an heroickfreedom of spirit appears in these words what magnanimity and courage was there now in that person who durst in the face of this Court tell them of their murder and that there was no salvation but by him whom they had crucified Well might they wonder at the boldness of the men who feared not the same death which they had so lately brought their Lord and Master to Neither was this singly the case of Peter and Iohn but all the rest of the Apostles undertook their work with the same resolution and preparation of Spirit to under go the greatest hardship in the world sor the sake of the truths they Preached And accordingly as far as Ecclesiastical history can ascertain us of it they did all but Iohn and that to make good the prediction of Christ suffer violent deaths by the hands of those who persecuted them meerly for their doctrine And which is most observable when Christ designed them first of all for this work he told them before hand of reproaches persecutions all manner of hardships nay of death its self which they must undergo for his sake All that he gave them by way of encouragement was that they could only kill the body and not the soul and therefore that they should fear him only who could destroy both body and soul in hell all the support they had was an expectation in another world and that animated them to go through all the hardships of this Where do we ever read of any such boldness and courage in the most knowing Philosâ—phers of the Heathens with what saintness and misgiving of mind doth Socrates speak in his famous discourse suppoâ—ed to be made by him before his death how uncertainly doth he speak of a state of immortality and yet in all probability Plato set it forth with all advantages imaginable Where do we finde that ever any of the great friends of Socrates who were present at his death as Phaedo Cebes Crito and Simmias durst enter the Areopagus and condemn them there for the murther of Socrates though this would be far short of what the Apostles did why were they not so charitable as to inform the world better of those grand truths of the being of God and immortality of souls if at least they were fully convinced of them themselves Why did not Plato at least speak out and tell the world the truth and not disguise his â—iscourses under feigned names the better to avoid accusation and the fate of Socrates how doth he mince his excellent matter and playes as it were at Bo-peep with his readers sometimes appearing and then pulling in his horns again It may not be an improbable conjecture that the death of Socrates was the foundation of the Academy I mean of that cautelous doctrine of withholding assent and being both pro and con sometimes of this side and sometimes of that for Socrates his death had made all his friends very fearful of being too dogmatical And Plato himself had too much riches and withall too much of a Courtier in him to hazard the dear prison of his soul viz. his body meerly for an aethereall vehicle He had rather let his soul flutter up and down in a terrestrial matter or the cage it was pâ—nt up in then hazard too violent an opening of it by the hands of the Areopagus And the great Roman Orator among the rest of Plato's sentiments had learnt this too for although in his discourses he hath many times sufficiently laid open the folly of the Heathen worship and Theology yet he knows how to bring himself off safe enough with the people and will be sure to be dogmatical only in this that nothing is to be innovated in the religion of a Common-wealth and that the customs of our Ancestors are inviolably to be observed Which principles had they been true as they were safe for the persons who spake them the Christian religion had never gained any entertainment in the world for where ever it came it met with this potent prejudice that it was looked on as an innovation and therefore was shrewdly suspected by the Governours of Common-wealths and the Preachers of it punished as factious and seditious persons which was all the pretext the wise Politicians of the world had for their cruel and inhumane persecutions of such multitudes of peaceable and innocent Christians Now when these things were foretold by the Apostles themselves before their going abroad so plainly that with the same saith they did believe the doctrine they Preached to be true they must believe that all these things should come to pass what courage and magnanimity of spirit was it in them thus to encounter dangers and as it were court the slames Nay and before the time was come that they must dye to seal the truth of their doctrine their whole life was a continual peregrination wherein they were as so many Iobs in pilgrimage encounterd with perills and dangers on every side of which one of the most painful and succesful S. Paul hath given in such a large inventory of his perils that the very reading of them were enough to undo a poor Epicurean Philosopher and at once to spoil him of the two pillars of his happiness the quietness of his mind and ease of his body Thus we see what a hazardous imployment that was which the Apostles went upon and that it was such as they very well understood the diâ—â—iculty of before they set upon it Secondly We cannot find out any rational motive which could carry them through so hazardous an employment but the full convictions of their minds of the undoubted truth and certainty of the doctrine which they delivered We find before that no vulgar motives in the world could carry them upon that design which they went upon Could they be led by ambition and vain glory who met with such reproaches where ever they went and not only persecutions of the tongue but the sharper ones of the hands too we never read of any but the Primitive Christians who were ambitious of being Martyrs and thought long till they were in the flames which made Arrius Antoninus being Proconsul of Asia when Christians in multitudes beset his tribunal and thronged in to be condemned say to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O miserable people had not ye wayes enough to end your lives at hâ—me but ye must croud for an execution This was a higher ambition by far then any of those mancipia gloriae those Chamaeleons that lived on the breath of applause the Heathen Philosophers ever reached to who were as Tertullian expresseth it homines gloriae eloquentiae solius libidinosi unsatiable thirsters after the honour and eloquence of the world but the Spirit of a Christian did soare too high to quarry on so mean a prâ—y When the more sober heathens had taken a stricter notice of the carriages and lives of the Preachers of the Gospel and all
language though it be asserted by some antient writers of the Church is very questionable chiefly upon this account that a sufficient reason cannot be assigned of undertaking a new translation at Alexandria if there had been any extant before Especially if all those circumstances of that translation be true which are commonly received and delivered down to us with almost an unanimous consent of the persons who had greater advantages of knowing the certainty of such things then we can have at this great distance of time And therefore certainly every petty conjecture of some modern though learned men ought not to bear sway against so unanimous a tradition in a matter of fact which cannot be capable of being proved but by the testimony of former ages And it is somewhat strange that the single testimony of one Hermippus in Diogenes Laertius whose age and authority is somewhat doubtful concerning only one particular referring to Demetrius Phalcrous should be thought of force enough among persons of judgement as well as learning to infringe the credibility of the whole story delivered with so much consent not only by Christian but Iewish writers the testimony of one of which every whit as considerable as Hermippus viz. Aristobulus Iudaeus a Peripatetical Philosopher in an Epistle to Ptolomy Philometor doth plainly assert that which was so much questioned concerning Demetrius Phalereus But whatever the truth of all the particular circumstances be which I here enquire not after nor the authority of that Aristeus from whom the story is received nor whether this translation was made by Iews sent out of Iudea or by Iews residing at Alexandria it sufficeth for our purpose that this translation was made before either the Chaldaean Dynasties of Bâ—rosus or the Aegyptian of Manetho were published to the World In order to which it is necessary to shew in what time this translation was effected and herein that channel of tradition which conveyes the truth of the thing in one certain course runs not with so even a stream concerning the exact time of it all indeed agree that it was about the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus but in what years of his raign is very dubious Ioseph Scaliger who hath troubled the waters so much concerning the particular circumstances of this translation yet fully agrees that it was done in the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus only he contends with Africanus that it should be done in the 132. Olympiad which is in the 33. year