can no way agree with the Prophet that uttered them Thus we find that in the XXII Psalm there are many Expressions which cannot be applyed to David 3. That most of these Prophecies are avowedly attributed to the Messiah by the most ancient Authors of the Synagogue And the modern Jews themselves refer them to some that suffer'd a violent Death as to Rabbi Akiba who died in the second Century 4. That the Apostles unanimously applyed them to Jesus Christ the true Messiah following therein the general consent of their Nation CHAP. XXI That the Messiah was soon after to rise again FOrasmuch as Death entred into the World by Sin and that the Messiah was to take it away we may easily conceive That if the Messiah were according to the Divine disposal to submit to Death that he could not long continue subject to it He who was to restore life to those who were dead could never be confin'd and imprison'd in a Grave and he who was superiour to Enoch and Elias who ascended into Heaven because he alone was exalted to the right hand of God to reign there for ever as the Prophecies concerning him assure us ought certainly to leave his Sepulchre by a glorious Resurrection And this we are positively assured of by the ancient Oracles Psalm XVI vers 10 11. Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore And to assure us that these and the like passages are applicable to none but the Messiah we find in the same Psalms expressions too high to be applyed to the Authors themselves As for example Psalm XXX vers 1 2 3. I will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoyce over me O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the Grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit And Psalm XLI vers 8 9 10. An evil disease say they cleaveth fast unto him and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more Yea mine own familiar Friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me But thou O Lord be merciful unto me and raise me up that I may requite them And Psalm XLIX verse 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the Grave for he shall receive me Psalm LVI vers 11 12 13. In God have I put my trust I will not be afraid what man can do unto me Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render praise unto thee For thou hast delivered my soul from death c. Psalm LXXII verse 20. Thou who hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shall bring me up again from the depths of the Earth Psalm CXLIII vers 11 12. Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble and of thy mercy cut off mine Enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul for I am thy Servant Hosea speaks to the same purpose Chap. XIII vers 14. I will ransom them from the power of the Grave I will redeem them from death O Death I will be thy plagues O Grave I will be thy destruction Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes Isaiah expresses the very same thing Chap. XXV vers 8. He will swallow up death in victory and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take from off all the Earth for the Lord hath spoken it And yet more expresly Chap. LIII vers 10 and 11. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his Seed he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities For the better understanding of which passages we are to observe 1. That the Messiah in many or most of them compriseth all Believers with himself according to that Maxim of the Jews who attribute to the Messiah the greatest of all the Prophets whatsoever God vouchsafed to any one of the Prophets and according to this Principle Jesus Christ speaks Matth. XII vers 39 40. An evil and adulterous Generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the Prophet Jonah For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth 2. That upon this account the Messiah is represented to us not as rising again alone but as making all his Brethren partakers of the same glory which makes the Prophets speak of him not as a single person but in common with others who by him are made possessors of the same advantages 3. That most of these Texts were quoted by the Apostles who in so doing followed the sense of the whole Nation as appears from Acts II. vers 24 25 26 27 28 and 29. Whom God hath raised having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it For David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is at my right hand that I should not be moved Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy One to see Corruption Thou hast made known to me the ways of life thou shalt make me full of joy with thy Countenance Men and Brethren let me freely speak unto you of the Patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his Sepulchre is with us unto this day And Acts XIII vers 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 and 37. But God raised him from the dead And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses unto the people And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the Promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead now no more to return to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of David Wherefore he saith also in another Psalm Thou shalt not suffer thine holy One to see corruption For David after
REFLEXIONS Upon the BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE To Establish the TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION In Two Volumes Volume I. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXVIII IMPRIMATUR Liber cui Titulus est Reflections upon the Books of the Holy Scriptures c. in II. Vol. The 12th of January 1687 / 8. H. Maurice R mo in Christo P.D. Willielmo Archiep. Cant. Ã Sacris TO THE KING Great SIR THe gracious acceptance which your Majesty was pleased to allow the first Volume of my Reflexions upon the Holy Scriptures to establish the Truth of the Christian Religion encouraged and almost necessitated me to the further presumption of laying these two Volumes at this time at your Majesties Feet Your Majesty did me the honour to say That you were pleased to see Divines apply themselves to the clearing of Subjects so important And after this Judgment given by so great a Prince which is so evident a Demonstration of your Zeal for the Fundamental Truths of the Christian Religion it had been unpardonable in me not to have gone on with the Work and I had Reason then to Consecrate it wholly to your Majesty who I was assured would approve of my Intentions and for that Reason would pardon the Imperfections of the Performance As your Majesty continues still to give such illustrious Instances of your Clemency and Royal Protection to those of our Nation so I confess Sir I thought my self under an Obligation to lay hold upon this Opportunity of publishing what all those who find so sure a Protection in your Majesties Dominions feel and think as much as my self upon these new Testimonies of your Royal Bounty When your Majesty had taken us into your particular care and had granted us several Priviledges and so made us sharers in all the Advantages which those who live under your Government enjoy your Majesty did yet something more and inspired all your Subjects with the same compassion towards us with which your Royal Breast was already touched You saw our miseries and resolved to give us ease and this generous Design was executed and your Royal Clemency diffused in the hearts of all your Subjects The whole World Sir which has received upon all its Coasts some Remainders of our Shipwrack is fill'd with admiration of the unexampled effects of your Majesties Clemency There is no place so barbarous whither the renown of that mercy which has been so gloriously extended towards us has not been carried and the remembrance will be ever dear to the remotest Ages of Posterity We must Sir be wholly insensible if we had not all of us the highest sense of so great a Bounty and we should justly appear to the whole World to be unworthy of this your Majesties Paternal care if notwithstanding that low condition to which we are now reduced we should not prostrate our selves before your August Throne with the humblest demonstrations of Thankfulness When God show'rs down the greatest Blessings upon Mankind he requires this just Tribute which is also their greatest honour by opening to them an access unto the Throne of Glory And this sacred Pattern we crave leave to follow when we solemnly pay the like Tribute to your Majesty who can receive nothing from us again that can answer the greatness or the number of those Favours which have so very much exceeded all our desires I could wish Sir that this Work which I now present to your Majesty might be so haypy as to pass to Posterity with this Character of our acknowledgment and that it might stand as a faithful Record for ever to perpetuate the memory of that lively sense of your Bounty which is imprinted on all our hearts If this could be hoped for it must be wholly owing to your Majesties glorious Name which latest Ages will receive with Reverence But Sir tho' I dare not hope that these Reflexions can obtain that honour yet our Age at least may see that they bear these publick Marks of Gratitude for all your Majesties Royal Favours This Sir is my sole aim in the Dedication of this Work to your Majesty and may your Sacred Majesty be pleased to approve of these poor Testimonies of our Thankfulness in general and to look upon them as Instances of mine in particular and of that profound Respect with which I am London May the 7th 1688. Sir Your Majesties most dutiful and obedient Subject and Servant P. ALLIX THE PREFACE ONe may divide Men into two general Classes some are without any knowledge of a Diety or Sence of Religion Travellers tell us that in the West-Indies the Eastern parts of Tartary and some places of Africa such people are to be found I know this is a Fact which is disputed by others and Fabricius a Divine of the Palatinate pretends that he has solidly confuted it If this Fact should be thought doubtful yet it is known at least that some persons may be found here and there in the World who look upon the Existence of a Deity as upon a Fable and who ridicule all acts of Religious Worship whatsoever But one may also say that if he compare these with the rest of the World they make the least and worst part of Mankind tho many of them affect to live Morally well All the rest of the World make Profession that they own a God that is to say a most perfect Eternal and independent Being that he governs all things by his Providence that there is a difference between Good and Evil that Man doth well or ill in those Actions which depend on his Liberty From whence they equally conclude that Man was design'd for the Duties of Religion that Society without it would be pure Robbery And that as it is hard to conceive that Men should be wholly destroy'd by Death so it is directly contrary to the Sentiments of Conscience to deny all Rewards for Virtue or Punishments for Vice after this Life All the Diversities of Religion amongst Men are reducible to two kinds The first is of those who suppose that there is more than one God and this is the Belief of all Pagans in general The Second is of those that acknowledge one only God such are the Jews Christians and Mahometans Now as for the cure of different Diseases several Remedies are made use of so it is visible that to deliver Men of their various prejudices we must take very different Methods The ignorance of those Barbarous People in the Indies Tartary and Africa must be removed by teaching them the first Principles and making them apply the little sense they have left them of good and evil right and wrong to the fundamental Maxims of Religion Atheists must be convinced by Reflexions upon those Principles which they admit by shewing that the Truths which they reject are the natural Consequences of those Principles which they dare not dispute To convince the Heathen who suppose many Gods we must
