whole Matter the whole Design of the Evangelical Dispensation is ordered and contrived with most singular Wisdom and Forecast with most admirable Congruity to the most refined Reasons and with singular Advantage to affect the Souls of Men and to bring them about to the great End designed by it namely the stating of the Soul in its due Position and Habitude to Almighty God the perfecting of its Nature and Habits and the final Fruition of Everlasting Felicity And the Truth is that the Divinity of this Evangelical Dispensation is herein manifested for if all the wisest Men on Earth yea or all the Angels of Heaven had set themselves to have contrived a Method of the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind they could never have found out so exquisite an Oeconomy suited to this End as is delivered in the Revelation of the Evangelical Mystery And therefore it is those glorious Creatures the Angels look upon it with Admiration 1 Pet. 1.12 unto whom the manifold Wisdom of God is herein declared and manifested But yet besides the admirable Wisdom of this Dispensation in the Matter and Ends thereof there are two great Circumstances in this Revelation that signally declare it to be no less than a divine Contrivance and Message from the God of Truth and Wisdom 1. In that the Ends propounded in it are not of any Secular or Worldly Advantage Had the Gospel promised its Disciples and Followers External Wealth Honour Grandeur Temporal Delights or Pleasures it might have been suspected to have been a Politick Contrivance of some sagacious Men to conduct Men under pretence of a New Religion to secular Advantages But the Business of the Gospel is quite of another Nature directed to the attainment of Ends that are quite of another kind nay is so far from it that it tells its Disciples they must not expect the Splendor of this World but must neglect deny and contemn it that instead thereof they must expect persecution neglect and contempt from the World and accordingly it succeeded to them especially in the first and purest Ages of the Christian Church 2. In that the Means and Instruments of its Promulgation to the World were the most disproportion'd to a politick humane Contrivance and the most unlikely in all humane Appearance to attain its End or Acceptation with the World Had the Evangelical Oeconomy been the Product of a Consultation of a Conclave of Learned Rabbi's or of deep Philosophers or of Politick or Wise States-men possibly it might have given an Occasion to the rest of the World to have said or thought that it is true indeed it is a well-polished System of a Religion but yet it carries a Suspicion with it of a humane Contrivance considering what Wise Men were emyloyed in the digesting or promulgation of it But the glorious God to prevent any possible Surmises in the Minds of Men of this kind and to let the World see and know that it was not a Contrivance of Humane Invention Wisdom or Policy but a Method of Religion and Salvation instituted and manifested by Almighty God himself and by his own immediate Ordination and Wisdom in the whole Method of the Evangelical Dispensation doth industriously decline all Instances and Contributions of humane Helps and Advantages and chooseth those Circumstances and Instruments therein that had the least semblance of any Contribution of worldly or humane Wisdom or Advantage Christ the Messenger of the Gospel a poor obscure Man hated and persecuted by his Country-men and at length Crucified his Apostles poor Fisher-men unlearned and ignorant Men Acts 4.13 the whole World of Learned Philosophers of Jewish Masters of Great Princes and States-men opposing this Doctrine with the greatest Industry Skill and Power vilifying it with Reproach Scorn and Contempt a Stumbling-Block to the Jews and to the Greeks Foolishness And wherefore was all this Certainly next to the Excellency of the Evangelical Doctrine it self there could not have been a greater manifestation of the Divine Wisdom and a greater Indication that the Christian Religion was really and truly a more divine Institution than this manner of its Mission into the World namely That by this it might appear in the Success it had in the World that the Power thereof is of God and not of Men And therefore he chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty That no flesh should glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1.27 29. That in the admirable Success of the Christian Religion in the World all Men might see and acknowledge that it was neither the Contrivance of Wise Men nor carried on by the Wisdom or Power of Men but by the Power of God and the Wisdom of God And thus far touching this great Means of Reduction of the humane Soul to his just Habitude and Respect to Almighty God viz. The Redemption of Mankind by Christ Jesus CHAP. XIII Touching the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion and the sutableness thereof to the Reduction of the Soul to its due State Position and Happiness THere are many Truths both in Nature and Divinity that have not neither indeed can have their first Discovery unto Mankind but by supernatural Revelation which yet being discovered have a high Congruity and Consonancy to true Reason As for Instance The manner and order of the Creation of the Universe as it is delivered by Moses if it be duly considered is greatly consonant to the Nature and Reason of the things in