est ita magnum ut Latino unâ— verbo ex primi non possit l. 4. contra Verrem this word cannot be expressed by any single one in Latin It is certain that Servator which was a word then in use came short of it therefore Salvator hath been used by the Latin Fathers as a suller word and this hath generally obtained in the Church * De Resurrect carn c. 47. Adv. Marâ—ion l. â— Tertullian is pleased to render it Saluâ—ificator thinking this to be a more significant word But * In Matt. 1. 21. Grotius comes and produceth another word and makes bold to correct Tully as good a judge of Latin as he was and averreth that the single word Sospitator is of the same import with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is as full I think truly this great Man hath outdone the Orator in his own Tongue For from Tully's own account of the word * Is est nimirum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui salutem dedit ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may gather that this Latin word fully answers to that Greek one which implies not only a Saving or Preserving from being destroyed but a Restoring to that Safety which was lost So that it is a conferring of some positive Benefit on a Person This is the very import of Sospitator it properly relates to those things or Persons that were lost and undone It respects the Condition of Men in Misâ—ry and it signifies a restoring them to their former haâ—py State and so is exactly applicable to the Redemption wrought for us by Jesus Christ. Thus the Tiâ—le of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saviour is very expressive and emphatical But to come to pâ—rticulars behoâ—d how our Shiloh our Saviour merits that name by all the ways imaginable He was a Bodily Saviour miraculously rescuing distressed People from their Diseases and Pains which they laboured under compassionately preserving many Thousands from perishing by Hunger powerfully ejecting the evil Spirit out of those that were possessed and tormented by him Yea he was infinitely beneficial and advantagious to the whole Race of Mankind by conferring on them all Temporal and offering all Spiritual Mercies to them so that he is most truly called * 1 Tim. 4. 10. the Saviour of all Men. But especially of those that believe in him and conform their Lives to his Holy Laws He is a Saviour and that in a more eminent manner viz. * Mat. 1. 21. To save them from their sins which is the grand reason assigned why this Name was given him * Acts 5. 31. Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Forgiveness of sins to save us from the Prince of Darkness and to bruise Satan under our feet For this Shiloh is the Seed of the Woman foretold in Gen. 3. 15. that was to break the Serpents head This Blessed Shiloh * 1 Thess. 1. 10. delivers us from the Wrath to come and frees us fom eternal Death which is the just Wages of sin And lastly he actually confers all Good upon us both here and hereafter He freely purchaseth for us the Favour of God he bestoweth Life and Happiness and is * Heb. 5. 9. the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him Thus he merits the Name of Shiloh or Saviour and therefore most justly ought we to value and reverence this Name The Iews indeed call our Lord by the Name Iesus but with some Diminution of it for as we are informed by * Elias Leâ—iâ—a Thiâ—b one that was well acquainted with the Jewiâ—h Writers instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they stile him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which curtailing of the word they let us understand that they do not own him as the Christians do for a Saviour But let us be sensible that this is the True Iesus the Saviour and that there is none else let us adore him as a Compleat and Perfect Saviour It is true we read in the ‖ In Pinda ro Sophocle Aeschilo Greek Poets and * Iul. Poll. Onomâ—st l. 6 c. 16. Atbenae l. 45. c. 20. others that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was Iupiter's Epithet And the Temple of Iupiter Servator is mentioned by ‖ Nat. Hist. â— 34. Pliny Bacchus likewise had this Title for Pausanias mentions an Altar to him with this Inscription And the Dioscuri were particularly called †Aelian var. Hist. l. 1. c. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they were thought to deliver and save Men in Tempests at Sea And not only the Gods but great Men and Benefactors were honoured with this Appellation Thus ‖ Ioseph Antiq. Iud. l. 11. c. 6. Ahashuerus whom Iosephus names Artaxerxes caused Mordecai the Iew who had detected the Conspiracy of the Eunuchs against him to be proclaimed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Saviour and Deliverer So Antiochus Epiphanes had this Title given him in Flattery by the Samaritans saith the * Ioseph Antiq. Iud. l. 12. c. 7. same Author And this very Name was bestowed upon Demetrius one of the Grecian Monarchs But to go back to the times long before †Gen. 41. 49 Zaphnath Paaneah Saviour of the World as St. Ierom interprets it who had been in Egypt and had it is likely learnt the Interpretation of that Egyptian Name was the Title conferred on Ioseph by Pharaoh because he had saved not only Egypt but other Countries from perishing by Famine But it is our Iesus our Shiloh alone that iâ— worthy of that Name in the full extent of it and accordingly he is stiled the Saviour of the World 1 Iohn 4. 14. And you may observe that this Appellative is given him by the Samaritans that came to him Iohn 4. 42 We know say they that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World Which Title they had learnt I conceive from this very Prophesie concerning the Messias where he is called Shiloh For the Samaritans owned the Pentateuch in which this Prediction of the Holy Patriarch Iacob was very eminent and much observed by them Wherefore they could not but enquire into the true meaning of this Name and they found it to signifie a Saviour and thence knew and were assured that Christ was the Saviour of the World Thus you see the reason why this good Patriarch gave the Nâ—me Shiloh to the Messias viz. Because it is of the same import with JESUS or Saviour But II. This Title of the Messias signifies not only Salvation but Peace And indeed these two are nearly allied to one another and accordingly are joyned together by the Apostle Rom. 5. 8 c. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us Much more being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life These two Salvation and
this we are to note that the departing of the Scepter was by degrees it began some time before our Saviour's Birth and was in a short time compleated I say before Christ's coming in the Flesh the departing of the Jewish Government had its Beginning For it is evident from unquestionable Writers that Antipater an Idumaean was set over the Iews by Iulius Caesar and Antigonus who was the last of the Jewish Kings and of Jewish Race was deposed Now it might be said that the Scepter departed from Judah viz. when a Person not by Birth a Jew but a mere Alien was forced upon them and usurped the Jewish Government Till this time their Governours were always Iews but now ever afterwards all the rest were Strangers and Gentiles This was the first step of the Total Departure of the Scepter but it more signally and eminently departed quite from that Nation when Herod the Son of this Antipater was set over them For he upon the Death of Caesar hastened to Rome aâ—d by complaining to the Roman Senate and by Anthony's means whom he had bribed was made King of Iudea Whereupon at his return he indeavoured to exâ—iâ—pate all the Blood Royal he put to death 〈◊〉 and Hircanus the right Heirs of the Crown he kill'd all of the Tribe of Iudah and of the Family of the Asmonaei whom he fear'd might contend with him for the Kingdom and he reigned at Ierusalem as King of Iudea but without the Iews consent He was a considerable time a great Scourge and Plague to the Iews who would by no means acknowledge a Stranger for their King But he to oblige and win them embraced their Religion and rebuilt their Temple which had this Effect upon them that at last they voluntarily resigned the Right of the Kingdom to him and owned him for their King and swore Fealty to him This was in the two and thirtieth Year of his Reign in which Year likewise Christ was born So that the Prophesie was exactly fulfilled when the Jewish Kingdom had changed its True Owner and the Scepter was actually departed from Iudah and that with the Consent of the Iews which never was before then Christ came This was in the Two and fortieth Year of Augustus when Cyrenius was the Prefect of Syria Luke 2. 