For the proposing vast Recompences for very slight and trivial Matters betrays great Want of Judgment in not setting a true value upon things either upon Rewards or Services or both Now by the Law of our Creation we owe God all possible Duty and Obedience a great deal more than the best of us do yield to him And should God have exacted it on the Account of his Sovereign Authority over us without promising us any thing at all much less any great Matters we had been indispensably obliged to it And our best Actions stand in need of Pardon so far are they from deserving to be Crowned Nothing in us or done by us can bear the least Proportion to the Heavenly Glory And therefore that besides a Pardon God should promise us Eternal Life as the Reward of what we do for him is what can hardly enter into our Thoughts But now Revelation does relieve us in this Matter The Scriptures tell us That Christ by his perfect Obedience and Death in our room and stead hath highly Glorified God and his Government and not only redeemed us from Hell and Destruction to which we were liable but also merited Everlasting Glory for us And that the Design of this whole Affair is to magnify the Riches of God's Grace and show the vast Regard he has to the Death and Intercession of his own Son that on his Account he offers such an unspeakable Reward to us Rom. 5.12 That as Sin has reigned unto Death so might Grace reign through Righteousness to Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not for any Works of Righteousness that we have done or can do it is not because of their Intrinsick Worth that such great Things are given to us Heaven is the Purchase of Christ's Blood it is for His Sake we are accepted and rewarded And so upon our Faith and Obedience we freely receive the Blessings which he hath merited And the more we abound therein the greater is our Reward not because of our Merits but because of God's gracious Promise and Respect to the Blood of his Son for which he assigns us different Degrees of Glory in Proportion to our different Measures of Holiness and Obedience VII § VII I shall add one Consideration more which will equally reach both this and the foregoing Head viz. Natural Light and Reason cannot assure us where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which the Pardon of Sin and the Enjoyment of the Heavenly Glory is suspended Whosoever consults himself the Vanity of his own Mind the Corruption of his own Heart the Turbulency of his Passions the unruliness of his Appetite the Strength of Temptations the Weakness of his Resolutions and the Force of Evil Examples will quickly see an absolute Necessity of a Divine Power to turn him into and keep him in the Paths of Holiness Some Ingenious Men tell us very strange and surprizing Stories of the mighty Strength of Wheels and Pullies and Screws that 't is possible by the Multiplication of them to pull up an Oak by the Roots with a single * Bishop Wilkin's Archimedes p. 96. Hair of a Man's Head lift it up with a Straw or blow it up with ones Breath So that by these Contrivances one of Sampson's Locks when shaven off would have had far greater Strength and done greater Wonders than he himself when all of them were on As Extravagant as this may seem to be yet 't is much more easy and likely than for any Man by his own feeble Arm to pluck up those inveterate Evil Habits which Time and Custom have settled in him and made natural to him Now what well-grounded Confidence can we have from the meer Light of Nature of Divine Help for the accomplishing this great and necessary Work Whether any shall ever enjoy it seeing the same Sins that make us need it render us most unworthy of it Or in what Proportions it shall be given forth and how long it shall be continued Whether the Spirit of God shall be like those Periodical Winds which in some Parts of the World do annually blow to help the Mariner forward in the pursuit of his gainful Voyage or whether it shall only be like that bright Minute which Astrologers tell us of that comes but once in the whole Compass of a Man's Life and which if he lazily let slip he shall never have such another but is doom'd to Misery by a Fatal Necessity all the remainder of his Days But the Christian Institution is peculiarly called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 c. as contra-distinguish'd from the Judaical one tho' that also had God for its Author so small a Portion of it was given forth under the one like little Drops of the Dew from Heaven which just wets the Ground in Comparison of what is bestowed under the other like a plentiful Shower of Rain from above that abundanly Waters it It was in the New Creation as in the Old The cold and dark Evening went before the warm and bright Morning and God appointed the lesser Light to Rule the Night and the greater one to govern the Day The Jewish Dispensation like the Moon had its Glory and its Influence on these lower Bodies But the Gospel is like the Sun who may with more reason than any thing which some Ancient Philosophers dreamt of be called the Soul of the World whose bright and warm Beams give a new Life and Being to all things here below awaken the sleepy and drowsy Spirit in every Creature and cause the Fruits of the Ground to Spring up and flourish and Crown the Year with an abundant Increase Therefore our Blessed Saviour stiles himself the Light of the World Joh. 8.12 a Title which he doth deserve because of the Objects that he hath informed us of having set those Old Truths which before were but darkly apprehended in a full and clear Light and acquainted us with those New ones which had it not been for him we had for ever remained Igrant of And he doth deserve it no less because of that Vital Influence with which his Heavenly Doctrine is accompanied without which all Knowledge in our Minds would be but like decayed Drugs which tho' taken into our Bodies having lost all their Virtue never operate upon them nay Men could not act worse if they verily believed or knew those Doctrines to be false than they do now they believe and know them to be true Joh. 1.4 Ephes 5.14 His Light is the Life of Men Wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light And by the Scriptures we are certified that God hath appointed his own Son to be his High Almoner to distribute this Royal Gift of his among us his needy Creatures That being God and Man he hath the Infinite Goodness of the one and the tender Bowels of the other united in him And
is evident that he continues many Old Punishments and sends New and sometimes very severe ones on those that are truly Penitent This was undeniably the Case of David 2 Sam. 12.9 10 11. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou hast despised me c. Thus saith the Lord Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house c. And Death at last seizes them as well as the rest of Mankind which is generally looked upon as the standing Mark of God's Displeasure against Sin And how can mere Reason assure me that that shall put a final Period to all my Miseries that there are not some very severe Penalties yet behind for me to endure in the other World The Generality of men have trembled at the thoughts and fears of future Vengeance Lucretius * At mens sibi conscia facti Praemetuens adhibet stimulos terretque flagellis Nec videt interea qui terminus esse malorum Possit nec qui sit poenarum denique finis Atque eadem metuit magis haec ne in morte gravescant Lucret. himself represents a guilty Mind as very jealous that Death was not the End of Misery but the Beginning of greater Evils And therefore among other Replies which the great Patron of meer Natural Religion makes to those who might object that Repentance was no Satisfaction to Divine Justice this is one If any †Si ulterior aliqua irrogari debeat poena Deum Summum post hanc vitam ad tempus aliquod breve vel etiam diuturnum Supplicium de peccatoribus Sumere posse Herbert de Relig. Gentil p. 199. further Punishment ought to be inflicted God may inflict it on Sinners for a shorter or a longer time after this Life Such a Notion as this is did obtain among the Heathen as is acknowledged by their Advocate * Id. p. 196. it 208. and is too plain to be denied Were it not for Scripture Purgatory would not seem to be an absurd Doctrine The Imperfection of Good mens Repentance would incline one to suspect that after this Life they might be cast into the Fire again for the further burning up that Dross that still adheres to them But of this more in the next Chapter And I do not yet see but that if the Scriptures be laid aside I may as well argue from the Instances of God's Severity in this Life and from the undergoing a very painful Death and sometimes a bloody cruel and untimely one which is the lot of many true Penitents as well as others That God does not and will not pardon men tho' they do Repent As another may argue from the Instances of his Common Bounty and Kindness to Wicked men That he will pardon them if they do Moreover by the Light of Nature we can't attain to a well-grounded Confidence that if God should turn away his Wrath from us he will besides this receive us into the Arms and Embraces of his Love become a Friend as well as cease to be an Enemy not only refrain from Chastizing but also feast a Returning Prodigal besides the laying of the Storm cause the Sun to shine and lift up the light of his holy Countenance on our Souls and bless us with a sense of his Loving-kindness which is better than Life Tho' David was so far reconciled to Absalom as not to Execute him yea to permit him to return to Jerusalem yet for a long time he would not Suffer him to see his Face But here Revelation doth thoroughly deliver us from all our Melancholy Fears For it assures us that tho' God continue Old Afflictions or lay New ones on those whom he forgives yet 't is only for their Spiritual and Eternal Advantage to purge out their Corruptions to exercise and improve their Graces That all the Strokes he gives them are like those of a Statuary on his ill-shaped Marble to bring them into a beautiful Image and Form and so make them more meet to grace and adorn the Heavenly Building which they are designed for That they shall never be in Heaviness unless there be a Necessity for it That God will remember their Frame and his own Promise and therefore never suffer them to be tempted above what they are able to bear as a Gardener by his Glasses defends his young and tender Plants from those rough and cold Winds which they can't well endure And if our Danger be Extraordinary so shall his Assistance also be Act. 7.56 When the Jews gnasht on St. Stephen with their Teeth and were ready to devour him the Heavens were open'd and he