which might easily be accommodated to the Christian Doctrine and so a great deal of the Animosities both of the Jews and Heathens would be removed and Christianity would thereby gain more Friends and meet with fewer Enemies The Apostle finding how necessary it was at this time if possible to keep them stedfast in the Faith 1. He assures them that the Christian Doctrine was of it self so sufficient for the good of Mankind that it needed no Additions either from the Law of Moses or the Philosophy of the Gentiles which might introduce several things with a specious Appearance of Wisdom Humility and Mortification but they ought to be assured that from Christ they had all that was necessary or usefull for Salvation For in him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge 2. That this Doctrine was at first truly delivered to them and they ought to be stedfast in it which is the design of the Text. But they might object that Epaphras was no Apostle of Christ himself and if he were yet there were many Apostles and the false Apostles pretended to be true ones and although St. Paul interposed his Authority yet he was but one and the Judaizers would not yield to it but were ready to suggest that the other Apostles were more favourable to the Jewish Customs than he and therefore it was necessary some more general and common Rule be found out whereby to distinguish the Original and Genuine Doctrine of Christ from that of Pretenders and Seducers The clearing of this is in it self a Matter of great Consequence and not only was to those of that Age but is so in every Age of the Christian Church where the same Question may be put What was the true Primitive Doctrine of Christ and by what means may we come to it which concerns us at this day as well as them And the Answer lay in two particulars which I shall endeavour to clear 1. That which the Apostles did in common deliver to the Churches planted by them was the Genuine Doctrine of Christ. 2. That which they have left in their Writings after it came to be contested which was the true Doctrine of Christ. 1. That which the Apostles did in common deliver to the Churches planted by them For we have all the reason in the World to believe that the Apostles delivered one and the same Faith to all the Churches having the same infallible Spirit to direct them There was no need for them to meet together before their dispersion and to agree upon some common Article of Faith as Ruffinus imagines lest they should differ from each other For how could they differ who had the same Spirit of Truth to lead them into all Truth And we find nothing like a Combination among the Apostles as to Matters of Doctrinâ— And if there had been it would have rendred the Faith they delivered more suspicious in that they durst not trust particular Persons with delivery of it without an antecedent Confederacy among themselves which would have looked like a mistrust of that Promise of the Spirits being fulfilled upon all of them And we find when the Gospels were to be written there was no such meeting together to settle the several Parts of it and yet this was of as much consequence to the Church of God but St. Matthew writes his Gospel in Judoea at the time saith Irenoeus that Peter and Paul preached and founded a Church in Rome St. Mark either at Rome or in Egypt not till after their decease saith the same very Ancient Father St. Luke in Greece after St. Paul planted Churches in Rome and St. John in Asia after all the rest But there was the same Divine Spirit which assisted them all and therefore there was such a concurrence as shewed their veracity but such a variety as shewed there was no Combination But it is observable that none of the Gospels were written till the Doctrine of Christ had been preached by the Apostles in many Places and many Churches were formed and established by them And there were two great Advantages thereby 1. The Unity of the Faith delivered by the Apostles was the more seen because then without the help of a written Rule they so unanimously agreed in the Doctrines they delivered Not as though it were less possible to mistake without it but on the contrary there being a much greater liableness to mistake so Universal a consent was the stronger Argument of a Divine Assistance If there had been any difference in the Doctrines preached by the Apostles there were so many Enemies both of Jews and Infidels and false Apostles who would presently have reproached the Christian Churches with it But no disagreement is ever so much as mention'd as to what the Apostles themselves taught They had one Body one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all Where-ever the Apostles went whether into Scythia Parthia Mesopotamia or any Provinces of the Roman Empire all who were converted by them were baptized into the same Faith which St. Jude calls the Faith once delivered to the Saints But once delivered though by many Persons and in very distant places and so once delivered as the same Faith once delivered is to continue to the World's end For nothing can be made the Faith of Christ which was not always so for that were to lay a new foundation and to make another Covenant than what Christ hath sealed with his Blood But he is the same yesterday to day and for ever The Terms of Salvation can never be altered unless there be a new Saviour and new Apostles and new Teachers But if we go to Heaven by Christ we must go that way that himself hath directed For Men and Angels joining their Powers together cannot save one