those Songs that were so much in fashion amongst those of his Nation he might easily satisfie his Curiosity by reading Moses's History If any Jew desired to know what sort of Exhortations they were which the Founder both of their Religion and Common-wealth had formerly made to their Fore-fathers Moses relates a great many of them in his Books If any Jew had a mind to receive instruction about the Original and cause of those Temporal Blessings he enjoyed in the Land of Canaan which God had possess'd his Nation of after the Expulsion of those People that had been the Inhabitants of it for many Ages Moses gives as good account of all that as can be desired If any Jew had a mind to know the Original of the several Calamities that befel his Nation on several occasions Moses acquainted them both with the Cause and Remedy of all their Afflictions Lastly If the Jews desired to be informed of the future condition of their Common-wealth in after Ages Moses foretells it in so particular and clear a manner that they might look upon his Prophesies not as certain Prophesies only but as a plain History of future Events begun and traced out before their Accomplishment All this is so much the more considerable to oblige us to read the Books of Moses with care that we may justly observe three things in his person which as they raise him above all common Authors so they cannot but strengthen the belief and increase the Esteem and Veneration which we ought to have for his History The first is That whereas all Men are careful to conceal their own Infirmities and whatever is dishonourable to their Familles Moses on the contrary seems to have affected to record all the things that could blemish the memory of his Ancestors and derogate to his own Reputation He blemishes Jacob's memory by his relating how he preferr'd Joseph the Son of his Beloved Wife to Reuben his Eldest whom he unjustly deprived of his Birthright in favour of the other which injustice is expresly forbidden by one of Moses's Laws Thus he lays an eternal blot and reproach upon the memory of Levi the Head of his own Family when he mentions his Cruelty and Violence against the Sichemites and the dispersion of his Posterity amongst the other Tribes of Israel Nay what is more he vilifies his own Birth by forbidding any Marriage betwixt an Aunt and her Nephew seeing he relates that he himself was born of Jocabed both Aunt and Wife to his Father Amram he describes his own Incredulity with all the Ingenuity imaginable when he represents the several Miracles which God wrought by him he seems to speak of himself only to lay open his own failings and sins such a sincerity and Impartiality we know confirms and increases mightily the Authority of any Author The Second thing is That Moses not regarding the advantage and honour of his own Family left the Government of Israel to Joshuah one of the Tribe of Ephraim and so reduced his own Children and their Posterity to the low condition of the rest of the Levites who were of an inferiour Rank to that of Priests for we do not see that they ever after renew'd the pretensions which they might otherwise have had to succeed Moses now such neglect of his Family shews that Moses's Principles were raised much above the ordinary pitch of the generality of Law givers who were absolute and supream over their People The Third thing observable here is that Moses had no share in the Conquest of the Land of Canaan it all was subdued after his Death Nay it was that Conquest that fixed and setled the Common-wealth of Israel which was before unsetled and as it were ambulatory in the Desart Now how could such a singular design as Moses describes in his Law be put in execution by any other than by him that formed it It was Joshua that made this Conquest of the Land of Canaan and possest the Jews of it now to be sure if that People had not been then fully perswaded of the Divine Authority of Moses's Law they would never have failed after so great an alteration to make use of their Power and Liberty in throwing off the troublesom yoak of his Laws nor yet would Joshua and all his Successors in the Government ever have maintain'd the Authority of those Laws if they had not lookt upon Moses not only as an extraordinary Man but also as one particularly Commissionated by God to make that Body of Laws for the regulating of his People We read in those Books of Moses's dying in the Mountains of Moab now that being supposed how is it possible that if the People of Israel had not been fully convinced that God himself gave their Law to Moses with all the Circumstances mentioned by him they would have continued to keep up such a ridiculous and ill grounded Conceit If he had really by his Tyrannical Authority forced the Israelites into a compliance to his Laws during his Life why did they not assoon as he was dead with the fear of his Authority shake off the yoak of his Laws and all respect for his memory One thing we may remark as very surprizing in the Relation of that Legislator's Death which is that his Body was not found after his Death For we do not see that that People which otherwise kept up and carried about with so much care the Bones of Joseph and his Brethren in order to Bury and Deposite them in the Sepulchres of their Ancestors for both Joseph and his Brethren were interred in Judaea did ever build a Tomb to their Law-giver or so much as pretend to shew his Sepulchre Josephus was of Opinion that Moses wrote himself the account of his own Death for fear the Jews should ever imagine and so give out that God had taken him up into Heaven I see I confess no solidity in that Conjecture of his but yet it may give us occasion to make a Reflection hereupon I think more natural and easie which is that God had a mind as Joshua intimates it to confirm the many Characters of Divinity that appeared in the Law of Moses by taking away from before the eyes of the Jews his Corps which they would certainly if they had not been so prevented have kept with more care than those of all their Patriarchs and Kings The Description of the manner of Moses's Death shews evidently that he was not only in great esteem during his Life but that even his Death did much conduce to the increase of it and to make Men look upon him as one gloriously raised up above the common condition of Men and in a manner not obnoxious to the Infirmities and Miseries incident to human nature But after these general Reflexions I must come to those that are more particular CHAP. III. That the truth of the Miracles related by Moses cannot reasonably be doubted of WHoever will examine with attention the four last Books of
they passed for Holy Men because they designed to imitate what as they were told had happened to Noah by his Son Ham which introduced the Custom amongst the Assyrians of Castrating themselves that they might be Priests Thirdly Deut. XXII God commanded that any Virgin which was Betrothed to a Husband and was corrupted in her Father's House or that was Ravished without calling for help should be punished with Death so that all the Virgins were indispensably engaged for fear of losing both Life and Honour together to preserve their Virginity with all possible care But here is a fourth Law concerning this matter whereby God obliged the Parents of all contracted Virgins to take a more than ordinary care of them when he commands Deut. XXII 21. That a Virgin for whom the Tokens of Virginity were not found should be brought out to the door of her Father's House and there be stoned to death by the Men of the City for so her Parents were by that means made partakers of the punishment of her Crime and their negligence was severely punish'd by such a shameful Execution as dishonoured their whole Family Fifthly God submitted Women to the Examination of their Husbands to whom they were Married Nay one would think that he intended to raise the Jealousie of Husbands when he gives them leave to bring their Wives to a publick Tryal and to punish them with Death when they did not preserve the Tokens of their Virginity It was for that reason that he commanded that the Parents or near Relations of the young Married Women thus complained of Deut. XXII should produce upon all such occasions the Tokens of the Virginity of those Daughters which they disposed in Marriage which was usually done with many Solemn Circumstances and Formalities And here are three things which deserve to be attentively considered The First is the Custom that was amongst the Jews for Parents never to let their Virgin Daughters go out of their Houses which Custom made them be called Concealed in opposition to those that went abroad that is that were Prostitutes The Second is another Custom which the just desire of preserving the Virginity of their Daughters against all Accidents had introduced amongst that People which was that all their Virgins did wear a sort of Fetters which are called in the Talmud Cevalim which are discribed by the famous Moses the Son of Maimon in this manner Cevalim sunt compedes in forma periscelidis Ad Massec Sabbath c. 6. J 4. inter quos interposuerunt catenulas illis compedibus ornabant se Virgines ut non incederent passu magno ne contigeret ipsis damnum in Virginitate sua This Description may be thought to be one of the foolish phancies of the modern Jews if we did not meet with proofs of the practice of that Custom in more ancient times In short one see 's in the third of Isaiah that Chains are reckon'd up amongst other Ornaments of the Daughters of Israel which God threatneth to take away from them when he would force them to go Captives into Babylon The Third is an ancient Tradition mentioned in the Pirke Eliezer in the XVI Chapter Solent Israelitae digito educere Virginitatem ne incidant in dubitationem vel suspicionem juxta illud Sumat Pater Mater puellae c. In a word it seems that for fear least these Tokens of Virginity should be thought to be obscure and ambiguous by their Husbands that God has provided for the securing of the Virginity of their young Women before Marriage by a Miracle the experience whereof was ordinary and common amongst so jealous a people Numb V. Joseph l. 3. Antiq. p. 95. I mean the Waters of Jealousie which all Women whose Carriage was suspected by their Husbands were obliged to drink by which God did either miraculously justifie them or else he began to inflict a punishment upon them which was so much the more dreadful and exemplary as it proceeded from the hand of God himself This Miracle lasted to the destruction of the second Temple as the Jews themselves tells us in that Title of their Talmud Sota c. 9. which concerns Women suspected of Adultery However as God works no Miracles without great reasons so he here made a Law the observance whereof was very rigorous which was that he would not suffer any Women to be Married when there was the least probability that they had their Courses but that they should be separated at that time as unclean The Reason of this Law was because it was then almost impossible but that the lewd Women might have imposed upon their Husbands in the Marks of their Virginity which at that time are very uncertain not to say that as a politick Law-giver he might prescribe the observation of this Law least the Common-wealth of the Jews should have been overstocked with weak and sickly people Lastly one see 's that God himself has fastned a Blot upon Leprous persons Isidor Pelus l. 5. Ep. 117. Joseph Antiq l. 3 p. 94. because they were supposed to have been Conceived when their Mothers had their Courses And hereupon was that Law of God founded which debarred Lepers for ever from the Right of coming into the Congregations of his people One ought to make the same Observation upon those that were unlawfully begotten for they were deprived of the Right of entring into the Congregation and how innocent soever they were as to the lewdness of those who gave them their Lives yet they were thus with them made partakers of the punishment of their sin If one considers all these several Laws attentively one shall find on the one hand that several of them were of very little moment except we suppose that God intended to secure the state of Virginity by them beyond all danger And on the other hand one shall find that some of them are very severe about things which do not seem to deserve so terrible a rigour But if we consider them according to God's design as he hath afterwards particularly explained it They will appear I am confident to be all very worthy of the Wisdom of such a Law-giver One needs only reflect upon that method of God that I have now explained to see that nothing can be conceived to be better managed than this Model according to the design which God himself had drawn One may make the same Observations and examine the same stroaks of the Wisdom of God in several other precautions which he made use of to make the Messiah be perfectly distinguish'd according to the several Characters under which he was to be proposed afterwards by the Ministry of the Prophets One sees that the Messiah being to be born of a Virgin was to be a first-born and for that reason we find many Laws which distinguish in general the priviledges of the first-born So it appears by the XVIII of Deuteronomy that the Messiah was to be a Prophet and therefore God afterwards