saw Christ Standing at the right hand of God In all other places of the New Testament he is represented as Sitting there How comes he at this time to be seen in a different Posture St. Stephen was now in very great Danger And so great was our Saviour's Concern for him on this account that as if the Throne of Glory had now been uneasy to him he rises up and is seen standing at the right hand of his Father that he might be in a greater readiness to afford that Help to his distressed Servant which his present Circumstances did so loudly call for The Scripture tells us Psal 89.32 That tho' he visit their Iniquities with a Rod and their Transgressions with a Stripe yet his Loving-kindness he will never take away from them That if it be not apparently their own Fault he will manifest himself to them Joh. 14.21 and fill them with that Peace which passeth all Understanding Phil. 4.7 And there have been many in all Ages who have practised upon and lived up to the Principles of Christianity and in so doing have found this to be true by a long and comfortable Experience Yea not a few have fed on this Heavenly Manna that once were some of the Chiefest of Sinners who when they were first awaken'd have lain under dreadful Agonies of Conscience and one would have thought even after their sincere Conversion should have gone drooping and mourning all their days to their very Graves Indeed a constant lively Sense of their pasts Sins hath continued engraven on their Spirits but yet they have been freed from that Distress and Terror of Soul which once they laboured under As the Print of the Nails and Spear remained in our Saviour's Hands and Side for unbelieving Thomas put his Finger into 'em but not with that Anguish and Torment which they caused in him when he hung upon the Cross Yea Gal. 6.16 walking according to Rule Peace according to the Promise hath been upon them and they have been fill'd with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory And if it hath not been thus with others 't is not the fault of Christianity but of the Professors of it CHAP. II. Of a Future State of Bliss THis is what no
Gospel and the Foundation-Stone of all our Hopes of Pardon and Salvation This may be strongly inferr'd from Abel's Sacrifice and God's Acceptance of it The cutting in pieces of God's good Creatures in whose Make and Frame there are so many Prints of a Divine Power and Wisdom the pouring out of their Blood the burning of their Fat c. This cannot be accounted for as a Reasonable Service but only as it served to keep up in Mens minds a Sense of the heinous Nature and Desert of Sin of the Justice of God who would not Pardon without a Sacrifice and yet of his Mercy at the same time which was a Foundation of Hope to the Sinner in as much as he would accept the Life of a Beast in lieu of the Offender but principally as Sacrifices were Types and Figures of the Death of the Promised Seed who in due time was to put away Sin by the offering of himself This Custom was spread over all the World and it cannot be imagined how All Men in all Ages and in all Places should have agreed upon this as a principal Part of Divine Worship but only that it descended to them by Tradition from the first Father of Mankind But how inexcusable was it in them to receive the Shell and drop the Kernel to retain the outward Rite and Sign but lose the great Thing signified thereby without which the outward Act looks like a Barbarous one unworthy of God to accept and of Man to offer so that he that made the Oblation seemed to be as brutish as the very Beast that he slew And no doubt but Adam and other Holy Men did communicate what Knowledge they had of the Messiah to their Children as they in all Reason should have done to those that were descended from them Noah is expresly called a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 And did he warn the World of the Flood and can any one think he would speak nothing of the Promised Seed Enoch spake of Christ Jude 5.14 and of his appearing to the Destruction of the Wicked and no doubt but he spake also of his first and second Appearing for the Salvation of the Righteous Zacharias tells us That God spake of the Redeemer by the Mouth of his Holy Prophets which have been since the World began Luke 1.70 And if they were Good Men they must needs speak especially to their own Families concerning him And so much of the Doctrine concerning Christ as was absolutely necessary in those Days lay within a very narrow Room viz. That Man was in a fallen State and this they could not but know and feel And that God had promised to rescue them from it by some Extraordinary Person who should be sent to this purpose in due time and all that trusted in him and through him returned to God and their Duty should be pardoned and saved by him And was this such a Load to their Memories Is a Jewel a Burden to a Man that carries it about him Does the pained Man feel the Smart of his Wound and forget the Healing-plaister especially when the Blood is trickling down every Day and there is not a long Parenthesis between the Returns of his sharp Fits at the distance of many Years but he has a continual Monitor of it as they had of their Misery and need of a Remedy Was it an unreasonable hard Task for the Father to teach or the Son to learn so Short a Lesson as this is especially considering that then the Life of Man was not shut up in such narrow Limits as now it is The Cloth is now shrunk up to Threescore Years and Ten but then it was stretched out to several Hundreds A very fair time sure for both Master and Scholar A Learned Dr. William's 2d Serm. of Revel p. 8 9. Man has well observed That the Longevity of those Patriarchs with whom this Lesson was deposited and who were to take care that it might be preserved inviolable was a very great Advantage For three of them alone filled up the first Period of 1656 Years from the Creation to the Flood viz. Adam Methuselah and Noah And Four of the Fathers after the Flood tho' the extent of their Lives was then shortened fell in with the 856 Years from the Flood to the giving of the Law by Moses and in him we have fresh Information about the Promised Messiah But if their Days had been much Shorter and the Lesson much Harder and Longer yet it should have been studied with the greatest Application of Mind as is usual in all Arts and Sciences which are of an infinitely Inferior Nature They tend to a Mans comfortable living in this World But the Doctrine of the Promised Messiah was what their Eternal Welfare was wrapt up in And so was that of their Children too And therefore considering that Love to Themselves and to their Posterity which is so very deeply engraven on the Souls of Men such a Doctrine should have been diligently and affectionately taught readily learned fixedly retained and carefully transmitted down from Age to Age they should sooner have forgotten their own Names than have forgotten that Cardan Baxter 's Saints Rest Part 3. Ch. 13. speaking of one who had a Receipt that would suddenly and certainly dissolve the Stone in the Bladder concludes of him That without doubt that Man is in Hell because he never Revealed it to any before he died The Sentence I confess is somewhat severe but as a Lover of Mankind a Man can hardly forbear to think the same even tho' neither He nor His were ever troubled with that most afflictive of all bodily Distempers But if this Man had by his own Wickedness contracted and then transmitted that Disease to his Children and knew it would run down from him in a Blood to his Childrens Children to the End of the World if yet he had not revealed so rare a Secret to his own Off-spring that they might be freed from that racking Torment in this World which he had brought upon them such wretched ill Nature did deserve to be punished with Everlasting Torments in the other State All this being considered one would think it were Impossible but that the Substance of Revealed Religion should have been transmitted and a sufficient Knowledge of it diffused every-where and been propagated together with the Humane Nature And so it would had it not been for most inexcusable Negligence and Perversness most amazing Folly and Madness God has not been wanting to Men but Men have been most unaccountably wanting to Themselves and their Children Now by what Law is God obliged in a miraculous Manner to restore a fair Estate to a Family when one was setled upon it and has been very wickedly and foolishly embezzled Or to make Corn spring out of the Earth when Men refuse to Plow their Ground and throw away their Seed But least of all could this have been reasonably expected either by the Men of the Old or those of
because of the Corruption of Human Nature And withal shews whither we should apply our selves for Divine Grace for the changing the habitual Frame of our Souls and the amending of our Lives So much for the Nature of Christianity II. Now for the Proof of it The Word began first to be spoken by the Lord Heb. 2. and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will And he would never have set the Broad Seal of Heaven upon it if it had been a Cheat and an Imposture and so have unavoidably led us into a most fatal Error To this may be added the wonderful Spreading of the Gospel which is very Admirable considering the Strictness of its Precepts the Weakness of the Instruments by whom it was propagated the strong Opposition that was made against it every where by Men in Authority and those of the greatest Wit and Learning the general Prejudices with which the Minds of Men were filled against it and its overturning all other Religions wherein Men had been Bred and Born and which therefore they use to be very tenacious of If it had been a Lye it would never have been so blessed and prospered of God Consider further what a wonderful Reformation it wrought in the Hearts and Lives of all that entertained it Surely that Seal could be no Forgery but must be cut by a Divine Hand which made so many Divine Impressions upon such Multitudes of Souls To all which may further be added The Case of the Jews who tho' scattered all the World over yet contrary to all other Instances in Nature do not mingle and incorporate with any People but keep themselves as a Body distinct from all the Nations among whom they dwell And they are the Filth and Off-scouring of every Place even among the Heathens as well as the Christians The very Mahometans despise them The Indians * Terry 's Voyage into the East-Indies have a very Emphatical way in their Language of calling a Man two or three very ugly Names in one Compound Word yet that of calling a Man a Jew is reckoned worse than all the Terms of Reproach heaped up together They