Lord Jesus was the Messias Because the preaching of Christ was grounded on this point That God had heretofore by his Prophets promis'd a Messias to the people of Israel who should be the Redeemer of the Nation and he was sent accordingly by God for that end in the fullness of time t in which regard he invited all the world to receive him as the Supreme Prophet Let them speak it out therefore confidently whether Christ be the Messias promised by the Old Testament or not For if he be not it behoveth to become Jews and to account him as they do for the greatest Deceiver that ever was upon the earth and hence forward turn our Churches into Synagogues reducing all Christian order to the ancient manner of the Tabernacle If he be the Messias promised by the Old Testament he is God for that describes him to be such as we have shewn by irrefragable proofs And that those Books of Moses David and the Prophets are divine what we have spoken above in the matter leaves it no longer doubtful Nevertheless admit for the present they be writings purely humane surely these excellent Theologers will not deny least the reading shame them but that they agree all in this particular That from the Nation of the Jews ought one day to arise a great and rare personage who should be King in Israel and should be called the Son and the Branch of the Lord himself And this hath been the expectation of that people in all times with which they comfort themselves still in their deplorable desolation But what moved them to speak in this manner if they had no other instinct but from their own mind Who incited Moses to set this fraud first on foot Why did the others many Ages after so carefully cherish ratifie and augment it in several circumstances with other false prophecies What profit did they reap by deluding the world with such a hope They must have had intelligence so many ages before with a man who was not yet in being to foretell that he should exist and this man born by chance at the just time which they presum'd to determine must have taken occasion from these fortuitous predictions and the expectation rais'd by them in the minds of men to declare himself the person whom so many prophets in so many different times had unanimously presag'd was to exist Now it would be a strange case that Moses should first of all without any necessity of so doing or advantage by it in reference to his design of governing the people of Israel and the establishment of his power take up a fancy of the future arising of some great Prophet and then another should come two or three hundred years after and revive this prediction made at randome and enlarge and clear it up with other new for this opinion was successively more and more confirm'd and rooted in the minds of men and that at length at the time prefixt and the set period there should be found one both confident enough to draw all those presages to his advantage and so favor'd by fortune that all the circumstances of his birth his life and his death should meet together in his person Surely ther 's as much likelihood in this as in the Imagination of Epicurus concerning the framing of the world by the casual lighting together of Atomes But there 's something yet more strange If they were predictions purely humane and also fortuitous like the Ephemerides of Nostradamus being they were cloath'd in magnificent terms and there was nothing promis'd less then a King sitting upon the throne of David who was to restore the Commonwealth of Israel faln into so miserable an estate under the power of the Romans If Jesus were merely man and intended to advantage himself by the foolish hopes of that people what a preposterous madness was it to take the course he did In stead of exciting the people to sedition against the Romanes he commands to pay tribute and pays it himself to give example In stead of insinuating into the affections of daring adventurous men and such as he might use for Captains he makes choise of a dozen poor Fishermen and people of such condition to have them continually in his train Instead of erecting his Nation to magnanimity he betakes himself to preach humility and obedience In stead of imploying the virtue of doing miracles he was so mighty in to astonish Herod or Pilate in some surprise or battail he heals the lame and the blind and the dumb and the paralytick And that which is if these Opinionists be credited the height of folly instead of raising men into hope of his victories he foretells to them which followed him that he was to dy upon the Cross and sharpely reproves one of them who went about to disswade him from that purpose of his Was this the way if it was a humane Design to be get in the world already posses'd with hope of a Messias for a great Earthly King a belief that he was the person which was promised by their Prophets Surely Mahomet us'd not this course who takes arms in hand gives freedom to slaves and because he knew his doctrine could not support it self by the prop of truth plants it in all places where he can by wars and battles Wherfore to conceive a person should endevor to serve himself after this manner of the presumptions and expectations of men is not to fancy a man but a lunatick In the next place I ask whether Jesus Christ when he called some persons with him to serve him in the work he undertook as nothing is more apparent then that he had twelve peculiar Apostles he discover'd this secret of his pretended Divinity to them or whether he abus'd them aswell as other men For if he discover'd the same to them 't was a wonderful complot that he should style himself the Son of God deport himself for very God and they profess themselves his messengers sent immediately from him to promulgate his doctrine and at