expressions of this Psalm the Image of a Death which was equally shameful and cruel The other part of the Psalm gives us an Account of the deliverance of that person who is mentioned in this holy Hymn I. He obliges himself to praise the Name of the Lord in the most numerous Assembly II. He observes it as an effect of this deliverance that all the ends of the World should remember and turn unto the Lord and that all the Kindreds of the Nations should worship before him III. At last he takes notice that the Kingdom of God should spread it self over all the Nations of the World. One may judge by the History of David whe-this Psalm is applicable to him therein we may see all the Crosses which he underwent particularly represented during all the former years of his Reign But there we have no Account that David ever suffered any thing like that which is so exactly described in this Psalm And this may be said further that when David took any Occasion to paint out his Sufferings to us he has put in several stroaks which only relate to the Messiah and which shew us in a very lively manner that he was to pass through much greater Tryals than any of those from which David had been delivered The later Jews who endeavour to verifie this Prophecy in Esther or Mordecai agree with us at the bottom that David carried his views further than barely his own Sufferings And those also who apply it to the poople of Israel must acknowledge the same Truth even against their wills But the more ancient Jews were more equitable in their applications of the XXII Psalm to the Messiah They applyed it to him in earnest even after the time of Jesus Christ when the comparison of these Characters of the Messiah which may be found so exactly in the Death of Jesus Christ led them to an opposition of this Truth And certainly there needs very little equity to acknowledge that this Oracle or rather this heap of Oracles belong'd to the Messiah by the confession and agreement of the Jews in our Saviour's time I. They had not then resolved to make their advantages of the Writer's fault who writ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like a Lion instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have pierced my feet as they have done since In short Aquila who lived 100 years after Jesus Christ and the other Jewish Interpreters Symmachus and Theodotion translated that passage as we now read it II. The Notion which the Synagogue always had of the Sufferings of the Messiah obliged them to suppose two Messiahs one suffering and the other glorious rather than to contradict that Truth openly which is expressed by these Oracles in soparticular a manner III. Nothing can be imagined to be more ridiculous than to suppose that Jesus Christ should quote the first words of this Psalm upon the Cross thereby to engage all Mankind to take notice of the accomplishment of this ancient Oracle in all his Sufferings if we suppose that this Psalm even by the confession of the Jews had no relation to the Messiah The same Reflexion may be made concerning the Apostles who have quoted so many passages of this Psalm to prove that Jesus Christ was the Messiah because one may find in his Death and in the Circumstances of it such a litteral and exact accomplishment of this ancient Prophecy But if it should be objected That after all this agreement of the Synagogue can make no more than a strong prejudice this may be easily answered by considering that when the Psalmist speaks of the extent of his Kingdom over the whole Earth it was that Circumstance which determined the Synagogue in their application of this whole Psalm to the Messiah because as the Jews themselves acknowledge this extent of Empire is one of those Characters which according to the ancient Oracles is applicable to none but the Messiah In short because it is of great importance I shall repeat it here again common sense led those who considered these ancient Oracles to compare them as naturally they ought with those that went before and to determine the scope and intent of the later ones by the relation which they had to the precedent ones and there was only need of one considerable Clause to make a certain determination after they had made such a comparison This the Jews were certainly convinced of when they acknowledged that the last words of David II Sam. XXIII 1-8 were to be applyed to the Messiah by comparing them with Balaam's Oracle of the Messiah Numb XXIV We may therefore take it for granted That David did not absolutely speak of himself in the XXII Psalm and that he carried his views as far as the Messiah that he gave a great number of Characters to his Posterity whereby they might distinguish notwithstanding the greatness of his Sufferings and even the better by his very Sufferings than which no clearer marks can possibly be given because there is nothing more involuntary than enduring of Miseries nor nothing which depends less upon the choice of the person who is to undergo them than the particular kind of punishment or than the Circumstances which must accompany his Death when it is once left to the unjust power of violent Enemies We come now to the CX Psalm which in a very few words contains several very important Characters of the Messiah which are very distinctly expressed If one considers it exactly it seems to have been composed after that Nathan had acquainted David with the Glory of his Son which God had promised him such a Son who should build a House wherein God should dwell for ever and who should sit upon a Throne which should never be overturned whereas David had only form'd a Design of Building a Temple to the Lord. In short one see 's that the Spirit of Prophecy had given him a view of the Glory of this august King who should be born of his Seed and of the Glory of his Kingdom which should never be destroy'd David advances this King not only above all MEN by calling him his Lord who was himself a King but also above the Angels by making him sit at the right hand of God in the Kingdom of Heaven This is personal He also describes the Glory of his Office by considering him as a Priest of a higher order than that of Aaron from whom Melchisedech received Tithes in the person of Abraham And in a word he acquaints us with the progress of his Kingdom and the greatness of his Victories Let us examine all these Characters by themselves I. He brings in God speaking to the Messiah whom he calls his Lord Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy Enemies thy footstool This points out to us 1. That the Messiah ought to be advanced to Glory 2. That God intended to subdue his Enemies by little and little whilst the Messiah should be in his Glory as it was
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no Priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God I will also forget thy children The Prophet Jeremy speaks to the same purpose Chap. V. vers 21 22 and 23. Hear now this O foolish people and without understanding which have eyes and see not which have ears and hear not Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my presence who have placed the Sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and tho' the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho' they roar yet can they not pass over it But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart they are revolted and gone And he reiterates the same Chap. VIII vers 7. The stork in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgment of the Lord. Ezechiel prosecutes the same matter Chap. II. vers 5 and 8. calling the Jews a Rebellious House And Chap. XII vers 1 and 2. he saith The word of the Lord came unto me saying Son of Man thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious House who have eyes to see and see not they have ears to hear and hear not for they are a rebellious House Neither do the Prophets only represent to us in general the blindness of the Jews upon several occasions but they also very particularly inform us that he who was the most considerable person of their State and the great Minister of God should be notwithstanding rejected by them And here first It is worth our noting that Moses threatens the worst of Calamities to those who should refuse to hear the great Prophet like unto him whom God was to raise to his People Deut. XVIII vers 18. Secondly David Psalm CXVIII v. 22. expresses this in these words The Stone which the Builders refused is become the Head of the Corner From which words it is evident 1. That the Messiah was to be rejected 2. That he was to be rejected by those who were intrusted with the care of building the House 3. That this was to be before he should be acknowledged the great Minister of Heaven God speaks the same thing by Isaiah Chap. XXVIII vers 6. Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation he that believeth shall not make haste Which place is to be understood of the Messiah by the Confession of the Jews themselves Daniel follows the same Notion Chap. II. vers 34 35. Thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands which smote the Image upon his feet and brake them to pieces and the stone became a great Mountain and filled the Earth On all which Prophecies we may make these Remarks 1. That Jesus Christ quotes most of them as such which by the Jews themselves were owned to refer to the Messiah Thus Matt. XXI verse 42. he saith Did ye never read in the Scriptures the Stone which the Builders rejected the same is become the Head of the Corner And St. Peter Acts IV. vers 11. This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders which is become the head of the corner St. Paul makes the same allusion Ephes II. vers 20. And are built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone And I Cor. III. verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ And when Jesus Christ himself saith to Peter Matth. XVI verse 18. Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church c. He alludes to that of Daniel Then was the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff of the Summer threshing floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the Stone which smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth Our Saviour applyes also to the Jews those Prophecies which foretel their being offended at the Ministers of Heaven in particular that of Isaiah Chap. VI. verse 9. Go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not 2. We may observe that the Jews of old applyed those Prophecies as the Apostles did to the hardning of their own Nation as appears from that of St. Paul Rom. X. verse 21. But to Israel he saith all the day long I have stretched forth my hand unto a disobedient and gain-saying people 3. We must take notice That the same temper which was in the ancient Jews who rejected the Prophets was found in those who lived at the time of our Saviour and for this we need only to read the description which Josephus de Bello Judaico Lib. VII cap. 3. gives of them where he compares them with the Sodomites which is the Comparison Isaiah makes Chap. I. verse 10. And last of all we may take notice That Josephus acknowledges that this Blindness of the Jews was the cause of the final destruction of Jerusalem which was to succeed the Death of the Messiah according to the express Oracle of Daniel Chap. IX verse 26. CHAP. XX. That the Messiah was to dye and an Account of the several Circumstances of his Death TO be convinced of this Truth we need only prove that what is set down in Psalm XXII Isaiah LIII Daniel IX and Zachariah XIII and other prophetical passages of Holy Scripture is to be understood of the Messiah and the reading of them alone is sufficient to satisfie the meanest Capacity that the person they point at was to lose his life by violence with several very infamous Circumstances Now it is certain that both ancient and modern Jews interpret these places of the Messiah and it is as evident that the Apostles understood them so and therefore all along applyed them to Jesus Christ following therein the known explications of the Rabbies of their own Nation It is plain also That the Death and Suffering of our Saviour would have prov'd a more efficaci ous Argument to refute the Apostles than all the Miracles of Jesus Christ could have been to establish their Doctrine if the Prophetical Writings had not so precisely determined his Sufferings and Death with the several Circumstances of them It is also to be noted That the Prophecies referring to the Death of the Messiah are generally interwoven with Idea's which point to other Prophetical passages avowedly owned by the Jews to have Relation to the Messiah Thus if we compare Psalm XXII verse 28. with Psalm LXXII vers 8 9. we shall find the same Idea set forth in them both And because this Character was to be the most proper and distinguishing note of