of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus but Eusebius and Ierom place it in the very beginning of his raign which I think is far more probable and that in the time when Ptolomaeus Philadelphus raigned with his Father Ptolomaeus Lagi for so it is most certain he did for two years before his Fathers death By which means the great difficulty of Scaliger concerning Demetrius Phalereus is quite taken off for Hermippus speaks nothing of Demetrius his being out of favour with Philadelphus during his Fathers life but that upon his fathers death he was banished by him and dyed in his banishment so that Demetrius might have the oversight of the Library at Alexandria and be the main instrument of promoting this translation and yet those things be after true which Hermippus speaks viz. when Ptolomaeus Lagi or Soter was now dead For it stands not to reason that during his Fathers life Philadelphus should discover his displeasure against Demetrius it being conceived upon the advice given to his Father for preserring the sons of Arsinoe to the Crown before the son of Berenice Most likely therefore it is that this translation might be begun by the means of Demetrius Phalereus in the time of Philadelphus his raigning with his Father but it may be not finished till after the death of Soter when Philadelphus raigned alone And by this now we can perfectly reconcile that difference which is among the Fathers concerning the time when this translation was made For Irenaeus attributes it to the time of Ptolomaeus Lagi Clemens Alexandrinus questions whether in the time of Lagi or Philadelphus the rest of the Chorus carry it for Philadelphus but the words of Anatolius in Eusebius cast it fully for both for there speaking of Aristobulus he saith he was one of the seventy who interpreted the Scriptures to Ptolomaeus Philadelphus and his Father and dedicated his Commentaries upon the Law to both those Kings Haec sane omnem scrupulum eximunt saith Vossius upon producing this testimony this puts it out of all doubt and to the same purpose speaks the learned Iesuite Petavius in his notes on Epiphanius Having thus far cleared the time when the Translation of the Scriptures into Greck was made we shall find our conjecture much strengthened by comparing this with the age of the fore-mentioned Historians Manetho and Berosus Manetho we have already made appear to have lived in the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus and that saith Vossius after the death of Soter It is evident from what remains of him in Eusebius his Chronica that he not only flourished in the time of Philadelphus but writ his history at the special command of Philadelphus as manifestly appears by the remaining Epistle of Manetho to him still extant in Eusebius This command of Philadelphus might very probably be occasioned upon the view of that account which the Holy Scriptures being then translated into Greek did give of the world and the propagation of mankind upon which we cannot imagine but so inquisitive a person as Philadelphus was would be very earnest to have his curiosity satisfied as to what the Aegyptian Priests who had boasted so much of antiquity could produce to confront with the Scriptures Whereupon the task was undertaken by this Manetho High-Priest of Heliopolis whereby those things which the Aegyptian Priests had to that time kept secret in their Cloysters were now divulged and exposed to the judgement of the learned world but what satisfaction they were able to give inquisitive minds as to the main 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or matter enquired after may partly appear by what hath been said of Manetho already and by what shall be spoken of his Dynastyes afterwards But all this will not perswade Kircher for whatever Scaliger nay what Manetho himself says to the coutrary he with the confidence and learning of a Iesuite affirms that this Manetho is elder then Alexander the great For these are his words Frequens apud priscos historicos Dynaestiarum Aegyptiacarum fit mentio quarum tamen alium authorem non habemus nisi Manethonem Sebennytam Sacerdotem Aegyptium quem ante tempor a Alexandri quicquid dicat Scaliger in Aegypto floruisse comperio Certainly some more then ordinary evidence may be expected after so confident an affirmation but whatever that person be in other undertakings he is as unhappy a person in Philology as any that have pretended so much acquaintance with it One would think he that had been twenty years as
the great periods of years among them rise gradually as they grow more skillfull in the understanding the nature of the year and that they had antiently no certain periods to govern themselves by in their computation of antient times Nay the Egyptians have not as appears any certain Epocha to go by elder then the Egyptian years of Nabonassar and afterwards from the death of Alexander and Ptolomy Philadelphus and Augustus his victory at Actium If from the Aegyptians we remove our discourse unto the Grecians we are still plunged into greater uncertainties it being acknowledged by themselves that they had no certain succession of time before the Olympiads To which purpose the Testimony of Varro in Censorinus is generally taken notice of distributing time into three parts reckoning two of them to be unknown and fabulous and the historical part of time to begin with the first Olympiad Indeed Scaliger and some others are loth to reject all that second part of time as fabulous which was in the interval between Deucalions flood and the Olympiads therefore they had rather call it Heroical though much corrupted with Fables and think that it was historical as to persons but fabulous as to the actions of those persons But granting this yet we are wholly to seek for any certain account of the succession of time and persons for want of some certain Epocha's which like the Pole-star should guide ut in our passage through that boundless Ocean of the Graecian history It must be confessed that some of the learned Heathens have taken a great deal of pains this way to find out some certain periods to fix on in the time before the Olympiads as Philocorus Apollodorus and Dionysius Halycarnassensis and others who out of their skill in Astronomy sought to bring down some certain intervals between the destruction of Troy and the first Olympick game of Pelops restored by Hercules Atreus But granting that their Epocha's were fixed and certain that the destruction of Troy was upon the 23 of Thargelion the 11 moneth of the Attick account and that the Olympick game fell out answerably to the ninth of our Iuly and these things were evidently proved from Astronomical observations yet how vast an account of time is lost quite beyond the siege of Troy and besides that as to all other accidents in the In-tervals between these two Epocha's which could not be proved by Celestial observations concurrent with them they were left at a very great uncertainty still only they might guess whether they approached nearer to one Epocha then the other but the series of Families and their Generations three of which made a Century of years whereby they might come to some conjectures but could never arrive at any certainty at all But that which is most to our purpose is that all the history of the Original of Greece the foundations of their several Kingdoms the succestion of their first Kings and all that comes under the name of the history of their ancient times is clearly given over by their own most skilful Chronologers as matters out of the reach of any clear evidence Thence come such great differences concerning the antiquity of their ancient Kingdoms the Argolick Kingdom by Dionysius Halycarnass is supposed to be the eldest and the Attick younger then it by 40 Generations which according to their computation comes to a 1000 years which is impossible and yet the Arcadians who gave themselves out to be elder then the Moon are supposed to be younger by him then the Grashoppers of Athens by nine Generations and the Pthiotica under Deucalion younger thenthe Arcadica by 42 Generations which Scaliger might well say were impossible and inconsistent The Sycyonian Kingdom is by most supposed to be of greatest antiquity among the Graecians from which Varro began his history as S. Austin tells us and yet as to this Pausanias only reâ—kons the names of some Kings there without any succession of time among them and yet as to those names Africanus and Eusebius from him dissent from Pausanias and which is most observable Homer reckons Adrastus who is the 23 in the account of Africanus to be the first that reigned in Secyon whose time was after the institution of the Olympick game by Pelops of him thus Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereby he expresseth Adrastus to be the first King of Sicyon and not as Scaliger would interpret it that Adrastus was first King of the Sicyonians before he was of the Argives for in the time of Adrastus at Sicyon either Atreus or Thyestes was King of the Argives for in the second year of Phaestus and Adrastus his supposed Predecessor in Sicyon Atreus restored the Olympick game of Pelops in the 41 year of their reign and they reigned at