offered himself a Sacrifice upon the Cross was made a Curse died was buried rose again and is sat down at the right hand of God that thereby he might redeem us from our Iniquities and from the Curse of the Law be a propitiation for our Sins and reconcile us to his Father through his Blood that our Trespasses might not be imputed to us but that by his Obedience we should be made righteous That he might become the Mediator of a new and better Covenant between God and Man than that which God made with the People of Israel when he brought them out of the Land of Egypt and that he might abolish the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and break down the middle Wall of Partition between Jew and Gentile that so both might be united in one Building of which Christ was the chief Corner Stone and all of us be Members of one Body or Church of which Christ is the Head That he might be an Advocate with the Father when we sin and make continual Intercession for us that so upon our Confession and Repentance God might forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness And lastly That he might obtain a Kingdom and by that means spoil Principalities and Powers triumphing over them destroy the works of the Devil and put all Enemies under his feet and that when Death the last Enemy is destroyed he might raise the Dead and judge the World Part of which he has already performed and the rest he does and will hereafter fulfil The most remarkable matters that occur in the New Testament concerning the Nature Condition and Circumstances of Mankind are these Adam was the first Man Adam was first form'd then Eve the first Man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam by which is meant Christ was made a quickening Spirit which two different Expressions are distinguish'd as Natural and Spiritual Earthly and Heavenly by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Adam was not deceived but the Woman being deceived was in the Trangression notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety Death reigned from Adam unto Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam 's Transgression who is the Figure of him that was to come A Man is the Image and Glory of God but the Woman is the Glory of the Man notwithstanding which all that are of the race of Mankind are stiled and accounted in the Scriptures sinners ungodly enemies of God dead in trespasses and sins servants of sin and corruption Children of the Devil by nature Children of Wrath of whom it is said further That Sin dwelleth in us and reigneth in our Mortal Bodies that when we would do good evil is present with us and we find the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Mind and bringing it into Captivity to the Law of Sin The Jews are represented as subject to Ordinances and a Law which had only a shadow of good things to come and as in bondage to weak and beggarly Elements and all other Nations are reckoned as Aliens and Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World This is the state of Mankind considered without relation to Christ but by Christ we are cleansed from our sins we are made free we are justified by Faith in him and by his righteousness we are saved But the advantages which accrue to Mankind by the means of Christ and the change that is made in our Condition by him will be more fully understood from these following passages As by one Mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous as sin hath reigned unto death so shall Grace reign through righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ Cursed is every Man that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them the Man that doth them shall live in them but this being impossible 't is evident that no Man is justified by the Law in the sight of God if there had been a Law given which could have given life righteousness should have been by the Law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise of Faith by Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe In many things we offend all but if we repent and are baptized and believe and shew our Faith by our Works and persevere unto the end we shall be saved but if we believe not the Truth and have pleasure in unrighteousness and repent not of the evils we have committed we shall be damned Those that have embraced and obeyed the Gospel of Christ are said to have put off the Old Man with his Deeds and put on the New Man which is renewed in Knowledge after the Image of him that created him Thus through Christ only we are to expect Salvation there being no other Name given under Heaven whereby we might be saved which Salvation if we neglect we shall be condemned by God at the last day when he comes to judge the World in Righteousness by his Son whom he has appointed Judge of the quick and dead Then shall we be raised from the dead by Christ and receive every Man according to his Works As in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive and since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the dead The dead shall be raised incorruptible their mortal corruptible Bodies shall put on immortality and incorruption and those which are alive at the coming of Christ shall be changed in a moment at the last Trump As we have born the Image of the earthly Man Adam so we shall also bear the Image of the heavenly Man Christ Then shall they which have done evil be condemn'd to everlasting torment and misery and they which have done good shall be rewarded with everlasting joy and happiness in the presence of God and his holy Angels This is the substance of what is taught and proposed to the Faith of Mankind in the New Testament which I have express'd as near as ever I could in the very language of Scripture as my design plainly obliged me to do The other Branch of the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ which concerns the Practice of a Christian and may properly be stiled Christian Morality consists of such rules and measure of Action as every one that believes in Christ is obliged to conform his life to and without which his Faith is dead and vain he is still in his sins and he must expect the Wages of them Eternal Death The principal Heads of Christian Duty are these To love God and the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart and with all our power to honour praise