remarkable Fact was declared by the Angel Gabriel who had before foretold to Daniel the coming of the Messiah and signified the exact time thereof The Conception of Isaac by a barren Mother as well as that of Samuel and John the Baptist had been already declared in the same manner and one Miracle ought to serve as a preparation for the belief of a greater When the Disciples of Jesus Christ speak of the Fact they speak of it as a thing known throughout all Jerusalem and which had no Relation to their Master Besides we know the Jealousie that was between the Disciples of S. John and those of our Saviour But we have a further account besides of the Message of an Angel to Joseph after he had perceived that his betrothed Wife was with Child for when he was ready to divorce her either by exposing her to the rigour of the Divine Law Deut. XXII 23. or else by exempting her from that extremity he is diverted from his intention by this warning from Heaven In all which we meet with nothing but what is very probable for Joseph expresses his hatred and dislike as conceiving her to be debauched and was resolved not to receive her but by an Order from Heaven Moreover it is very remarkable That we find all things recited in such a manner as it was necessary they should come to pass on supposition that the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin of the House of David For first We find this event appeared incredible to the person her self who was designed to effect it because she could not easily make the Application at first 2. It caus'd exceeding joy to the person who saw her self chosen by God to fulfil so glorious a promise whereby the Family of David was to be restor'd to its ancient Lustre This is evident from the Hymn of the Blessed Virgin which if we compare with the Psalms of David we shall see that that Family still retained all the Piety of their Ancestors with all those signs of acknowledgment which an event of such a nature did justly require 3. It appears that Joseph acquiesced in this Truth he who otherwise did not seem very credulous till he was instructed from Heaven concerning a matter so rare and difficult to be conceived He retires for some time into Egypt and affords Mary and her Son all the service they could reasonably expect from him S. Contr. Helvidium Jerome alledges three Reasons why it was needful for the Blessed Virgin to be betrothed to Joseph 1. That the Original of the Blessed Virgin might be proved by the Pedigree of Joseph to whom she was related 2. That according to the Law of Moses she might not be stoned as an Adulteress 3. That in her Flight into Egypt she might have the comfort of a Guardian rather than of a Husband Neither can any thing be opposed to the belief of these matters but some very weak Conjectures The first is That her being contracted doth something obscure the distinct Notion of Virginity and secondly That the Blessed Virgin did always pass for the Wife of Joseph even according to the style of Jesus Christ himself And lastly That the Relation which the Evangelists give of this matter was not known till long after the death of Jesus Christ But it is an easie matter to satisfie the mind of any reasonable Reader in this thing It was necessary that the Blessed Virgin should be betrothed 1. To secure her Life which would have been in danger if she had been delivered whilst she was reputed to be a Virgin for she would have been accused of Whoredom and consequently have been put to death 2. It was necessary she should be betrothed and pass for the lawful Wife of Joseph that her Son might not be banish'd from the Congregation of Israel as a Bastard in the Rigour of the Law. As for the other Objection I easily grant that the Blessed Virgin always pass'd for the Wife of Joseph she her self saith I and thy Father sought thee But withal at that very time Jesus Christ unvailed that Mystery in the Presence of all the Jews maintaining that he was the Son of God in whose House he was at that time it was at a solemn Feast of the Jews where the whole Nation was assembled and in the midst of an Assembly of their Doctors that he declared the Temple to be the House of his Father as he afterwards constantly called it We find him at another time declaring the same in the presence of his Family at Cana in Galilee John II. 4. Woman what have I to do with thee saith he to the Blessed Virgin to put her in mind of some passages which could not but preserve in her a very particular respect for him He gives yet a further degree of light into this matter when his Mother seeking to come at him he saith Who is my Mother and who are my Brethren that is Kinsmen 'T is probable that Joseph was dead before our Saviour entred upon his Ministry however his making no mention of his reputed Father shews how careful he was to avoid any thing that might obscure his miraculous Birth Last of all it is very considerable that this passage being not the only Character which was to distinguish the Messiah from all others but was to be confirmed by the Miracles of Jesus Christ by his Resurrection and those other proofs of his Divine Nature it was at first not much insisted on because there was a necessity that it should continue vailed for some time upon the account of the frequent Apparitions of Angels and of God himself in a Human form that so the truth of his Humanity should be established by his Life and Death before the publication of his miraculous Conception For it is certain that the Apostles preached up this Truth and that the Evangelists had put it in writing before the destruction of the Jewish Common-wealth and yet we do not find that it was ever contested The Evangelists describe the Methods which the Jews took to make the Resurrection of Christ to be doubted of and to slight his Miracles and do we think they would not as well have given us the Objections of the Jews against a thing of which till then never any Instance had been known in the World I know very well that some of the Ancients have told us that the Jews were offended that the Blessed Virgin after she was delivered of our Saviour should seat her self in the place appointed for Virgins and that because Zacharias the Priest maintained her in so doing he was thereupon kill'd by them between the Temple and the Altar with which our Saviour upbraids the Jews I know also that they affirm that she was forced to confirm the truth of her Virginity by submitting her self to a search of Matrons yet I cannot believe that she ever underwent any such Examination of which the silence of the Evangelists and S. Luke's in particular fully
would have taken by force to make him their King What likelyhood was there that the Apostles a company of poor miserable Jews should bring over the Gentiles to the Religion of a man who was accursed by the Synagogue of the Jews and crucified like a Slave by the Authority of the Roman Magistrate What probability was there of the destruction of Jerusalem whilst the Jews accustom'd to the Roman yoke made it their business to avoid all manner of occasions that might stir up the indignation of their Masters against them It is expedient say they rather that one man perish meaning Jesus than to hazard the welfare of the whole Nation The third is That these Oracles were written by the Apostles not only amongst Discourses of another nature but also linked together in such a Chain that their connexion will not permit us to believe that they were contrived after the matters which they relate to were past and also that they are constantly related by three Evangelists long time before the things came to pass S. John being the only Witness of the Destruction of Jerusalem The fourth is That these Oracles gave the Apostles as much grounds to expect Calamities and violent Deaths as to Jesus Christ himself so that there is no pretence of doubting that they were not faithfully recorded by the Evangelists and that therefore seeing the Accomplishment has exactly answered to the Oracle we ought to look upon them as Divine Oracles I confess that these Oracles no more than the Books of the New Testament were ever committed to the publick custody of the Jews as formerly the Oracles of the Prophets of old were but this cannot really diminish their Authority I will not observe at present that because the Temple was to be burnt it was not proper to depose them there and 't was for this reason God thought fit to cause the Oracles of the Old Testament to be translated long before Nor yet that it was very proper that these Predictions as well as the Books of the New Testament should be put into the hands of the Gentiles who thence-forward were to be the People of God and his Temple But this I observe that nothing can be imagined more solemn than these Prophecies of our Saviour and his Disciples as well as never any thing was more exactly fulfilled Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem according to the Oracles Now as no man is Master of the place of his Birth so it is plain that here is no room left for imposture neither is a man any more the Master of his Death wherefore to give a certain Character to his Prophecy he foretells his dying at Jerusalem which accordingly was accomplished in all its Circumstances can any thing be more exact But one may say That it was easie for the Disciples to forge Predictions suitable to the Event in like manner as Virgil hath done in the sixth of his Aeneids of Marcellus One may indeed contrive an imposture which shall be possible and which may answer to some few Oracles but I shall hereafter shew the folly of that thought when I come to prove the faithfulness of the Apostles and Evangelists But can we conceive such a suspicion concerning the Conversion of the Gentiles the ruin of Paganism the Victory of Christianity after Ten Persecutions 'T is now above 1600 years that the Christian Religion subsists whereas who could have assured the Disciples of Jesus Christ that their Doctrine would have had so much as one or two followers after their Death The greatest Empires that of the Chaldeans of the Persians of the Grecians and that of the Romans have been overturned and none of them singly have been of so long continuance as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which nevertheless was attack'd by all that was great and powerful in the World. Who see 's not that this is the Empire whereof Daniel speaks in the seventh of his Revelations which was never to have end Jesus Christ foretold as it is set down by his Disciples according to the Prophecy of Daniel that the Temple of Jerusalem should be destroyed and never built again who could tell the Apostles if they had forged this Oracle themselves that the endeavours of Julian to confound this Prophecy when he began to rebuild the Temple would be in vain as indeed they proved by an effect of the Divine vengeance against the Jews who were engaged in the rebuilding of it Ammian Marcellin Lib. 23. under the Authority of that Emperour Indeed if one reflects on the Oracles of Jesus Christ one shall find them a thousand times more known than those of the Jews 1. The greatest part of them were penn'd at one and the same time 2. They were writ by several Authors who lived in different places 3. They were read over the whole Earth every Lord's day they have been explained and commented upon soon after every one endeavouring to take notice of their Accomplishment 4. They have been alledged in Disputes against Jews and Gentiles and have served for a Foundation to the Faith of the Christian Church whose Teachers have made it their business to shew their uniformity with the Oracles of the Old Testament which are in the hands of the Jews tho' the Jews have always considered the Christians as their most mortal Enemies But one may also find that these Oracles being for the most part much more clear and express their Accomplishment also hath been so much the more easily discernible from whence it evidently follows That Jesus Christ ought to be acknowledged as the Prophet that was like unto Moses as is mentioned in the Eighteenth of Deuteronomy that is indeed the true Messiah CHAP. XII That Jesus Christ died precisely in the same manner as it was foretold that the Messiah should dye I Have shewed in my third part that God had given to his Church several Oracles to explain distinctly this great Truth concerning the Messiah 1. He had set this up for a Rule by Moses Cursed is he that hangeth on a Tree 2. He had proposed by David the Idea of the Messiah as having his hands and feet pierced the Gentiles and Jews uniting themselves against him 3. He had foretold by Isaiah that the Messiah was to be accounted a Malefactor and put to death 4. He had repeated the same Idea's by the Prophet Zechariah who describes the manner of his being pierced which has a natural reference to the notion of Crucifixion I have also set down the Reasons for which God separated the several parts of those Prophetical Descriptions of so surprizing an Event the difficulty there was on the one hand to make these Idea's to be received which seem full of Contradictions the Messiah having been at first set forth as the Fountain of Blessing and on the other hand their seeming incompatibility with the Glory which God had promised to the Messiah and by him to the Israelites And at last I have shewed that these Oracles do exactly