Argi 65 years Now that Phaestus at Sicyon is supposed to reign but eight years and therefore the reign of Adrastus at Sicyon falls in with that of Atreus Thyestes at Argi or Mycenae Thus we see now how uncertain the account of times was before the beginning of the Olympiads among the Graecians which is fully acknowledged by Diodorus and the very reason given which we here insist on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there was no certainty in the ancient Graecian history because they had no certain term which he calls parapegma as others Epocha and Censorinus titulus from whence to deduce their accounts But now from the time of the Olympiads i. e. from the first of them after their restauration by Iphitus wherein the names of the Conquerors were ingraven in brass tablets for the purpose the succession of time is most certain and historical among the Graecians by which account we have from thence a certain way of commensurating the sacred and prophane history All the difficulty is in what year of sacred history the Olympiads began which Scaliger thus finds out Censorinus writes in the year of Christ 238. which was of the Iulian period 4951. that that year was from the first Olympiad of Iphitus 1014. the first Olympiad was of the Iulian period 3938. which was according to our learned Primate A. M. 3228. and the 35 of Uzziah King of Iudah or the 34. as Capellus thinks So that from henceforward we have a clear account of times which we have demonstrated to have been so uncertain before If we come from the Greeks further into these European parts we shall find as much darkness and obscurity as to ancient times if not more then in those already discoursed of For the truth is the account of times before the Romans in Italy Germany old Gallia or Britain are scarce fit to be discoursed of under any head then that of impostures Not that I think those Nations had lain in a perpetual sleep till the Romans waked them into some kind of civility but that they had no certain way of conveying down the transactions of their own and former times to the view of posterity On
a Crocodile for impudence and all to express this venerable Apothegm O ye that come into the world and that go out of it God hates impudence And therefore certainly this kind of Learning deserves the highest form among the difficiles Nugae and all these Hieroglyphicks put together will make but one good one and that should be for Labour lost There is yet one part of Learning more among them which the Aegyptians are esteemed for which is the Political and civil part of it which may better be called wisdom then most of the fore-going two things speak much the wisdom of a Nation good Laws and a prudent management of them their Laws are highly commended by Strabo and Diodorus and it is none of the least commendations of them that Solon and Lycurgus borrowed so many of their constitutions from them and for the prudent management of their government as the continuance of their state so long in peace and quietness is an invincible demonstration of it so the report given of them in Scripture adds a further testimony to it for therein the King of Aegypt is called the Son of the wise as well as the son of ancient Kings and his counsellors are called wise counsellors of Pharaoh and the wise men whereby a more then ordinary prudence and policy must be understood Can we now imagine such a person as Moses was bred up in all the ingenucus literature of Aegypt conversant among their wisest persons in Pharaohs Court having thereby all advantages to improve himself and to understand the utmost of all that they knew should not be able to pass a judgement between a meer prâ—tence and imposture and real and important Tâ—uths Can we think that one who had interest in so great a Court all advantages of raising himself therein should willingly forsake all the pleasures and delights at present all his hopes and advantages for the future were he not fully perswaded of the certain and undoubted truth of all those things which are recorded in his books Is it possible a man of ordinary wisdom should venture himself upon so hazardous unlikely and dangerous employment â—s that was Moses undertook which could have no probability of success but only upon the belief that that God who appeared unto him was greater then all the Gods of Aegypt and could carry on his own design by his own power maugre all the opposition which the Princes of the world could make against it And what possible ground can we have to think that such a person who did verily believe the truth of what God revealed unto him should dare to write any otherwise then as it was revealed unto him If there had been any thing repugnant to common reason in the history of the Creation the fall of man the universal deluge the propagation of the world by the sons of Noah the history of the Patriarchs had not Moses rational faculties as well as we nay had he them not far better improved then any of ours are and was not he then able to judge what was suitable to reason and what not and can we think he would then deliver any thing inconsistent with reason or undoubted tradition then when the Aegyptian Priests might so readily and plainly have triumphed over him by discovering the falshood of what he wrote Thus we see that Moses was as highly qualified as any of the acutest Heathen Philosophers could be for discerning truth from falshood nay in all probability he far excelled the most renowned of the Graecian Philosophers in that very kind of learning wherewith they made so great noise in the world which was originally Aegyptian as is evident in the whole series of the Graecian Philosphers who went age after age to Aegypt to get some scraps of that learning there which Moses could not have but full meals of because of his high place great interest and power in Aegypt And must those hungry Philosophers then become the only Masters of our reason and their dictates be received as the sâ—nse and voice of nature which they either received from uncertain tradition or else delivered in opposition to it that they might be more taken notice of in the world Must an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be confronted with Thus saith the Lord and a few pitiful symbols vye authority with divine commands and Ex nihilo nihil fit be sooner believed then In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth What irrefragable evidence of reason is that so confident a presumption built upon when it can signifie nothing without this hypothesis that there is nothing but matter in the world and let this first be proved and we will never stick to grant the other I may confidently say the great gullery of the world hath been taking philosophical dictates for the standard of reason and unproved hypotheses for certain foundations for our discourse to rely upon And the seeking to reconcile the mysteries of our faith to these hath been that whith hath almost destroyed it and turned our Religion into a meer philosophical speculation But of this elsewhere We see then that insisting meerly on the accomplishments and rational perfections of the persons who speak we have more reason to yield credit to Moses in his history then to any Philosophers in their speculations And that which in the next place speaks Moses to be a person of wisdom and judgement and ability to finde out truth was his age and experience when he delivered these things to the world He vented no crude and indigested conceptions no sudden and temerarious fancies the usual issues of teeming and juvenile wits he lived long enough to have experience to try and judgement to distinguish a meer outside and varnish from what was solid and substantial We cannot then have the least ground of suspition that Moses was any wayes unfit to discern truth from falshood and therefore was capable of judging the one from the other But though persons be never so highly accomplisht for parts learning and experience yet if they want due information of the certainty of the things they deliver they may be still decâ—iving themselves and if they preserve it for posterity be guilty of deceiving others Let us now therefore see whether Moses had not as great advantages for understanding the truth of his History as he had judgement to discern it And concerning all those things contained in the four last books of his to his own death it was impossible any should have greater then himself writing nothing but what he was pars magna himself of what he saw and heard and did and can any testimony be desired greater then his whose actions they were or who was present at the doing of them and that not in any private way but in the most publick capacity For although private persons may be present at great actions yet they may be guilty of misrepresenting them for want of understanding all circumstances precedent and