2. And that it may appear that the Scepter was 〈◊〉 from Judah it is signally recorded that Augustus taxed Iudea 1 3 4 Verses of that Chapter Herod paid Tribute to Caesar the whole Land was subject to the Empire and the Iews had no Dominion of their own Thus till this Herod the Great 's time the Kingly Government continued in the Tribe of Iudah and the Royal Scepter did not depart till this Stranger reigned over them for he was the first Jewish King of strange Blood and Descent It is unreasonable to attend to what ‖ Scaliger Casaubon some alledge that he was not an Alien but one of the Israelitish Nation and a Iew by Birth Which mistake they have run into because they read that Herod was a Iew and was circumcised which was only to please the Iews and to settle himself in the Kingdom but this proves not that he was a Iew by Birth The contrary appears from the best ‖ St. Ierom Eusebius Epiphanius and other Fathers Records Yea Iosephus the Iew tells us expresly that he was by his Father an Idumean and by his Mother an Arabian Africanus and others derive his Pedegre otherwise but all make him a Foreigner and Stranger And they all agree that the Iews owned him for their King and that he was the first Stranger whom they admitted to sway the Scepter over them and consequently that in Him this Divine Oracle began to be fulfilled viz. That the Scepter should depart from Judah And when our Saviour conversed here on Earth this Prophesie was still accomplished more and more For we find that the Iewish Sanhedrim had lost their Judicial Power of Life and Death and in all things truckled to the Roman Governours that were set over them And at last at the Destruction of Ierusalem their whole Power was quite Extinct and the Scepter and Law-giver totally and finally departed from them Then the Government of every sort the Priesthood and the Magistracy the Making of Laws and the Executing them the State and Religion the Commonwealth and the Church were destroyed together and so this Sacred Prediction was compleatly fulfilled You see then that there were Degrees of it and therefore 't is Vain and Idle to interpret this Prophesie of a Moment of time A punctual Designation of a certain Minute Season is unreasonable for the Government and Authority of the Iews decayed gradually till there was at length a final departing of them This then is the Grand thing represented in this Prophesie that at or about Christ's Coming the Scepter departed from the Nation of the Iews Which is as much as we desire to prove the Real Fulfilling of this Antient Prediction and from thence the Truth of Christianity For thus we argue the Jewish Scepter was to depart when Christ came It is manifest and undeniable that that Scepter is departed therefore Christ is come The Overthrow of the Jewish Polity Magistracy and Government is a certain Sign Proof and Demonstration that our Iesus is the Christ and that this Christ is come It is true there was heretofore an Interruption of the Scepter but the Iews returned to their Land and Rule again But now for above Sixteen hundred Years there hath been no shew at all of a Scepter and Kingdom which is an undeniable Argument that the Scepter is quite departed Therefore the Talmud often saith that this Prediction refers to the Particular Case of the Iews so that when Magistracy ceased in Ierusalâ—m and the Kingdom and Jurisdiction were cast off they ought presently to expect the Messiah And those are Remarkable words of R. David Kimchi on Hos. 3. 4 The Children of Israel shall abide many days without a King and without a Prince and without a Sacrifice c. These saith he are the times of Exile in which we are at this day we have neither a King nor a Prince of the Stock of Israel but we are under the Power of the Gentiles and under the Power of the Kings and Princes of the Gentiles Which is as much as to confess that this Prophesie which I have been commenting upon is accomplished That the Scepter is departed from Judah and that the Messias who is the Blessed Iesus the True Shiloh the Saviour the Peace-maker the Prosperer is come The second Text enquired into viz. Exod. XXVIII 30. Thou shalt put in the Breast-plate of Iudgment the Urim and the Thummim THis Renowned Oracle of the Iews hath employed the Thoughts and Studies of many Learned Persons both Iews and Christians but the Result of their Enquiries hath been very different For some after all their Searches have brought in an Ignoramus Thus R. David Kimchi expresly averreth
it otherwise not he would Dedicate and Consecrate it to God or something in the lieu of it If a Dog or an Ass had been first met by him he was not ingaged to Sacrifice them Neither if he met with a Man or a Woman was he bound to offer them in Sacrifice but only he was to act according as the Creature was which he met with Now Iephthah they say performed the first part of his Vow and that was sufficient He offered and Consecrated his Daughter to the Lord he devoted her to a Virgin-State all her Life which appears from the Connection of those words He did according to his Vow and she knew not a Man v. 39. One is Exegetical of the other which sheweth that Iephthah kept his Vow in separating his Daughter to a single Life for ever She was not Properly but Metaphorically Offered and Slain i. e. she was to keep her Virginity perpetually This Civil Death passed upon her Which is confirmed by what you read in v. 40. The Daughters of Israel went yearly to ‖ Letannoth ad lament andum à tanan lamentari R. Iarchi Chald. Paraphr lament or as others render it to * Ad confabulandum à tanah narrare confabâ—lâ—ri R. â—imchi Iun. Trem. Buxtoâ—s talk with the Daughter of Jephthah Whence they gather that Iephthah did not Sacrifice his Daughter but only made her a kind of a Nun in some solitary place he secluded her from all Society excepting that the Daughters of Israel were permitted to go and spend three or four days in a Year in Lamenting and Condoling her perpetual Virginity and in Talking and Conferring with her and in Comforting her concerning her Solitary Condition and her being kept from Marriage Thus her Life was spared she fell not a Sacrifice but was Consecrated to God and his Service she was devoted to a single Life and was to remain a Recluse all her days This was the opinion of R. Kimchi and some other Jewish Expositors and they are followed not only by some of the ‖ Arias Montanus Pagnin Vatablâ—s Estius Pontificians who perhaps might think of Celibacy and a Nuns Life but by * Iunius Lud. de Dieu Broughton Perkins Drusius Grotius Heinsius Selden several of the Reformed Churches Secondly Others and with more reason are for the Affirmative viz. That Iephthah really sacrificed his Daughter For what is or can be more plain than that in v. 39. He did with her according to his Vow which he had vowed What was this Vow There is all the Difficulty And yet if you enquire narrowly into it you will find that the Difficulty vanisheth for the Vow is very plain and intelligible Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my House to meet me shall surely be the Lords and I will offer it up for a Burnt-offering He saith whatsoever which shews that it was no Conditional Vow as those of the other side pretend but an Absolute one He unadvisedly made a Vow to Sacrifice whatsoever he met in his return from the Battle if he proved a Victor When the Vow is thus Large and General it is ridiculous to think or say the contrary viz. That it was a Conditional Vow and it is as irrational to distinguish between a Copulative and a Disjunctive Vau in this place though 't is granted that in some other Texts it is allowable because the very Sense and Meaning of the words direct us yea constrain us to it but here is no occasion for it in the least Wherefore this nice distinguishing between one Vau and the other and between Offering to the Lord and Sacrificing is altogether groundless and you may see it cashiered by what is expresly mentioned in the following Narrative in this History for 't is positively said that Iephthah upon his return home and meeting his Daughter * V. 35. Rent his Cloaths What was the reason of this If his Vow had been Conditional or Disjunctive as some would have it there was no ground at all for this his Behaviour there was no occasion of Sorrow and Distraction if the Sacrificing his Daughter were not included in his Vow if it were in his choice to offer her to the Lord i. e. to dedicate her to him or to Sacrifice her on the Aâ—â—ar yea if he were at liberty by vertue of his Vow to kill a Beast instead of his own Child If the case was thus he had no reason to lament and rend his Cloaths to vex and mortifie himself which we find