last for their reward he should be ignominiously crucifi'd and each of them respectively after divers dangers both by Sea and Land after imprisonments stonings tortures and racks should conclude their miserable and painful lives by cruel and shameful deaths Truely though he chose Fishers and men of low condition yet I believe there was none among them so stupid as to be capable of being perswaded to partake in this enterprise upon these conditions For as for his having induc'd them to it by this onely consideration that great good should come thereby to the World and that the Nations should be converted by their word from Idols to the true God there was so little colour in the thing that he would never have been believ'd so little of that generosity in them which leads men to promote the universal good of the world without appearance of other recompense then misery and death that none of them would have
But there is something more in the matter which is that although some have more apprehensions of them and others less yet all are desirous to be delivered from them and to finde out some remedy against them For there is nothing that so harrasses the mind or gives it such anguish as Fear does and there is no man finds any pleasure in being tormented in that manner How therefore is it come about that men have been so susceptible of these vain terrors seeing we naturally repell those things that are enemies unto us And is it not so much the more considerable that there have been always found some people although they have been very rare among others that have endeavored as Epicurus to deliver men from such affrightments by openly preaching Impiety either by words or example For David complaines that there were some even amongst the Jews that were so devoid of sense as to deny that there is a God or if there be that he takes any consideration of humane actions by his Providence A strange thing that they which would imprint such vain Fears in the mind of Men should have succeeded so happily and so universally therein notwithstanding all the natural repugnances in us against them and they which would deliver us from them could never effect their purpose although they had the assistance of natural profaneness to favour them thereunto Do's not this surpass all astonishment that the Fear of Divine Justice naturally disquiets the souls of men and causes such painful agitations therein and yet notwithstanding if Epicurus should have mounted upon the Theater at Athens and the Poet Lucretius gone into the Pulpit for Orations and there preached to the people the contempt of God and his Thunders that instead of recompensing them for attempting to free men from such a tyrannical opinion the greatest wretches would have been ready to beat out their brains with stones And that those Nations being so inflamed with love of their Liberty and an ardent hatred against Tyrants which affected the Domination over their Goods and Persons that they erected statues in their streets in honor of them that kill'd them should have so great an abhorrence against those which went about to disabuse them from a fancy which oppress'd and tyranniz'd over their souls Surely it must rather be acknowledged that Nature prevail'd and the wrath of God which is in a high degree revealed to men from Heaven and Quae caput a coeli regionibus ostendebat And it helps not to alledge that it hath not been possible for us to be delivered from these Terrors because we have not been instructed in the Doctrine of Epicurus For whosoever looks narrowly thereinto will not without admiration remark two things First that there are very few men but have a propensity to Prophaneness and consequently every one is an Instructer to himself in the Epicurean discipline Yet nevertheless the number is so small that ha's delivered themselves from the inquietudes of conscience that perhaps there never was so much as one person that became absolutely freed from them not even Lucretius or Epicurus himself In some men the more resistance they employ against those assaults the greater is their importunateness and they are re-enforced by the endeavors that are us'd to repell them so that from Impiety to which they would resign up themselves to sin more at ease without being molested by such alarms in the midst of their pleasures they fall into Superstition like a fugitive slave that is drawn back by the throat into his Masters house where he is inforced to obey whether he will or no for fear of the Scourge and the Torture Others indeed go so far that the pleasures wherein they swim and wherewith they almost totally subvert their reason remove in a manner such sentiments out of their minds so as sometimes to make a mockery thereof But 't is as when Criminals give themselves to debaucheries in the Prison For when the fumes of wine are a little exhal'd and they begin to think of their crimes with a setled consideration they fret and are excruciated with the horror of Gibbets and Wheels which are preparing for them But if it happen to them to be always drunk which yet is rarely so yet they are in their sleep tormented with horrible visions and affrighting dreams The second thing observable is that the honester part of mankind are they which feel those Terrors least by reason that a good conscience which hath knowledge of the Goodness of God and his inclination to Mercy assures and reposes it self in the same and notwithstanding such good men abhor that doctrine from the bottom of their hearts that removes all fear of the Deity out of the Mind of Man In so much that they which are least disquieted with these Troubles are the men that esteem them to have their foundations in Nature and to be grounded upon Truth On the contrary they