are every where standing Monuments of Divine Vengeance for rejecting the Gospel and a lasting Proof and Testimony of the Truth of our Saviour's Prophecies against them Especially if we consider the many Attempts which they have made but always in vain but more especially their last in the Reign and by the zealous Encouragement of Julian the Apostate Emperor to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem on purpose to prove our Saviour a False Prophet and the miraculous Overthrow of it and his Design by Balls of Fire from Heaven whereby the Workmen were consumed and the sorry Remains of the Foundations of that Temple were entirely razed and he made further to fulfil the Prophecy of Christ by his very attempt to overthrow it which is testified not only by the Christian Authors but by the Heathen Historian * Ammianus Marcel l. 23. also Neither are the Prophecies in Scripture concering Christ to be forgotten such as that of Daniel concerning the Messiah's being cut off within such a compass of Years Chap. 9.24 which tho' it hath its lesser Difficulties yet as to the main Substance is very plain and therefore Porphyry most unreasonably pretended the Book of Daniel was a History forged after the Events came to pass And that Prophecy of Christ's coming before the Destruction of the Second Temple Mal. 3. But above all that which was one great Occasion of the Conversion of that Noble * Earl of Roch. Life by Burnet p. 140 141 142. Man who was once as remarkable for his Debauchery and Infidelity as ever he was for his Wit or Quality viz. the Prophecy of Isaiah in his 53d Chapter concerning the Death of Christ which does so exactly correspond with the History of our Saviour's Passion tho' it was wrote many Ages before Christ's Appearance in the World and which the Jews who abhor the Notion of a Crucified Messiah and constantly Blaspheme our Lord Jesus Christ still kept in their Hands as a Book Divinely inspired Pilate writ an Inscription on the Cross over the Head of Christ This is the King of the Jews in Latin Greek and Hebrew Characters Every Jew is a Pillar of Brass which God has set up and whereon he has engraven in Capital Letters That Christ was a Teacher that came down from Heaven And this not in two or three but in all Languages under the Heavens And he who hath Eyes to see will read and he that hath an Ear to hear let him understand And I think we ought not to slight the Acts of Pilate which he sent to Tiberius containing a Narrative of the Life Miracles Death and Resurrection of our Saviour These are mentioned not only by * Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 2. Eusebius but also by Tertullian †Apol. c. 5. c. 21. and J. Martyr ‖ Apol. 2da p. 76. 84. Edit Paris who both of them more than once in their Apologies for the Christians boldly appeal to ' em And they must have been Mad-men in so doing if they had not been well assured of the Truth of ' em And one can't but think it highly rational that Pilate should send some Account of so Extraordinary an Affair to the Emperor But that which to me is of great Weight and which I am surprized to find omitted by Learned Men yea by those who have written warmly against them that have endeavoured to put a Slur on these Acts is this That Maximinus in his Perfecution caused Supposititious * Of which see Eusebius Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 9. l. 9. c. 5. c. 7. Acts of Pilate to be Forged full of Blasphemy against Christ which he made to be spread throughout the whole Empire to be taught in the Schools where the Boys were to get them by heart and to declaim upon them that our Saviour and his Religion and Followers might be every-where derided But Providence put an End to his Mirth and Laughter for Divine Vengeance seiz'd him and he died a wretched tormenting Death and just before it publish'd an Edict in Favour of the Christians Now if there had been no Real Acts of Pilate what need was there of these Counterfeit ones and of all this Industry for the spreading of ' em Of all these Heads of Discourse § V I have chosen to insist only on these two viz. The Pardon of Sin and a Future State of Happiness because tho' they have been very lightly touched upon by several yet I do not know any that hath thoroughly handled ' em This Vein hath been scarce open'd and then hath been presently closed again the Skilful Work-men having chosen rather to dig in some other Parts of the
Importance of any that can be mentioned viz. The Pardon of Sin while we are in this World and our Future State when we leave it and pass into the next And in treating on both of them I shall compare Reason and Revelation set one against the other and endeavour to demonstrate against the Deists of the present Age That if we have no other Guide than the Former we must needs be at a dreadful Loss and remain covered with the Shadow of Death Psal 44.19 but if we follow the Later we shall have such a clear and satisfactory Account of both of them as will be comfortable as the Light of Life unto our Souls John 8.12 A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST DEISM CHAP. I. Of Pardon of Sin WHenever we are Serious and Retired our own Hearts will tell us That God is justly and highly displeased with us for our Sins and that this Displeasure of his will end in our total Ruin if it be not removed Conscience indeed is not always sensible of our Guilt but 't is soon awaken'd by any very sharp Affliction As the Seeds of some Distempers floating in a man's Blood upon the Change of Weather are apt to drop down into a tender and sensible Part causing most acute Pains in the languishing Patient No man therefore can have any rational and lasting Peace and Comfort of Mind who is not well informed about the Forgiveness of Sins which the Christian alone by the help of his Bible can attain unto but the Deist must be greatly bewildred about who hath no other Instructor than the Light of Nature and Reason For I. § I That cannot fully assure us that there is Forgiveness of Sin with God If this could be Certainly known by meer Reason it must be gathered either from the Essential Goodness of God or else from the visible Effects of his Bounty and Kindness From the Former of these it can't be Assuredly inferr'd For tho' Forgiveness of Sin hath its Rise and Spring in the Infinite Benignity of God yet it doth not flow thence by Necessity of Nature but 't is a free Act of his Will and the Work of his Soveraign Grace and Pleasure And therefore the Argument of the Apostle is very strong and clear 1 Cor. 2.11 As no man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him even so these things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God and he to whom he is pleased to Reveal them A shrewd Man may guess at the secret Thoughts and Resolves of his fellow-Creature but he can't certainly know them much less can we in affairs of This nature penetrate into the Mind of God That Eye which is too weak to reach to the bottom of a shallow Stream can never pierce to the lowest Depths of the Ocean Sinners are worthy of Punishment and 't is not inconsistent with Goodness to inflict a deserved Punishment on an Offender God hath a Right to inflict and who can assure us that he will remit his own Right unless he himself declare his willingness to part with it God neither will nor can exercise one Attribute of his to the Prejudice of another He will not raise the honour of his Goodness on the Ruins of his Holiness and Justice or the Contempt of his Authority and Government And how to reconcile these with the Pardoning of Sinners is a puzzling Difficulty in which Reason cannot help us And tho' it could yet he is infinitely Just and Righteous and therefore at least he may resolve to punish the Offender for ought that he knows so that at the best it would be with our Souls as 't is fabulously reported to be with Mahomet's Body in his Iron Coffin that hangs in the Air between the upper and the neather Load-stone so should we be in Suspence between encouraging Hopes and uneasy Fears which must needs create a mighty Torment in our Minds this being a matter whereon our Welfare in both Worlds doth so intirely depend The Scriptures tell us and tho' that will have no weight with a Deist yet it will with those who own their Authority that notwithstanding the immense Goodness of God yet Devils who were originally more noble Creatures than we remain bound in Chains of Guilt as well as Darkness and are reserved to the Judgment of the Great Day And that there should be Forgiveness for fallen Man when there 's none for Apostate Angels who can assure us Nor can this be Certainly inferr'd from the visible Effects of Divine Bounty and Goodness Men perceive indeed that God is Kind but withal they frequently feel to their Cost that he is Just and know within themselves that 't is Righteous in him to render Tribulation and Anguish to every evil-doer He doth do it in some terrible Instances in this World and for ought that meer Reason can tell us he may do the like in the other World too tho' he may defer it for a Season as long as this present Life doth last and fill mens Hearts with Food and Gladness for a Time to reward those broken Mixtures of Good that may be in them or as a Recompence for some useful Service they may do tho' his Glory be not designed by them therein or to employ them as the Instruments of his Providence for the relieving or vexing of others or for some other wise Ends that may be past our finding out A Malefactor may know that his Prince is very good and kind who for wise Reasons of State which he can't penetrate into gives him an uncertain Reprieve sine Die keeps him in an airy Prison and feeds him there very plentifully at the Publick Charge Yet this is but a very slender Argument that therefore he shall undoubtedly be pardon'd Especially if he know him to be a very Just and Righteous Governor who greatly hates and detests the foul Crimes he hath been guilty of And most of all if the Prisoner enter into new Conspiracies and Rebellions against him while he is so lovingly treated Which is the case of all Mankind with reference to God who are daily provoking him while they live every moment on his Bounty The utmost that can be solidly gather'd from the common Patience and Goodness of God is but some loose and faint Hopes which may encourage Sinners to hearken out and enquire after a way of Reconciliation with God The Ninivites carried this matter as far as any can by meer natural Light and Reason Jonah 3.9 when they said Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from the fierceness of his Anger that we perish not But then on the other hand nothing being so suspicious as a Guilty creature especially when he hath to do with a Holy and a Jealous God he may as well say Who can tell but that God will Not turn nor repent nor turn away from the fierceness of his Anger and then we must perish and there is