the World and yet it is impossible that it should at first be discovered but by supernatural Revelation for no Man was or could be a Witness to the Creation of things that were pre-existent to his Being neither is it possible for humane Reason to search out by bare Ratiocination the distinct order method periods and other Circumstances of that Great Work of Omnipotent Power and Wisdom And the same may in a great measure be asserted touching many of the important Methods and Circumstances of the Redemption of Mankind and Evangelical Doctrine Some things therein delivered I confess were before believed either by the Light of Nature or at least by some antient Tradition as the Existence and Perfection of Almighty God the Immortality of the Soul and a Future State of Rewards and Punishments though the Notions thereof were troubled and confus'd But the Evangelical Revelation hath these great Preferences 1. That some things are discovered therein which were never before discovered nor discoverable but by Divine Revelation as the Miraculous Conception and Mission of the Messias the Expiation for the Sins of Men and the Impetration of Eternal Life for Mankind by his Death and divers other great Evangelical Mysteries 2. That as to those very Points of Truth that in some measure were before apprehended and believed by Mankind yet they are more distinctly plainly and evidently discovered in and by the Evangelical Revelation so that as to both these
frowardly and perversly and the natural Object of the Will unto which it is properly ordinated is to will that which is Good and to will that chiefly which is the chiefest Good and that subordinately which is a less or subordinate Good 3. The Affections which whether they are distinct from the Will or but the more intense Motions of it is not necessary here to dispute but certainly they have a great share in the bringing of the Soul to its just Position and Respect to Almighty God And although the Brute Animals have certain Passions analogal to these Affections in Man yet there is a great Disparity between them 1. Because there are some Affections that seem most peculiar to the Humane Nature I shall name but those of Hope Dependance and Gratitude And although there are some extraordinary Examples and Instances of such Affections in Animals yet in truth they are but Shadows of these that are in the reasonable Nature as the Phantasie of Brutes is but a kind of Shadow of the Humane Intellect and the Appetite but a Shadow of the Will 2. Because even in all the Affections or Passions which seem most common to the Humane and Animal Nature as Love Joy Fear Anger c. there is this great difference 1. That the Affections of the Humane Nature are naturally under the Regiment of Reason and Understanding and so are or ought to be governed by it and are therefore in Man Reasonable Faculties but the Passions of Brutes as they are excited merely by their Sentient Phantasie so they are at best but under the Regiment of it so that the Humane Affections have another kind of formal Nature or Tincture as I may call it than the like Affections in Animals 2. That the Affections in Animals and Men that come under the same denomination yet are distinguished by their Objects The Affections of a bare sentient Nature as Love Hatred Fear Joy c. are always terminated in a sensible Good to be desired or Evil to be avoided but the Affections of the Humane Soul have not only for their Objects sensible Good or Evil but also Good and Evil of a higher and nobler Size namely Moral or Intellectual Good to be prosecuted and entertained with Love Joy Delight Complacency and Desire and Moral and Intellectual Evil to be shunned or avoided or born with Hatred Detestation Grief c. and these Objects of this latter Nature strike upon the Humane Affections with more vigour and energy by how much they are greater and of greater importance than sensible Good or Evil. And as thus the Divine Goodness hath furnished the Humane Soul with these excellent Faculties and Instruments to keep and bring about the Humane Soul to her due Position to her Maker so he hath furnished these Faculties with such Objects as are highly serviceable and conducible to this End And these are contained in those two Books or Volumes 〈◊〉 That of the Works and Providence of God 2. That of Divine Revelation both which do afford to the Humane Reason Intellect and Nature admirable Motives to incline the Soul to its true Habitude and Position toward Almighty God but especially the latter of these CHAP. X. Touching the Rational Instances and Motives of the Conversion of the Soul to God upon the Account of the Works of Nature and Providence ALthough Almighty God hath so ordered the Frame of the Humane Soul that it hath many Handles as it were whereby it may be kept and turned about to its due Position unto Almighty God which is its Happiness and Perfection and he that made us knows so well our Frame that he can and doth daily apply fit Attractives to those Ansulae humanae Animae yet amongst them all there are three principal Affections of the Soul that are of great moment and use in this matter viz. Love Gratitude and Dependance 1. Love is the strongest and most vigorous Affection of the humane Soul it is the great Spring that excites and governs all the Wheels and Motions of the Soul and is in truth the natural and proper Verticity of the Humane Soul The Soul moves entirely