which believe them vain and groundless are the most severely assaulted with them without being able to be released from them In which on the one side shines the Goodness of God towards them that love him sincerely and fear him awfully and on the other side his Justice upon them that disesteem him What man was ever more outragious against God then Caligula or who ever so audaciously contemned his Vengeance And for all that when so ever it thundred as if the Deity had spoke to him from Heaven he hid himself under his Bed as if he intended to make a Buckler of it against the Tempest Whereas in the midst of the Darkness in which the Pagans liv'd Socrates maintained his mind in that same tranquillity at his Death wherein he had pass'd the whole course of his days But there is one thing highly worthy consideration which is that the stings of Conscience are never so sensible and so quick as when men approach near Death or behold themselves in some eminent danger that menaces them And whence should it be so but onely that by the instinct of Nature they presage and anticipate with their fear the misery that attends the Wicked after this Life Misery I say which is so much the more horrible in the apprehensions they have of it by reason that they know not what it is and because all men have a perswasion that their souls are immortal For if Death did extinguish the Soul with the Body and so rescued both the one and the other from the Divine Vengeance and the jurisdiction of Fortune at the same time there would be nothing at all to justifie those fears in reason In case I say those terrors were not natural in us there would be no person but would free himself from them with this consideration There was a time when we were not in Being and one day we shall exist no more which was the consolation of Epicurus But on the contrary then is the time that those Alarms are redoubled and the tempests increase
devour our hopes and the rebellion of animals against us is such that we are put to defend our selves even against vermine not onely against Serpents Dragons Lyons and Tygers Whence it is come to pass that the Ancients were so inconstant in the judgement which they made of man and his nature For after having spoken so much to his advantage that the title of King and God sometimes was not sufficient for him who can but wonder at Jupiters repenting in Homer for having given Peleus horses to become partakers of humane misery where he says that man is subject to more miseries then any other animal upon the face of the Earth So some wept upon the birth of their children through compassion that they come into this Scene of troubles and laught upon the death of their Parents out of joy that they go out of it and Euripides says that we ought to do so In a word the most usual comfort which they took in death is that it puts an end to our miseries and their histories or fables affirm that it was sent as a present from the Gods to the greatest and most excellent persons in recompense of their Virtues as to Cleobis and Biton for their piety towards Juno to Agamedes and Trophonius for their pains in building the Temple of Apollo at Delphos and likewise to Pindar What therefore can we say that man is In truth considering mankind in general it cannot be better resembled then to the present estate of Rome which is but as the carkass of what it was of old There are remaining indeed some ruins and some old inscriptions not-intelligible some fragements of ancient Statues and defaced monuments and ponderous tombes since the time she was Emperess of the World But in the whole all this is of so little proportion that had we no other knowledge of her grandeur by histories it were as impossible to conjecture thereby what she was fifteen hundred years ago as it is to guess at the integrity that flourish'd in the first ages by the manners of the present times Now of the cause and origine this so deplorable ruine all the ancients both Poets and Philosophers have been ignorant all their conjectures thereof are dubious and unresolved and all their assertors false Nor is it difficult to judge how much this ignorance hath hindred them from rendring to God what belongs to him upon this account and tasting any true and solid consolations in their miseries For how could they acknowledg his justice in the punishment of mankind whilst they knew not that this disorder hapned by their own fault How could they admire his goodness in conservation of the Universe when they were ignorant that man deserv'd to be reduced to nothing from his birth How could they have recourse to God for obtaining of him a remedy against such misery seeing they knew him not or how could they beseech him to repair their ruins How could they learn not to murmure against him if they knew not that the evils they suffered were worthily inflicted on them and as due to their crimes Lastly how could they restrain themselves from suspecting the wisdom or power of him that governs the World while they were ignorant of any pertinent reason of all this disorder For as when we observe in a Commonwealth good and bad laws and commendable and unseemly customes mixed together we conclude that either the first Legislators failed in some particular things though they hapned right in others or that later Magistrates degenerated from the Wisdom and Virtue of their Ancestors so beholding order and confusion jumbled together in the World it remains onely to conjecture that either the wisdom of him that contrived it at the beginning was defective or that he could not support and maintain his ancient laws through want of power I mention not at present the natural avidity of knowledge in us which can be little satisfied without a particular revelation as in