Punishment * Id. p. 319. is but a very SORRY AMENDS for Transgression For what doth God GAIN by it God is so far from being recompenc'd by the Sufferings of CONTUMACIOUS Sinners that I dare say 't is more satisfactory to God more according to his Mind that a Sinner should repent and humbly acknowledge his Offence in this State in which he is than undergo the Suffering of the Damned to Eternity For God GAINS NOTHING by the one but he hath the Heart of the Delinquent by the other These Words and they are not the only ones in this Learned Man's Sermon as published by his Friend may be carried so far as to countenance the wild Opinion of Origen That the wicked in Hell yea Devils themselves at last shall be saved and it may be a little further For 't is hard to think That God should continue CONTUMACIOUS SINNERS in exquisite and Eternal Torments or indeed severely punish them for any long Period of Time if he GAIN NOTHING at all thereby But I will Confront this with another Passage in a Sermon of this * Id. p. 50. Great Man Where mentioning that Scripture God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. He adds It must be attributed to his Goodness and Compassion c. It was that which he was NO GAINER by for our Righteousness is not profitable to him and I say no more is our Love So that it seems whether God save or destroy he gains nothing at all either by the one or the other Neither indeed is it possible that he should if thereby be meant any Addition to his intrinsical Excellency or Happiness for that was always and ever will be infinitely perfect and incapable of any Increase or Diminution But in a way of Manifestation he doth Gain very much in punishing Sinners For hereby he doth evidence his Holiness and Hatred of Sin the Severity of his Justice and the Exactness of his Truth which is no such very SORRY AMENDS for Transgression as it is very unwarily asserted to be And 't is as true he may and doth Gain very much in this Sense in pardoning Sinners for the sake of Christ's Satisfaction on their Repentance and Faith in him For upon this Bottom he doth it on Terms that are Honourable to himself but that it would be so to do it on meer Repentance without any respect to the atoning Blood of a Mediator of which unenlighten'd Reason knows not a Syllable doth not yet appear And tho' he lose the Hearts of Sinners whom he punishes yet we have Reason to suppose what Revelation doth abundantly assure us of that the bright and spacious Heavens are filled with nobler Inhabitants than the little Spot of this dirty Earth on which we tread that there are to use the Words of an * Mr. How 's Right Use of that Argument from the Name of God p. 34. Excellent Person Numberless Myriads of Wise and Holy Sages in the other World the continual Observers of all his Dispensations that behold them with equal unbiass'd Minds and from the Evidence of the Matter give their Concurrent Approbation and Applause Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways But it is Enough and much more Considerable to approve himself to himself and that all his Dispensations are guided according to the Steady and Eternal Reason of Things For as he well Speaks in another place of the same * Id. p. 8 9. Discourse The Glory of God's Name must be understood to be Primarily an Objective Glory that shines with a Constant and Equal Lustre in all his Dispensations whether Men Observe or Observe it not And shines Primarily to Himself so as that he hath the perpetual Self-Satisfaction of doing as truly becomes him and what is in it Self reputable Worthy of him and Apt to approve it Self to a right Mind as his Own ever is let Men think of his Ways as they please No Travellers have yet found out that imaginary Neck of Land whereby 't is supposed that Asia and America are joined together No man by meer Reason can discover the certain Connection between Repentance and Pardon But here Revelation doth relieve us The Holy Scriptures acquaint us that Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ on the one hand and Remission on the other are inseparably united The Apostles Commission runs in this form To open mens Eyes Acts 26.18 and to turn them from Darkness to Light and the Power of Satan to God that they may receive the Forgiveness of their Sins and an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified by Faith that is in me IV. § IV We can have no Certainty by meer Natural Light When God will Pardon us if he do it at all Wise Governors are not wont to receive into Favour great Offenders who have gone on in a long course of Rebellion upon their first Offers of Submission If we have nothing but our own Reason to guide us we might well suppose that in Order to make us more deeply sensible of our Crimes and teach us the Value of so great a Mercy God may let us stand a long while in an humble Penitent manner at his Gate before he vouchsafe to open it to us if ever he do so Now besides that Uneasiness of Mind which the being held in Suspence in so important an Affair must needs create in a Serious and Considering Person there is this further afflictive Consideration That our Lives are very short and uncertain And if the King of Terrors should seize us before our Peace be made with God we are undone Or if it surprize us before we have any solid Grounds to believe he is reconciled to us our Departure out of this World will be like that of a Malefactor out of his Prison who goes trembling to the Place of Execution knowing nothing of a Pardon till he comes thither being half killed with the Fears tho' he escape the Stroke of Death But here Revelation gives us Light and Comfort For it certifies us that no sooner do we sincerely turn to God in Christ but immediately our Sins are blotted out Ps 32.5 I acknowledged my Sin unto thee saith David and mine Iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my Transgression unto the Lord and then it is presently added in the same Verse And thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin The Words do not more closely follow one another than God's gracious Pardon did his Candid and Penitent Confession nor was this a Favour peculiar to the Psalmist but 't is recorded for the Encouragement of others As he himself intimates in the following Verse Ver. 6 For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found No sooner doth Ephraim begin to relent but God is brought in Speaking after the manner of a most Tender and Compassionate Father whose Soul is melted
down upon the Return of his disobedient Child Jer. 31.18 19 20. Gataker in locum Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child Or rather as a Learned Man reads the words Is not Ephraim my dear Son Is he not a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I remember him still Therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. The Publican who in a sense of his Vileness Luk. 18.13 14. stood afar off and as an Argument of his Shame would not so much as lift up his Eyes towards Heaven but in token of his great Contrition smote upon his Breast saying God be merciful to me a Sinner went down to his house justified i. e. absolved and acquitted of God and so the wretched Thanksgiving of the Proud Pharisee Lord I thank thee I am not as other men or even as this Publican was utterly ruin'd V. § V Meer Natural Light and Reason gives us no Assurance whether and how often God will renew his Pardon Fresh Breaches after a Reconciliation are very provoking Every one would be apt to despise that Government which still should Spare a Traitor who hath been pardon'd once and again and after that breaks out into other Rebellions There is such a Complication of aggravating Circumstances in returning to the Commission of Folly that we could rationally expect no other than that Divine Justice thereupon should seize us and say to us Pay me what you Owe If God in his holy Word had not encouraged us and made it our Duty to believe and hope that upon our deep Humiliation and renewed Faith in the Blood of Christ he will yet be pacified towards us Ye have played the Harlot with many Lovers which is an Offence of that nature that a man would never pass by one Single act of it but it hath been frequently repeated by you with Variety of Persons and therefore you can well look for no other than a Bill of Divorce Jer. 3.1 22. yet return unto me saith the Lord. Return ye back-sliding Children and I will heal your back-slidings And if an awaken'd Conscience tells us our Treacherous Dealings have been many and we are no more worthy to be regarded by him yet the Invitation is Hos 14.2 4. Take unto you Words and turn to the Lord and say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously and then follow those reviving Words I will heal all their back-slidings and I will love them freely There are indeed two Passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews which seem to oppose this and 't is sufficiently known how the Novatians abused them of Old and many serious but weak Christians have in all Ages been tormented through a misunderstanding of them Which therefore I shall largely consider and so much the rather because being rightly interpreted I am afraid they will appear to have a very black Aspect on some of our present Deists The one is Heb. 6.4 5 6. That it is impossible for those who were once enlighten'd c. If they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they Crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open Shame The other is of the like Import Ch. 10.26 27. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the Knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sins but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries This passage at the first View seems to render the case of every Man wholly desperate And it would much more do so if one word were exactly translated For whereas we render it If we sin Wilfully according to the Original it should be translated If we sin Willingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Softer word of the two And who is there that dares to deny but that he hath been guilty of many Voluntary Sins even since he hath received the Knowledge of the Truth Now I shall endeavour to prove that both these Places are to be understood barely of the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost only it would be attended in these Hebrews if they should be guilty of it with more aggravating Circumstances than that same Sin in the Pharisees was accompanied withal Because the Persons offending are supposed by the Apostle once to have been the Professed Disciples of Christ which the Pharisees never were and because if they should commit it they would sin against greater Miracles for the proof of Christianity since the more plentiful Effusion of the Holy Ghost after the Ascension of Christ For here is the Characteristical Note whereby our Blessed Saviour hath distinguish'd the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost from all other Sins and Blasphemies whatsoever viz. the Unpardonableness of it In the former of these Places it is said that 't is Impossible to renew these men to Repentance Which is in other words to say 't is Impossible they should be forgiven For why is it that the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven but because 't is impossible they should ever Repent who have been guilty of it And then the Apostle in the very next words doth oppose them that should be guilty of this Sin to that Ground which receiveth Blessing from God Heb. 6.7 8. and compares them to that which beareth thorns and briars and is rejected and nigh unto Cursing and whose End is to be burnt And in the latter place the Apostle tells us that as for these Men Ch. 10.26 there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sins Which words are a plain Allusion to the Law of Moses in which no Expiations were allowed or appointed for Heinous and Presumptuous Sins but he who was guilty of them was to be put to Death without any Favour 'T is as if the Apostle had said There is no other Sacrifice for Sins but what the Son of God hath offered up this they impiously reject and Christ never design'd to make any atonement by his Blood for the Sin I am now speaking of and there is no other And where there is no Expiation there can be no Pardon He further adds Ver. 27 There remains nothing for these men but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the adversaries What more Significant and Emphatical Words could the Apostle use to express the Unpardonableness of their Crime And yet as tho' this had not been enough he further compares their Case to that of those Men who despised the law of Moses Ver. 28 either by renouncing or abjuring it or Sinning impudently and presumptuously against it and who therefore died without Mercy And to convince us that the Offenders he is speaking of should be unavoidably pressed to Death he lays more Weight on them than on the Despisers of Moses's Law For saith he Of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God c. 'T is further evident from the Nature of the Sin here mentioned that the Apostle is speaking of the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost The formal nature of that dreadful Sin I take to be this A malicious reproaching our Blessed Saviour as an Impostor and Deceiver imputing the Miracles which he wrought by the Spirit of God for the Confirmation of his Holy Doctrine and Mission to the Power of the Devil A man would wonder if there were not a thousand Instances of the like kind how so many Learned Men could make a shift so much to mistake this clear and plain notion of this Sin and give us so many Extravagant Opinions concerning it as widely distant from each other as all of them are from the Truth who doth but consider how St. Mark closes the Speech of our Saviour concerning it For he winds up all with these remarkable words Mark 3.30 Because they said he hath an Unclean Spirit which give us a clear Light whereby to discern the nature of this Sin But some rather chuse as an Evidence of their great Strength to endeavour to break through the Walls than turn the Key that is very plainly in the Door and would easily open it and let them into the House Now that 't is this Sin viz. the Reproaching Christ as a Deceiver the Apostle is here speaking of will appear from the Expressions which he useth concerning it He calls it a Crucifying the Son of God afresh Ch. 6.6 Ch. 10.29 and putting him to an open Shame A treading him under foot and counting his Blood an unholy thing and doing Despite to the Spirit of Grace All which do amount to this That they esteemed Christ to be a Vile Malefactor a wretched Impostor that his Miracles which for the Matter of Fact they could not deny were wrought by the help of the Infernal Powers and therefore he was deservedly put to death and had it been to do again they would as readily have done it as ever the Malicious Jews did Moreover the Sin here spoken of in one of the Places Ch. 6.6 is called a falling away and that from the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ which in the Verses immediately foregoing he had newly mentioned Ver. 1 2. i. e. a total Renouncing of the Christian Faith and Returning either to Judaism or Paganism which these Hebrews were in great danger of and which 't is the apparent Design of this Epistle to fortify them against And tho' in the other place it be called only in the General a Sinning Wilfully or Willingly Ch. 10.26 yet thereby the same thing is meant For just before the Apostle had been exhorting them to hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering Ver. 23 and cautioning them against forsaking the Assembling of themselves together as the manner of some was Ver. 25 which was the natural Means and the Ouvert-Act and Sign of their Apostacy And then these Words are brought in For if we sin wilfully c. i. e. If we cast away the Profession of our Faith forsake the Christian Assemblies and renounce the Doctrine of Christ Now it is worthy of our careful Observation that the Heathens but especially the Jews were so implacably bent against our Blessed Lord that tho' a Christian did desert the Assemblies of the Faithful and offer to join with them in their Judaical or Pagan Religion and Worship yet this alone would not suffice But besides this they required an express Abjuring and Reviling and Blaspheming Christ as an Impostor And without this their Rage was never satisfied and to speak in the modern Language they never thought they had fully performed all the necessary Duties of New Converts Acts 26.11 St. Paul tells us that when he persecuted the Christians 1 Tim. 1.13 being exceeding mad with Rage he compelled them to Blaspheme as he Himself also did And giving the Corinthians a Character whereby to distinguish between Divine and Diabolical Spirits 1 Cor. 13.3 I give you to understand Saith he that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus Accursed which doth plainly imply that it was very usual for men to do so in that Age for otherwise this Note of his would have been of no manner of Service to them Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan informs him what was the Ordeal Fire by which he tried those who were suspected and accused whether they would disown Christianity not only by proposing to them to worship the Heathen Gods and the Image of the Emperor but also by demanding of them whether praeterea Christo maledicerent they would also revile Christ And he further adds concerning those that fell in that hour of Temptation that they not only worshipp'd the Pagan Idols and Trajan's Image but also that Ii Christo maledixerunt they reviled Christ And Justin Martyr * Apol. 2d p. 72. Edit Paris tells us That Barchochebas the Ringleader of the Jewish Rebellion did order the Christians to be severely punisht unless they would not only deny Christ but blaspheme him too And Polycarp being required in order to save his Life to reproach †Euseb Hist l. 4. c. 15. Christ replied How can I Blaspheme my King and Saviour And our Learned †Harm of N. Test p. 289 290. Vol. 1. Lightfoot saith That as early as about the 10th or 11th Year after our Saviour's Ascension Rabban Gamaliel and the Sanhedrin appointed a new Prayer in which was a Petition to God to destroy the Hereticks i. e. the Christians and this he set among the Common Prayers and appointed it to be in every man's Mouth And that the Jews had their Emissaries every where abroad that to their utmost cried down the Gospel and blasphemed it and Christ that gave it Of this saith he there is Testimony abundant in the New Testament and in their own Writings So much shall suffice to prove that 't is the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost but a more Aggravated one than that of the Pharisees that is meant in both these Places And if any of our Modern Deists have been maliciously guilty of this Sin unto death I leave them to God But provided a man hath not gone so great a Length as this is how many soever his Sins and Back-slidings from God have been yet on a renewed deep and Sincere Repentance and a lively Faith in the Blood of Christ they shall be remitted Tho' I must add in the words of Moses Exod. 8.29 Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully with God any more For if this Grace be turned into Wantonness tho' God forgive Men Ps 99.8 yet he may and will take vengeance upon their Inventions And this naturally leads me to the Last thing which remains to be spoken unto VI. § VI Mere Natural Light and Reason cannot assure us to what Degree God will pardon those whom he does forgive It