him doing here But it is plain by this Action of his that things were otherwise with him and that he had some Dreadful and Fatal Tidings to impart to his Daughter which were real matrer of Lamentation and that the Contents of his Vow which so nearly concerned her Life were the cause of his Trouble and Sorrow This appears from what follows * V. 35. Alas my Daughter saith he thou hast brought me very low and thou are one of them that trouble me And then he communicates the direful News to her I have opened my mouth unto the Lord and I cannot go back It happeneth indeed to be a very Sad and Deplorable Vow which I made but I am ingaged to keep it and I am fully resolved that I will Whereupon his Submissive Child uttered these words * V. 36. My Father if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth Seeing thou are returned in Safety and with Victory over thy Enemies I am willing to be offered a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving to the God of Heaven who mercifully covered thy Head in the day of Battle and delivered thy Enemies into thy hand But this Obedient Damosel had one thing to request of her Father before she left the World * V. 37. Let this be done for me saith she let me alone tâ—o months that I may go up and down upon the Mountains and bewail my Virginity I and my Fellows As much as if she had said Seeing thou O my Father hast determined that I shall be offered up unto the Lord for a Burnt-offering according to the Tenor of the Vow which thou madest in the day of the Distress I beg but this one thing of thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe to respite me for a little time I desire only that I may be permitted to retire with a few of my Female Acquaintance into some Solitary place that I and they may joyn together in Mourning and lament this unhappy Allotment of mine viz. That I must not live to be acquainted with the Joys of a Conjugal State nor be a Joyful Mother of Children as I have sometimes wished because Barrenness is accounted a Curse but that I must Expire a Virgin and die Ingloriously and leave no Off-spring behind me Iephthah as soon as she made known this her request to him most willingly granted it and wished with all his heart
be put to death Therefore his Daughter was no Cherem no Execration no Devoted Wretch This Law of Cherem or Anathema gave the Jews no License to turn Assassines and Cut-throats and to take away the Lives of their own Children Of which * De Iure Nat. Gent. l. 4. c. 11. Mr. Selden and other Learned Men were so convinced that upon this very account they assert and think they prove that Iephthah did not offer up his Devoted Daughter in Sacrifice But by their leave all that they prove hence is this that he should not have done it Besides this sort of Vows called Cherems was to be made by particular Warrant from God who is Lord and Disposer of Life and Death and can Sentence and Devote to Dâ—struction whom and what he pleaseth But we read of no Warrant that Iephthah had to Vow the Death of his Daughter much less to proceed to Execution therefore it was direct Murder to put her to Death And particularly as to Sacrificing her that was a most Inhumane Horrid and Barbarous Act and expresly forbid of God and hated by him Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not burn thy Sons and thy Daughters in the fire as the Heathens used to do to their Gods For every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done Deut. 12. 31. For Iephthah then to Vow the Sacrificing of his Daughter was so far from being according to the Law and Acceptable to God that it was an Abomination to him Yea some of the very Pagans themselves thought such-an Act as this to be Unlawful Thus * In vit Pelopidae Plutarch tells us that Agesilaus being commanded in a Dream to Sacrifice his Daughter refused to do it and that when Pelopidas in a Vision was bid to Sacrifice a Virgin he look'd on it as a Severe and Impious Command Agamemnon it is true Sacrificed his own Daughter but even a Prophane and Atheistical Poet could blame him for it crying out against his * Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum Lucret. l. 1. Superstitious Religion as the ill Motive which prompted him to so vile a Practice Yea it is probable that This is the very Instance which I am now treating of Iphigenia was Iephthah's Daughter for the Greeks mistook Iphigenia for Iephthigenia which plainly signifies the Daughter of Jephthah And Agamemnon was mistaken for Iephthah for he being a known Man in the Trojan Wars which were in Iephthah's time as the Masters of Chronology have agreed it was easie for the Poets to take one Warlikeman or Great Captain for another and to represent the History of Iephthah under the Name of Agamemnon as I shall shew at another time it was the common use of the Poets to disguise Passages of Sacred History with Fables and Prophane Names particularly as for this Sacrificing of his Daughter it being so Remarkable but yet so Infamous an Act it is certain that it was spread abroad and known among the Nations and could not but be abhorred by all Persons of Sobriety and Reason So far is it from being allowed by a Particular Law of God as some pretend Again There are Others who that they may effectually prove the Lawfulness of this Fact tell us it was done by the particular Instinct of the Holy Spirit that Iephthah was immediately stirred up by God to Atchieve this singular Enterprize which in others would have been unlawful * Epist. ad Iulian. St. Ierom of old seem'd to be of this mind and Peter Martyr afterwards was enclined to think the same but he presently corrected himself And truly no less could be expected from him for it is a very near approach to Blasphemy to say that so Wicked a Perpetration was by favourable Instinct from God himself especially when he hath so particularly forbidden it as you heard in the former particular Indeed from what I delivered there this Bold Opinion is sufficiently confuted for if Sacrificing his Daughter was downright Murther and was a Breach of Moses's Law and of the Law of Nature then it is intolerable Folly and Presumption to plead for the Lawfulness of it Moreover if there had been here a Divine Impulse or a Particular Command from Heaven as in the Example of Abraham who was bid to do what he did and that for Trial only he would not have rent his Cloaths and been troubled but he would have likewise check'd his Daughters Sorrow as well as his own by declaring that his Resolution to Sacrifice her was from a particular Dictate which he received from Heaven Thus we have reason to reject the Opinion of those Men who hold that Iephthah sinned not in Sacrificing his Daughter for neither of the Arguments which they alledge have any Truth and Reality in them there was no Express Law of God nor any Divine Instinct in the case Wherefore we may safely and confidently aver with the Great Iewish Antiquary before cited That * Antiq. Iud. l. 5. c. 9. the Sacrifice which â—ephthah offered was not lawful nor acceptable to God but that on the contrary it was Unlawful and Sinful And so most of the Antient Fathers of the Church who have spoken of this do assert But here we may be thought to be reduced to a great streight in maintaining this Post for if all Humane Slaughter was forbid by God and is against Nature and is utterly Unlawful and Vicious how came Iephthah to commit this Fact What made him act so Strangely What could be the Motive to so Horrid an Enterprize If it was so Gross an Enormity how can we think this Great Man this Judge with his High Priest and Priests about him yea and the whole Sanhedrim to advise him could be guilty of such a Vile and Notorious Crime as this Here then I am to give an Account why and whence it was that Iephthah acted thus Extravagantly and as it may seem profligately and I hope it will not be offensive if I take liberty to dissent from the generality of Writers in this matter For though I agree with those who hold that Iephthah sacrificed his Daughter and that he did very ill in it yet I differ from them in the Ground and Occasion of it which is the thing I will now insist upon and for which I chiefly designed this Discourse They attribute it to the Corruption of that Age telling us that very Strange and Exorbitant things were done in those days as the Book of Iudges expresly relates And moreover they add that Iephthah herein followed the Examples that had been before him for Humane Sacrifices were commonly offered by the Heathens that dwelt in Palestine Deut. 12. 31. Their Sons and their Daughters they burned in the fire to their Gods and particularly we read that the Ammonites offered their Children to Moloch in the Flames Nay it cannot be denied that this Horrid and Bloody Idolatry was practised by some of the Israelites a little before Iephthah's