that it was Jesus Christ himself The Angels repeat to the Women the command which Jesus Christ before his death had given to his Disciples to go into Galilee Jesus Christ appearing to Mary Magdelen repeats the same to her and gives her a particular Commission for S. Peter to comfort him in his Affliction for having denied his Master Appearing to his Disciples as they went to Emmaus he refers them to the Prophecies which spoke of his Death and Resurrection and moreover when he broke Bread with them they hear the same Prayers which he ordinarily used at the blessing of it He appears to them the same day the fifth time and shews them his feet and his hands he repeats the Grant of the Authority which the Father had given him he breathes upon them saying Receive the Holy Ghost a week after he lets Thomas touch him he appears afterward to seven of his Apostles upon the Lake of Tiberias where he confirms S. Peter in his charge from which his denying of Christ might seem to have excluded him after he had wrought a Miracle in the draught of the Fishes which was like some Miracles which he had wrought before his death Afterwards he appears upon the same Mountain in Galilee where in all probability he had been transfigured before and is there seen of Five hundred of his Disciples at once And last of all he appears to them at Jerusalem after their return from Galilee and from thence goes with them to Bethany where after he had told them of the absolute power which God had given them he commands them to go and Baptize in his Name he foretels the Miracles which they should work and the Gifts which they should receive at Jerusalem All these so very different Circumstances were only design'd to assure their Eyes their Hands their Minds their Consciences that it was the same Jesus whom they had always followed It is worth our taking notice of the diversity of these Circumstances for the certainty of this Fact which absolutely prevent all pretences of doubtfulness Jesus Christ appears ten several times after his death he appears five times on the very day of his Resurrection he appears at several hours to different persons in several places but always to persons to whom he was familiarly known to those who were not at all credulous the first news they had of his Resurrection seem'd only to raise their Scruples if the testimony of their Senses which saw him and touched him had not removed all suspicions Jesus Christ appears to them in places where he had wrought many Miracles and where he had often before conversed with them But one may make another more important Reflexion upon the time and the day wherein our Saviour rose again Of the ten several times in which he appeared to his Disciples he appeared five times on the day of his Resurrection he appeared to them eight days after and after that the eighth day which he signalized by his frequent appearing to his Disciples was consecrated to celebrate the memory of this Event every week One finds certain tokens hereof in the Writings of the Apostles and it is known that all Christians after them did inviolably observe this Law. Now let any one consider whether it would have been possible to introduce this Custom in the time of the Apostles if the Resurrection of Christ had not been a Fact confessed of all hands Can any one conceive that the Apostles and their Disciples who were witnesses of the death of Jesus Christ and who celebrated the memory thereof by a Sacrament could have been so stupid to establish a Custom which would put People upon examining the Fact and have convinced them in a little time since none of those that followed them would have submitted to this practise if they had not been convinced by their Eyes and their other Senses and by a thousand other proofs of the truth of so capital a Fact which was so much disputed by the Jews of which they were obliged to make a solemn commemoration two and fifty times every year as long as they liv'd Let us add to this Remark which we have elsewhere urged with reference to the Creation another Reflexion upon a Fact which the Evangelists tell us They tell us that tho' the Resurrection of Christ was accompanied with very peculiar Circumstances sufficient to convince both Jews and Gentiles of the truth of it being usher'd in with an Earthquake with Apparitions of Angels to the Souldiers that guarded the Sepulchre of Jesus and were frighted thereby yet the Council of the Jews contrived with the Souldiers a most impudent lye to out-face it and accordingly the Souldiers coming before Pilate tell him that the Disciples had stoln away the Body of Jesus whilst they slept and his Disciples tell us that since this hath been the common Opinion of the Jews I will not so much as take notice here of the palpable falsity of this Deposition for if the Souldiers were asleep how could they depose concerning a Fact which was done at that time If they were not asleep why did not they hinder the Disciples from taking the Body of their Master away How could they affirm that Thieves had taken him away when the Linnen Clothes wherein his Body was shrouded being left in the Grave and the Napkin that was about his head being folded up in a place by it self do absolutely evince that he was not taken away by persons that were in fear of a surprize What probability is there in short to suspect that his Disciples who forsook Jesus Christ whilst he was yet alive who fled from him at that time should undertake such a hazardous Attempt to have his Body only Neither will I insist upon a Representation of the Apostles sincerity which made them give us in their Histories a plain account of the report which was spread against the belief of the Resurrection of Jesus before ever that the Disciples had attested the same But I observe another very particular Character in their Relation which is that it was impossible for them to establish this Fact of the Resurrection without accusing thereby the whole Council of the Jews of the most shameful and crying imposture that ever was to write a thing of this nature against the Heads of that Religion was to sacrifice themselves to the hatred of the Publick and to expose themselves to inevitable ruin In short let us imagine whether after a charge of this nature it was easie for the Apostles to publish their Books and preach publickly that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead And yet this was what they did with a surprizing diligence when they inserted this terrible Accusation into their Books and Sermons which alone is sufficient to demonstrate that they were infinitely convinced of the Resurrection and also in a condition to convince all Gainsayers as we shall shew hereafter One may add to this proof the Conversion of S. Paul and the
care which he afterwards took to confirm this truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ He was a declared Enemy of Jesus Christ and of the Christian Religion and yet soon after the Death of Christ he preaches him up for the Messiah How came this suddain change He asserts that he had seen in Heaven this Jesus who was risen from the dead and received from him the Apostleship accordingly we find him preaching by these Orders without any communication had with the first Disciples of Jesus Christ He relates these matters in a manner so little affected to advance his Ministry in the minds of the Galatians who preferred S. Peter and the other Apostles before him that there is no ground left to doubt of them One ought to make a like Reflexion upon the Conversion of Cornelius the Centurion he was a Proselyte that is a Gentile by Birth but a Jew by Profession and by the Imployment he was in he had occasion of being more particularly informed of the deposition of the Souldiers who probably were not unknown to him for he was in the Garrison at Caesarea which was not far from Jerusalem Yet however this Cornelius after he had a vision which commanded him to send to Joppa a place made famous because Jonah the Prophet set Sail from thence who was a Type of the Messiah in his Death and Resurrection this Cornelius I say embraced the Christian Religion becomes the first Bishop of Caesarea and dyed a Martyr for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The great affection which S. Luke had for S. Paul confirms the same truth S. Luke had never seen our Saviour he was born at Antioch where in all probability he exercis'd his Profession of Physick yet he was converted to Christianity and follow'd S. Paul in all places and writ the History of his Miracles and Preaching who doubts but that the reason hereof was because he had seen the Dead whom Christ had raised to life and had seen S. Paul whom Jesus Christ had dignified with the Apostleship raise others also from the dead It is certain that those who were first convinced by the Relation of the Apostles must needs have had very evident proofs of the truth of it The Jews had Sadducees amongst them who denied the possibility of the Resurrection in general the Council of the Jews especially had made it their business to decry the Conduct the Doctrine and the Miracles of Jesus Christ and in particular to make the belief of his Resurrection suspected and so much the more because Jesus Christ had foretold it and his Apostles maintained that it was come to pass accordingly If in opposition to these strong prejudices there had only been the deposition of two or three persons to confirm this Fact there would have been reason to doubt of it but we find that this thing which of it self seems hard to be believed and was otherwise so much contested is 1. Proved by ten several Apparitions 2. It is attested by above five hundred Disciples 3. It was publickly preached by the Disciples of Christ at Jerusalem it self and throughout all Judea where it was most of all disputed 4. It was received by the very Enemies of Jesus Christ as S. Paul and Cornelius and by thousands of those who having demanded his Death were converted by the preaching of the Apostles 5. It was confirmed by the Martyrdom of the greatest part of them and 6. It was not not only authoriz'd by the presence of the three persons whom Christ had raised to life and who lived one of them at Bethany fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem where Jesus ascended to Heaven another at Naim c. But it was further verified by several Resurrections wrought by the Apostles to whom Christ had vouchsafed that astonishing power It was also a very considerable thing that the Commonwealth of the Jews continued near forty years after the time that the Apostles undertook openly to preach up the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the capital Article of their Religion and yet in all that time it was never opposed by any publick Writing either of the Jews or Gentiles If the Jews in their unjust intrigues against Jesus Christ and his Religion endeavoured to abuse the World in this matter with calumniating Stories neither have the Apostles been wanting to accuse the principal Men of their Nation of imposture and they have despised the most cruel of their Punishments to maintain the Justice of their Charge and yet none of them would undertake to justifie the Calumnies of their Council tho' they saw Christianity spreading it self not only over all Judea but in all parts of the World. To speak of it as it is this Conduct of theirs was a manifest betraying of their Cause or rather an open acknowledgment that what they had published against the innocency of the Disciples and the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus was without all ground I foresee only one probable difficulty which can be opposed to the solidity of these Reflexions A Jew may demand why Jesus Christ after his Resurrection did not converse as openly amongst the Jews as before that so he might have been known by those who had crucified him which would have put the truth of the Resurrection out of doubt But to speak truth this Objection is not reasonable for 1. Jesus Christ had threatned the unbelieving Jews they should see him no more and he ought to make good his threatning 2. Who sees not that they would have looked upon his appearing amongst them as a phantastick Apparition after they had seen him work so many Miracles and had attributed them to the Devil 3. I say that such an Apparition was not agreeable to our Saviour's Doctrine in the Parable of the Rich man Luke XVI 29 31. They have Moses and the Prophets if they hear not them neither will they be perswaded tho' one rose from the dead 4. Jesus Christ having for the most part conversed in Galilee at Nazareth and Capernaum it was to the Galileans and his Disciples that he was chiefly to shew himself to be acknowledged by them as being the persons who were particularly to bear witness of this truth After so strong a presumption as the Governours of that People had of Christ's Resurrection founded upon the Earthquake which accompanied it and upon the Deposition of the Souldiers to whom the Angels had appeared had not they all the reason in the World to believe the testimony of the Apostles concerning this truth which they heard several times attested by them in full Council and saw confirm'd by miraculous Cures which they could not question in the least Lastly Is not this Objection the most ridiculous thing in the World For let us suppose that these Considerations are not strong enough to justifie our Saviour's conduct when he gave these proofs of his Resurrection doth it follow that because he did not make choice of means in order to perswade the Jews which they