was the great Seal of our Saviours being the Son of God therefore we find the Apostles so frequently attesting the truth of the resurrection of Christ and that themselves were eye-witnesses of it This Iesus saith Peter hath God raised up whereof we all are witnesses And again And killed the Prince of life whom God hath raised up from the dead whereof we are witnesses and both Peter and Iohn to the Sanhedrin For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard And the whole Colledge of Apostles afterwards And we are his witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him In which words they give them that twofold rational evidence which did manifest the undoubted truth of what they spake for they delivered nothing but what themselves were witnesses of and withall was declared to be true by the power of the Holy Ghost in the miracles which were wrought by and upon believers Afterwards we read the sum oâ— the Apostles Preaching and the manner used by them to perswade men of the truth of it in the words of Peter to Cernâ—lius and his company How God annointed Iesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Iews and in Hierusalem whom they stew and hanged on a tree Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly not to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead And he comâ—anded us to â—reach unto the people that it is be which was ordained of God to be the Iudge of quick and dead By all which we see what care God was pleased to take for the satisfaction of the world in point of rational evidence as to the truth of the matters which were discovered concerning our Saviour Christ because he made choice of such persons to be the preachers and writers of these things who were the best abâ—e to satisfie the world about them viz. such as had been eye witnesses of them Now in order to the making it more fully evident what strength there was in this Testimony given by the Apostles to the miracles of Christ we shall more fully manifest the rational evidence which attended it in these following propositions Where the truth of a doctrine depends upon a matter of fact the truth of the doctrine is sufficiently manifested if the matter of fact be evidently proved in the highest way it is capable of Thus it is in reference to the doctrine of Christ for the truth of that is so interwoven with the truth of the story of Christ that if the relations concerning Christ be true his doctrine must needs be Divine and infallible For if it be undoubtedly true that there was such a person as Christ born at Bethlehem who did so many miracles and at last suffered the death of the Cross and after he had lain three dayes in the grave rose again from the dead what reason imaginable can I have to question but that the Testimony of this person was certainly Divine and consequently what ever he preached to the world was most certain and undoubted truth So that if we have clear evidence as to the truth of these passages concerning our Saviour we must likewise believe his doctrine which came attested with such pregnant evidences of a Divine commission which he had from God to the world No Prince can think he hath any reason to refuse audience to an Embassador when he finds his Credentials such as he may rely upon although himself doth not see the sealing of them much less reason have we to question the truth of the doctrine of the Gospel if we have sufficient evidence of the truth of the matters of fact concerning Christ in such a way as those things are capable of being proved The greatest evidence which can be given to a matter of fact is the attesting of it by those persons who were eye-witnesses of it This is the Foundation whereon the firmest assent is built as to any matter of fact for although we conceive we have reason to suspect the truth of a story as long as it is conveyed only in a general way by an uncertain fame and tradition yet when it comes to be attested by a sufficient number of credible persons who profess themselves the cye-witnesses of it it is accounted an unreasonable thing to distrust any longer the truth of it especially in these two cases 1. When the matter they bear witness to is a thing which they might easily and clearly perceive 2. When many witnesses exactly agree in the same Testimony 1. When the matter it self is of that nature that it may be fully perceived by those who saw it i. e. if it be a common object of sense And thus it certainly was as to the person and actions of Iesus Christ. For he was of the same nature with mankind and they had as great evidence that they conversed with Iesus Christ in the flesh as we can have that we converse one with another The miracles of Christ were real and visible miracles they could be no illusions of senses nor deceits of their eyes the man who was born blind and cured by our Saviour was known to have been born blind through all the Countrey and his cure was after as publike as his blindness before and acknowledged by the greatest enemies of Christ at the time of its being done When Christ raised up the dead man at Naim it was before much people and such persons in probability who were many of them present at his death But least there might be any suspition as to him that he was not really dead the case is plain and beyond all dispute in Lazarus who had been to the knowledge of all persons thereabouts dead four dayes here could be no deceit at all when the stone was rowled away and Lazarus came forth in the presence of them all And yet further the death and passion of our Saviour was a plain object of sense done in presence of his greatest adversaries The souldiers themselves were sufficient witnesses of his being really dead when they came to break his bones and spared him because they saw he was dead already At his resurrection the stone was rowled away from the Sepulchre and no body found therein although the Sepulchre was guarded by souldiers and the Disciples of Christ all so fearful that they were dispersed up and down in several places And that it was the same real body which he rose withall and no aëreall vehicle appears by Thomas his serupulosity and unbelief who would not believe unless â—e might put his hands into the hole of his sides and see
in his hands the â—rint of the nails now our Saviour condeseending so far as to satisfie the incredulity of Thomas hath made it thereby evident that the body which our Saviour rose from the grave with was the same individual body which before was crucified and buried in the Sepulchre And we sind all the Apostles together upon our Saviours appearance to them after his resurrection so far from being credulous in embracing a phantasm instead of Christ that they suspâ—cted that it was either a meer phantasm or an evil spirit which appeared among them upon which it is said they were terrified and affrighted and supposed they had seen a spirit Which our Saviour could not beat them off from but by appealing to the judgement of their senses Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have and afterwards more fully to convince them he did eat in the midst of them Now the more suspitious and incâ—edulous the Apostles themselves at first were the greater evidence is it how far they were from any design of abusing the world in what they after preached unto it and what strong conviction there was in the thing its self which was able to satisfie such scrupulous and suspicious persons 2. When many witnesses concurr in the same Testimony Nothing can disparage more the truth of a testimony then the counter witness of such who were present at the same actions but when all the witnesses fully agree not only in the substance but in all material circumstances of the story what ground or reason can there be to suspect a forgery or design in it especially when the persons cannot by any fears or threatnings be brought to vary from each other in it Thus it is in our present case we find no real dissent at all mentioned either as to the birth miracles life death or resurrection of Iesus Christ all the witnesses attest the same things though writing in different places and upon different occasions no alteration in any circumstance of the story out of any design of pleasing or gratifying any persons by it Most of our Saviours miracles not only his Apostles but the people and his very enemies were witnesses of whose posterity to this day dare not deny the truth of such strange works which were wrought by him And for his resurrection it would be very strange that five hundred persons should all agree in the same thing and that no torments or death could bring any of them to deny the truth of it had there not been the greatest certainty in it There can be no reason to suspect such a testimony which is given by eye-witnesses but either from questiâ—ning their knowledge of the things they speak of or their fiâ—elity in reporting them Now there is not the least ground to doubt either of these in reference to those persons who gave testimony to the world concerning the person and actions of our blessed Saviour For first They were such as were intimately conversant both with the person and actions of Iesus Christ whom he had chosen and trained up for that very end that they might be sufficiently qualified to acquaint the world with the truth of things concerning himself after his resurrection from the dead And accordingly they followed him up and down wheresoever he went they were with him in his solitudes and retirements and had thereby occasion