other abstruse things so in this which is of such moment and continually presented to our minds namely what should be the cause of so many evils that reign in the World In the next place the consolations which they employ against them are very strange Some comfort themselves with the consideration of necessity against which it is unprofitable to struggle And indeed I deny not but it is good counsel to give to such as are miserable that when there is no means of deliverance from calamity to indevor at least to support it with the least impatience that may be because necessity is invincible It is good I say if it could be put in practise But as he that should exhort a man that is in the paroxysm of a violent Colick to be cheerful would shew himself ridiculous and void of understanding so he that should counsel a man fallen into some great and irrecoverable distress to comfort himself because it cannot be otherwise would deservedly be accounted troublesome and almost barbarous Can any imagine that it would have been any great heartning to the poor Philoctetes when he made the Sea and rocks resound his lamentable ejulations and wish'd that some body would cast him down from the precipice of a rock into the waves beneath for one to have said to him Friend there is no remedy Destiny will have it so and to wrastle against her decree is to swim against the stream For this is the cause of his despair that there is no remedy were there any hope of it he would not cry out so loud but sustain himself with those excellent words of Epicurus If pain be great it will be but of short durance And it would be to no purpose in such a case for a man to boast of the invincible strength of his courage Hercules himself groan'd â—nd cry'd out in the midst of the flames In effect there is no constancy which the assiduous perseverance of pain do's not at length overcome Nature ha's not made us of Iron or Steel but hath given us a tender and delicate flesh and quick and lively sentiments In a word the consideration of Necessity may indeed cause a man to resolve to travel through a bad and dirty way or to swallow a bitter potion that is soon down but there is no constancy which is not undermined and worn out by a continual suffering Others have solac'd themselves with the commonness generality of the misery conceiving it both injustice and folly for any particular person to complain of his own case where all are equally involv'd As the Proverb hath it 'T is the comfort of sufferers to have companions Thus the Poet Antimachus compos'd an Elegy wherein he reckon'd up all the disasters befallen to any people that ever he knew to comfort himself upon the loss of his wife But as the Sun though he shines in common to all that have eyes yet his light ought not to be accounted less grateful and sweet and as the use of respiration is
for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath powred out his soul unto death and he was numbred with Transgressors and bare the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors In conscience now is this to be a Prophet or to preach our Gospel Is this to foretell things to come or to point with the finger to things present or to relate pass'd Certainly let any man choose the clearest passage of the New Testament concerning this matter and compare it with these recited and it will be hard to distinguish which is that of the Apostle and which of the Prophet We conclude therefore that the Holy Scriptures of the Jews agree with the Doctrine of satisfaction and have foretold it and that Right Reason induces yea inforces to believe it CHAP. VIII That the Promised Messias ought to be both God and Man whence it follows that there are several persons in one simple Divine Essence Also Of the Divinity of the Old Testament THe third Objection against Satisfaction remains to be dissolv'd Namely that the punishment of one alone is not sufficient to obtain impunity for all men Indeed there is either no satisfaction or it ought to be proportionate both to the ossenses of men for whom it was made and the Justice of God that was incensed and consequently must be of an infinite worth and value For to fancy to our selves a satisfaction admitted by God infinitely below the demerit of the offense by way of Acceptance as they speak that is that he should be contented as fully paid for all though he receives but a small part is a thing not consistent either with the Wisdom or Goodness of God or the nature of his Justice as we declar'd it above Not with his Justice For since it is impossible for that to leave the sins of men unpunisht by reason it is the Hatred and Detestation of Evil a Perfection which is not divine if it be not infinite extreme nor extreme infinite if it be not wholy inexorable how could it be contented with the punishment of one alone for a satisfaction belonging to all mankind seeing it should thereby take vengance only for the offense of one remit the sin of all others freely without punishment For to speak properly there is no real satisfaction in an Acceptance but onely for so much as is receiv'd all the remainder of the debt exceeding what is receiv'd is freely forgiven and there is none but a fictitious and imaginary satisfaction for it Now it is not competent to an implacable justice to be pay'd with empty formalities and fictions Secondly not with his Goodness For it there be nothing in his Nature that hinders him from remitting gratuitously and without satisfaction the offenses of all men saving one what can there be in it to hinder him from forgiving that one also If I say there be nothing to hinder him from being contented with the death of one single man onely which of it self is of value onely to be satisfactory for one for payment