he who had made himself so famous by his Sorceries becomes a Disciple S. Luke in a History of the Actions of thirty years relates the continual Miracles wrought by the Apostles and particularly by S. Paul whom he constantly followed It seems to me that if one considers the History it self and the person who made it that it will appear to be a true and faithful Relation however there are other testimonies which invincibly establish the same Truth 1. The Gospel was in effect established in most of the Provinces and great Cities of the Roman Empire S. Paul writes to the Christians of Thessalonica Corinth and Ephesus to the Galatians Colossians c. which is an evident Argument that there were Christians every where that is Disciples of these twelve Fishermen who understood nothing but their native Syriack Language How then were all these Nations converted without supposing the truth of the Miracle at the Pentecost 2. The Apostles speak to them of these miraculous Gifts as of a common thing S. Paul employing some part of his first Epistle to the Corinthians to regulate those disorders which arose in the Church by reason of the abuse of those Gifts S. James speaks of the power that the Priests had to cure the sick and S. Paul wishes for an opportunity of going to Rome to communicate those Gifts to the Romans 3. They take occasion to raise the Dignity of the Gospel above that of the Law in calling it the Ministry of the Spirit in opposition to the Letter of the Law notwithstanding the Tables of the Law had been given to Moses in so very illustrious a manner It is of great moment here to consider Three things which alone are sufficient to confirm the truth of the Christian Religion The first is That this Mission of the Spirit is alone sufficient to convince Mankind of the Divinity of Jesus Christ God gave to Adam a power of speaking one Language and afterwards he divided the same to make a confusion amongst the Builders of Babel and Jesus Christ doth the same thing to confirm the Glory and Belief of his Divinity God vouchsafes the power of Miracles to some Jesus Christ communicates it to a far greater number Miracles not having been so generally wrought because no People ever had that power in all the foregoing Ages The Father wrought so few Miracles that he might leave to the Son this means of making himself known The Son had the glory of pouring forth the Holy Ghost in a greater abundance than the Father thereby to supply the shame of his humiliation This is the true Reason why the Scripture saith That the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus Christ was not yet glorified The second is That from this Miracle one ought to infer these two Conclusions The first is That God was fully pacified by the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Apostles constantly representing the Passion of our Saviour as a Sacrifice offer'd by him The other is That from that time forward Mankind was conscerated to God as his Temple Jesus Christ in his prayer before his Death expresses himself much in the same manner as Solomon did at his Dedication of the first Temple and Fire from Heaven falls down on his Sacrifice Jesus Christ consecrates his Apostles to be the living Stones of his Temple and causes the heavenly Flames to fall down upon them as had formerly been granted at Solomon's Dedication of the first Temple The third is That the Jews themselves cannot conceive a more glorious or magnificent Accomplishment of the ancient Oracles concerning the effusion of the Holy Spirit at the time of the Messiah than what we find related by S. Luke whereof the whole World may see the visible Effects in the Calling of the Gentiles to the Christian Religion from whence one may rationally conclude That Jesus Christ must be acknowledged for the Messiah whom God had promised CHAP. XV. That according to the Prophecies the Apostles of Jesus Christ have called the Gentiles to the profession of the Christian Religion WE have already seen what was the design of God and that the distinction which he made of the Jews from other Nations was only that the Messiah might by that means be the more certainly known in whom all Mankind had a right as being promised to Adam God renew'd the Idea of this truth in a very lively manner when he assured Abraham before he gave him the Law of Circumcision That in his Seed all Nations should be blessed Jacob enlightned by the Spirit of Prophecy on his Death-bed plainly takes this truth for granted when he says that the Messiah whom he calls Shiloh was to be the expectation of the Gentiles Gen. XLIX Why doth he not say That he was to be the expectation of the Jews but because he supposeth that they were to be rejected and the Gentiles called in their stead One see 's in the Psalms and in the Prophets until Malachi inclusively a thousand Declarations of this future Calling of the Gentiles to the Faith of the Messiah and tho' the most part of the Idea's which the Prophets make use of seem to be very figurative describing the Messiah as a Conquerour who was to subdue the whole World to his Dominion by the force of Arms yet we find a great many others interwoven with them which only relate to the Profession of the Religion of the Messiah and which not being capable of any other Sense sufficiently determine the others so as not to perplex the Reader with those seeming Obscurities But Jesus Christ very distinctly declares this in divers places and above all in the XXIV of S. Matthew This Gospel saith he shall be preached throughout all the World. Now nothing could ever be more exactly fulfilled than these ancient Oracles have been let the Jews cavil as long as they please about our application of many of the Prophecies of the Old Testament to our Saviour let them put a sense upon the Scriptures which treat of this Subject contrary to what the Jews who were contemporary with Jesus Christ ever did and to the most of those with whom the first Christians as Justin Tertullian and others from time to time disputed yet at least they cannot deny but that the thing has been exactly fulfilled It is clearer than the day that nothing could be more exact All Christians from one end of the World to another worship the God of Israel according to the Prophecy of Malachi Jesus Christ subjected them to the Moral part of the Law of Moses The Mahometans themselves have learnt of the Christians to acknowledge no other God but the God of Israel The multitude of false Gods which the World worshipped are vanished from all places where Christianity has been planted and very few are left in comparison of those which are already destroy'd so that we must consider the thing as already gone very far In truth while things continue thus one may reasonably maintain against the
Jews that our Jesus and his Disciples have taken away all the Glory which could be reserved for that Messiah whom they expect They must if they be jealous for the Glory of him whom they look for endeavour to make the World forsake the worship of the God of Israel to make way for the accomplishment of those Oracles which can have no place in that state wherein the World is at present But tho' this Reflexion upon the exact accomplishment of the Oracles concerning the Call of the Gentiles to the Religion of the Messiah may suffice yet I think my self bound to make some further Observations upon this Subject In short every thing deserves to be considered in this Calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of the Gospel I do not take notice at present that the person first employ'd in Calling of the Gentiles is S. Peter to whom Jesus Christ had promised the honour of founding his Church amongst the Nations and who himself at first thought that the thing was unlawful and who after a Vision given him for that very purpose observes the Jewish Customs and obliges the Gentiles to do the same Neither do I observe that the first who was called was Cornelius a Roman Officer who resided at Caesarea where he became a Proselyte Behold here a man engaged to examine that which he had a better opportunity to do than any one else by reason of the nature of his charge whether what the Souldiers had deposed concerning the Disciples stealing away the Body of our Saviour were true or no. I am obliged to confine my self to some general Reflexions upon this matter I consider first the difficulty which was upon all accounts in this design of the Calling of the Gentiles and the prodigious Success which this Call of the Gentiles met with according to the Prophets To make us understand this difficulty better we need only consider 1. What were the Prejudices of the Jews even those who were become Christians 2. What was the state of the World at the time of Jesus Christ The Heathens enjoyed each their several Religions for a longer time than any History could trace it They attributed the happiness of their States and Families to their Gods. 3. We must observe the nature of that preaching by which the Gentiles were converted Its Subject was the strangest thing in the World if the Cross of Jesus Christ had prov'd the Scandal of the Jews who looked upon the Messiah as the Fountain of Blessing and the Cross as an accursed Punishment it was look'd upon no otherwise than as an heap of Follies by the Greeks who boasted themselves to be the wisest men of the World as well as by the other Gentiles Yet after all this one see 's a prodigious Success and a surprizing Extent of this Call. Within a little time the World was fill'd with Christians S. Paul writes to those that were in Asia Greece and Italy S. Peter to those of Pontus S. John to those who were among the Parthians There were not wanting some in the very Emperour's Court even that of Nero who put S. Peter and S. Paul to death in the Sixty seventh Year of our Lord. One cannot attend to a Success of this nature without being extreamly surpriz'd let us conceive of a dozen or thereabouts of poor Beggars a dozen of unlearned Men coming out of Judea who should accuse the whole World of Folly and Impiety every one opposing them especially the Jews who were incensed to see them go about to establish the belief of the Cross in the World as a Doctrine which would explain the accomplishment of the Promises of God concerning the Messiah of those Promises wherewith the Jews had filled all the East and which had rendred them at this time doubly ridiculous When instead of persecuting the Apostles they hearken unto them or even when in the midst of Chains and Prisons they are examined they declare that true Godliness consists in knowing Jesus Christ even the same Jesus who was crucified in Judea for whose Name 's sake they had been publickly scourged by order of the Council of the Jews Thus we find S. Paul boasting of his severe usage If persons question them more particularly about the Actions of this Jesus they answer coldly That the Son of God came down from Heaven that he took upon him our Flesh in the Womb of a Virgin that when he was become Man and yet an Infant Herod sought to kill him to avoid which he was carried into Egypt that after having lived thirty years obscurely in a Carpenter's Shop he was taken by the Jews scourged mocked crowned with Thorns nailed to the Cross where they gave him Vinegar to drink that there he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me that he died was