Entrails are broken and displaced was as wide from the purpose as Bath is from Ierusalem What is this to the bursting asunder in the midst and all the Bowels gushing out and that by falling head long Was it ever known that the stopping of the Breath the mere hindring of Respiration procured such an Effect as this viz. A total Exenteration No. It is to be ascribed to another Cause and I have assigned what it is Thus the seemingly different Accounts of Iudas's Death are reconciled which could not possibly be done in that way which Expositors generally have taken 2. This Exposition which I have presented you with is an undeniable Proof and Demonstration of that which I suggested in the entrance into this Discourse viz. The Remarâ—abâ—eness and Singularity of this Execrable Traytor 's End Of all the Criminals Recorded either in Sacred or Prophane Story there is none equal to this Iudas and therefore it was fitting that the Recompense of his black and foul Demerit should be as Matchless as that it self And this we see accomplish'd in the Wonderful Manner of his Death Or rather it was not a Single Death but a Complicated one which is the thing that makes it so Strange and Observable The first thing he attempted was to abandon himself to excessive Melancholy When he reflected on his Fact he was overwhelmed with Vexation and Despair It is impossible to relate or to imagine the Horrours of his Soul and the Tortures of his Conscience which he underwent on this occasion This only we can say That this Load was so Great and Pressing that it even choak'd and smother'd his Vitals it strangled and stifled his Spirits and almost bereav'd him of Life To compleat this fully he proceeded yet farther and willfully hanged himself that he might be freed from his present Misery although this did but let him into greater The Memory of this more effectual Strangling of himself the everlasting Badge and Infamous Memorial of his Guilt remains still in his Name * From Iscarab Strangulatio Lud. de Dieu in Matt. 10. 4. Dr. Lightfoot Hor. Hebraic in eund loc Iscariot which was given him as our Learned English Rabbi thinks after his Death or as others Conjecture before it with a Prospect of this direful Fact It is farther remarkable in this Singular Instance of Gods Vengeance that this Traytor 's hanging himself was not as he intended it his last Punishment This Miserable Criminal fell head-long before he was altogether deprived of Life and Sense from the place of his Suspension and his almost Breathless Carcass shook out his loathed Soul and his Bowels together by a Fall This Evisceration is very remarkable for 't is emphatically said his Bowels yea all his Bowels gushed out St. Luke speaks here like a Physician as he was and means by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesych 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the usual Acception of that word among those of that Faculty all the Viscera of the middle and lower Ventricles the Heart and all the other Inwards belonging to both these This sets forth the Rarity and Wonderfulness of this Judgment this calls upon us to take special notice of iâ— Let me observe to you that in his being thus wholly disbowelled we may plainly read the Punishment of a Traytor For not only with us but other Nations Eviscerating hath been part of the just Penalty inflicted on such Malefactors Moreover I might take notice of St. Luke's other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we have not fully translated when we English it he burst asunder for it properly signifies such a Rupture as is accompanied with a Noise and therefore in the Vulgar Latin Version 't is rightly rendred crepuit This Terrible Crack which attended Iudas's Fall was so loud that it was heard at a great distance And accordingly we read in the next Verse That this was known unto all the Dwellers in Jerusalem It is no wonder saith our * Hâ—â— Hâ—bâ— in 〈◊〉 Christian Rabbi that this sudden and violent Explosion of all his Entrails made such a mighty and horrid Sound for the Devil who had entred Bodily into him and had inhabited there three days now broke forth And upon this violent Eruption of that Evil Spirit a great and amazing Noise was heard such as must needs affright the Neighborhood For though â— do not approve of the Learned Doctor 's Interpretation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he takes in a Passive Signification wholly and tells us that Iudas was snatch'd up by the Devil into the Air and there strangled by him whereas 'tis expresly said he went which is an Active word and shews that what immediately follows was a proper act of his own whence I have reason to gather that he strangled and hanged himself that he was a Felon of himself that he willfully procured his own Death yet I do verily believe that the other Act of the Tragedy was immediately by the Devil's Procurement This Infernal Daemon struck him down to the Earth and Hell together whither his Body was enclining And truly he might justly have his last and fatal end from the Devil 's own Hand who was immediately stirred up by this Diabolick Spirit to commit that cursed Fact Thus all the Circumstances of this Miserable Caitiff's End make it Stupendious that we may be convinced of this Great Truth that this was a Notorious and Exemplary Punishment and designed by God to be Peculiar and Remarkable Here were several Deaths met together in this One Horrid Example that we may be invited to observe and admire the Extraordinary Hand of Providence in it and that we may take notice how God hath inflicted a Judgment worthy of such a Miscreant that this Unusual and Unheard of Manner of his Death may appear to be the just Desert of his unparallelled Villany namely his Betraying of Innocent Blood even that of the Lord of Life and Glory One way of Death was not thought sufficient for him and therefore his cursed Life was torn from him by many viz. by Macerating Grief by Violent Hanging and Strangling himself by a sudden Precipitation by a Disruption of his whole Body and by an Effusion of all his Entrails As to what is suggested by a * Gronov. Exercit. Academ late Writer that he was not buried but cast into the place destined for the Carkasses of Beasts and all manner of Filth and Dung and that the throwing his Dead Body into this Barathrum where he was burst asunder is meant by his falling head long I cannot apprehend any ground for this Conjecture and therefore I cannot insert it as a Remarkable Attendant of his Death and as part of that Severe Judgment which befell him here I have gone as far as the words of the Evangelists have authorized me in explaining of which I have fully set forth the Tragical End of this Hypocritical Actor in Religion this Mock-Disciple this Apostle in Masquerade this Execrable
was looked on as a base and dishonest thing to be found guilty of it The being taken was criminal the not stealing cunningly was the thing that was faulty Lastly Lying had the Approbation of the Chief Philosopher among the Pagans It is lawful to Lie for the Good of the Common-wealth saith Socrates as he is quoted by his Scholar * De Repub l. 2. Plato Thus you see what were the Corrupt Ethicks of the Heathen World for tho many of these things which I have mentioned are repugnant to True Philosophy yet being maintain'd and sometimes practised by the Masters of Philosophy they are justly reckoned among the Deceits of Philosophy However if these latter Instances be not so home to the purpose it is certain that no Man can pronounce so concerning the others before-mentioned which were some of the chief Ingredients and Principles of the Gentile Philosophy But tho I have given you this Large Account of their Mistakes in Morality yet I will pursue this Matter a little farther and according to what I propounded shew you in the next place that the Philosophy the Apostle speaks of was Deceitful in that it was grosly mistaken about the Happiness of Man It was mistaken and consequently deceived Men as to this Grand Point 1. By not assuring them of a Future Life 2. By giving no notice of the Eternal Duration of it 3. By not determining wherein True Happiness consists 4. By not directing them to the Right Way to it 1. It deceived them by not assuring them of a Future Life The Future Existence of the Soul tho it was a Notion dictated by the Light of Nature and Reason and sometimes positively and plainly asserted by some of the Philosophers yet it was disputed and doubted of among them at other times by reason of