for the infinite offenses of an almost infinite number of men why did he not likewise exercise this his infinite goodness towards this person that so it might be complete and no vengeance eclipse its lustre Since also be it by Acceptance or no it is perpetually necessary that the person who is to make the satisfaction be perfectly innocent and exempt from sin For God would not accept a polluted victime and he were uncapable of appeasing the wrath of God for another who had provoked him by his own offense Whence it should seem he could scarce justifie his Goodness if freely pardoning sinners he should without any need at all revenge himself upon an innocent person Lastly 't is not consistent with his Wisdom For to what end were it to make such an ambages and intricacy where the way is so plain and short What could be more easie then to pardon plainly without digressing to a satisfaction wholly defective in it self and complete onely because he that receives it will absolutely have his justice contented with it The reason alledged is that he might shew that his justice is terrible when he pleases and ingenerate in the minds of mortals so much greater horror of their offenses Certainly if the design be to render Divine Justice sormidable it appear'd so incomparably more in Noah's Flood the conflagration of Sodome and many other dreadful judgments then in the Death of one single man And if men must be made to know how worthy their Sin is of detestation and Hatred the Destruction of the City of Jerusalem with the unparallel'd mortality and slaughter that was seen there is a much more authentick Document to that purpose and an Instance that speaks lowder and farther beyond comparison But I believe men are not possess'd with much dread of the wrath of God when they are preach'd to that it is appeased with so small a matter It remains therefore necessarily that the Satisfaction be of an infinite weight and value to the end it may be proportionate to the sin of men and to the infinite Majesty of God himself But who can make it such No man surely who is nothing more then man For the condition of his Nature is too low and the bâ—unds of his dignity and excellence too narrow to correspond to so great an effect It would be very much if One could pay for one besides that the surety must abide in eternal destruction and having sav'd an other perish himself for ever Then all men in geneneral cannot make it For since Sin committed against an infinite Majesty deserves an infinite punishment the Offense increasing as Philosophers and Jurists teach according to the proportion of his dignity against whom it is committed and since the punishment of men cannot be infinite unless it be eternal should all men in general present themselves to undergo the wrath of God they would become overwhelm'd by it to all eternity far from redeeming themselves by a sufficient satisfaction Thirdly the Angels are equally unable For besides that there is not communion and affinity enough between men and them to be conveniently substituted as Pledges for them in suffering those pains whatsoever dignity the Angelical Nature possesses whatsoever excellence it may have above the humane yet it could never arise to equal the Majesty of God in order to satisfying his Justice after a proportional manner For at most they are but Creatures and there is an immense disproportion between the Creature and the Creator And he had good reason who said Behold He putteth no trust in his servants and his Angels he chargeth with folly Because though upon comparison of Angels with men they are of more transcendent purity and excellence yet if they be compar'd with God all their excellence is despicable and were it not that God upholds them
conscience summons him before the Tribunal of God and he reflects seriously on the immortal state of his soul the memory of all this vanishes and ther 's nothing to animate and comfort us but only the knowledge of the things which are reveal'd to us in these divine writings which moreover both the multitude and the constancy of such as have maintained with their blood to be of Divine original do justly challenge admiration For since it ha's not been through ferocity of courage that they underwent death with such alacrity being simple men for the most part and humble and quiet-minded in their whole lives nor through ambition of vain glory from affecting which they were very remote in all their conversation nor through a blind and obstinate headiness and opiniastry having always shewn themselves submissive to all good reasons and respectful towards all persons and especially towards superior Powers nor through brutish stupidity since in all other matters they appear'd men of sober judgements capable of reason and prudence nor through ignorance of the nature of Death seeing they preach't to others that 't is an effect of the vengeance of God upon the Sin of men and were fully perswaded of the immortality of their souls but the onely hope of glory promised in those books raised them beyond all fear they must needs have had a high perswasion of their verity since it was capable to ingenerate so powerful and impregnable a confidence in their minds And whereas there were many things which might have reclaim'd and deterr'd them from embracing these Books as the continual afflictions which they promise in this life for such is the gratification they hold forth here to those which receive them the love of their estates honors and children which naturally possesses the mindes of men the reproach of an ignomious death which is so intolerable to minds that own any thing of generosity the severity and reiteration of torments sufficient to shake the most firm resolution it follows that there