Soul Christ alone being the Way the Truth and the Life and none can come to the Father but by him This the Apostles very well knew and were therefore carefull to deliver nothing to the Church but what they received from Christ as St. Paul saith of himself For I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you Not by way of Tradition from Men but by immediate Divine Revelation for as he saith he was not an Apostle of Men or by Men but by Jesus Christ and God the Father and not long after he saith he neither received the Gospel of Man neither was I taught it but by Revelation of Jesus Christ. There was none of all the first Preachers of the Gospel so liable to the Suspicion of setting up for himself and varying from the rest as St. Paul was For he was none of the Original Number of Apostles and he was a known Persecutor of the Disciples of Christ and sudden Converts are always suspected and Ananias had a Vision to satisfie him and yet he could not tell what to think at first concerning him and the Disciples when they
first heard him were amazed after this he took a course by himself and did not go up to Jerusalem to the College of Apostles there resident but went into Arabia so that if any one might be thought to set up another Doctrine it was he but he was so far from it that he established and confirmed the Truth of what they delivered and was very successfull in his Apostleship in all Places And when there had been some Whispers concerning him as though he proceeded not in the same way with the rest he went up to Jerusalem and there upon full examination James and Cephas and John who were the leading Apostles gave him the Right-hand of Fellowship in token of their full consent in the same Faith 2. The truth of the Gospel was the more plainly discovered All this while the Apostles only preached and delivered their Doctrine to the several Churches by verbal Instructions but after these had been received in the hearts of such Multitudes that there could be no suspicion that a false Representation of Christ's Doctrine or Actions could be received by those Churches then the wise Providence of God took care for Posterity and imploy'd several Persons in distant Places and Times to write the History of our Saviour And there was this advantage to the Church that the Gospels were written no sooner For all the Churches planted by the Apostles were then made Judges whether the Gospels written were agreeable to the Doctrine which the Apostles had taught and if not there would have been just reason to have question'd either the Truth of what had been taught them or what was delivered in the Gospels But when they found the main to be fully consonant to what they had been taught the Testimony of every one of these Churches did shew the concurrence of all the Apostles as to the Doctrine contained in the several Gospels And that which adds to the strength of this Proof is that when the true Gospels were written there were several false and counterfeit Gospels dispersed abroad under the Names of the Apostles themselves As of St. Peter St. Thomas St. Matthias and others as Eusebius informs us and as we have the genuine Acts of the Apostles so there were the pretended Acts of Paul of Andrew and John and the other Apostles How came these to be rejected and the other to be carefully received Here lies the true Advantage of Original Tradition before the written Gospels that by it the several Churches were enabled to pass a true Judgment concerning them when they came to be dispersed among them For they could presently tell whether what they read wer agreeable to what they had heard and received from the Apostles As suppose the Gospel of St. Matthew being published in Judoea were carried into Mesopotamia or Persia where many Christian Churches were very early planted these being throughly instructed by the Apostles in all things relating to the Life Death Resurrection and Doctrine of Christ could presently judge whether St. Matthew's Gospel agreed with what they had heard or not and the like holds as to all the Churches in the Roman Empire So that the consent of the Churches so soon while the Memory of the Apostles Doctrine was so fresh in their minds is in effect the consent of all the Apostles who taught them And this is very different from the case of particular Persons in some Churches who might mistake or forget what was taught for this is a concurrent Testimony of all the Apostolical Churches who could not agree to approve an Errour in the Gospels contrary to the Faith delivered to them And that while some of the Apostles were still living For the other Gospels were received and approved before St. John wrote his The case had been far otherwise if no Gospels had been written in that Age for then it might have been suspected that either the Impressions of the first Teachers were worn out or they had been by degrees alter'd from their first Apprehensions by the cunning craftiness of those who lay in wait to deceive them After the decease of the Apostles the common Tradition of the Apostolical Churches was usefull in these cases 1. To convey down the Authentick Writings of the Apostles or Evangelists which were delivered to any of them 2. To bear Testimony against any pretended Writings which were not first received by the Apostolical Churches to which they were said to be written For there can be no Negative Testimony of more force than that it being improbable to the utmost degree that such a Church should not know or not make known any true Apostolical