false Principles which they had wilfully taken up and thereby clouded their Reasons and the Natural Dictates of their Minds as also because of Interest and Sensual Pleasure which stifled the Rational Actings of their Souls Upon these accounts a Future State was hardly believed by some of the Philsophers and wholly opposed by others The Epicureans as you have heard flatly denied it And it is no wonder seeing their Language was after this rate * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laâ—rt in Epicuro We can have no Notion of an Incorporeal Thing unless it be a Vacuum †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. They therefore that say the Soul is Incorporeal talk vainly and idlely ‖ De Placit Philosoph l. 4. Plutarch attests that Democritus held the Soul to be corruptible and that it perished together with the Body It is true the Pythagorâ—ans and Platonists asserted that the Soul went on Pilgrimage and flitted from one Man to another Yea they held that Mens Souls passed into Brutes as well as into other Men and he that was a Man a while ago is now an Ass a Wolf a Dog or some other Animal But this is vain Philosophy indeed and all that we can build upon it if it were true is this That the same Man is often begot and as often born and dieth Indeed Plato * In Phaedone seu de Animo brings in Socrates before his Death treating of the Immortality of the Soul he makes him speak some things that are Admirable Excellent and Divine but other things are Poor Mean and Frigid he presents him as dubious and uncertain wavering and inconsistent with himself That Socrates doubted of a Future State and the Soul's Immortality may be gathered from that Passage of his which Plato inserts †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. Apologia Socratis If these things we speak of be true Again Socrates saith ‖ Ibid. One of these two is absolutely necessary either Death utterly deprives us of all Sense or we pass from hence to another place It seems he looked upon Death either as a Sound Sleep or a Long Journey but he could not certainly tell which Plutarch * De Consolatione ad Apollon had this very Notion of it and on that account concludes that Death is not Evil. After this wavering manner speaks the Great Roman Philosopher †Si supremus ille dies non extinctiâ—nem sed commutationem aâ—â—ert loci quid optabilius Si autem perimit ac delet omnino quid melius quà m in mediis vitae laboribus obdormiscere iâ—a conniventem somno consopiri sempiterno Cic. Tusc. Qu. l. 1. If the day of Death be accompanied with the Change of Place only and not an utter Extinction What can be more desirable than Death Or if it makes an end of us and quite annihilates us What is better than when we are wearied with the Labours of this Life to fall asleep and never to wake again In like manner Seneca ‖ Mors nos aut consumit aut emittit emissis meliora restant onere detracto consumptis nihil restat Epist. 24. Death doth either consume or sends us out of this World into another if the latter be true there are better things remain for us when we are sent out hence and have laid aside our Terrestrial Clog and Burden but if the former be true then there is nothing remaining for us being utterly consumed and consequently no Hurt can befal us that is our Comfort Again he thus faintly and ambiguously talks * Fortasse si modò sapientum vera fama est recipitque nos locus aliquis Epist. 63. Perhaps if the Report of Wise Men be true and if there be any such thing as a place hereafter to receive us c. Thus Antonine the Royal Philosopher cannot tell whether Death be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Extinction or a Translation whether it be an Annihilation or a Change of our Condition And many †Siquis modò extinctis sensus inest Val. Max. l. 4. c. 6. others have thus expressed their Doubtfulness about another Life But most remarkable is that Passage of Xenophon in the Life of Cyrus whom that Wise Historian represents as a Great Hero and Singular Pattern of Vertue We must expect therefore that he will make him speak like a Brave Prince furnished with true and sound Notions of things He tells us that this Great Man lying on his Death-bed and having certain Presages of his approaching Departure out of the World commanded his Courtiers to come to him and called his Sons and Friends together and spoke to them to this purpose ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Instit. Cyr. l. 8. You ought not to think you know certainly that I shall be nothing after I cease to live here For let me tell you the Soul whilst it is in this Mortal Body doth not live tho it gives Life to the Body but when it leaves the Body then it properly lives then it acts and is truly knowing and wise The Tortures and Punishments inflicted on Murderers by Souls thrust out of their
40. Christianos ad Leones was the Peoples Cry though I grant that merely to be thrown to the Beasts was another thing there was no fighting then they were thrown to them to be torn in pieces presently and to be devoured as that Glorious Mâ—rtyr †Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 33. Ignatins was But Others were exposed to fight with them and that on the Publick Theaters and they were armed for that purpose and if they could get the mastery of the Beasts of which the Instances are very rare they were set free which known Custom and Practice it is likely the Apostle's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forenamed place may be well applied 3. It is remarkably said at Ephesus for in this Celebrated Place that Bloody sort of Prizes was very usual as we are informed by ‖ Oneirocrit l. 1. c. 9. Artemidorus and others 4. What you read to have been the Consequent of the great Vproar against St. Paul at Ephesus the dragging his Companions into the Theater Acts 19. 29 31. seems to have a particular relation to this very thing 5. Those words in 1 Cor. 4. 9. We are made a Spectacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the World may be thought to be an Allusion to this his fighting on the Publick Stage especially if you mind the words immediately following God hath set forth us as 't were appointed to Death design'd by our Adversaries to that Fatal Combate 6. This is more than intimated to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1. 8. where he acquaints them with his Trouble which came to him in Asia of which Ephesus was the Chief City how he was press'd out of measure above strength in so much that he despair'd even of Life And in the next Verse he tells them that he had the Sentence of Death in himself And then in the next words he thankfully acknowledgeth God's Hand in delivering him from so great a Death All which Passages seem to refer very plainly to this Deadly Encounter with the Beasts at Ephesus Or at least it appears hence as the Learned Dr. Hammond and Dr. Lightfoot acknowledg that St. Paul was designed appointed by the Multitude to this Punishment although God disappointed their Bloody Designs If it be objected that the Apostle makes no mention of this among his Dangerous and Bloody Adventures which he particularly recounts in 2 Cor. 11. 23 c. This Answer may suffice that the Apostle underwent more than he particularly sets down but in those general words in Death 's oft he comprehends all Yea these very words may particularly refer to his fighting with Wild Beasts which certainly had been attended with Death unless the Divine Providence had in an extraordinary manner interposed So that this Objection is of no Force and cannot hinder us from taking the words in their proper meaning In brief I will say this although perhaps none of these forementioned Texts singly taken may be thought sufficient to induce us to a belief of what I have propounded yet if we consider them altogether I think they will not fail to render it very probable This is all I suggest leaving every one to determine as they please Though St. Paul was deliver'd from so great and imminet a Death and that by no less than a Miracle perhaps yet in these Bloody Combates the Beasts generally got the better yea sometimes one Lion was hard enough for * Praeclara aedilitas unus Leo ducenti bestiarii Cic. Orat. pro Sesâ— two hundred Men and when this happen'd it was a Worthy and Noble Prize indeed for they always esteemed these Games according to the Number of the Persons that were dispatched by the Beasts when the most Men were killed upon the Spot the Sport was at the highest which shews how Devilish it was But the latter sort of Prizes viz. where Men fought with their own Kind was the worst In these Bloody and Inhumane Matches they first brought Slaves on the