piece of very great Wickedness But as for those things which I do not know whether they are Good or Evil I will never fear or avoid them rather than those things which I do certainly know to be Evil. Where we plainly see that notwithstanding his Sceptical Humour in which he did greatly delight and indulge himself yet some things he did certainly know and they are contra-distinguish'd from what he was not assured of and which are the things relating to the Future State The same we may observe in another Place What saith he would any one have me in a sneaking manner from a fear of that Punishment which Melitus would fain bring me to viz. Death which I profess that I do not know whether it be * Id. p. 37. Good or Evil for me to chuse that which I do certainly know to be Evil meaning thereby a Voluntary Submission to a Perpetual Imprisonment Banishment or a Fine which would have been a tacit Acknowledgment of his Guilt Again a little after saith he I have great Hopes that Death will be Gain to me For one of these two things will follow upon it either that then a man will have no †Id. p. 40. See this also translated by Tully Tusc Quaest p. 1063. manner of Sense of any thing at all or else as it is SAID he will be translated into another Place And yet once more in the self-same Page IF to dye be to go to another Place and the things which are reported are true that all who have departed this Life are there what greater Good can there be To which having spoken somewhat of the Condition of Good men after Death he adds these very remarkable words If these things are true * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. Socr. p. 41. i. e. if I were sure they were so I would willingly dye over and over Again saith he I hope to go to Good men tho' I will not boldly affirm it But that I shall go to the Gods Lords who are very good if I would confidently aver any thing in matters of this nature this should be it After this †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato's Phoedo p. 63. Plato brings in his Friend Simmias replying thus upon him I am of the same mind with you * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato's Phoedo p. 85. O Socrates that 't is altogether Impossible or at least exceeding Difficult to arrive at any Certainty in these Matters while we are in this Life And therefore we must diligently do one of these two things Either learn from others or find out by beating our own Brains how these matters are Or if this be Impossible to be done then take up with the best of Humane Accounts and least liable to be confuted that is to be had that by the Help thereof as by a Vessel we may sail through the Dangers and Difficulties of this present Life unless a man can get a better and a Safer means of Conveyance and that is a DIVINE WORD After this Socrates addressing himself to prove the Immortality of the Soul and the Future State ushers in his Proofs with a long Preface telling his Friends his chief Design was to perswade himself of their Truth But it seems it was more than he could do For among others he hath these words * Phoedo p. 91. IF THE THINGS WHICH I SAY ARE TRUE 't is good to be perswaded of them But if nothing of a man doth remain after he is dead nevertheless this little time which I have to live will be the more pleasant And after Death it will be no disadvantage to me Upon this he endeavours to prove the Point as well as he could and then for want of better matter at large relates some of the Poetical Dreams about the Future State and thereupon concludes as well he might that it doth not become a man of Sense to aver that what he hath reported is true c. Had not Socrates been really at a great Plunge Plato would never have so far transgress'd the Rules of Decency which he well understood and at other times was wont to observe as at every Turn to bring him in thus Hesitating and Doubting Especially considering the Weight of the Subject and the Circumstances of his Master who now lay under the Sentence of Death And a Learned and Dying Man makes but an Odd Figure when he is brought in Dropping so many Suspicious Words about the Future State if he really be clear in his own Mind about it It looks more like Distrust and Fear than Humility and Modesty And of all Men it was most intolerable in Socrates who from an irksome Sense of the miserable Uncertainty and Uselesness of other parts of Learning set up for a Reformer of Philosophy and was altogether for Ethicks correcting the Manners of Men and promoting good Living in the World the great Encouragement whereunto is a Future Reward For even Vertue it self as Fair as it is like other Beauties is not like to be warmly Courted by many if it have no Dowry Add to all this That he was not now talking to the Rabble but discoursing with his Intimate Learned and Philosophical Friends with whom he should have dealt more openly and freely and that so much the rather because all along they are brought in as much unsatisfied in their own Minds From all which Considerations 't is evident tho' he talked much yet he knew but little of the matter And even for that also 't is not unlikely that he was beholden to others He as well as they that succeeded him resembled the New Moon the far greatest part of whose Face is cover'd with Darkness and the small remainder which is not so shines with but a faint pale yea and a borrowed Light too If any one shall say that Plato used an unaccountable Liberty in mingling so much of his own Sentiments with the Speeches of Socrates that like an interpolated Book 't is hard to know what was his own and what belonged to his Master I shall not deny it Because I find that when Socrates himself heard him once repeat his * Diog. Laert. in vitâ Platonis p. 207 208. Edit Colon. Anno 1616. Lysis he cried out How many things doth this Young man feign me to speak For saith Laertius he had written not a few things in the Person of his Master which he never said But it will serve my Turn altogether as well whether it be the One or the Other Either the Wise Socrates or the Divine Plato or rather both of them did float up and down like an unsteady Vessel in the Sea that is toss'd this way and that they wander'd in an Endless Maze of wild Guesses and Conjectures at Random That Passage in Tully * Se cùm tempus mortis venisset totos perituros Nec tamen mihi sanè quidquam occurrit cur non Pythagorae sit Platonis vera Sententia Ut enim
Terms only which was but a Cover for their Ignorance and those too not very lofty and towring ones He that is afraid of Death saith * De Seipso l. 8. §. 58. Antoninus either fears the utter loss of all Sense or else that he shall have a Sense of a different Kind from what he now hath But if there be none left then thou shalt have no Perception of any Evil at all And that I think is unquestionable But he adds If thou hast another Sort of Sense then thou shalt be another Kind of Animal and shalt not cease to live Emperors are not at leisure to answer every poor Enquirer else any Man that hath any Sense at all would presume to ask his Imperial Majesty what Sort of Animal he shall be and what Manner of Life he shall lead And so much the rather because many of the Learned Philosophers tell us that departed Souls do enter into Brutes And as wild and unaccountable a Paradox as this may seem to be yet it hath been a very Ancient Opinion and spread very far especially among the Wise men of the East where * Burnet's Archaeol l. 1. cap. 2. It. in Appendice p. 353. still it doth greatly obtain to this very day Pythagoras and his Followers on this Account are reported to have forborn all sorts of Flesh whether of Birds or Beasts And allowing them their Principle none could justly blame their Abstinence For 't is but an Odd thing for a Man to sit down to his Meat when for ought he knows he may Chop up his Father or Swallow down his Mother yea a mans beloved Wife for any thing he can tell may become nearer and more intimate with him after her Death than ever she was in her Life She that lay in his Bosom may descend into his Entrails turn into Nourishment and in a Literal Sense become One Flesh with him And these Philosophers are so very particular as to tell us what Sort of Brutes departed Souls enter into Some into Bees * Socrates in Platonis Phoedone p. 81 82. Tim. Locr. de Anima p. 104. Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. ch 9. others into Asses c. Now tho' a Man could reconcile himself to the drudging laborious Life of the one yet it would go very much against the Grain to bear the cruel Stripes and heavy Loads of the other Nor should I very heartily join in * Bayles Dict. in Hali Beigh out of Rycaut p. 18. that Man's Prayer That my Soul after Death should have the Honour of entring into a Camel as Sober and Patient and Sweet an Animal as it is For 't is a Laborious Life those Creatures lead and a long Way they travel with a Pack of Drugs from the East much bigger than the Bunch on their Backs Plutarch in his Consolatory Epistle to his Wife on the Death of her little Daughter saith She is †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consolat ad Uxorem p. Oporum 611. gone to a place where there is no Sorrow But he hath no better Proof of it than the Customs and Laws of their Ancestors which forbad them to use those Funeral * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. p. 612. Rites in behalf of Infants which they were wont to employ about Grown Persons For this saith he would be unlawful seeing they are translated into a better and a more Divine Place By the manner of arguing one would think this were the Speech of the little Child before her Departure not the Language of her Grave Philosophical Father But these are but General Words let 's come a little to Particulars Cluverius †De Antiquâ Germ. l. 1. c. 32. p. 222. tells us that it was a Custom among the Celtae the Galls and the Albani which he proves out of Diodorus Siculus Valerius Maximus and Strabo to bury some Pieces of Money with the deceased Party and send some by him to their Friends in the other State for their Use there and to lend their Acquaintance Money to be repaid them there and that this is a very common Custom among many Heathen Nations to this day As also to * Hody of the Resurrection p. 6 32 33 46. kill Camels on their Graves Horses Concubines and Butlers and burn their Garments and other Attire or bury them and Houshold-Stuff and Arms with them for their Use when †Lucian de Luctu p. 432. Edit Bened. they came thither and they could have no very Extraordinary Apprehensions of the Happiness of Souls there who were guilty of such a Practice as this But these were Barbarous People as the Greeks in their abundant Civility to the rest of Mankind were wont to call all the World besides themselves tho' they were Originally beholden to other Nations for all the Learning and Knowledge on which they so much Valued themselves Let us therefore see what these Sons of Wisdom have to say to the Point in hand Homer may challenge the Privilege of being heard first because of his Great Antiquity and his being the first Discoverer of the Elysian Fields He brings in Proteus thus speaking to Menelaus The Gods shall send thee to the Elysian Fields which lie on the utmost parts of the Earth * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Odyss l. 4. v. 564. where thou shalt live safe and happy there being neither too great a Quantity of Rain or Snow or too long a Winter but the blessed Inhabitants are continually refresh'd with the gentle Breathing of cool Breezes that come from the Ocean A good dry and warm place comfortable enough for a naked Soul or one that hath at best so thin and slight a Cloathing as that of Aether must be supposed to be But a good Seat is not very desirable without suitable Sports and Diversion And Virgil will inform us what they are Some spend their time in Wrestling * Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris Contendunt ludo c. Virgil Aeneid l. 6. v. 643. One would think he was describing other Fields which I am loth to mention and not those of Elysium Others in Singing and Dancing the Happiness of a Stage or a Play-house The Warlike Souls having put off their glittering Armor in a very peaceable manner are refreshing themselves and their unbridled Steeds The Launces that were wont to be cruelly run through the Sides and Hearts of their Enemies are Mercifully stuck into the Ground only And they behold their Chariots with as much Pride and Pleasure as ever they rode in 'em when they drove them over the Carkases of their fallen Enemies For tho' they have left their Bodies behind 'em they have carried along with 'em the same * Secundùm illum Virgilium res quoque leviores quas viri exercuerant etiam post Corpus exercent Quae gratia Curruum c. Macrob. in Somn. Scip. l. 1. cap. 9. Humors they had whether