to observe all his actions and to take notice of the unspotted innocency of his life Some of his Disciples were with him in his transfiguration others in his agony and bloody sweat they heard the expressions which came from his mouth in all which he discovered a wonderful submission to the will of God and a great readiness of mind to suffer for the good of the world Now therefore the first thing cannot at all be questioned their means of knowing the truth of what they spake Neither secondly is there any reasâ—n to suspect their fidelity in reporting what they knew For 1. The truth of this doctrine wrought so far upon them that they parted with all their worldly subsistence for the sake of it Although their riches were not great yet their way of subsistence in the world was necessary they left their houses their wives and children and all for Christ and that not to gain any higher preferments in this world which had they done it would have rendred their design suspicious to the curious and inquisitive world but they let go at least a quiet and easie life for one most troublesom and dangerous So that it is not how much they parted withall but how freely they did it and with what chearfulness they underwent disgraces persecutions nay death its self for the sake of the Gospel Now can it be imagined that ever men were so prodigal of their ease and lives as to throw both of them away upon a thing which themselves were not fully assured of the truth of It had been the highest folly imaginable to have deceived themselves in a thing of so great moment to them as the truth of the doctrine which they preached was because all their hopes and happiness depended upon the truth of that doctrine which they preached And as Tertullian observes non fas est ulli de suâ religione mentiri for saith he he that sayes he worships any thing be sides what he doth he denyes what he doth worship and transfers his worship upon another and thereby doth not worship that which he thus denyes Besides what probability is there men should lye for the sake of that Religion which tells them that those which do so shall not receive the reward which is promised to those who cordially adhere unto it Nay they declared themselves to be the most miserable of all persons if their hopes were only in this present life Can we now think that any who had the common reason of men would part with all the contentments of this world and expose themselves to continual hazards and at last undergo death its self for the sake of something which was meerly the fiction of their own brains What should make them so sedulous and industrious in preaching such things that they could say necessity was laid upon them yea wo was unto them if they preached not the Gospel when yet they saw so many woes attending them in the preaching of it had there not been some more powerful attractive in the beauty and excellency of the doctrine which they preached then any could be in the ease and tranquillity of this present world Thus we see the fidâ—lity of the Apostles manifested in such a way as no other witnesses were ever yet willing to hazard theirs And therefore Origen deservedly condemns Celsus of a ridiculous impertinency when he would parallel the relations of Herodotus and Pindarus concerning Aristeus Proconnesius with those of the Apostles concerning Christ For faith he did either of those two
venture their lives upon the truth of what they writ concerning him as the Apostles did to attest the truth of what they preached concerning our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 2. The fidelity of the Apostles is evident in their manner of reporting the things which they deliver For if ever there may be any thing gathered from the manner of expression or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the particular temper and disposition of the person from whom it comes we may certainly read the greatest fidelity in the Apostles from the peculiar manner of their expressing themselves to the world Which they do 1. With the greatest impartiality not declaring only what was glorious and admirable to the world but what they knew would be accounted foolishness by it They who had sought only to have been admired for the rare discoveries which they brought to the world would be sure to conceal any thing which might be accounted ridiculous but the Apostles fixed themselves most on what was most contemptible in the eyes of the world and what they were most mocked and derided for that they delighted most in the preaching of which was the Cross of Christ. Paul was so much in Love with this which was a stumbling block to the Iews and foolishness to the Greeks that he valued the knowledge of nothing else in comparison of the knowledge of Christ and him crucified Nay he elsewhere saith God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of Christ. What now should be the reason that they should rejoyce in that most which was most despicable to the world had not they seen far â—reater truth and excellency in it then in the most sublime speculations concerning God or the souls of men in the School of Plato or any other heathen Philosophers That all men should be bound in order to their salvation to believe in one who was crucified at Hierusalem was a strange doctrine to the unbelieving world but if the Apostles had but endeavoured to have suited their doctrine to the School of Plato what rare persons might they have been accounted among the Heathen Philosophers Had they only in general terms discoursed of the Benignity of the Divine nature and the manifestations of Divine goodness in the world and that in order to the bringing of the souls of men to a nearer participation of the Divine nature the perfect Idea of true goodness and the express image of the person of God and the resplendency of his glory had vailed himself in humane nature and had everywhere scattered such beams of light and goodness as warmed and invigorated the frozen spirits of men with higher sentiments of God and themselves and raised them up above the faeculency of this terrestrial matter to breath in a freer air and converse with more noble objects and by degrees to fit the souls of men for those more pure illapses of real goodness which might alwayes satisfie the souls desires and yet alwayes keep them up till the soul should be sunning its self to all eternity under the immediate beams of Light and Love And that after this Incarnate Deity had spread abroad the wings of his Love for a while upon this lower world till by his gentle heat and incubation he had quickned the more plyable world to some degree of a Divine life he then retreated himself back again into the superiour world and put off that vail by which he made himself known to those who are here confined to the prisons of their bodies Thus I say had the Apostles minded applause among the admired Philosophers of the Heathens how easie had it been for them to have made some considerable additions to their highest speculations and have left out any thing which might seem so mean and contemptible as the death of the Son of God! But this they were so far from that the main thing which they preached to the world was the vanity of humane wisdom without Christ and the necessity of all mens believing in that Iesus who was crucified at Hierusalem The Apostles indeed discover very much infinitely more then ever the most lofty Pl tonist could do concerning the goodness and Love of God to mankind but that wherein they manifested the Love of God to the world was that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And that herein was the Love of God manifested that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us And that this was the greatest truth and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners They never dreamt of any divine goodness which should make men happy without Christ No it was their design to perswade the world that all the communications of Gods goodness to the world were wholly in and through Iesus Christ and it is impossible that any should think otherwise unless Plato knew more of the mind of God then our blessed Saviour and Plotinus then Saint Paul Can we think now that the Apostles should hazard the reputation of their own wits so much as they did to the world and be accounted bablers and fools and madmen for preaching the way of salvation to be only by a person crucified between two thieves at Hierusalem had they not been convinced not only of the truth but importance of it and that it concerned men as much to believe it as it did to avoid eternal misery Did Saint Paul preach ever the less the words of truth and soberness because he was told to his face that his Learning had made him mad But if he was besides himself it was for Christ and what wonder was it if the Love of Christ in the Apostle should make him willing to lose his reputation for him seeing Christ made himself of no reputation that he might be in a capacity to do us good We see the Apostles were not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because they knew it was the power of God to salvation and therefore neither in their preaching or their writings would they omit any of those passages concerning our Saviours death which might be accounted the most dishonourable to his person Which is certainly as great an evidence of their sidelity as can be expected which makes Origen say that the Disciples of Christ writ all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a great deal of candour and love of truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not concealing from the world those passages of the life of Christ which would be accounted most foolish and ridiculous 2. With the greatest plainness and simplicity of speech Such whose design is to impose upon the minds of men with some cunningly devised fables love as much ambiguity as ever Apollo did in his most winding oracles of whom it is said Ambage nexâ Delphico mos est Dco Arcana tegere Servius tells us that Iupiter Ammon was therefore pictured with Rams-horns because his answers