buried and rose again the third day as he had promised before his Death But what is it that this JESUS teaches to those that would follow him His Apostles in his Name require all Men to renounce the Pleasures of this Life to abhor Polygamy and Fornication and instead of revenging an Affront to turn the other Cheek to him that smites us and to leave our Cloak also with him who takes our Coat from us to go two miles with him who constrains us to guide him one to love our Enemies and to wish well and pray for those that despitefully use us and persecute us But what Rewards will he give to his Servants The Apostles answer That he promises nothing that is considerable in this Life but an everlasting Happiness in the World to come It is visible that nothing seems to be worse contrived to gain credit than this Story The weakness of Jesus Christ is visible he was crucified what ground is here to believe that he was able to perform his Promises The Service he prescribes is very rough the Reward he proposes is at a great distance and moreover it is such as appears very doubtful to those who are not furnished with strong impressions of the immortality of the Soul and of a life to come But on the other hand the Apostles solidly demonstrate that he is GOD and not a meer Man that he can raise the Dead and that he can perform his Promises Tho' they do not say Bring hither the Blind the Lame and the Deaf and we will heal them in his Name present your Dead to us and we will raise them in the Name of that Jesus who is born of Mary of that Jesus who died and cried out on the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me For I acknowledge that this miraculous power which they had received was only exerted upon certain occasions which the Spirit of God made choice of Yet they did that which was equivalent for when blind men were brought to them they said Ye blind in the Name of Jesus recover your sight and in like manner to the Lepers to possessed Persons to the sick of the
stronger when it is applyed to the Writings of the Apostles In short These Books were written to be read by persons of the meanest Capacities by Women by Children as well as by Doctors And they treat of matters of which the whole World hath reason to be informed If some Jews suffer'd Martyrdom under Antiochus to preserve the Books of the Old Testament we have like examples and as numerous of those who have done as much for the preservation of the Books of the New Testameat Lastly If the Jews have looked upon those as Traitors and Apostates who gave up those Books to the fury of their Persecutors the Christians have testified no less aversion for those who delivered the Books of the Apostles to the fury of Heathens even to the subjecting of them to the utmost rigour of Ecclesiastical Discipline in the third Century and before CHAP. XVIII That one cannot doubt of the faithfulness of the witness of the Apostles concerning those Facts which they relate NEither is it more difficult to establish this second Truth That the faithfulness of the Apostles cannot be reasonably questioned To be convinc'd of this one needs only consider the Character of the Apostles the Character of their Writings of their Sermons of their Sufferings and of their Martyrdom and last of all the Character of those amongst whom they wrote these things and preached them to their death As to their Sermons The Apostles were contemporaries with Jesus Christ they spoke of things which they had seen and distinguished them carefully from those which they had learnt another way They were honest men simple and without Learning very fit to bear witness in matters of Fact. They were Persons that preached nothing but Love and the study of Truth they protested in the midst of their Sufferings that they could not conceal the things which they had seen and heard they are men without covetousness or ambition they forsake all that they possess in the World S. Matthew leaves his House and Goods to follow Jesus Christ Their Epistles speak nothing more than instances of Christian Poverty of the loss of their Goods and of mighty instances of their Charity These witnesses are sufficiently numerous they preach and write in several places and yet they agree admirably in their relations of the same Facts it appears they had such lively and distinct impressions that they frequently make use of the very same words The difference which is found in some part of their Books is a manifest argument that nothing but the force of the matter made them agree in their Relations And indeed how is it otherwise conceivable that four such Authors as the Evangelists should agree about so many Opinions so many Miracles so many Prophecies so many Disputes and in a word about so many matters of Fact shall we say that the second took his Copy from the first the third from the second c. This appears to be evidently false by perusing of their works and by the difference of their stile And certainly there appears so great ingenuity in their writings that we cannot accuse them of having had a design to deceive the world they tell you plainly of the meanness of their condition and original they sincerely discover their own weaknesses their ambition their vanity their disputes their heats their murmurings S. Matthew tells us that he was a Publican that is a Servant of the Roman Power whom the Jews look'd upon as an excommunicated person and as an Enemy of their own Nation He relates the ridiculous pretension of the Sons of Zebedee founded on the carnal Notion of their Mother concerning the Temporal Kingdom of the Messiah They set down S. Peter's denying of his Master they do not dissemble their common ignorance which made them expect a Temporal King in Jesus Christ they frankly publish their own incredulity when Mary Magdalen brought them the news of our Saviour's Resurrection and they describe the obstinate resistance of S. Thomas about this matter against the unanimous testimony of all his Companions They do not content themselves with saying in general that some illustrious Facts have happened but they punctually set down all the Circumstances so that it clearly appears their design was to have their writings examined and that after an exact search men might acquiesce in the conclusions which they draw from thence For instance they do not tell us that Jesus Christ raised a great many from the dead they only tell us of three describing the Circumstances of their Resurrection the time the place the age the persons the assistants and all these with other particulars which Impostors care not to enter upon lest they should contradict themselves or be easily confuted I have already shewn That the nature of the things themselves which the Disciples of Jesus Christ have written is such as will not permit us to accuse them of having had a design to impose upon the world they are Facts and not Discourses which are left upon Record and Facts relating to the most important matter in the world than which none was ever more throughly examined they are Facts which are linked so closely and which have so strict a dependance one upon the other and so interwoven with the most publick Transactions either in Civil or Religious Affairs that it was impossible for them to form the design of such an imposture In short it is very remarkable that these Facts were publickly known to the Kings of Judea to the Roman Magistrate to the principal Ministers of State and of their Religion and to the whole Nation of the Jews assembled ten several times at their solemn Feasts to the several Sects of the Jewish Religion the Pharisees Sadduces and Essens who are attack'd censured and confuted in these Books One ought to consider after all that the Apostles at first preached and wrote in Judea where were the witnesses of those Miracles which they related the Impotent the Blind the Deaf which Jesus Christ had restored the Dead whom he raised the Scribes and Pharisees whom he censured the Sadduces whom he confuted the Auditors who had heard him preach the Towns wherein he had conversed most familiarly the same People that followed him the same Enemies that conspired his death the same Judges and the same Authority which condemned him to death S. Luke in the relation he gives us of the Speeches and Apologies which the Apostles made before Kings before the great Council of the Jews and in the midst of their Synagogues brings them in speaking of the Facts contained in the Gospel as of matters publickly known and attested by a vast number of witnesses Thus S. Peter speaks of them in the Tenth of the Acts and the other Sacred Writers spake of them in the same manner in their Epistles Here is a new Character which we ought carefully to observe we find no Temporal Interest which obliged the Disciples to adhere to Jesus Christ and we find yet less reason to
suppose if Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead and they had not seen him after his death that they should have had any concern for his Glory they would certainly have condemned and anathematiz'd him as an Impostor who by means of some false Miracles and an affected Holiness had abused them Whereas indeed we find that they defended the Glory of Jesus Christ with so much heat and that with so constant a Testimony to his Resurrection that they exposed themselves to all manner of Reproaches to all sorts of Punishment and most cruel Deaths to confirm the belief of that Fact. They despise the Anathema's of the Jewish Synagogue they contemn their publick Obloquies they value not the hatred of their whole Nation They preach this crucified Person in Judea they preach him also in other Countries that he might be equally adored by Jews and Heathens They leave their Employments to follow this Jesus and after they had accompanied him three years they depart from Judea to go and confound the Idolatry of the world and within Rome it self to decry the Gods they worshipt obliging them to acknowledge him whom the men of Jerusalem had crucified for their God him who had been the detestation of the Jews him whom the Roman Magistrate had given up to their Fury in making him undergo the punishment appointed for Slaves Lastly One ought to observe it as a thing of great weight in this whole Question That this Testimony of the Apostles which is so uniform so solemn so well confirmed by all manner of means and sealed with their deaths is not contested or contradicted by any Historian of that time There was nothing more easie either for Jews or Gentiles than to convince the World of the falshood of the Facts related in the Gospel they had the Books of the Apostles in their hands they were Masters of the publick Records it was a matter of general Concernment to the Jews to oppose themselves to an imposture of so terrible a consequence as the History of the Evangelists was if it had been entirely false neither was it less the interest of the Romans to expose a Sect of whom Pliny the younger tells us that all sorts of People joyned with them tho' they were persecuted with incredible violence In the mean time we find no body that hath contradicted the Relation of the Apostles nor any Author that has writ against Jesus Christ or his Apostles A long time after indeed there was a Book seen call'd The Acts of Pilate published by the Order of the Emperour Maximian which endeavoured to overthrow the truth of the Facts that are related in the Gospels but those Acts are contradicted by all the Heathen Historians yet remaining that were contemporay with the Apostles Finally a vast number of Jews and Gentiles were immediately convinced by the Authority of the Apostles and a Belief in the Gospel hath passed from Judea to the Ends of the World according to the Predictions which God gave by the Ministry of the Prophets and by the mouth of our Saviour CHAP. XIX More Reasons to manifest the faithfulness of the Apostles WHat I have already alledged might be sufficient to establish the faithfulness of the Apostles but for a fuller conviction of the Reader concerning so weighty a truth of our Religion I shall superadd some few more Reflexions First of all It cannot be deny'd that the form of the Writings of the New Testament is vastly different from those which may be suspected as Forgeries When the four Evangelists had related the miraculous Birth of John the Baptist they next set down that of our Saviour Christ with the Actions of his Life until his Death which does not comprehend above four or five years S. Luke writes the History of the Apostles and in particular that of S. Paul and takes in only the space of about Thirty years Now let any one judge whether they who confine themselves to so narrow limits in respect of time place and persons have any design to impose