Cannot Conclude without making a little Reflection upon what has been said And 1. How should we love and value and adhere to the Gospel of Christ and the Blessed Author of such a Revelation How are Writers esteemed who treat of Matters which are of very great Use and Service to Mankind in the things of this Life And what a Price do Men set upon those Books wherein Difficulties are cleared up and those profitable Inventions are contained Now what is there of so great Importance as Pardon of Sin and Immortal Life the Doctrine whereof is encumber'd with so many Difficulties which are too hard for Natural Light and Reason but are so clearly plainly and fully Solved by the Holy Scriptures How are Men pleased with an exact Description of a Foreign Country tho' they do not so much as dream of dwelling in it nor have any thoughts or hopes of having so much as one Foot of Land there How then should we value the Gospel that gives us so full and plain an Account of the Heavenly Country and how we may be possessed of all the Glory of it What an Esteem have ingenious Men for a Book of Astronomy that gives an Account of the orderly Motions of the Sun Moon and Stars What an happy Invention is that of those Glasses whereby they discover some lesser Bodies which the naked and unassisted Eye is not able to perceive tho' thereby they have no more Benefit from their Light and Influence than those who are the most ignorant of these Affairs How should we value the Sacred Oracles which do discover the Heavenly State to us which is not to be known by mere Reason and how we may so order our own Motions as to get above and out-shine any of those glorious Luminaries Let us adhere to the Bible for if once we give up that we are off from our Center we shall find nothing whereon our Soul can rest but shall be at our Wits-end Methinks that Courtier spoke like a Man of Sense to the Pagan King Edwin whilst he was considering whether he had best to turn Christian or no when he said thus to him * Bede's Eccles Hist Gentis Angl. l. 2. cap. 13. The present Life of Man upon Earth Sir if compared with that Time which is to us unknown seems to me to resemble a little Sparrow which while your Majesty was feasting within with your Royal Retinue in your warm Parlour during the roaring of the blustering Winds and the falling of great Quantities of Rain and Snow without flew in at one Door and presently flew out at another All the time it was in the House it was well shelter'd from Wind and Weather but as soon as it got out into the cold Air we were altogether as ignorant whither it went as we were whence it came Thus we can give some Account of our Soul during its Abode in the Body while it was housed and harboured therein but where it was Before and how it fares with it Afterwards is to us altogether unknown If therefore Paulinus he was the Christian Bishop who laboured to Convert those Heathens by his Preaching can certainly inform us herein he deserves in my Opinion to be followed And the King after he had heard Paulinus's Sermon spoke like an Understanding Man when he said I have long ago been convinced that the Idols we have Worshipped were meer Nothings because the more diligently I have sought for the Truth in this way of Religion so much the farther was I from finding it But now I openly profess that by this Preaching the way of obtaining Eternal Life and Happiness is clearly laid before us Whereupon he immediately gave Orders for the Demolishing the Heathen Temples and Altars 2. Let us take heed that we do not fall short of Pardon and Heaven Sad was the Case of that wicked and prophane Lord at Samaria who barely saw the great Plenty with his Eyes but never tasted of it he stood at the Gate to let in others but was trampled to Death by the Multitude pressing in upon him Much worse will be our Case if we only hear of the great Provision which God has made for us in the other State and never feed upon it but be trodden down to Hell in the Crowd of our own unpardoned Sins It is a double Misery to be drowned within sight of Shore to miss of that Pardon and of that Heaven that are so plainly revealed and of which we have heard so much and so often 3. Let us clear up our Right and Title to both of them How long have we remained in Doubts and Fears and shall we always continue in that uneasy Posture like a Door on its Hinges moving this way and that but still hanging in the same Place where it was many Years ago To clear up our Right 't is necessary that the following Rules be observ'd 1. Don't give Way to immoderate Worldly Sorrow If we be like a Carkass that lies under the Weight of that Earth which presses upon it and never stirs Hand or Foot to help it self If we lie down under our Burdens only mourning and complaining and indulging our selves in black and gloomy Thoughts we can never expect that God should help us especially if we do worse than this if we sinfully afflict our selves we can't reasonably hope that God should comfort us and raise up them who madly cast or bow themselves down If with our own Hands we plunge the Dagger into our Breast it would be a Miracle if we did not lose our Blood and Spirits faint and feel a great deal of Pain They that will chew upon nothing but Wormwood and Gall and delight in rolling it up and down in their Mouths are likely to walk in the Bitterness of their Souls all their Days 2. Watch against the Encroachments of Bodily Melancholy This naturally disposes a Man to Fears and Jealousies is the black Root of many idle but vexatious Scruples and perverse Cavillings and will make him refuse to be comforted tho' there be ever so great Reason for it If a Stander-by convince him of some saving Work of God on his Soul and of his Right to Pardon and Eternal Life yet as soon as he is gone all is undone again the Melancholy Christian being like a faulty Watch which may be wound up and go a little while ones Hand is upon it but no sooner is that removed off but it runs down in an Instant and stands still again When such meet with Worldly Crosses from which none are exempted it casts them into deep Fits of Sorrow which in a Serious Person presently runs into dreadful and amazing Fears about his Soul and the supposed miserable and forlorn State thereof As Peter when he was over-shadowed with a Bright Cloud so any other of the Disciples of Christ when cover'd with a Black one Luke 9.33 are apt to speak they know not what especially against themselves All proper Natural Means therefore
Creation and thought the more Excellent the Sacrifice was the more likely it was to reach this end This is evident from the Cause and their End in offering any Sacrifices but especially Humane Ones They hoped the Death of the Victim should be in lieu of that of the Offender and the Gods they thought would not be Quòd pro vitâ hominis nisi vita hominis reddatur non posse Deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur Caesar de Bello Gall. l. 6. Cùm inter coetera mala etiam Peste laborarent Homines ut victimas immolabant impuberes aris admovebant pacem eorum sanguine eorum exposcentes Justin Hist l. 18. c. 6. appeased unless the Life of one Man went for another This is plain also from the very Names they gave their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expiatio Piamentum Piamen Februa Lustratio Purgatio Rites and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piaculum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sacrifices and the Manner of their offering them which was not only among the Jews but the Heathens Outram de Sacrif p. 278 c. too with Solemn Prayers to God that all the Plagues which they or their Country had deserved might light on the Head of the Victim and so they themselves escape And hereupon they thought that all their Sins did meet upon it and defile it to that Degree that none who had touched it dared to return home till they had wash'd and purified themselves And now let the Reader judge whether Sacrifices were only Symbolical of their Sorrow and that Men never dreamt of any atoning Virtue in them But that all Men of all Nations look'd on Repentance as an Expiation and the only one too I 'll put an end to the Readers trouble § IX and my own when I have observed the several Contradictions and gross Blunders of our Modern Deists They profess to believe that there is Oracles of Reason p. 197. One Infinite Eternal God and yet the Reader may remember that in my Epistle to him I have shew'd him That Mr. G. is for Two Page 194. Gods the one Good the other Evil. Mr. B. tells us The First Good who is also the First Principle of all Beings hath but ONE Affection or Property and that is Page 90. LOVE And yet in the same Page adds There is nothing dreadful in the whole Nature of God but his JUSTICE no Attribute else being terrible A. W. says this is one of the Chief Heads of their Religion That we are to expect Page 197. Rewards and Punishments hereafter according to our Actions in this Life which includes the Souls Immortality and is proved by our admitting Providence But yet in the same Letter see how faintly he speaks viz. Grant that they SEEM reasonable c. But Mr. B. speaks Out Page 125. That the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul was but a cunning Trick and Invention of the Politicians who had not so much a regard to TRUTH as Honesty a very great Instance of their Honesty to invent Useful Lies and that herein they did as Physicians do by their Patients or Nurses by their Children who tell them a fair Story tho' never so false that they may deceive them for their Good If the Son don't speak home enough let 's hear the Father who saith Ideoque nos Creaturae sumus aeterni Dei apparitiones momentaneae quas tantum terris ostendunt Fata nec ultra esse sinunt veluti effigies in Aulaeis Discourse of Sir H. B's de Anima In the Oracles of Reason p. 156. We Creatures are the Momentary Apparitions of the Eternal God which the Fates only shew to the Earth and don 't suffer to be any longer as Images in Tapistry Hangings The whole Discourse Mr. B. calls An undigested Id. p. 154. Heap of his Father's Thoughts And that these are only such Id. p. 157. Twilight