Theater to combate one another and afterwards others of better Quality Besides some were hired to undertake this Employment and some were bred up and disciplined to it It grew an Art to Diet to Arm to fit them for this Purpose Nor can it be express'd how †Id autem spectaculi genus erat quod omni frequentiâ atque omni genere hominum celebratur quo multitudo maximè delectatur Cic. Orat. pro Sestio the People were taken with this Sport and how they flock'd to it No Entertainment pleas'd them like this Bloody Fencing Here they could kill Men at their pleasure by turning up the Thumb they could at any time adjudg the Combatants to continue the Fight and they had Power to keep them Fighting till they died on the Place And when any of them did so others were presently fetched and placed in their room to fight with the Victor till one of them fell dead on the Spot Lactantius hath well expressed it thus ‖ Irascuntur etiam pugnantibus nisi celeriter alter è duobus occisus est tanquam humanum sanguinem sitiant oderunt moras alios illis compares dari poscunt recentiores ut quamprimum oculos suos satient Lib. 6. c. 20. They shew themselves very angry and grow enraged unless one of the Combatants be slain very speedily and as if they thirsted after Humane Blood they hate all Delays and call for other fresh Fighters that are not weary and faint but will briskly fall on and thereby satiate the Eyes of the Spectators From these Passages we may be informed how mad the World was upon Slaughter and Bloodshed We see what strange Immoralities these Civilized People admitted among them what Barbarous and Outragious Usages were approved of by them This I might well mention as one Instance of the Devil 's working among them But the Christians continually declamed against those Bloody Games they Preach'd and wrote against these Inhumane Combates and at last * Euseb. in vit Constant M. l. 4. the Christian Emperors strictly forbad them You may read in the Antient Apologists how these Unlawful and Mad Shews are struck at and how the Christians are particularly warned against them A Christian was not permitted to be a Spectator of them but by his Profession and Character he was obliged to declare against them and draw off others if he could from being present at them Hear the words of one of the most Learned Apologizers for the Christian Religion against the Pagans We †Athenagoras in Legat. pro Christian. saith he abstain from and are averse to these Spectacles of the Sword-Players being perswaded that there is no great difference between being a Spectator of these Bloody Prizes and an Author of the Bloodshed there committed Thus the Primitive Christians shew'd their Abhorrence of these Entertainments and so at length they came to be wholly laid aside and accounted utterly unlawful Thus this Work of the Devil was destroyed which we cannot but attribute to
the Manifestation of the Son of God upon the Earth and to his Holy Institution which promotes Tender-heartedness and Pity and condemns whatever is Savage and Bloody But the Slaughter and Murder of Souls are the worst and highest Cruelty the Main Work and Business of that Implacable Enemy of Mankind Those Cursed Spirits being fallen themselves from God indeavour the Apostacy of all Mankind and this they do by drawing Men into Error and by tempting them to Sin and Wickedness They are as busy in debauching Mens Minds by Erroneous Opinions and False Doctrines as they are in any other Design and they get as much by it for by corrupting Mens Understandings and Notions they prepare the way for all other Mischiefs to ensue Heresies are of the Devil and lead to him and therefore Polycarp knew what he said when he call'd Marcion that Arch-Heretick the first-born of Satan But the inveigling to Practical Error which is no other than Vice gives him chiefly his Denomination of Tempter and consequently those who allure others to Vice those who entice them to Evil Courses are to be call'd by no softer Terms than those of Murderers and Devils for Tempting i. e. drawing others to Sin is properly the Work of the Devil this is that which he constantly practiseth and takes so much delight in But the Blessed Founder of Christianity is a Saviour and Lover of Souls who thus expostulated when he was on Earth What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul This Jesus was Loving and Kind-hearted and submitted to a painful and ignominious Death to give an undeniable Demonstration of his Compassion to the Souls of Men. He ascended the Cross and shed his Blood there to convince the World how Tender he was of their Immortal Concerns and Everlasting Welfare And let me speak a Great Word He would even now leave all his Glories and die once more for Man if it were necessary for the procuring of his Happiness Lastly Carnality Lewdness and Vncleanness may fitly be stiled the Devil's Works It is well known that these prevailed even in the most Solemn Rites and Devotions of the Pagans As the Poets represent the Gods Lewd and Lascivious so the most Serious Authors tell us of the Impure and Filthy Sacrifices the Villanous and Beastly Rites performed to them They relate the Obscene Feasts of Bacchus and Priapus of Flora and Venus and acquaint us that they kept their Lupercalia or Festivals of Pan in running up and down naked behaving themselves in that lewd manner which cannot be named without injuring chaste and modest Ears Of the Eleusinian Solemnities in Honour of Ceres and Proserpina we have some Account from * Adv. Valentin Tertullian and the Religious Ceremonies of Isis were as lewd and obscene saith †De Isid. Osir. l. 1. Plutarch It is certain that Lewdness and Wantonness were the very Ingredients of their Worship and their very Temples were Stews Arnobius makes it his Business in his fifth Book to shew how obscene and unchaste how immodest and shameless their Rites and Ceremonies their Stories and Relations of their Gods were In brief Vncleanness hath been so eminently confirmed to be the Work of the Devil that the Foul Fiends have sometimes assumed Bodies to act it in as ‖ S. Augustin de civ Dei lib. 15. Bodin contr Wier some have thought But Christ coming in the Flesh destroyed even the Deeds of the Flesh he chose to be born of a Pure Virgin that he might give a Pattern of Spotless Purity in the World and the Design of his Holy Institution was to Sanctify Mens Bodies and Souls and to fit them for the unstained Pleasures of another Life Thus I have finish'd my Task having largely and particularly shew'd you what the Works of the Devil are either such Works as are done by that Evil Spirit or such Vices and Practices in Men as more nearly approach to the Devilish Nature and Temper and I have at the same time proved that our Saviour and his Religion do overthrow and destroy these Works of the Infernal Spirit I will only add a Critical Remark on that manner of Expression in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may loose our English Word it is likely coming from thence or dissolve c. for that is the exact rendring of the Word This supposes Bonds and Fetters We were in Durance and Captivity we were shut and lock'd up * Isa. 42. 7. in the Prison-house we were under the Power of Satan and Dominion of Sin but the Merciful Iesus came to rescue and redeem Mankind to knock off their Fetters and to set them at Liberty For this purpose the Son of God was manifested and for this only He came not as the Iews fondly imagined concerning their Messias to be a Great Earthly Monarch to wage War and to beat the Romans out of Iudea and to make his People Rich and Wealthy and to promote them to great Honours This alas was a poor Design and not worthy of the Messias but he came to effect a thing of greater Moment even of Universal Concern and that which is more Noble and Glorious than all Worldly Empire and Soveraignty He came to free his People from the Tyranny of Satan to vanquish the Prince of Darkness who had enslaved all Mankind Or this Word gives us a true Notion of our Saviour's Design thus The Devil had corrupted Man had been the great Instrument at first of depraving his very Nature and ever since he hath made it his Work to debauch Mens Minds and Manners and by all ways imaginable to render them like unto himself Hereupon the Son of God was sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might dissolve defeat undo these Works of the Devil This is the short and plain Account of the Grand End of Christ's being manifested in the World of his Incarnation Doctrine Life Sufferings Death and all his Undertakings whatsoever it was no other than this to undo to annul all that the Devil had done in the World Christ's task was