and his Birth proclaim'd by Angels That his Coming into the World was signified by a Star which brought Wise Men from the East to worship him That mighty Things were immediately before and after his Birth said of him by Angels and Just Persons moved by the Spirit of God From the Birth of Christ 'till he was thirty years of Age very little is mentioned of him besides some Discourse he held with the Doctors in the Temple at Twelve but when he began to be about thirty he was baptized by John who is stil'd his Forerunner that prepared the way for him and at his Baptism the Heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended upon him like a Dove and a Voice was heard from Heaven saying This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleas'd The principal Things that are afterwards recorded of him are his calling of Disciples and Apostles his Sermons and Instructions to the People his Miracles and Prophecies and his Sufferings Death and Burial with some other remarkable Passages that happened after his Death His Disciples and Apostles but more especially Twelve of them were favoured with a nearer and more intimate Conversation than any of the rest he directed his Instructions to These were the constant Companions of his Labours and Witnesses of his most private Behaviour These he instructed in a more plain and open manner than he did others and communicated several things to Them which he kept secret from his common Auditors and Followers To these he gave a Commission to teach and instruct the Jews and to do mighty things among them while he lived and to preach to all Nations after his Death and propagate his Doctrine with Signs and Wonders He himself is represented as preaching and teaching throughout all Judea and several of his Publick Sermons and Discourses as also many things which he said in private to his Disciples are every where throughout the several Gospels repeated sometimes in short and only the Substance of them sometimes more at large in the same Form and Manner in which they were delivered The Miracles or wonderful Things mentioned to be done by Christ exceeding all the Observation and Power of Mankind are these Fasting Forty Days and Forty Nights together turning Water into Wine Stilling Tempests walking upon the Sea telling the secret Thoughts of Men's hearts curing the Blind Lame and Maimed healing all manner of Diseases with a word or touch of his Garment casting out Devils and unclean Spirits and restoring Men possessed with 'em to their former state of health and sense feeding vast multitudes of People with a few small Loaves and Fishes by his bare Word causing a Fig-Tree immediately to wither great numbers of Fish to be taken in a Net and a single Fish to come to the Hook with Money in its mouth to pay his Tribute with transfiguring himself before some of his Disciples so that they saw the fashion of his Face alter'd and his Raiment chang'd raising the Dead and rising himself after his Burial appearing to his Disciples after he was risen and conversing with them Forty Days sometimes being known by them and sometimes not according as he pleased and at last in their Presence ascending up into Heaven The Matters we find in the Gospels foretold by Jesus Christ were his own Passion Death Resurrection Ascension and Mission of the Holy Spirit or Comforter with several particular Circumstances of them the Persecutions and Sufferings of his Disciples the Death of some of them and the manner in which they were to dye as also their future Glory and Office at the end of the World the Rejection of the Jews Vocation of the Gentiles Success and Continuance of the Gospel or Christian Religion the Appearance of False Prophets and Teachers and False Christs the springing up of Heresies and falling away of Professors the Destruction of the Jewish Temple and Constitution and Dispersion of that whole People with many strange and terrible Signs foregoing and lastly the second Appearance of himself in Glory to judge the World which is set forth in a very large and pompous Description of the whole Scene As to his Sufferings Death and Burial and what followed afterwards which are the next things that challenge our Consideration we read that he was betrayed by one of his Disciples denied by another and deserted by all the rest that he was taken and carried first before the High Priest of the Jews and afterwards before Pilate and Herod that he was scourged mocked spit upon reviled and at last upon false and frivolous Accusations condemn'd by Pilate contrary to his Conscience only to please the Jews and then crucified between Two common Malefactors one of which reproached him the other believed in him while he was upon the Cross the Sun was dark'ned the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain and the Earth quaked and the Rocks rent and the Graves were open'd and many Bodies that slept arose and came out of their Graves after his Resurrection and appear'd unto many his Body being taken down from the Cross unbroken was laid in a Sepulchre hewn out of a Rock with a Stone roll'd to the door of it and the Sepulchre was made sure by sealing the Stone and setting a Watch notwithstanding which he rose again the Third day after he was buried and appear'd to his Disciples and many others But the Soldiers that were appointed to watch the Sepulchre being affrighted by the appearance of an Angel who descended from Heaven and roll'd back the Stone from the door came into the City and shew'd the Chief Priests all the things that were done and had Money given them to say his Disciples came by Night and stole him away after this the Disciple that betray'd him repented of the Fact brought back the Money he had received for betraying him and hang'd himself This is the summ of what is contained in the Four Gospels In the next Book call'd The Acts of the Apostles we find the Eleven who are peculiarly stiled Apostles after their return from beholding the Ascension of their Master assembled together at Jerusalem with the rest of those who were more particularly distinguished by the Name of Disciples where they make choice of another Apostle to supply the room of Judas that had hang'd himself After which choice the twelve being all with one accord in one place they were filled with the Holy Ghost and spake with other Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance which wonderful Gift of divers Languages was conferred upon them with very strange amazing Signs and Appearances viz. a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty Wind cloven Tongues like as of Fire c. Having received this extraordinary Assistance we find them wholly employ'd in preaching the things concerning Jesus interpreting the Scriptures of the Old Testament with relation to him baptizing in his Name converting People to the Belief of those Facts recorded in the Gospels and the Doctrines built upon them