Writings 3. To overthrow any pretence to a secret Tradition from the Apostles different from what was seen in the Apostolical Writings And to this purpose Irenoeus and Tertullian make very good use of the Tradition of the Apostolical Churches against the pretenders to such a Tradition which those Churches were not acquainted with But they agree that the Apostles committed the same Doctrine to writing which they preached and that it might be a Foundation and Pillar of Faith that this Doctrine was contained in the four Gospels and that the Apostolical Churches did receive them from those who first wrote them and that within the compass of the Apostolical Age. It was therefore most agreeable to the infinite Wisdom of God in providing for a constant Establishment of the Faith of his Church in all Ages neither to permit the Gospels to be written till the Churches were planted nor to be put off to another Generation For then it would have been plausibly objected if these things are true why were they not recorded when there were Persons living who were best able to have either proved or confuted them Then we might have been satisfied one way or other but now the Jews are dead and the Apostles are dead and although there are many left who believe their Doctrine yet this can never reach to the Testimony of those who saw and heard the things themselves or whose Doctrine was attested by those who did so And this is now the mighty Advantage of the Church ever since that the things concerning Christ were written by such Persons With what another kind of Authority do those words command our Assent That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifest unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you then if all the Testimony concerning Christ were to be resolved into those who heard some say that others told them they had it from such who saw those who conversed with them who saw Christ in the Flesh At such a distance the Authority of a Testimony is extremely lessen'd
which is not like a River which grows greater by running but like a mineral Water which loses its strength by being carried too far We find in the time of Papias who lived but in the second Century the Authority of bare Tradition was mightily sunk For Eusebius saith he conversed with the Disciples of our Lord and his Apostles he saith of himself that he went up and down to them to get what he could from them having a greater esteem of what he could learn from them than of what was written And what Advantage did this bring to the Church It brought some idle opinions into reputation saith Eusebius for afterwards they thought it enough to fix them upon Papias But how was it possible for him to mistake Eusebius saith that being a Man of mean capacity he might easily misunderstand the meaning of what was spoken But if Tradition might fail after such a manner so near the Apostle's times then we must be assured of the Capacity as well as Integrity of those of every Age through whom a Tradition passed or else they might deceive or be deceived about it But God was pleased to provide better for the security of our Faith by causing the Gospels to be written either by the Apostles themselves as St. Matthew and St. John or by the Disciples of the chief Apostles while the others were surviving as St. Mark and St. Luke and the latter gives this account of his undertaking to write it viz. That thou mightest know the the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed His instruction was by an Oral Tradition but that it seems wanted something to strengthen and confirm it and that was by St. Luke's writing his Gospel How could they add any assurance to him if all the ground of his certainty were to be taken from Tradition St. Luke thought it necessary then that those things which concerned the Life and Doctrine of Christ should be put into Writing that they might be more certainly convey'd and that while they had the Testimony of those who were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word 2. And so I come to the second Rule of discerning the Primitive Doctrine of Christ viz. The Writings of the Apostles when Matters of Doctrine came to be contested were the infallible Rule whereby they were to judge which was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ. There are some who pretend that the Apostle's Writings were meerly Accidental and Occasional things but that the main Design was to lodge the great Assurance of thâ— Doctrine of Christ in Tradition from one to another and what they wrote was not to make any Rule of Faith but only to give some good Advice to those Churches they wrote to But I shall now prove that the Writings of the Apostles were intended by the Holy Ghost to be a standing Rule whereby the Church was to judge which was the true and genuine Doctrine of Christ. 