after that which it entirely loves and that doth as naturally carry the Motion of the Soul toward it as the Magnet governs the Motions of the Needle so that it is somewhat more than morally true Anima est ubi amat If a Man entirely loves Wealth or Pleasures or Honours the Soul entirely moves after it useth all means to attain it is disquieted and vexed if she miss it and is in effect wholly governed and managed by the strength of his Love to it It commands all the rest of the Affections and Actions of the Man his Reverence his Care his Vigilance Attention Obedience Love is as strong as Death and that Object that hath once gotten this Affection leads the Man as it pleaseth and therefore Hos 11.4 stiled the Cords of a Man the Bands of Love And if this Affection be principally set upon the Glorious God the Soul is placed and settled in its due Position and is entirely under his Government Now there are two great and powerful Attractives of this Affection viz. 1st Excellency Beauty or Goodness which are but different Expressions of the same thing and 2. Love and the Effects or Indications thereof Bounty and Beneficence 1. As to Excellence and Beauty it is in all Instances a Motive and Excitation of Love Every thing in Nature so much as it hath of Beauty and Excellence so much of our Love it doth obtain Now the admirable Order and Beauty of the Universe doth not only convince the Understanding that there is a God the Soveraign Cause of this Order and Beauty of the Universe and the several Parts thereof but doth necessarily conclude a Transcendent Beauty and Excellence in that Soveraign Cause namely an immense Power Wisdom Goodness and Perfection in him who made and continually ordereth and disposeth it in that excellent Frame and Order 2. Beneficence and Bounty unto allthings especially to that Subject wherein this Affection lodgeth And although it be true that the innate intrinsick appropriate Goodness and Perfection of any Being doth upon a true rational Account deserve our Love though it were not at all extrinsecally communicative of Goodness to us yet it is certain that Love and Beneficence in any Object doth more vigorously work upon our Affection of Love than the simple intrinsick Excellence of the Object it self And the Reason is because Beneficence Love and Communicative Goodness hath not only an intrinsick Beauty and Loveliness but also gives us an Interest and Benefit in it and by it and so upon the Account of Self-Love of Love to our selves it increaseth our Love to that beneficent Object and Self-love that hath a great Interest in every Man renders his Love to a beneficent Object more vigorous and active Now if any Man considers the incomparable Bounty and Goodness of God to the Humane Nature upon the account
State and Position and thereby attaining that Perfection Happiness and Everlasting Blessedness and Rest that is possible for any reasonable Man to desire or expect Only I must add this Caution that when I speak of the Doctrine of the Gospel and Christian Religion I do by no means exclude the Divine Revelation of the Old Testament for both Testaments make but one entire System of the True Christian Doctrine the Old Testament is preparatory to the New and the New Testament Explicative of the Old and takes in either in express Terms or by necessary admission all the Truths of God delivered in the Old and is recommended by Christ himself to his Disciples and Followers together with those other additional Discoveries and Precepts that he made and gave But yet thus much must needs be added That the Doctrine of Christianity as it is singly revealed in the New Testament gives a much greater Light makes more full Discoveries and contains more effectual Instances to bring about the Soul to Almighty God than that Old Testament alone did or could do And I shall now proceed to some of those most Eminent Particulars and Instances for this purpose 1. Whereas the Notion of God was greatly Corrupted in the Minds of Men as is shewn in the former Chapter the Christian Doctrine rectified those Notions and gives us a true Discovery of the Divine Nature so far as our finite Understandings are capable of it Acts 17.23 Whom ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you here we have the great Discoveries of the Perfection Excellency and Beauty of the Divine Nature and therefore an Object infinitely deserving the greatest Excess of our Love and of our Dependance and Reverence his Eternity Unity Purity Holiness Goodness Wisdom Power Justice Mercy Placability Long-suffering Gentleness Faithfulness Truth in a word that he is the Perfection of all Excellencies the Chiefest Good and the most Sovereign Object of all our Love even upon the single Account of his own transcendent Perfection and Excellence But I come to things more specifically applicable to the Redemption of Mankind by Christ Jesus Therefore 2. I have in the former Chapter mentioned the Suspicions and Inclinations of Mankind to think the Soul is immortal and that there is a Future State thereof for Rewards and Punishments but this Supposition was much clouded with uncertain Conjectures and Imaginations But Christ in the Gospel hath given us a full Discovery and Assurance of the Immortality of the Soul and a full Prospect of the future State of Rewards and Punishments and therefore is truly said to have brought Immortality and Life to Light by the Gospel 3. Whereas