destruction of souls 2. The Devils great design was to draw men to the practice of the greatest wickedness under a pretence of religion as is very observable in all the Heathen mysteries which the more recondite and hidden they were the greater wickedness lay at the bottom of them and so were to purpose mysteries of iniquity but now the design of the Gospel was to promote the greatest purity both of heart and life There being in no other religion in the world either such incomparable Precepts of holiness or such incouraging Promises to the practice of it from eternal life hereafter as the reward and the assistance of Gods spirit to help men here or such prevailing motives to perswade men to it from the love of God in Christ to the world the undertakings of Christ for us in his death and sufferings the excellent pattern we have to follow in our Saviours own example now these things make it plain that the design of Christ and the Devil are diametrically opposite to each other 3. The design of the Devil is to set God and mankind at the greatest distance from each other the design of Christ in the Gospel is to bring them nearer together The Devil first tempts to sin and then for sin he makes men presume to sin and to despair because they have sinned Christ first keeps men from sin by his Precepts and threatnings and then supposing sin encourageth them to repent with hopes of pardon procured by himself for all truly penitent and believing sinners Thus in every thing the design of Christ and the Devil are contrary which makes it evident that the miracles wrought in confirmation of the doctrine of Christ could be from no evil spirit and therefore must be from a truly Divine power True and Divine miracles may be known and distinguished from false and diabolical from the circumstances or the manner of their operation There were some peculiar signatures on the miracles of Christ which are not to be found in any wrought by a power less then Divine Which Arnobius well expresseth in these words to the Heathens Potestis aliquem nobis designare monstrare ex omnibus illis Magis qui unquam fuere per secula consimile aliquid Christo millesima ex parte qui fecerit qui sine ulla vi carâ—â—inum sine herbarum aut graminum succis sine ulla aliqua observatione sollicita sacrorum libaminum temporum Atqui constitit Christum sine ullis adminiculis rerum sine ullius ritus observatione vel lege omnia illa quae fecit nominis sui possibilitate fecisse quod proprium consentaneum Deo dignum fuerat vero nihil nocens aut noxium sed opiferum sed salutare sed auxiliaribus plenum bonis potestatis munificae liberalitate donasse He challengeth the Heathens to produce any one of all their Magicians who did the thousand part of what our Saviour did who made use of none of their Magical rites and observations in what ever he did and what ever he did was meerly by his own power and was withall most becoming God and most beneficial to the world And thence he proceeds to answer the Heathens about the miracles wrought by their Gods which fell short of those of Christ in three main particulars the manner of their working and the number of them and the quality of the things done 1. The manner of their working what they did was with a great deal of pomp and ceremony what Christ did was with a word speaking and sometimes without it by the touch of his garment non inquiro non exigo saith he quis Deus aut quo tempore cui fuerit auxiliatus aut quem fractum restituerit sanitati illud solum audire desidero an sine ullius adjunctione materiae i. e. medicaminis alicujus ad tactum morbos jusserit abhominibus evolare imperaverit fecerit emori valetudinum causam debilium corpora ad suas remeare naturas Omitting all other circumstances name me saith he but which of your Gods ever cured a disease without any adjoyned matter some prescriptions or other or which of them ever commanded diseases out of bodies by their meer touch and quite removed the cause of the distempers Aesculapius he sayes cured diseases but in the way that ordinary Physitians do by prescribing something or other to be done by the patients Nulla autem virtus est medicaminibus amovere quae noceant beneficia ista rerum non sunt curantium potestates To cure diseases by prescriptions argues no power at all in the prescriber but vertue in the Medicine 2. In the number of the persons cured they were very few which were cured in the Heathen Temples Christ cured whole multitudes and that not in the revestryes of the Temples where fraud and imposture might be easily suspected but in the presence of the people who brought to him all manner of persons sick of all sorts of diseases which were cured by him and these so numerous that the Evangelist who records many of Christs miracles which had been omitted by the others yet tells us at last the miracles of Christ were so many that the whole world would not contain them But now Arnobius tells the Heathens Quid prodest ostendere tinum aut alterum fortasse curatos cum tot millibus subvenerit nemo plena sint omnia miserorum infeliciumque delubra what matter is it to shew one or two cured when thousands lie continually in the Temples perishing for want of cure yea such as did Aesculapium ipsum precibus fatigare invitare miserrimis votis that could not beg a cure of Aesculapius with all their earnestness and importunity 3. In the quality of the diseases cured the cures among the Heathens were some slight things in comparison of those performed by Christ the most acute the most Chronical the most malignant of diseases cured by a touch a word a thought A learned Physition hath undertaken to make it evident from the circumstances of the story and from the received principles among the most authentick Physitians that the diseases cured by our Saviour were all incurable by the rules of Physick if so the greater the power of our Saviour who cured them with so much facility as he did And he not only cured all diseases himself but gave a power to others who were not at all versed in matters of art and subtilty that they should do miracles likewise sine fucis adminiculis without any fraud or assistance quid dicitis ô mentes incredulae difficiles durae alicuine mortalium Iupiter ille Capitolinus hujusmodi potestatem dedit when did ever the great Iupiter Capitolinus ever give a power of working miracles to any I do not say saith he of raising the dead or curing the blind or healing the lame sed ut pustulam reduviam pupulam aut vocis imperio aut manus contrectatione comprimeret but to cure a wart a
Friends and while he was there thrusts up his spear into a swallows nest and pulls it down and kills the young ones his Friends asking him the reason of so strange an action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do not you bear saith he how they falsly accuse me and cry out that I have kild my Father Which being by the persons present carried to the King and the truth of it found out he was executed for it Such strange wayes doth providence sometimes use to shew how vigilant it is even when we think it sleeps the most 5. Though God spares the persons of wicked men he doth not defer their punishment when the thoughts of their evil actions is the greatest torment to them Maxima peccatâ— pena est peccasse as Seneca speaks Sin bears its own punishment along with it Wickedness is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most exquisite contriver of misery which fills the minds of those who commit it with continual consternations anxieties and perplexities of mind But as that often and deservedly cited author on this subject Plutarch tells us most men are in this like Children who when they behold malefactors in the Theatres in their cloth of gold and purple robes with their crowns on their heads dancing about they admire them and imagine them to be most happy men till they see them lashed and beaten and fire come out from their brave apparel so saith he as long as men see others in their pomp and grandeur they think them far from punishment till they behold their execution which saith he is not so much the entrance of their punishment as the perfection of it So that the longer the time of their lives is the longer is the time of their punishment here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are not punished