1. From the Reasons and Occasions of writing the Books of the New Testament 1. As to the Gospels we must distinguish the General Reason of writing them from the particular Occasions as to the several Gospels The general Reason is to be drawn from the Divine Wisdom which inspired and guided them the particular Occasions relate to the circumstances of writing them The General Reason is that which Irenoeus gives viz. That the Gospel which they had first preached was by the Will of God put into Writing that it might be a Foundation and Pillar of our Faith Not meerly to keep up the Remembranee of it which Feuardentius yields and thereby overthrows the Infallibility of Oral Tradition but that so it may be a certain Rule of Faith to all Ages The Evangelists saith St. Augustin were but Christ's Hands which himself as the Head directed in writing the Gospels and therefore we are to look on the Gospels as his own Hand-writing The Holy Ghost saith he directed the Minds of the Evangelists as to the order and manner of their Writing Which varied according to the particular Occasions but yet were all subservient to the General Reason St. Matthew wrote the first Gospel saith Eusebius to the Jews to whom he had preached because going into other parts he would supply the want of his Presence among them by his Writing What need this if Tradition were a certain and infallible way of conveying the Doctrine of Christ St. Chrysostom saith the Jewish Christians desired him to put into Writing what they had heard him preach Did not they understand the force of Tradition better Or why should St. Matthew put them out of an infallible way The Author of the imperfect Work on St. Matthew saith they desired him to write his Gospel that where-ever they went they might carry an Account of their Faith with them Clemens Alexandrinus saith the occasion of writing St. Mark 's Gospel was that the people were not satisfied with an unwritten delivery of the Holy Doctrine and therefore importuned Mark who was the Disciple of St. Peter that he would leave a Monument of his Doctrine in Writing which St. Peter understanding by Revelation approved and confirmed his Gospel for the use of the Churches Origen saith he wrote it according to St. Peter's directions Epiphanius saith by his Authority Athanasius saith it was dictated by him at Rome It seems that Peter himself did not think fit to leave the Doctrine of Christ to an Oral Tradition even at Rome but Irenoeus thinks it was written after St. Peter's decease who therein differs from the rest and shews how uncertain meer Tradition is Tertullian saith St. Mark 's Gospel was attributed to St. Peter and St. Luke 's to St. Paul St. Jerom mentions the Opinion of some that when St. Paul saith according to my Gospel he means that of St. Luke But St. Luke himself plainly gives an Account of the occasion of his writing St. Ambrose thinks by those who had taken in hand to write of those things which were firmly believed among us he means the Authors of the counterfeit Gospels as that of the Twelve Apostles and St. Matthias But we have no evidence that these were older than St. Luke his meaning is that in those parts where he was there were some who did undertake to give an Account of the Life and Actions of Christ who wanted the Advantages which he had having had great opportunities of knowing circumstances from the Eye-witnesses and therefore he set himself to give an exact Relation of them that not only Theophilus but every one that answers his name might know the certainty of those things wherein they had been instructed But did not they know the certainty of these things by the Apostle's Preaching Yes but the things they heard might slip out of their Memories and to prevent this saith Theophylact St. Luke wrote his Gospel that they might retain these things with greater certainty And words that are
be not something Negative viz. because great Absurdities would follow if we attributed any thing Corporeal to God for then he must be compounded of Parts and so he may be dissolved then he must be confined to a certain Place and not every-where present he cannot have the Power of acting and self-determining which a meer Body hath not For the clearest Notion we can have of Body is that it is made up of some things as parts of it which may be separated from each other and is confined to a certain Place and hath no Power to move or act from it self But some of these Men who cry down Mysteries and magnifie Reason to shew how slender their Pretences to Reason are have asserted a Corporeal God with Shaps and Figure It was indeed well thought of by those who would make a Man to be God to bring God down as near to Man as might be But how to reconcile the Notion of a Body with Infinite Perfections is a Mystery to me and far above my Comprehension But if it be no Mystery to such Men they must either deny God's Infinite Perfections or shew how a bodily Shape can be capable of them But some Men can confound Finite and Infinite Body and Spirit God and Man and yet are for no Mysteries whereas these things are farther from our Reach and Comprehension than any of those Doctrines which they find fault with But to proceed If we believe Prophecy we must believe God's fore-knowledge of future Events For how could they be foretold if he did not foreknow them And if he did fore-know those which he did foretell then it was either because those only were revealed to him which is inconsistent with the Divine Perfections or that he doth fore-know all other Events and only thought fitting to reveal these But how can they solve the Difficulties about Divine Prescience Is there no Mystery in this Nothing above their Comprehension What then made their great Master deny it as a thing above his Comprehension Because nothing can be fore-known but what hath a certain Cause and therefore if evil Actions be fore-told God must be the Cause of them and Men will not be free Agents in them And yet it is most certain that the Sufferings of Christ by the Wickedness of Men were foretold What then Must we make God the Author of Sin God forbid Will the righteous Judge of all the Earth punish Mankind for his own Acts which they could not avoid Then we must yield that there is something