in the former Chapter I have shewed that although the External Blessings distributed among the Children of Men were greatly Valuable and more than any Creature could either deserve or by his own Power procure and therefore Almighty God in respect of these highly deserved our Love as our greatest Benefactor yet that many wise and considerate Men considering the promiscuous Dispensation of External Blessings and the great Excellency of the humane Soul did reach after Blessings of a higher Nature and Use than such as only served the Meridian of this Life Here we have a Discovery of the immense Beneficence and Love of the Glorious God unto Mankind and therefore the highest Attractive of the Soul namely Immortal Happiness Glory and Blessedness freely and bountifully offered by Almighty God through Jesus Christ to all that will be but converted and turn unto him and this done upon the Account of his own Beneficence and communicative Goodness unto the Children of Men that were Enemies and estranged from God by Evil Works as well as to the rest of Mankind Certainly if Love undeserved Love be the greatest Attractive of Love if the free Collation of the greatest Benefits that the humane Nature is capable of namely Immortal Glory Life and Blessedness be the greatest Allective of Love and Gratitude to our Benefactor then here is such an Attractive of the Soul to God as its chiefest Benefactor that cannot be elsewhere matched or equalled But this is not all Therefore 3. There is yet farther such an Instance of Love in the manner of procuring this Benefit that seems to equal the very Benefit it self namely God Almighty sending his Son his only Son into the World so far to humble himself as to take our Nature upon him with all its Natural Infirmities Sin only excepted 2. In that Nature to live a poor despised persecuted Life reproached with the most odious though undeserved Calumnies 3. In that Nature to be betrayed by his own Disciple condemned by his own Country-men that were of highest Esteem among them the Priests Scribes and Sanhedrim mocked by the Soldiers Crowned with Thorns his Flesh torn with Scourging delivered over to the Gentiles to be Executed and then exposed to a most painful ignominious Death among Thieves and Malefactors And which yet was more than all this his very Soul made as it were an Offering for Sin heavy unto the Death astonished and in an Agony by the Eclipsing for the time of the Comfort and Influence of the Divine Presence and Love And all this done to expiate the Sins of Men to become a Sacrifice for the Sins of his very Enemies and purchase and impetrate for them this greatest Benefit of Everlasting Life and Glory and all this thus done by the very Design Counsel and Contrivance of the Offended God to satisfie his own Justice to magnifie his own Mercy and to save his undeserving Creature These are Instances of a strange and stupendous Love and do Aggrandize the very Benefit it self than which yet there could not be a Greater So God loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son into the world that as many as believed on him should not perish 1 John 4.10 Here is Love not that we loved him but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins Herein the Love of God is manifest that when we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us And now if any be so inquisitive as to ask Why was all this adoe Could not God have saved Men without such a hard and bloody Scene or if he would not give Mankind Everlasting Life without Conversion of the Soul to him could he not by the Empire of his Power have over-ruled the Hearts of the Children of Men to such a Temper and Position I Answer It is true he could and might have done so but he that made Man an intellectual and a free Agent and placed all those Affections in his Nature which I have before-mentioned was not minded to abrogate nor alter the humane Nature and at once to shew both his Constancy to those Laws he hath most wisely settled in Nature and yet to bring about this Great Work of Conversion of the Soul to God without offering Violence to the Laws that he had settled in Nature and therefore in
it is truly said that life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel But although this be true that the Contrivance of Man's Redemption could only be by infinite Wisdom and the Discovery it self is supernatural a divine Message from Heaven and published to us by the Son of God Heb. 1. yet the Truths thus revealed do bear a great Consonance and Congruity to the True Light of Reason to the true State of the humane Nature For to say the Truth True Reason in the Souls of Men is but a Ray or Beam of that transcendent Wisdom that is in God and it is no longer true Reason than as it bears a Congruity and Consonance to that Divine Reason as I may with Submission call it namely the Divine Wisdom And though in relation thereunto the humane Reason bears not so great a Proportion as the Light of a Candle doth to the Sun yet certainly if it be True Reason it holds an Analogy and Conformity to its Fountain and Original and ceaseth to be Reason when it suits not to it And in this respect I have adventured to range this means of Conversion of the Soul to God among Means that are rational and to call them reasonable and intellectual Means And indeed they are so there is no Religion that is or ever was professed in any Age that hath so great a