The remainder of these Books is composed of two sorts of Writings one Epistolary and the other Prophetical For the Prophetical parts time must prove the truth of the Predictions which are contained in the Apocalyps as well as of those which are found in some of the Epistles of the Apostles As for the Epistles besides some Moral Instructions they are almost all employ'd in deciding some questions which the Calling of the Gentiles to the Gospel and the abolishing of the Ceremonial Law had raised in the minds of the Jews who were converted to Christianity We know that of all Writings Epistles are the most certain Monuments and those which men endeavour to forge least After all It is certain that the Sacred Writers have with great care set down the time in which every Event happened as well according to the stile of the Jews in pointing out to us their solemn Feasts as that of the Gentiles by setting down the year of the Roman Emperour and the Character of the Roman Magistrates A second Character which hinders us from accusing these Books as Forgeries is this That we cannot deny but that these Books are of a very particular nature they contain several considerable Oracles which were to be fulfilled in the same Generation as that of the Prophecies of Nebuchadnezzar and Croesus a continued Series of Miracles of which all Judea was witness they contain a great number of Sermons preached upon several illustrious Occasions in the Synagogues in the Temple of Jerusalem and before thousands of People in the Wilderness Let any one judge whether it would be an easie thing to make these Writings to be received if we should suppose them to be lately forged This third Reflexion is also considerable It is certain that the Gospel was preached in the greatest Cities of the Empire by the Apostles and the Disciples of Jesus The History of the Apostles and their Epistles themselves make it evident that there were numerous Churches at Rome Corinth Thessalonica Philippi Ephesus Antioch and in several other famous places It is also known that there were Jewish Synagogues in the same places now if this be the Case what possibility is there of suspecting the least imposture in the Books of the Apostles if we consider how they were drawn up The Disciples of Christ did not only preach in the Synagogues the same things which they have put in writing but they also engaged the Jews to examine them because they affirmed them with a constancy which the Jews could not but look upon as incredible obstinacy First of all That these were things beyond dispute and could not be doubted of Secondly That they had been long since foretold by the Prophets Thirdly That they were an exact accomplishment of other Prophecies which had relation to the promised Messiah Fourthly That seeing they could not question the Facts contained in the Gospel they ought to renounce Judaism to receive Baptism and
who declared himself to be the Messiah were so indeed so it is absolutely impossible to examine it or know it since the destruction of that Model if we suppose that God at first framed it for the determining of this question as we have no reason to doubt it The second is That the Christians exactly followed this Divine Model and being convinced of the truth of the Facts which exactly corresponded with it and which answered it in all its parts they had all the Reason imaginable to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah In short if we consider it well we shall find that the whole Christian Religion is nothing but a question of Fact between the Jews and Christians But such a question as the Jews at present are not in a condition to maintain against the Christians Both Jews and Christians agree in the Characters of the Messiah or at least about the most of them According to these Characters the Messiah ought to be come The Christians maintain that they may be found in Jesus Christ and they prove it by matter of Fact wherefore we must conclude That either these Characters attributed to the Messiah are not proper Characters to know him by and so the Wisdom of God will be eluded and both Jews and Christians equally deceived in taking that for a Character of the Messiah which is not or else that both the Messiah is certainly come and and that He is no other than that Jesus whom we worship CHAP. XXI That the greatness of the Mysteries of the Christian Religion and the Division which is amongst Christians cannot be any prejudice to the proofs of the truth of the Christian Religion I Come now to examine the double stumbling Block which the Jews pretend against the Christian Religion This Religion say they propounds Doctrines that are inconceivable and contrary to Reason For instance that of the Trinity that of the Incarnation and the Divinity of the Messiah These are the Doctrines which the Jews reject as absolutely incompatible with the Books of the Old Testament which we have received from their hands But it is an easie matter to answer this Objection 1. It is founded upon a total forgetfulness of the solidity of those proofs of Fact which I have alledged Jesus Christ is risen from the dead this is a Fact confirmed by several Witnesses It appears from Tacitus that Jesus Christ suffered death under Tiberius Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judea It is known that Claudius banished the Christians from Rome in the Year of our Lord 54. It is evident from Tacitus in his Life of Nero that he accused the Christians of burning the City of Rome which himself was the Author of the Christians therefore made a considerable Body in the Capital City of the Empire and this happened in the year of our Lord 64. Suetonius says the same thing 2. It appears that Pliny in Trajan's time takes notice of the manner of their Meetings 3. Dion Cassius sets down the Accusation brought in against Flavius and Domitilla as against Atheists which is the Title Julian the Apostate gives to Constantine because the Christians rejected the worship of the Heathen Gods. 4. It appears by the latter end of the Acts of the Apostles that this Book was writ in the Year of our Lord 63 and yet this Book supposes the Gospel of S. Luke to have been written before it and S. Luke's Gospel takes it for granted that some of the other Gospels were already published 5. It appears from the Writings of Clemens Romanus that the Epistle to the Hebrews was then written and the same may be gathered from the Books of S. Ignatius Polycarp and S. Justin. These Facts which are certain are sufficient to prove that immediately after the death of Jesus Christ his Apostles and their Disciples as Eye witnesses maintained the truth of his Resurrection After this it may indeed be disputed by what Power he was raised whether by a Divine Power or by his own but it is ridiculous to dispute the Fact by reasonings drawn from pretened Absurdities which one may think to find in the Doctrines of the Gospel Secondly These Mysteries as for instance that of the Trinity relates to the Divine Nature which is incomprehensible so that it is no strange thing if an Idea of it be proposed to us which not being distinctly known by us may raise Difficulties and Perplexities in our Minds If I would discourse with one born blind of the Sun of its Light and Heat and should attribute to the Sun the Production of Light and afterwards of Heat he would find an infinite trouble not to imagine three Suns It is known how the Philosophers who agreed about the Unity of the Soul have notwithstanding been obliged to attribute several Faculties to it which the common People look upon as very different things and which seem to oppose the Idea's of its Unity and Simplicity In the third place The Christians prove very solidly that these Mysteries have been clearly proposed by the Apostles who received their light from Heaven as to these Truths and so might necessarily be believed upon their word for the same reason that the Prophets of the Old Testament were formerly believed Moreover they assert that these Doctrines were first expressed tho' not so clearly in the Old Testament which is in the hands of the Jews the mortal Enemies of Christians I add to these Remarks that most of those Facts whose truth is so invincibly established suppose these Doctrines and that the whole frame of the Religion doth so necessarily require them that we rob it of a considerable part of its Glory in questioning or contesting any of them These Reflexions may suffice in general to resolve this difficulty of the Jews and for a more particular Satisfaction we refer the Reader to those Books which purposely treat of these Mysteries desiring him to observe carefully that commonly the most difficult Objections of Hereticks against these matters do rather oppose the terms which are made use of or the notions which men follow in speaking of these truths than the Propositions contained in the Writings of the New Testament At least one may be assured that the Jews are constrained to resolve several parallel Objections to which one can scarcely give a satisfactory Answer without borrowing some Distinctions and Notions from the Christians Neither can the second Objection of the Jews give us any more disturbance It is true that there have been Divisions amongst Christians and are still to this day What can we conclude thence Can we reasonably conclude that therefore the first Founders of Christianity were doubtful concerning the truth of those Facts which are the support and foundation of it On the contrary upon an attentive Observation one may find 1. That Heresies have only served to render the truth of these Facts more incontestable by obliging those that had consider'd of them to examine their certainty with more care and application This is the Judgment one ought to make upon all those Heresies in the second Age about the truth of the Flesh of Jesus Christ or about the truth of his Death From thence men took occasion to take notice of and collect with great care all the Circumstances that prove the truth of both these Facts 2. We find that the greatest part of these Contests do not concern the truth of the Facts but the several Consequences drawn from them the truth of those Matters continuing still beyond dispute This we find in the Dispute raised about the Millennium the truth of the Promises of Jesus Christ being equally believed by both the disputing Parties but differently understood according to the temper of those that consider'd of them some forming gross and sensual Conceptions concerning them others having a more spiritual relish which they had acquired by studying the Prophecies and their true sense 3. We find that this Division which hath sprung up amongst Christians is one of the most solid proofs of the truth of the Books of the New Testament If some Fools have endeavoured to decry some of them or to falsifie some particular places we see that both Parties unite to repel that violence by producing their Copies and beating back the Impostors with their united strength One see 's that Tertullian tho' a Montanist writ Prescriptions against Hereticks and Epiphanius takes notice without any respect to some that were Orthodox of their Crime in blotting out of their Copies that Christ had wept It is known that the Division of the Jews into Karaites and Thalmudists the Jealousie between the Jews and Samaritans and the Division between the Jews and Christians is a means of preserving the Scripture and hindering its Corruption each Party being very vigilant to hinder their Adversaries from attempting any thing to its prejudice in corrupting a Book which they consider as common to them all I might observe many other advantages which accrew to the Truth from these Human Failings but I will only instance in one which has always seem'd to me very considerable and that is That these Hereticks distinctly prove the truth of the Predictions of our Saviour An impious person would have reason to accuse our Oracles as false if there had never been any Heresies But Truth triumphs in seeing so great a multitude of them who the more they encrease the more she see 's her self confirm'd and established This is the Reason induced God to permit so great an increase in the first Ages when the Truth meeting with the greatest Opposition by Persecutions stood in the greatest need of sensible Characters by which it might be known I conclude this Work with desiring my Reader to consider these Reflexions upon the Holy Scripture here propounded with a serious attention and to examine the Coherence and Indissoluble Connexion of them and with prayer to God that it may please him to make them serviceable to advance the Glory of his Name which is the only end I have proposed to my self in the writing of them FINIS