to pull down what Satan had built up to untie to untwist all his Knots and Intrigues to baffle all his Plots and Contrivances to unravel the Inchantments of the Evil Spirit to break the Snares of Satan and to destroy the Destroyer FINIS ERRATA PAge 3. line 27. read Iunius P. 68. l. 22. prefix the Figure 7. P. 77. l. 10. r. in the Margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 118. towards the bottom the Parentheses are misplaced P. 127. l. 20. r. a Mem for a Teth. P. 171. l. 7. r. Nun for Caph. P. 217. l. 26. dele †P. 270. l. 8. after Writer add with others P. 272. l. 13. r. were P. 275. l. 2. after dieth make a Period P. 290. l. 13. r. signifies l. 24. for Arrows r. Rods l. 31. after Tribes add for it is certain that the Iews and other Nations mutually borrowed from one another P. 291. l. 3. after Israelites add as well as these aped them P. 318. l. 23. insert are P. 337. l. 15. r. Christianity's Books printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New with Annotations and Parallel-Scriptures To which is annexed The Harmony of the Gospels as also a Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clarke Synodicon in Gallia Reformata Or the Acts Decisions Decrees and Canons of those famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France Wherein are contained 1. A most faithful and impartial History of the Rise Growth Perfection and Decay of the Reformation in that Kingdom with its fatal Catastrophe upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nants in the Year 1685. 2. The Confession of Faith and Discipline of those Churches 3. A Collection of Speeches Letters Sacred Politicks Cases of Conscience and Controversies in Divinity determined and resolved by those grave Assemblies 4. Many excellent Expedients for preventing and healing Schisms in the Churches and for re-uniting the dismembred Body of divided Protestants 5. The Laws Government and Maintenance of their Colledges Universities and Ministers together with their Exercise of Discipline upon Delinquent Ministers and Church-members 6. A Record of very many illustrious Events of Divine Providence relating to those Churches The whole collected and composed out of Original Manuscript Acts of those Renowned Synods A Work never before extant in any Language In two Volumes By Iohn Quick Books printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion and John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Churchâ—Yard A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments with other Sermons By the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry An Enquiry into the Constitution Discipline Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourished within the first three hundred Years after Christ. Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages By an impartial Hand In two Parts Books printed for John Everingham at the Star in Ludgate-street near the West end of St. Paul's Church-Yard MIscellaneous Essays By Monsieur St. Euremont Translated out of French With a Character by a Person of Honour here in England By Mr. Dryden The Divine Art of Prayer Containing the most proper Rules to pray well With divers Meditations and Prayers sutâ—ble to the Necessities of Christians useful in every Family To which are annexed seasonable Prayers for Souldiers both in their Majesties Army and Fleet. Monarchia Microcosmi The Origine Vicissitudes and Period of Vital Government in Man For a further Discovery of Diseases incident to Humane Nature By Everard Maynwaring M. D. Books printed for John Wyat. THE Christian Virtuoso shewing That by being addicted to Experimental Philosophy a Man is rather Assisted than Indisposed to be a Good Christian. By the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq Experimenta Observationes Physicae Wherein are briefly treated of several Subjects relating to Natural Philosophy in an experimental way To which is added A small Collection of strange Reports By the same Author
Bodies and the Honour and Rewards of Good and Innocent Minds prove that Souls still subsist When Man is dissolved it is not probable that all things belonging to him go to their particular Kind except the Soul only You may observe that nothing is more like Death than Sleep but even in Sleep the Soul discovers its Divinity and never more than then for it hath a prospect of things to come the Soul being at that time more free than ever If these things be so reverence my Soul when I am dead and do according to my Commands But if these things be not so but the Soul perisheth with the Body yet reverence the Gods who are Immortal And a little after he saith Call all the Persians and my Fellow-Souldiers to my Funerals that they may congratulate with me * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I am got to a saâ—e Place and State wherein no Evil can befal me whether it shall be my lot to be with God or whether to be reduced to nothing A fair Speech indeed This was the faint Result of all the Knowledg which his Wise Tutor could let him have of another State He had not determined whether after Death he should be taken to the Gods or be annihilated Thus Philosophy as it was corrupted and depraved was unsteady and doubtful about a Future Life and Happiness Much less 2. Had they any notice of the Eternal Duration of them Those of them who held that the Soul was long-lived had no firm Apprehension of its being Immortal But especially the Stoicks failed here Zeno the Master of that Sect †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert in Zenone expresly asserted that the Soul remains aâ—ter Death but at length is corrupted The Generality of this Sect went so far as to say the Soul survives the Body a good while But if you ask How long They tell you 't is only till the Conflagration of the World Yet here they were divided for there were some among them who held that the weaker sort of Souls viz. of the unlearned perish with the Body but the stronger ones viz. of Wise Men hold out till the Conflagration And with this agrees that Account which ‖ Diu mansuros aiunt animos semper negant Tusc. Qu. l. 1. Cicero gives of them and Seneca relates the very same of this Sect of Philosophers But the certain Knowledg and Assurance of the Endless Duration of Souls and the Eternal Reward of Vertue is the Purchase only of Christ's Appearing who hath brought Life and Immortality i. e. Immortal Life to light by the Gospel There was but a faint shadow of it before the Discoveries were dark and obscure but by the arising of the Sun of Righteousness this Darkness is dispelled and we have gain'd a clear Manifestation of the Everlasting Subsistence of our Spirits in another World For Christ Jesus whose Soul was of the same nature with ours commended his into God's Hands and so did the Holy Martyr St. Stephen in imitation of Him which assures us that the Souls of the Righteous are taken into God's Custody at their departure out of the Body This together with the Resurrection of our Saviour and his ascending into Heaven gives us an absolute Assurance and Demonstration of our rising again and living immortally in another World 3. Their Philosophy proved Deceitful in not determining wherein the True Happiness of Man consisteth The Different Notions of the diverse Schools of Philosophy about the Chief Good proclaim aloud that they only guessed at it and were not able to tell wherein it was plac'd Their Mistakes were never so numerous and which is worse so dangerous as here It is of infinite Consequence to understand what is the Chief Felicity of Man what is the perfect State of Bliss what is the Principal and Last End of Man wherein there remains nothing further to be desired Now He only can acquaint us with our True Happiness who is the Author of it the Lord of Bliss and Glory who purchased Immortal Life for us and is Himself the True Soveraign Chief Good the Ultimate Object of our Wishes and Desires Studies and Endeavours the only Rest and Center of our Minds This is Life Eternal to know and in knowing to enjoy the only True God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent It is the Utmost Happiness of Man to have in the discharge of his proper Duty the Favour of God to know and love him and to be loved of him This is the highest Felicity our Nature is capable of and it is no where fully discovered but in the Holy Scriptures 4. Philosophy was mistaken and thereby proved Deceitful in not discovering the True Certain Way to this Happiness And indeed how could it It was impossible for the Philosophers to know how to regain the Favour of Heaven whilst they understood not how they lost it They could not come to the full understanding