reducible to these Two Heads viz. Devotion towards God which includes Confession of sins Prayer for all things necessary both for themselves and others and Praising of God as well for his own Excellency and Perfection as for his Love and Beneficence to all Mankind And 2. the Instruction of the People which are assembled which is to be done by Reading and Explaining the Holy Scriptures Catechizing Preaching c. But there is one act of Devotion towards God to be performed in such publick Assemblies which is commonly known by the name of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper or the Holy Communion of which it will be fit to say something more particularly because it is an Ordinance altogether of positive Institution as well as Baptism of which I have already spoken 57. As our Saviours Death and Passion which he underwent for the sins of the whole World should ever out of Gratitude be remembred by us in the most emphatical and affecting manner so except we have every one of us a share and interest in that Atonement which he thereby made to God for us we cannot by the Terms of the Gospel hope for eternal Salvation In order then to both these Ends he himself before his Death appointed it as a perpetual Ordinance for ever to be continued in his Church that Bread should be blessed broken and eaten and a Cup also blessed distributed and drank in such assemblies as should meet together in his Name not only as a Remembrance of his Sufferings for us which are thereby shewn forth and represented but also as the Communion that is to say the exhibition of his Body and Blood unto and the participation of them by all faithful and good Christians To say with the Roman Church that the Substance of Bread and Wine being blessed or consecrated in this Ordinance are transubstantiated or turned into the very real Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ so as that that very same Body of his which was crucified and that Blood which was shed are wholly and intirely received into the bodily Mouth and swallowed down by every Communicant does not only draw after it such monstrous Absurdities as no Man I think without renouncing his Reason can digest nor can be inferred from any passage of Scripture interpreted according to the Rules which I have laid down Part 1. § 25. and 33. But is also directly contrary even to the Letter as well as Meaning of the New Testament in which the Bread in this Holy Institution is plainly called Bread and by the same Rule the Wine must still remain Wine as to its natural substance even after the Blessing or Consecration of it As therefore I must needs conclude that the Body and Blood of Christ are not received by the Members of his Church after that manner which they of Rome do define so must it also follow that their Worshiping of the Host and pretended Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass together with their depriving the Laity of the Cup which besides other Absurdities do wholly depend upon the Doctrine of Transubstantiation are none other than meer human and unlawful Inventions and practices But since a Man may then be said truly to receive and partake of any thing tho at never so great a distance from him when he has a real Interest in it and enjoys the Benefit and Advantage of it as a Man may have an Estate and reap the Profits of it tho it lies in a far distant Country I do therefore conclude that the way whereby we do receive or communicate in the Body and Blood of Christ by this Ordinance is by being made Partakers of those Benefits which by the Crucifying of his Body and the shedding of his Blood do accrue to us and that whosoever eats of this Bread and drinks of this Cup in such a manner as Christ has appointed has thereby assuredly a share of those Benefits held forth and conveyed unto him 58. How often this Ordinance is to be practised and repeated in every Congregation is not expressly determined either by Christ or his Apostles and therefore can only be regulated by the Prudence of the Church it self But common Reason will tell us that it should be so often at least as may be sufficient to preserve a fresh and lively Remembrance of the Sufferings of our Saviour in the minds of the People this being one main End of its first Institution And so often therefore ought every Christian who is arrived to years of understanding for such only are capable of doing any thing in remembrance of another to come and be partakers of it For to contemn or neglect this Ordinance which Christ has appointed for such a peculiar End argues a great slight and disregard of his Death and Passion besides the Disobedience to his Command and therefore is justly to be looked on as a very great and heinous sin 59. As it is a great Affront and even a Mocking of God for a Man to draw near to him in any of his Ordinances without a sincere and well-meaning heart for which Reason Hypocrisy in Scripture is represented as most odious and the Prayer and Sacrifice of a wicked Man whilst he continues such is said to be an Abomination unto God so does he seem to resent such a Practice in no instance more than in this of the Holy Communion of which he who eats and drinks unworthily is expessly said by the Apostle to be quilty of the Body and Blood of Christ and to eat and drink damnation to himself Which Expressions altho they are differently interpreted by divers persons yet in whatever sense we take them they do abundantly shew that God is in a particular manner offended with those who any way profane this sacred Institution It therefore is the Duty and ought very much to be the concern of every Christian first to examin himself and to make the best trial and enquiry that he can whether he be truly sincere in his resolutions of serving and obeying God faithfully all his life-long for any person who is thus disposed and none other is ever acceptable to God And then with Devotion and Reverence suitable unto such Sincerity to come and eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup That as on the one side he may not neglect what Christ has commanded and required so on the other he may not incur the Penalty which is threatned to an unworthy Receiver 60. He that worships or prays to God by himself alone may do it as well by offering up only the inward Thoughts and Desires of his Mind which are clearly seen and known unto God as by expressing himself outwardly by Words which tho even in our private Devotions they may be very proper to keep our Minds intent upon what we are about yet are no way necessary to inform God of what we think or wish for But when a Society of Men do meet to joyn together in God's worship their Devotion must