when they grow old but they are grown old in punishments Cannot we say a person is punished while he is in prison and hath his fetters upon him till his execution comes nor that one that hath drunk poison is a dying while he walks about till the cold comes to his heart and kills him if we deny saith he that all the inquietudes horrors and anxieties of mind which wicked men have are no part of their punishment we may as well say that a fish which bath swallowed the hook is not taken because he is not fryed or cut in pieces So it is with every wicked man he hath swallowed the hook when he hath committed an evil action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his conscience within him as he expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which in the Prophets expression is the wicked are like a troubled sea which casts forth nothing but mire and dirt As Apollodorus dreamt that he was flead and boyled by the Scythians and that his heart spake to him out of the Cauldron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the cause of all this God deals by wicked men as Caligula was wont to say of those he commanded to be executed ferit ut sentiant se mori he so punishes them as to make them sensible of their punishments And as Tacitus speaks of cruel and wicked persons quorum mentes si recludantur possâ—nt aspici laniatus ictus quando ut corpora verberibus ita saevitia libidine malis consult is animus dilaceretur Wiekedness is the only fury which continually haunts and lashes those who delight in it and leaves still behind it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loathsome and terrible perturbations secret gripings of conscience and self condemning thoughts for their folly and wickedness like Lysimachus who for extream thirst offered his Kingdom to the Getae to quench it which when he had done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What a wretch was I saith he to lose such a Kingdom for so short a pleasure And though wicked men be not sensible of the loss of a far more glorious Kingdom then this of Lysimachus viz. that of heaven yet they cannot but be sensible how much they have lost that Kingdom which every good man hath in the tranquillity of his spirit and the command of his passions 6. The time that God spares wicked men is not so long as we think for It is all one as Plutarch saith as if we should complain that the malefactor was punished in the evening and not in the morning Gods forbearance is but for a very little time compared with his own duration We measure God by the short hour-glass of our own time when we are so ready to confine him to our measures The time seems long to us but it is as nothing in its self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole life of man compared with eternity is nothing Besides all this time God suffers wicked men to live here he hath them under safe custody he doth but let them take the air within the prison-walls or it may be they may play and sport themselves there but there is no possibility of escaping out of the hands of Divine justice 7. God forbears wicked men here because the time is to come wherein God intends to punish them This is the highest vindication of Divine Providence as to the present impunity of wicked men in the world because this is not the proper season for the open execution of Iustice. There are but few in comparison whom Iustice causeth to be executed in the â—rison of what are reserved for the general Assizes God reserves them for a fair and open tryal for the greater vindication of his honour and manifestation of his Iustice to the world And although Gods judgements even in this world be sometimes so remarkable that we cannot but see a hand of Providence in them yet they are but few whom God doth so remarkably punish here to make us more firmly believe a day of judgement to come Which though it be most clearly and fully revealed in Scripture yet the Heathens themselves from meer reason have had such a perswasion of it that they have given this as another great reason why God did forbear to punish wicked men here because he did reserve them for future punishment For as the same Moralist speaks in the same discourse concerning the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this present life is the place of the souls combat which when it hath finished it then receives according to its performance of it And as he before speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same reason which confirms providence doth likewise confirm the immortality of the soul and if one be taken away the other follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if the soul doth subsist after death it stands to the greatest reason that it should there receive either reward or punishment Thus we see how far natural light and moral reason will carry men in the vindicating Divine Providence as to the present impunity of wicked men The other part which concerns the sufferings of good men is not of so great difficulty because there are none so good as
as a matter trivial and impertinent Which cannot arise but from one of these two grounds that either they think it no great wisdom to let go their present hold as to the good things of this world for that which they secretly question wheâ—her they shall ever live to see or no or else that their minds are in suspense whether they be not sent on a Guiana voyage to heaven whâ—ther the certainty of it be yet fully discovered or the instructions which are given be such as may infallibly conduct them thâ—her The first though it hath the advantage of sense fruition delight and further expectation yet to a rational person who seriously reflects on himself and sums up what after all his troubles and disquietments in the procuring his cares in keeping his disappointments in his expectations his fears of losing what he doth enjoy and that vexation of spirit which attends all these he hath gained of true contentment to his mind can never certainly beleive that ever these things were intended for his happiness For is it possible that the soul of man should ever enjoy its full and compleat happiness in this world when nothing is â—ble to make it happy but what is most suitable to its nature able to fill up its large capacity and commensurate with its duration but in this life the matter of mens greatest delights is strangely unsuitable to the nature of our rational beings the measure of them too short for our vast desires to stretch themselves upon the proportion too scant and narrow to run parallel with immortality It must be then only a Supreme Insinite and Eternal Being which by the free communications of his bounty and goodness can fix and satiate the souls desires and by the constant flowings forth of his uninterrupted streams of favour will alwayes keep up desire and yet alwayes satisfie it One whose goodness can only be felt by some tansient touches here whose love can be seen but as through a lattice whose constant presence may be rather wished for then enjoyed who hath reserved the full sight and fruition of himself to that future state when all these dark vails shall be done away and the soul shall be continually sunning her self under immediate beams of light and love But how or in what way the soul of man in this degenerate condition should come to be partaker of so great a happiness by the enjoyment of that God our natures are now at such a distance from is the greatest and most important enquiry of humane nature and we continually see how successless and unsatisfactory the endeavours of those have been to themselves at last who have sought for this happiness in a way of their own finding out The large volume of the Creation wherein God hath described so much of his wisdom and power is yet too dark and obscure too short and imperfect to set forth to us the way which leads to eternal happinesse Unlesse then the same God who made mens souls at first do shew them the way for their recovery as they are in a degenerate so they will be in a desperate condition but the same bounty and goodness of God which did at first display its self in giving being to mens souls hath in a higher manner enlarged the discovery of its self by making known the way whereby we may be taken into his Grace and Favour again Which it now concerns us particularly to discover thereby to make it appear that this way is of that peculiar excellency that we may have from thence the greatest evidence it could come from no other Author but God himself and doth tend to no other end but our eternal happiness Now that incomparable excellency which is in the sacred Scriptures will fully appear if we consider the matters contained in them under this threefold capacity 1. As matters of Divine Revelation 2. As a rule of life 3. As containing that Covenant of grace which relates to mans eternal happiness 1. Consider the Scripture generally as containing in it matters of divine revelation and therein the excellency of the Scriptures appeares in two things 1. The matters which are revealed 2. The manner wherein they are revealed 1. The matters which are revealed in Scripture may be considered these three wayes 1. As they