must have been some more then humane inducements which fix'd their minds so unmoveably on an object expos'd to so numerous incomfortable perplexities and violences Then consider especially the almost infinite multitude of Martyrs and their long perseverance through so many Ages For had there been but two or three it might have been deem'd Nature had intended some extraordinary exploit in them or that they were transported by some foolish fancy and every Religion might produce some like example But what charm could have been potent enough to induce so many millions of men women and children of all ages conditions sexes and in so many most bloody persecutions renewed from time to time and age to age to despise death so magnanimously in maintaining a doctrine which had no other trouble attended it may seem ought to have been disgustfull to them both because it oppos'd their passions which we follow so willingly and depriv'd them of all the sweetnesses and delights of life Nevertheless those Violences have been the means to propagate it throughout the whole Earth and resolution and patience the arms wherwith it ha's destroy'd the empire of the false Gods and expelled the Demons from government of the World Other kind of Armies it never depended on to extend its conquests even to the ends of the World and subdue the greatest and most flourishing Empires All other Religions are confounded or if any are still upheld 't is only by the favor of Princes force of arms This though all the powers of the world were enemys to it at it's birth though it never attempted any thing but by the Voice onely never us'd other rampart for defence but an invincible patience ha's born up through 1600 years and overcome the hearts of Princes themselves But of this subject there are express Treatises to which we refer the Reader and proceed to examine in the next Chapter a certain Opinion excogitated of old by some giddy spirits and reviv'd in our dayes against the Divinity of Christ which though destitute of all apparence of reason do's not cease to take root and grow amongst many persons and therefore requires our consideration Place these two leaves which you find with Stars between 510 and 511. CHAP. X. That those who affirme Christ took upon him the appellation of God though he was not so onely that he might thereby render his Dâ—ctrine more authentique are apparently destitute of all reason THere are some people in these dayes who conceive they render the Christian Religion very acceptable when they give this account of matters pertaining to it That true Religion consists in the internal piety of the soul towards God and in the sincere and constant exercise of true virtue towards men That of all Religions the Christian is that which holds forth most knowledge of the nature of God and true virtue reducing the humane mind to the principles of nature it self and rectifying it from all the perverse opinions which the corruption of depraved Ages had induc'd into it But because the naked and plain proposing of these matters would have been very little effectual with men their own affections inclining them more powerfully to vice then virtue and for that the exhortations of a man merely man would not have been very prevalent Christ who was the chief and most excellent promoter of it that he might render his preaching more authentick assum'd the glorious appellation of the Son of God and pretended to be God too to the end that it being natural to us to receive with reverence what proceeds from the Deity his Doctrine might be more readily and firmely embrac'd his pretended divine dignity and the danger of rejecting what God is author of conciliating a sacred and venerable authority unto him Whence it was that like as when some great structure is to be built scaffolds are erected round about it which of themselves make no part of the Work but are serviceable for conveying materials upwards and for the standing of workmen so in the structure of Christian Religion some positions were employ'd which of themselves are but mere fictions but yet conduce to the establishing of profitable and excellent truths Such are the doctrine of the Trinity that of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of Justification by means of Christ's death and others which depend on these which are in their judgement Pious Frauds as they speak useful to very advantageous effects and might be imploy'd with a safe conscience because 't is a good thing to deceive when the delusion renders men better more happy and more wise Now this Opinion is so strange and swarmes with so many absurd impieties that not the scarcity but the abundance of Arguments which arise all at once in the mind of whosoever considers it renders me anxious where I should begin For in the first place it is requisite that they take away all correspondence between the Old Testament and the New and deny that our
