Religion But Pliny was greatly frustrated in this that he hoped that Christian Religion could be stopped and extinguished by those punishments For how vain all endeavours of Tyrants and Enemies were in suppressing the Gospel and hindring its course experience it self is witness XX. Seeing therefore the Christians endured so many and so great things seeing they had so many obstacles and yet firmly adhered to Christ what other cause could there be thereof then the great and invincible power of Truth which the Apostles confirmed both by the example of their unblameable piety and cruel death and chiefly by miracles never before heard or seen But if any one shall obstinately deny that miracles accompanied the Church of Christ in its beginning he considers not that he asserts a far greater miracle then ever was to wit that so great a multitude of men and almost the whole world should be converted without miracles But there is no doubt but these Primitive Christians were diligent and industrious enough in examining those miracles and searching out the Truth of Christian Religion seeing therein not onely their eternal salvation but also their present life and all their fortunes were concerned Very wittily and truly saith Pliny Singuli decipere decipi possunt nemo omnes neminem omnes fefellerunt Every one may deceive and be deceived no man hath deceived all men nor have all men deceived any This Argument therefore is of so great moment that no man in his wits can gain-say it XXI The third way of proving the Divinity of Christ is taken hence That the History of the Resurrection and Glorification of Christ is contained in the sacred Books of the New Testament But that those Books are of Divine Authority is proved 1. Because they contain the most perfect way of worshipping God and living piously such as neither men nor Devil could devise not men as it appears from comparing the Precepts contained in this Book not the Devil because he being an enemy of all vertue cannot be the Author of so holy a Doctrine 2. Because there are extant in them many Predictions concerning things future which we see afterward really fulfilled and proved true by the event 1. Concerning the destruction of the City Jerusalem and the subversion of the Temple Mat. 24. Luke 19.43 44. 2. Concerning the Conversion of the Gentiles to Christ Mat. 21.23 c. Mat. 8.11 3. Concerning the great and sudden propagation of Christian Religion Mat. 13.31 32 33. John 12.32 4. Concerning its perpetual Duration Luke 1.33 Mat. 28.20 John 14.16 5. Concerning the most grievous persecutions of Christians Mat. 10.17 21 34. That I say nothing now of the Prediction of Christ concerning his own sufferings and Death as also his Resurrection after three dayes Mat. 16.21 Luke 18.31 32 33. which unless the event had confirmed his Disciples would at no hand have believed in him For by this so evidently false Prediction he had betrayed himself to be an Impostor and Lyar. 3. Because they were written by the Apostles or by the familiar Companions of the Apostles whom we have shewed a little before to have been Divine Men and such as neither could nor would lye XXII This one thing therefore remains now to be proved to wit that the Books of the New Covenant were written by the Apostles and those whose Names they bear But to prove that we need no other Argument then the Testimony and consent of the ancient Christians which were nearer the times of the Apostles All these whose writings we have acknowledge these Books for the genuine writings of the Apostles and Evangelists And it is certain they used the utmost diligence in searching out the Truth of this matter See the Epistles of Ignatius who flourished soon after the destruction of Jerusalem See Justin Martyr who lived about the hundred and fiftieth year of Christ Irenaeus about the two hundred and thirty Clemens Alexandrinus about the year two hundred and six Tertullian about the year two hundred and eight who also mentions That even the authentick writings of the Apostles were yet extant in some Churches in his time lib. de Praescrip cont Haeret. See Origen about the year two hundred and thirty Eusebius the Ecclesiastick Historian about the year three hundred who from the best Antiquities extracted especially the Truth of these Books differencing the genuine Apostolick writings from the spurious and counterfeit and again of the true and Canonical Books shewing which without any Controversie were alwayes in all Churches accounted for genuine and of which there was in the beginning some doubt but so as afterward the matter being better tried the doubt ceased Adde to this the great multitude of Ecclesiastical Doctors after the time of Constantine the Great and among them chiefly Jerome an exact Searcher of this matter But neither have the Jews in times past nor Pagans ever raised a Controversie with the Christians touching these Books as to say they were feigned by the Christians and falsly attributed to the Apostles nay farther Cyril testifies in the tenth Book he wrote against Julian That that Heathen Emperour and Apostate a most bitter Persecutor of Christians doth openly confess it That the writings of Matthew Mark Luke Peter Paul are the same that Christians read under those names We see then that this so unanimous and uniform consent concerning these Books had continued without interruption to this day that is for more then sixteen hundred years Behold into how various Sects Christians have for a long time been and are now divided how dispersed and different in Regions Tongues Wits Opinions and notwithstanding their so much disagreeing in many chief Points of Doctrine they all agree in this That they constantly and unanimously believe these writings to be Apostolical and of divine Authority why we should depart from so ancient and perpetual a consent there is no reason But without reason to doubt of or contradict a thing universally received is foolish By what other reason I pray doth it appear at this day that the works of Livie Tacitus Curtius Virgil are those which are ascribed to them but by the consent of all the Learned of which there is no cause to doubt and if any one doubt he may deservedly be counted a fool Neither yet was it ever enquired into the Books of those Authors with so great industry as into the Truth of the New Testament because that in the Books of the profane Authors men are little concerned but in this Book they believe their eternal felicity is placed Wherefore also it is to be reckoned that we have sufficiently proved the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures since we have proved they cannot be doubted of without folly If any desire more concerning this Subject let him read S. de Authoritate S. Scripturae Hugo Grotius of the Truth of Christian Religion Episcopius Institut Theolog. de Messia de libris Novi Testamenti But he that is not satisfied with these let him read Philip More of the Truth of Christian Religion Raimundus Sebundus Ludovicus Vives Savaenarola and many others who have more then sufficiently polished this Subject as well with Philosophical subtilty as great Learning and Eloquence FINIS Books newly printed for and are to be sold by William Crooke at the three Bibles on Fleet-Bridge 1665. CAlliopes Cabinet opened wherein Gentlemen may be informed how to adorn themselves for Funerals Feasting and other Heroick Meetings Also here Gentlemen may know their place and worth in Honour with all the Degrees of Honour c. By James Salter 1665. Sixty nine Aenigmatical Courtiers all exactly drawn to the life from several Persons Humours and Dispositions pleasant and full of delight By R. F. Esq The Compleat Vineyard or the best way for planting of Vines in England wherein are set forth the whole Circumstances necessary for planting a Vineyard By William Hughes 1665. Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels with many Additions newly Printed again 1665. Hugonis Grotii baptizatorum Puerorum Institutio alternis Interrogationibus Responsionibus Cui accesserunt Graeca ejusdem Metaphrasis A Christop Wase Reg. Col. Cant. Et Anglicana Versio a Fran. Goldsmith Armig. c. Item Catalogus omnium Operum Hugonis Grotii ad calcem adjectus est 1665. The Royal Stem being an Account of all the most considerable Passages by Land and Sea since William the Conquerour to this very Time with a Picture of King Charls the Second all in a Broad Sheet fit for Studies or Closets Now at the Press Solamen Aegrorum sive Ternarias Medicamentorum Chymicorum ad omnes ferimorbos curandum maxime deplorato grandes felicissime inventa Remedia Authore Everardo Maynwaringo Phil. Med. Doctore 80.