are matters of the greatest weight and moment 2. As mâ—tters of the greatest depth and mysteriousness 3. As matters of the most universal satisfaction to the minds of men 1. They are matters of the greatest moment and importance for men to know The wisdom of men is most known by the weight of the things they speak and therefore that wherein the wisdom of God is discovered cannot contain any thing that is mean and trivial they must be matters of the highest importance which the Supreme Ruler of the world vouchsafes to speak to men concerning And such we shall find the matters which God hath revealed in his word to be which either concern the rectifying our apprehensions of his nature or making known to men their state and condition or discovering the way whereby to avoid eternal misery Now which is there of these three which supposing God to discover his mind to the world it doth not highly become him to speak to men of 1. What is there which it doth more highly concern men to know then God himself or what more glorious and excellent object could he discover then himself to the world There is nothing certainly which should more commend the Scriptures to us then that thereby we may grow more acquainted with God that we may know more of his nature and all his perfections and many of the great reasons of his actings in the world We may by them understand with safety what the eternal purposes of God were as to the wâ—y of mans recovery by the death of his Son we may there see and understand the great wisdom of God not only in the contrivance of the world and ordering of it but in the gradual revelations of himself to his people by what steps he trained up his Church till the fulness of time was come what his aim was in laying such a load of Ceremonies on his people of the Iews by what steps degrces he made way for the full revelation of his Will to the World by speaking in these last dayes by his Son after he had spoke at sundry times and divers manners by the Prophets c. unto the Fathers In the Scriptures we read the most rich and admirable discoveries of Divine goodness and all the wayes and methods he useth in alluring sinners to himself with what Majesty he commands with what condiscension he intreats with what importunity he wooes mens souls to be reconciled to him with what favour he embraceth with what tenderness he chastiseth with what bowels he pitieth those who have chosen him to be their God! With what power he supporteth with what wisdom he directâ—th with what cordials he
should discover further then Gods general goodness to such as please him but no foundation can be gatherd thence of his readiness to pardon offenders which being an act of grace must alone be discoverd by his Will I cannot think the Sun Moon and Stars are such itinerant Preachers as to unfold unto us the whole Counsel and Will of God in reference to mans acceptance with God upon repentance It is not every Star in the Firmament can do that which the Star once did to the wise men lead them unto Christ. The Sun in the Heavens is no Parhelius to the Son of righteousness The best Astronomer will never finde the day-star from on high in the rest of his number What St. Austin said oâ— Tullies works is true of the whole Volume of the Creation There are admirable things to be found in them but the name of Christ is not legible there The work of Redemption is not engraven on the works of providence if it had a particular divine revelation had been unnecessary and the Apostles were sent on a needless errand which the world had understood without their Preaching viz That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to men their trespasses and hath committed to them the Ministry of Reconciliation How was the word of reconciliation committed to them if it were common to them with the whole frame of the world and the Apostles Quaere elsewhere might have been easily answered How can men hear without a Preacher For then they might have known the way of salvation without any special messengers sent to deliver it to them I grant that Gods long suffering and patience is intended to lead men to repentance and that some general collections might be made from providence of the placability of Gods nature and that God never left himself without a witness of his goodness in the world being king to the unthankful and doing good in giving rain and fruitful seasons But though these things might sufficiently discover to such who were apprehensive of the guilt of sin that God did not act according to his greatest severity and thereby did give men encouragement to hearken out enquire after the true way of being reconciled to God yet all this amounts not to a firm foundation for faith as to the remission of sin which doth suppose God himself publishing an act of grace and indempnity to the world wherein he assures the pardon of sin to such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel Now is not this an inestimable advantage we enjoy by the Scriptures that therein we understand what God himself hath discoverd of his own nature and perfections and of his readiness to pardon sin upon those gracious terms of Faith and Repentance and that which necessarily follows from these two hearty and sincere obedience 2. The Scriptures give the most faithful representation of the state and condition of the soul of man The world was almost lost in Disputes concerning the nature condition and immortality of the soul before divine revelation was made known to mankind by the Gospel of Christ but life and immortality was brrught to light by the Gospel and the future state of the soul of man not discoverd in an uncertain Platonical way but with the greatest light and evidence from that God who hath the supreme disposal of souls and therefore best knows and understands them The Scriptures plainly and fully reveal a judgement to come in which God will judge the secrets of all hearts when every one must give an account of himself unto God and God will call men to give an account of their stewardship here of all the receits they have had from him and the expences they have been at and the improvements they have made of the talents he put into their hands So that the Gospel of Christ is the fullest instrument of discovery of the certainty of the future state of the soul and the conditions which abide it upon its being dislodged from the body But this is not all which the Scripture discovers as to the state of the soul for it is not only a prospective-glass reaching to its future state but it is the most faithful looking-glass to discover all the spots and deformities of the soul And not only shews where they are but whence they came what their nature is and whether they tend The true Original of all that disorder and discomposure which is in the soul of man is only fully and satisfactorily given us in the Word of God as hath been already proved The nature and working of this corruption in man had never been so clearly manifested had not the Law and Will of God been discovered to the world that is the glass whereby we see the secret workings of those Bees in our hearts the corruptions of our natures that sets forth the folly of our imaginations the unruliness of our passions the distempers of our wills and the abundant deceitfulness of our hearts And it is hard for the most Elephantine sinner one of the greatest magnitude so to trouble these waters as not therein to discover the greatness of his own deformities But that which tends most to awaken the drowsie sensless spirits of men the Scripture doth most fully describe the tendency of corruption that the wages of sin is death and the issue of continuance in sin will be the everlasting misery of the soul in a perpetual separation from the presence of God and undergoing the lashes and severities of conscience to all eternity What a great discovery is this of the faithfulness of God to the world that he suffers not men to undo themselves without letting them know of it before-hand that they might avoid it God seeks not to entrap mens souls nor doth he rejoyce in the misery and ruine of his creatures but fully declares to them what the consequence and issue of their sinful practices will be assures them of a judgement to come declares his own future sâ—verity against contumacious sinners that they might not think themselves surprized and that if they had known there had been so great danger in sin they would never have been such fools as for the sake of it to run into eternal misery Now God to prevent this with the greatest plainness and faithfulness hath shewed men the nature and danger of all their sins and asks them before hand what they will do in the end thereof whether they are able to bear his wrath and wrestle with everlasting burnings if not he bids them bethink themselves of what they have done already and repent amend their lives lest iniquity prove their ruine destruction overtake them and that without remedy Now if men have cause to prize and value a faithful Monitor one that tenders their good and would prevent their ruine we have cause exceedingly to prize and value the Scriptures which give us the truest representation of the state and