in the New Testament believed How then came it to pass That any Body should Contrive and Publish such a Scheme as this And how came any Body to believe it when Published if it had not been true 'T is plain that the first Contrivers Publishers and Believers of the Christian Religion whoever they were must have been either Persons of no Religion at all before or of a different one from the Christian they must have been either Good Men or Ill Men such as lived up to the Rules and Principles of the Christian Religion or contrary to them But whichsoever of these Characters we suppose belong'd to the first Christians I cannot possibly account for the Present State of Christianity if the Principal Facts related in the New Testament were not true I cannot conceive that an Atheist or a Wicked Man that was bred up in different Notions of Religion and whose Practice was contrary to the Christian Rules of Life could invent such a Scheme as contradicted and condemned all his former Opinions and Practices or would have been at the pains to do it if he could And I can as little imagine that there was any Person before the appearance of Christianity in the World who could by the strength of his own Capacities without any Divine Assistance find out such a noble Plan and Model of Humane Life as that contained in the New Testament and by the extraordinary force and goodness of his own Disposition live up to it himself before he recommended it to others and as impossible is it to suppose that such a good Man as this should throw off those contrary Sentiments and Impressions of Religion he had been brought up in for being False and Ineffectual for the promoting a good Life and at the same time forge a Set of the most unaccountable Lyes that were ever known and make use of this Imposture to inforce the Belief and Practice of his new Principles which are plainly and directly inconsistent with such Methods But could we suppose any Person capable of framing such a Scheme as the 〈…〉 without the help of Revelation for the Doctrines of it or true History for the Facts 't is built upon What End or Motive could be imagined sufficient to determine him to do it He could not propose any Profit or Advantage to himself from a Work which he knew would render all the Promoters of it liable to Reproaches Troubles and Afflictions and every thing that was hard and grievous in Life For this whoever Published the Christian Religion first assures us was to be the Lot and Portion of those that imbraced it This is one of the Principal Doctrines of the Gospel where we are commanded to quit all we Possess to renounce all the Pleasures and Enjoyments of the World to expect Tribulation and Anguish Ignominy and Death and to suffer all manner of Persecution gladly for the sake of the Christian Profession How could a Man that made this a part of his Religion and had foresight enough to know he should have occasion to practice it himself think of advancing his Interest in the World by such an Invention And how can we imagine any uncertain doubtful Prospect of Future Reputation after Death should be strong enough to bear him up against all the sure and sensible Discouragements he was to meet with while he Lived As this cannot well be imagined so neither is it probable to believe that the meer pleasure of deceiving should put a Man upon the contrivance of such a Scheme as was very unlikely to take very hazardous to the Impostor and very beneficial to all that were deceived It is moreover very unconceivable how any Man should think of advancing the present Interest and Welfare of Mankind by perswading them to believe all the Wonderful Facts and Extraordinary Doctrines of the Christian Religion which have no manner of relation to it and how he should come to be so mightily for their Happiness in a Future State which he had no certainty of from Revelation Neither is there any reason to be given why he should imagine the belief of those Facts and Doctrines necessary to their Happiness in a Future State if he had been sure there was one nor why he should pitch upon the grossest Forgeries imaginable in order to promote the practice of such Vertues among Men as are directly opposite to the means he used for this end We cannot therefore account for the contrivance of the Christian Religion from any End or Motive that was likely to put a Man upon such a Work because it is very manifest from the whole Tenour of this Religion that the Author of it if it had been an Imposture could not have promised himself any kind of advantage from his Undertaking And upon further Enquiry and Examination it will appear That if any Man had been wise enough to invent such a Religion and foolish enough to have had some certain aim and prospect in effecting it his Success could never have been answerable to his Expectation For how could such a Religion as the Christian have ever obtained so general a Credit in the World as we find it now has if it had been purely Humane Invention The Morality of it is so Pure and Holy so contrary to all the prevailing Inclinations and Interests of Mankind in this Life that we find it the hardest thing in the World by continual Care and Instruction to bring Men to submit to it who have been accustomed by Education to believe it Revealed by God and Established upon the Conditions of Eternal Happiness and Misery in another World who are confirm'd in that belief by the concurrent Faith of all they know and converse with and who are left without a possibility of disproving the Truth of the pretended Revetion if it had been at first an Imposture How then can we imagine that the Christian Laws and Rules of Life should have been so easily received at their first Publication so widely Propagated afterwards and so absolutely and intirely submitted to that they should become the standing unalterable Laws of so many different Countries and Nations as do now profess the Christian Faith How I say could this have ever happen'd if the first Set of Persons that imbraced this Morality had not been fully convinced that it had been expresly revealed by God and injoyned Mankind under the Sanction of Eternal Rewards and Punishments And how could any Man be perswaded of this without believing those wonderful Facts upon the Credit of which the Truth of the whole Revelation is Founded But if we suppose the first Christians that ever were believed all those Matters of Fact how can this be supposed of them except they were true How can we possibly imagine that the Principal Matters of Fact related in the New Testament which are now a necessary part of the Faith of all Christians should be believed by those in whose times the Scheme is laid in contradiction to all their