of the true Cause of the Degenerate Condition of Mankind Whence should they know that Man was at first created pure and holy spotless and innocent able to serve God with an unwearied Obedience and that he voluntarily abused his Power and Freedom and disobeyed the Command of his Maker and so by an Act of his own Will apostatized from God and plunged himself into unspeakable Misery They could not reach this by their Natural Light and Moral Reason The most Philosophical and Inquisitive Brains tho they have made some guesses about the Corruption of Mankind were not able to arrive to a clear account of this matter They were apprehensive that Nature was vitiated they perceived a strange Disorder a horrible Shatter but they were ignorant of the Original Spring and Source of it And thus not knowing the Cause of Human Corruption and Depravation it is no wonder that they light not on the Right Remedy of them In the Gospel alone is set forth the Way for the recovery of lapsed and degenerate Souls here is discovered the certain Method of obtaining the Pardon of our Sins and the Assurance of God's Favour and our Everlasting Welfare The Contrivance of Man's Redemption by the Blood of Jesus was too high a Flight for the most improved Reason and Light of Nature And when it was revealed to some of the most knowing Pagans they were loth to truckle to so low and mean a Dispensation as the Gospel which teacheth us to trust and rely upon another's Merits They all agreed in this * Unum bonum est quod beatae vitae causa firmamentum est sibi fidere Sen. Epist. 31. that there is this one good thing which is the Cause and Foundation of Happiness viz. a Man 's trusting to himself and resting upon what he can do by his own Power These lofty Sons of Reason counted it absurd to be beholden to another's Undertakings for their Felicity especially it sounded as the most ridiculous thing ever heard of to hope for Life and Happiness by the
Death of another St. Augustin's Complaint of Tully's Works may be the â—ust Impeachment of all the voluminous Discourses of Philosophers that the Name of Christ is not to be found there There is nothing in them of the exalted Morals of our Great and Perfect Lawgiver of the great Mystery of Godliness manifested by a Redeemer and of the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and him crucified Yea in the account which the Philosophers give of the ordinary Moral Vertues and Vices they are very wavering and uncertain He that is acquainted with the Writings of the Chief Moralists among them knows that they frequently confute themselves their way is to set up their Wise Man and then soon after to pull him down which made an understanding Person declare that the Stoicks Wise Man †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch de Contradict Sâ—oicorum is no where to be found upon Earth yea and that he never was in being He is a Chimera a Fiction made up wholly of Paradoxes Riddles and Impossibilities so that there is nothing real in their Description of him but their Pride and Conceit The false and erroneous Conceptions which these and other Moralists had concerning Vertue and Vice we have in several Particulars laid open in the preceding part of this Discourse and it is that which ‖ De vero cultu cap. 17. Lactantius long ago hath very largely proved viz. that the Philosophers mistook Vertue for Vice and Vice for Vertue I remember the excellent * Praefat. ad Ethic. Des Cartes compares the Moral Writings of the Heathens to Splendid and Magnificent Palaces built upon Mud and Sand. They extol saith he Vertue to the Skies and prefer it before all other things but do not sufficiently explain to us the True Nature of it or lay the ground of it right nay oftentimes that which is called Vertue by them ought rather to be stiled Vice Now these ill Foundations cannot but be followed with as bad Superstructures and both of them will promote vitious Practices in Mens Lives So that upon this account we might conclude the Pagan Philosophers were very defective in shewing the way to Happiness for how could they do this so long as they were not able to build Men up in True Godliness and to make them really better But their greatest Blemish was that which I have already mentioned viz. their Ignorance of the way of Life and Salvation by Iesus Christ. They knew not that there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby they must be saved They understood not that in the great and universal Deluge of Mankind this is the only Ark we can be safe in They were unacquainted with the Mystery of Faith and Justification and the absolute necessity of the Assistance of the Holy Spirit and other such Divine and Saving Truths the Discovery of which is peculiar to the Christian Religion which is the only true Philosophy For this Name you may observe it bears in the Writings of the Antient Fathers Thus Iustin Martyr speaking of the Christian Institution hath these words concerning it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog cuÌ„ Tryph. Philosophy truly is the greatest Good and most acceptable to God it being that alone which leads us and commends us to him and they are really holy who apply their Minds to this Philosophy And he tells us that he found this to be ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. the only certain and useful Philosophy So the Barbarous Philosophy with Clemens Alexandrinus is the Christian Religion or the New Testament composed by those whom the Greeks stiled Barbarians This according to Isidore is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. l. 4. the New and Evangelical Philosophy and sometimes it is called by him the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. l. 5. Heavenly Philosophy And in several other Fathers this is the word for Christianity and the Doctors and Eminent Professors of the Christian Church are stiled ‖ Sozomen Eccl. Hist. l. 5. c. 12. Philosophers in opposition without doubt to those among the Pagans who boasted of this Title Thus I have attempted to shew how the Apostle's words are to be understood I have let you see what those things are which were blameable in the Greek Philosophy and why the Apostle cautions against it I have particularly discovered how this Philosophy was abused of old and thereby became most prejudicial to Christianity and how the Professors of it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word here used forcibly carry away and make a Prey and Booty of too great a part of the World by it Whence it is that the Apostle here couples Philosophy and Vain-Deceit together A Discourse on 1 S. Iohn Ch. 3. v. 8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil Wherein is shewed what the Works of the Devil are I Will enquire into these words not that they contain any Difficulty in them but because I would lay open the full and compleat Meaning of them for though I grant that by the Devil's Works is in the general meant all Sin and Vice as is evident from the foregoing Verse He that committeth Sin is of the Devil yet I conceive there is something more Particular intended here by these words Some Particular Works are to be understood wherein the Power Subtilty or Malice of that Evil Spirit are more signally exerted and therefore are Emphatically here call'd the Works of the Devil And this is that which I now design to offer and I will be the larger in insisting on it because it is of very Great Moment and is not like some other Subjects which I have treated of before that are Controversial and Disputable and likewise because I see this is not taken notice of by Commentators First Superstition is a remarkable Work of the Devil and without doubt is meant here This is a Reverencing and Adoring at a venture as those Religionists at Athens did who erected an Altar to an Vnknown God It is a yielding of unreasonable and groundless Homage and to define it more generally it is attributing in a religious way more than is due to Things or Persons It is in this large sense a vain and groundless Fear where no Fear i. e. no true cause of Fear is And on the other hand it is a fond and unwarrantable Expectation of those things from created Beings which they cannot afford us and which they were never designed for The Evil Spirit took care to employ the Minds of Pagans about these Matters that he might thereby divert them from Objects of a better Nature and take off their Thoughts from True Religion and the Divine Author of it and that he might hold them in a constant dependance on himself whilst he perswaded them that these Foolish Fears and Hopes should be of singular use and advantage to them Hence of Old they had their Lucky and