Being purely out of nothing may with much shew of Religion be doubted As also Whether meer Matter alone without any other Agent or efficient Cause can ever be able to work it self into any different Species or Forms But this appears as certain as any thing can can be That where there is neither any Agent or efficent Cause to work nor any Matter or Subject to be wrought upon there it is utterly impossible for any thing ever to be produced into Being Since therefore I find that there are many things which actually have a Being and Existence I conclude That of absolute necessity there must be something or other which has been from all Eternity and never had a Beginning For otherwise if we suppose that ever there was a time when nothing at all did exist it follows from what has been said that it would be utterly impossible that any thing ever should be produced into Existence VI. Since of necessity we must acknowledge something to have been Eternal I cannot but conclude That the Eternity of such a Being as God is described to be is much more probable and fit to be believed than the Eternity of such a Being as I see this World to be For when I go about to convince a Nation of the Eternity of the World I mean in the like Posture that now it is in there do occurr to my Mind such Difficulties or rather Impossibilities as I think no Man can digest For he that affirms the World as now it stands to have been Eternal must of Necessity grant that there has been an Eternal Succession of Men Beasts and Vegetables and that to a number actually infinite for if the number be not infinite how can the Succession have been Eternal And yet a number actually infinite to me appears to be a plain Contradiction For that which is infinite cannot be made bigger whereas there is no number but may be made bigger by the Addition of Units Again if any one shall affirm that an infinite number is no Contradiction and that there has been a Succession of such a number of Beings in the World then thus I argue That if there has been a Succession of an infinite number of Men Beasts c. then by a Parity of Reason there has been also a Succession of an infinite number of Days and Nights and if so then likewise of an infinite number of Years too for if the number of Years can be limited so can that of Days too since every Year contains just such a certain number of Days Now this I suppose must be granted me That infinite numbers are equal for if one number be less than another how can it be infinite And if so then it must follow that in the Eternity of the World the number of Years is equal to the number of Days which is absurd because every Year contains in its self a number of 365 Days These Difficulties or rather Impossibilities I say do make the notion of the World's Eternity I mean as the World now is to appear to me as an absurd and unreasonable Supposition But then as to God Although I confess it to be difficult and perhaps impossible for Man to comprehend the manner how he is or can be eternal without beginning yet since the thing it self is so uncontrollably evident that something is so eternal though the manner how is to me incomprehensible I find no other Scruple or Difficulty in admitting the Eternity of God For though it seems contrary to all reason to affirm an eternal Succession of divers things one after another without a Beginning yet I can find no manner of Repugnancy in maintaining that there is one immutable Being i. e. God which never began to be VII Whether the matter of which this visible world is framed has existed from all Eternity or whether it were produced out of nothing by the Almighty Power of God is a Question which reason alone I think can never determine But when I contemplate and consider the great Variety Order Beauty and Usefulness which do evidently appear in all the Parts of the World as they are placed together and answer one another I cannot but conclude That the whole World and all its Parts are contriv'd framed and fashioned by a wise and powerful Being whom we call God As when I see a curious Clock or Engine I presently conclude that it was made and contrived by some Artist and should laugh at that Man who would offer to say that it was formed and fashioned only by chance VIII That Miracles i. e. wonderful Works surpassing the ordinary course of Nature and Power of Art have been wrought for confirmation of the Truth of Religion is a thing that I shall take for granted at present because it will appear to be proved beyond any just Exception in the Sequel of this Discourse And from thence I think I may most reasonably conclude That there is a being Superiour to Nature who can command and controll it as he pleases i. e. in other Terms That there is a God IX The Histories of all Ages and Travellers into all Countries do universally concurr in this Testimony That there is no Nation or People whether learned or unlearned but what do own the being of a God And those few Persons who have presumed to deny it have ever been look'd on as Prodigies and Monsters of Mankind Furthermore even those few who have denied the Being of God have ever beeen Men of such debauched and profligate Lives that we have great Reason to believe that they first have wished that there might be no God to punish them and then without any other ground or Reason have believed or rather pretended to believe what they have wished For it is almost ever observed that when debauched and atheistical Persons do draw near to Death they do either re-renounce their Atheism own the being of a God and make Supplication to him or at least have their Minds possest with such doubts and fears as plainly shew that they have still a strong Suspicion that there likely may be a God for ought they know who will call them to an Account for all their Wickedness Since then all sorts of Men both learned and unlearned and all Nations of Men both civil and barbarous have always owned the Being of God since his being has never been denied but by very few indeed since that denial has rather proceeded from their Wishes and Desires than from their Reason and Understanding and lastly since they have not been able wholly to extinguish the Belief of a God out of their Minds although they have earnestly endeavoured it I conclude That the Belief of a God in Man is neither the Effect of Chance because 't is Universal nor of Ignorance because it possesses the most Learned nor of State-Policy because 't is received among the most barbarous and unciviliz'd People but that there is a God who has made all Men and has as