forsook his boat or his cottage If he abus'd them also and impos'd upon them by his fair language 't is yet a thing surpassing all admiration that this deceit should have rendred them of idiots and rusticks the most excellent persons of the world and incited them who knew nothing beyond mending nets to undertake the reformation of Religion and manners of all the people of the habitable world For even a rejecter of the Gospel cannot but judge it requisite for them to have been endow'd with extraordinary graces not adequate to Fishers and toll-gatherers that they might perswade men to embrace things of such a surprising nature and bring it so to pass that whereas Mahomet with all his Armies and they which have succeeded him have not been able to establish a firm Empire but in the space of some hundreds of years twelve mean and despicable men in half an Age drew the greatest part of the World to them and establisht an Empire over the consciences of men which continues unshaken after so many generations and furthermore which is observable above the rest they effected this by teaching men things repugnant to their natural inclinations and exhorting them to dye courageously for one that was crucifi'd whereas Mahomet publish'd a Law which flatters the body with carnal pleasures and likewise the mind by indulging it in its most violent passions But will they venture to give credit to what the Apostle Saint Paul writes concerning himself We have shewn above that it would be too great impudence to deny the Epistles which bear his name to be his too great perversity not to believe it I demand therefore whether when he relates the means by which he was converted to Christ he do's it according to truth or to promote the Illusion For if it were onely to play his part in the Comedy what advantage was it to him to abandon the honors and priviledges he enjoy'd in his own Nation and expose himself to hunger and thirst the hatred of his Countrymen and the sury of cruel beasts onely to deceive the world in favor of another Deceiver and he one that was crucifi'd for which he had no other reward to hope but at length to perish by the same sort of punishment If it was according to truth what power had a dead man to cause him to see such visions to speak to him from heaven and captivate all his thoughts as he speaks to his obedience Yet perhaps both the one and the others Christ and his Embassadors intended the glory of God and did all this in favour of true virtue by an honest zeal which clos'd their eyes against all dangers and was also seconded with some especial strength from God ennabling them to contemn all things in comparison of the advancing of their enterprise Let us therefore inquire what their piety and virtue may have been if the opinion of these people be admitted And first did they use this proceeding by the command of God No surely For God who is the God of truth would not have commanded them to teach a Lye or to make use of one to perswade some other thing that were true He is powerful to cause the truth to be embrac'd by other means and a greater injury cannot be done to him then to go about to gratifie him with what he hates Much less would God have commanded a mere man to call himself his eternal Son and God equal to him so to add blasphemy and sacriledge to a lye Indeed what appearance is there that whereas men ought to honor and venerate him as God alone he should not onely have favour'd by his connivance but enjoynd by his expres commandment that a mortal man should take upon him to be eternal God and draw the hearts and veneration of men to himself But if they had no such command what prodigious boldness would it have been for a man whose conscience was convinc'd he was no more to dare to call himself God And what a hideous impiety in those who seconded him in this design to preach him for such throughout the whole world These people make shew of commending Christ because he brought the minds of men to the knowledge of the purity of virtue and taught a more refin'd and exquisite holiness then any that ever was besides and yet they represent him to us the most notorious lyar and most impious blasphemer of men The wise men of old exclaimed against the folie of Alexander the great who suffer'd himself to be almost flatter'd into a belief that he was the Son of Jupiter though he liv'd in a dark Age and Country in which the stories of the lewdness of the Gods made it no incredible thing Bacchus and some others worse being in the number whose atchievements were short of his But these subtle people we deal with represent him to us for a modest person and worthy of imitation for his virtue whom they judge to have abused the world by so notorious an imposture Moreover what piety could Christ have had towards God For what an insolence was this to believe himself God if he was not so And if he did not believe it why did he not having no command to profess himself such tremble with horror as oft as he reflected on God and his own blasphemy Certainly if he had been such as these people describe him he had deserved far worse then the cross which he suffer'd But behold something yet more strange They say that among the great and glorious things which Christ did this excels the rest That he abolisht Idolatry and the rable of Gods which were ador'd by the Pagans and restor'd the knowledge and true worship of the Deity And yet if what they say be true he ha's establish'd the highest and most universal Idolatry that ever was seen in the world For almost all Nations have embrac'd the doctrine of Christ And amongst those Nations very few persons can be found but acknowledge him for God blessed for ever Nor is it material here to alledge that his intention was not to be acknowledg'd for such For why did he call himself God unless that men might believe it Wherefore does he complain of the incredulity of the Jews when they will not acknowledge him for such but accuse him of blasphemy And how would he have men believe him God without adoring him since it is as much sin not to adore him whom we believe to be God as to adore him whom we esteem not to be so Besides he never repell'd any that adress'd to him under that notion and his Apostles universally own it Was it not therefore by his commandment Or if it were not by his express commandment ought not he to have redress'd so dangerous a mistake One thing there is which I would understand certainly whether they against whom I dispute give any credit to the Books which we call the Gospel For what ever good outside they wear I doubt they believe them not