sutableness to True Reason no Means or Method of bringing the Soul into its true genuine State and Position as the Christian Religion and Doctrine I shall not pursue this Subject at large but shall give some Instances making good my Affirmation 1. The Evangelical Doctrine gives us a clear Account of the Immortality of the Soul and this is a Doctrine highly sutable to the very Sentiments of our Souls 1. The Consent of the most Learned and Judicious Sects of the Philosophers the Platonists and many of the Stoicks 2. It seems an utter unlikely thing that the Noble Creature Man of such admirable Endowments and Faculties of Mind a Mind of that great Capacity furnished with Conceptions that are of an Extent beyond a Life of Sense a Mind reaching after Immortality and Communion with Almighty God or at least with those Noble Creatures the Angels I say it is highly incredible that such a Nature such a Mind should be placed and made only to take a Turn for a few years upon the Theatre of this World and then die and perish and vanish like a blast of flame or smoke and have a lesser Privilege of Duration than many Vegetables and Brutes 2. The Evangelical Doctrine gives us a distinct Account of a Future State of Rewards and Punishments This is also a Truth highly consonant to natural Sentiments of Mankind and to the ordinary Appearances in the State of humane Nature 1. There is scarce any Sect of Learned and Judicious Men nay scarce any Nation under Heaven but is highly persuaded of the Truth thereof in general though they labour under differing manners of explicating it 2. The whole Frame of the Universe do proclaim Almighty God to be delighted in the due Order and Disposal of all things every thing is full of Order Congruity Beauty and Comeliness only the Dispensations of External Good and Evil to Mankind seem very confused and disproportionable to the Conditions and Deserts of Men Good Men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked and wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous therefore it is not conceptible but that there must be a time to set things at rights a day of the manifestation of the Righteous Judgments of the God of Order this was the natural Conclusion of the Wise Man Eccles 3.16 17. when he saw the Disorder that was in the Dispensations among Men I said in my heart God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time for every purpose and for every Work 3. The Gospel teacheth that the Way and Means to attain a State of Blessedness and Glory in that future Life of Immortality is by converting the Soul to Almighty God by Faith Love and Obedience by Purity and Holiness by Righteousness and Charity by Sobriety and Patience and all these Christian Vertues recommended to us by the Precept and Example of Christ Jesus And certainly if we examine this impartially by Reason such a State and Position and Temper of the Soul is most sutable and agreable to a Life of Immortality and Happiness And we may take a measure of it by the contrary Let us but suppose a Soul entirely addicted to a Sensual Life and the love of this World placing its Felicity in Carnal Pleasures Eating Drinking Wantonness Recreations Bravery of Apparel Splendid Houses and Furniture Great Retinue great Store of Lands Money Flocks Herds in Delights of the Ear the Eyes and other Senses in Power and Rule over others and in the Sence and Delight of these Enjoyments the Soul to be wholly immersed let any Man but think with himself how it is possible for such a Soul thus addicted and habituated to be in any kind of Congruity with the State of Happiness of a separated immortal Soul nay how it is possible for such a Soul to be without extream Vexation Sorrow and Perturbation when it comes into such a State as is wholly unsutable to and uncapable of such Enjoyments which once it made its Felicity and if it had a Capacity to relish and taste such worldly Contentments yet they are not in that State to be had they are quite gone and out of date and vanished away 4. The Doctrine of the Gospel commands and commends unto Mankind Piety towards God Vertue Charity Righteousness Justice Veracity Fidelity Sincerity Integrity Purity Holiness Humility Sobriety Temperance Patience Longanimity and all other excellent Vertues and certainly if we take a Measure of these Precepts even by the Light of Nature and True Reason we shall find them admirably consonant thereunto though there were no other future Life to come 1. If once that most radical and natural Notion of the Existence of a Deity and of his great Perfection be but deeply digested in the Soul the greatest and most divine sort of Evangelical Precepts are and would be as naturally consequential thereupon as the most necessary Conclusion of a Logical Demonstration such as are the Love and Fear of God Reverence and Veneration of him entire Obedience to him Patience and Resignation of our Wills to his Will Sincerity and Uprightness of Heart Thankfulness to him Dependance upon him Trust in him a vigilant Conversation becoming his Sight and Presence an imitation of him in all things that we are capable to imitate him in Again 2. Tranquillity of Mind and Conscience was accounted among the Wisest of the Philosophers the greatest Pitch of Happiness attainable by Man in this Life and I dare confidently assert That no Precepts no Practice under Heaven is more conducible to the Tranquillity of the Mind