exception who are in their Wits have naturally a most earnest desire to preserve their Lives as long as they can and to keep themselves free from Pain and Trouble I think I may reasonably conclude that there must have been some extraordinary strong and even irresistable Motive which could prevail upon such Multitudes of People to forsake theirs and their Ancestors old Religion and to embrace Christianity which then had but newly appeared in the World and which in those Days did seldom fail to involve its Proselytes in most grievous Troubles and Persecutions XVII That this Motive could not be the Hopes of any Profit or Advantage in this Life is most evident Because Christianity was in those Days most commonly persecuted even unto death It must therefore of necessity be the hopes of some Benefit or Happiness which should accrue to them after this Life was at an end And this Benefit or Happiness could not seem small and inconsiderable to them nor could the Hope which they conceived of it be weak or doubtful For there is scarce any Man or ever was in the World who would run himself into certain Misery and Persecution even to the losing of his Life only upon a weak and doubtful Hope of some small and inconsiderable Benefit or Happiness to be enjoyed in a Life to come I conclude therefore That the Primitive Christians were undoubtingly possessed with a strong Belief and most firm Persuasion That whosoever should truly embrace profess and live according to the Christian Religion in this Life was certainly to be made Partaker of some great and inestimable Happiness in the Life to come XVIII That this Belief and Persuasion did not proceed from any Frenzy or Madness which sometimes possesses Man with very strong Imaginations is very evident both because there was such a Multitude of them who exactly agreed in the same Sentiments and also because it appears both from the Writings and Actions of the Primitive Christians that they were Men of Reason and Sobriety and some of them Persons of great Learning As evident also it is that it could not proceed from the Force of any Argument drawn from the Principles of bare Natural Reason without Revelation For What Man in his Wits without pretending some Revelation from Heaven could ever be persuaded that the Embracing of the Religion taught by such a particular Person more than another would make him happy in the Life to come I conclude therefore That the Disciples of Jesus who preached Christianity abroad in the World did convince and satisfie their Proselytes that it was revealed by God from Heaven that whosoever would believe on Jesus and receive and live according to his Religion should be made very happy in the next Life XIX The main Argument which the first Preachers of Christianity made use of to convince the World that this was a Divine Revelation was this viz. Because that Jesus in his Life time did perform such and so many Miracles and wonderful Works as sufficiently shewed that he had his Commission and Power from God and because his Disciples whom he had appointed to teach his Religion to the World for many Years after his Death did likewise continue to work many Miracles in the Name of Jesus Which shewed that God was with them in what they did and taught The things by them alledged to have been performed by Jesus were such as these That he healed all manner of Diseases and Distempers with a Touch or barely with a Word speaking That he gave Sight to the Blind Hearing to the Deaf Speech to the Dumb and Strengh and Agility to the Lame and Maimed That he raised several Persons from the Dead and that he himself arose from the Dead after he had been Crucified and a Spear thrust into his Vitals and had lay'n dead in a Sepulchre unto the Third Day And lastly That after his Resurrection having several times appeared to his Disciples and conversed with them for the space of Forty Days he was at last openly and in their sight taken up alive into Heaven The things alledged to have been done by his Disciples were The Healing the Sick the Lame the Maimed c. and in a particular manner their Speaking all Languages although they never had learned them That all these things were pretended by the first Preachers of Christianity is confessed on all Hands And undoubtedly they must needs at least pretend something that was very extraordinary or else they never could have converted such vast Multitudes under so many Disadvantages as they and their Religion laboured That these things were not only pretended but really and actually performed is to my Opinion uncontrollably evinced from the Testimony of the Disciples themselves Who declared these things for Truth unto the World Who could not themselves be deceived in those Matters of Fact of which they pretended to have been Eye-Witnesses Who never would go about to impose a Lye upon the World by which they could propose to themselves no manner of Advantage in this Life nor if it were a Lye in the Life to come Who never would have exposed themselves to Poverty to Racks to Gibbets to Fire and Faggot in a Word to all sorts of Torments and Deaths only for the sake of a fruitless and unprofitable Fable Who being Men of unblameable Lives for their Morality had doubtless more Honesty and Integrity than to affirm those things for certain Truths which they must needs know to be meer Inventions Who were too many in Number and too void of Craft and Guile to combine together in framing a false Story and none of them ever to betray or discover the Cheat Who could never hope to impose the Belief of such a Story upon a curious and inquisitive Age such as that was wherein they lived if it had been false and therefore would certainly never have attempted it if they had not known it to have been true And Lastly who instead of convincing such Multitudes as they did must needs have been palpably discovered and exposed to the World for a Company of lewd Cheats and Impostors in pretending that such and such things were done in the Land of Judea and Jerusalem and done openly too in the Face of the World when it was so easie a matter to go or send to the place to make Enquiry and so to find out the Cheat if a Cheat it had been But that these same Miracles and wonderful Works did far surpass both the Course of Nature and the Power of Art is very evident That they were not perform'd by the Assistance of any wicked Spirit does sufficiently appear because the very Intent and Design of them was to propagate a Doctrine in the World which by all must be allowed to teach the purest and most strict Morality to which it cannot be imagined that any Impure and Evil Spirit would contribute any help It remains therefore that these things must needs have been performed either by the immediate