Conjectures as our Humane Reason whereof we yet so vainly boast can furnish us with So that indeed all Philosophy excepting Scepticism is little more than Dotage A Censure true enough tho' not so decent from the Mouth of Mr. B. A Son should not use his Pen to let fall such Blots on his Father's Writings and Memory But how vainly indeed to use his own Word doth he boast of REASON when he calls it the Soveraign Preface to Oracles of Reason p. 3. Rule and Touchstone the Supreme and Primitive Director of every Man if it give no better a Light than this and what Sorry Oracles is it like to utter Mr. B. tells us To be Page 91. sure the Deist is no Idolater none can accuse him of Idolatry But the Reason is a very poor one viz. because he acknowledges one Supream Everlasting God and thinks Magnificently of him So do the Papists as well as he and yet Protestants unanswerably prove them guilty of Idolatry And the Deist according to his Principles will be an Idolater if he live in a Popish or a Pagan Country For saith A.W. Page 203. the Learned in all Religions in the outward Ceremonies of every Religion are every Man of 'em content to Conform to those of their own Country And seeing some of the Heathen Worship is very filthy and obscene we may guess at his Sobriety and Chastity if ever he should fall among ' em But suppose it should be free from Obscenity yet for a Man to join in the Worship of an Image or a false God which he believes to be so meerly because 't is the Religion establish'd by Law is Gross sneaking Hypocrisy which a Man of Honour would Scorn and thereby we may guess at their Moral Vertue which they talk so much of as another of their Fundamentals And seeing the Deists as they themselves say think so Ib. Magnificently of God and Mr. B. was such a zealous Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Blount p. 6. Assertor of the Glory Honour and Adoration of ONE GOD let us a little examin this Mr. G. saith there can be no such thing as a pure Page 187. Spirit independent of all Body and Matter and that they that advance the Opinion of pure and Immaterial Substances trust to Fancy and meer Conjectures and so God is a Mateiral Being And having degraded the Deity from a pure Spirit into a Body he endeavours to prove there are answerable Qualities to be found in him For since 't is Evident from this Page 190. uncontrovertible Maxim Nemo dat quod non habet that the Qualities of all things and therefore of Body are in God himself that is in an infinite Degree of Perfection the most pure of Spirits 't is not likely that Body should be derogatory to the Purity of infinitely inferior Spirits And so God is an infinitely hot dull and heavy Body and yet at the same time he is Infinitely Cold and brisk and light too For there are Bodies to which all these Qualities do belong And doth not this Man now think very MAGNIFICENTLY of his
Maker But how bold soever he may be with him he is very civil to the Female Sex in providing Husbands for 'em from among the Page 190. Angels tho' what he further saith on that Subject for two Pages Page 191 192. together I shall not transcribe because I will not stain my Paper nor pollute the Mind of my Reader And yet this wretchedly unconstant Man quickly after tells us That a Woman is the most lovely Page 191. at the Bottom BRUTE of the Universe A Flight this is which I hope LINDAMOUR as the Writer of Mr. Blount's Life and Death calls himself will not forget the next time he pays his Devotions to the Divine Image as he words it of the Honourable and Divine HERMIONE for whom this Deist tho' to be sure he is no Idolater has so great a Veneration that he talks of Sacrificing Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Blount p. 1 2. his own Life for her with his own Hands as Mr. B. did for Astrea his Brother's Wife This Lindamour defends and applauds as an Heroical Action in Philander with this remarkable Saying out of Almanzor I my self am King of me tho' how this is consistent with the third Fundamental of A. W's Religion viz. That 't is our Duty to Worship and Obey God as our Creator and GOVERNOR I leave to his Consideration As also how he will reconcile Mr. Blount's Practice with these Words of his in his Discourse against the Surrenderers of Charters viz. Page 178. He that commits Murder with the Sword of Justice aggravates his Crime to the Highest Degree As these Gentlemen would have done in making the Government Felo de se and Accessary to its own ruin Tho' it be not a matter of so great Moment as the rest which I have already mention'd yet I can't but observe that Mr. B. Page 128. accuses Sir H. Savil that he hath so far Complemented the Jewish as to Rob the English World of the fifth Book of Tacitus 's History by omitting any Part of it in his Version and yet he himself is guilty of the same Fault and besides the mis-translation of what he gives us hath kept back a Considerable part of Tacitus's Account But I suppose he thought that wherever there is a Jew 't is fit there should be somewhat of Circumcision I 'le add but one more tho' I could produce several others The Deist sometimes bears up very briskly about Repentance 'T is the true and only Expiation of Sin and is so agreed upon by all Men in all Ages and of all Religions wherefore take it for an Page 200. Undoubted Truth and this not revealed but innate and a part of Natural Religion Sure by his Confidence he looks on this as Full Payment And yet a little after 't is but a little part of Composition-Money but 't is all we have Repentance is what we can answer Page 209. to an Atonement and therefore we may reasonably assert 't is all God will expect from us 'T is but as a Thousand Pounds when a Man owes a Million and the Creditor can have but All. And as pert as Mr. B. is yet sometime his Heart fails him For the highest he can go is but Vero-simile est similem Deo à Deo Page 90. non negligi 'T is likely that he who is like God is not neglected of God Not to be Neglected of God is but a very faint Expression A Man may be not neglected of God and yet be but in very low Circumstances And yet even this too is but likely which is but very cold Comfort All these Flowers I have gather'd out of one Garden tho' from several Beds The Passages are written some by one Author some by another but we may look upon them as the Sense of the Party Mr. Blount hath affixed the Seal of the Company to all these Papers and publish'd them all together as Oracles of Reason He I am sure was answerable for them and so is the Writer of his Life who thus highly commends them after having spoke very Contemptibly of other Writings as Trifles and their Authors as Whiffling Scribblers Account of Mr. Blount 's Life p. 2. But the Subjects and Compositions of these following Sheets left no room for either of these i. e. Apology or Abstract Their Merit took away all Occasion of Apology and the Majesty and Consequence of their Design all pretence to Abstracts Those that desire to see these Sacred MONUMENTS must be more nice Considerers than to be satisfy'd without attentive OBSERVATION They are TRUTHS of too great Importance to be Slightly run over of too great Beauty not to hold our Eyes some time on them to take a thorough Survey of their various Perfections I have look'd attentively into these MONUMENTS and think that Lindamour would do well to put in for what he speaks Ib. of the next Verger's Place that falls at Westminster which if he can get he cannot then point to any Tomb that is fuller of Stench and Rottenness than the Papers which in his Preface he hath so highly extolled On the whole I believe the Reader will incline to my Opinion That some Men run down Christianity because 't is Religion rather than because 't is Revealed FINIS THE CONTENTS In the Epistle to the Reader THE Necessity of opposing Desism § 1. Serious Piety in General the Best Defence against it § 2. And Humility in Particular § 3. The Rational Grounds of the Christian Faith § 3. An Account of the following Treatise § 4. In the Preface SOme Things we are in the Dark about and may contentedly be so But not as to Pardon and a Future State In the Book CHAP. I. PArdon a Matter of great Importance p. 1 Natural Light can't Assure us that God will forgive p. 2 Nor if he will how far Pardon shall extend as to Persons or Crimes p. 10. Nor of the Terms upon which p. 18 The Pleas that it will assure us of Pardon upon meer Repentance considered à p. 18. ad p. 45. Nor When God will Pardon p. 45. Nor how often p. 49 The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the Sih meant in Heb. 6.4 and ch 10.26 p. 51 Nor to what Degree God will forgive p. 63 Under each of which Heads is shewn what Assurance we have from Revelation CHAP. II. A Future State of Happiness a Point of great Importance p. 72 Natural Light can't Assure us there is such a State p. 80 The Heathens uncertain of it p. 81 Nor of the Greatness of it p. 119. The wretched Notions of the Heathens about it p. 120 Nor of its Eternity and Unchangeableness p. 149 The Sentiments of the Heathens about this p. 150 Nor that we shall enjoy it immediately after Death p. 168 The Fancies of the Heathens about this p. 170 Nor who shall enjoy it p. 175. The Opinions of the Heathens about this p. 177 Nor the Terms of it p. 183. Nor where Grace is to be had to enable us to perform the Terms on which Pardon and Future Happiness are suspended p. 187 Under each of which Heads is shewn what Satisfaction we have from Revelation The CLOSE CHrist and his Gospel to be loved and adhered to p. 201. We should be careful we don't fall short of Pardon and Heaven p. 205. and clear up our Right to 'em p. 206. Directions for our so doing Ib. In the Appendix A. W 's Logick like his Religion p. 213. His Objection against Revealed Religion That it hath not and could not be Universally known p. 214. The Reasons of so large an Answer to it p. 215. The Case of Men different from that of other Creatures p. 216. The Gospel Preach'd to Adam and Noah p. 217. Mens own Fault that it did not from them descend to All in every Age Ib. God not obliged to spread it by Miraculous Methods p. 226. Preach'd to Abraham and the Jews tho' other Nations not excluded thereby from the Means of Grace p. 228 The Fault of Christians and Heathens that the Gospel is not further Spread p. 234. A. W 's Promise challenged p. 235. Heathens left to God p. 236. But certainly in a better Case than Deists among us p. 237 No want of Evidence for Christianity but somewhat else in them p. 238 Their Hopes from Infinite Mercy vain p. 244. Sacrifices not meerly Symbolical nor Repentance an Expiation much less the only one in the Opinion of all Men p. 246. The Contradictions and gross Blunders of our Modern Deists p. 254.