in the Manner of the Divine Prescience which is above our Comprehension And the most searching and inquisitive Men have been forc'd to yield it at last as to the Connection between the Certainty of Prescience and the Liberty of humane Actions Is it not then much better to sit down quietly at first adoring the Infiniteness of God's incomprehensible Perfections than after all the Huffings and Disputings of Men to say In ignorantiâ solâ quietem invenio as the great Schoolman did Surely then here is something plainly revealed and yet the Manner of it is still a Mystery to us I shall not now insist on any more of the particular Attributes of God but only in general I desire to know whether they believe them to be finite or infinite If to be finite then they must have certain Bounds and Limits which they cannot exceed and that must either be from the Imperfection of Nature or from a superiour Cause both which are repugnant to the very Being of God If they believe them to be Infinite how can they comprehend them We are strangely puzzled in plain ordinary finite things but it is madness to pretend to comprehend what is Infinite and yet if the Perfections of God be not Infinite they cannot belong to Him I shall only add in Consequence to this Assertion That if nothing is to be believed but what may be comprehended the very Being of God must be rejected too And therefore I desire all such who talk so warmly against any Mysteries in Religion to consider whose Work it is they are doing even theirs who under this Pretence go about to overthrow all Religion For say they Religion is a Mystery in its own Nature not this or that or the other Religion but they are all alike all is Mystery and that is but another Name for Fraud and Imposture What were the Heathen Mysteries but tricks of Priest-Craft and such are maintained and kept up in all kinds of Religion If therefore these Men who talk against Mysteries understand themselves they must in pursuance of their Principles reject one God as well as three Persons For as long as they believe an Infinite and Incomprehensible Being it is Nonsense to reject any other Doctrine which relates to an Infinite Being because it is Incomprehensible But yet these very Men who seem to pursue the Consequence of this Principle to the utmost must assert something more incomprehensible than the Being of God For I appeal to any Man of common Understanding whether it be not more agreeable to Reason to suppose Works of Skill Beauty and Order to be the Effects of a wise and intelligent Being than of blind Chance and unaccountable Necessity whether it be not more agreeable to the Sense of Mankind to suppose an Infinite and Eternal Mind endued with all possible Perfections to be the Maker of this visible World than that it should start out from it self without Contrivance without Order without Cause Certainly such Men have no Reason to find fault with the Mysteries of Religion because they are incomprehensible since there is nothing so absurd and incomprehensible as their darling Hypothesis And there is nothing which can make it prevail but to suppose Mankind to be as dull and insensible as the first Chaos Thus I have shewn that it is not unreasonable for God to require from us the Belief of something which we cannot comprehend 2. I now come to consider whether those who are so afraid of incomprehensible Mysteries in our Faith have made it so much more easie in the Way they have taken And notwithstanding all the Hectoring talk against Mysteries and things incomprehensible in Religion I find more insuperable Difficulties in Point of Reason in their Way than in ours As for Instance 1. It is a more reasonable thing to suppose something mysterious in the Eternal Son of God's being with the Father before the World was made by him as St. John expresses it in the beginning of his Gospel than in supposing that although John the Baptist were born six Months before Jesus Christ that yet Christ was in Dignity before him What a wonderfull Mystery is this Can Men have the Face to cry down Mysteries in deep Speculations and Matters of a high and abstruse Nature when they make such Mysteries of plain and easie things and suppose the Evangelist in profound Language and lofty Expressions to prove a thing which was never disputed viz.
such aggravating Circumstances as he hath done and now resolves in the Anguish of his Soul never more to return to the Practice of them This no doubt is far more pleasing to God than going on to offend still but all this is no more than a Man in justice to God and to himself is bound to do for he is bound to vindicate the Honour of God's Laws and to condemn himself for his own Folly and to return no more to the Practice of it But what amends is made by all this for the infinite Dishonour which hath been done to God and his Laws by the Violation of them The Courts of Justice among Men take no Notice of the Malefactor's Repentance however he be affected the Law must be observed and Offenders punished How then can any Persons be assured from meer Natural Reason that God will not be as tender of the Honour and Justice of his Laws as Mankind are allowed to be without any Imputation of Cruelty or Injustice If God should be exact in punishing Offenders who could complain For who can plead Not Guilty before his Maker And when a Man 's own Conscience condemns him that he hath deserved Punishment what Reason can he have from himself not to expect it And if he doth justly expect to be punished what reason can he have to hope for Forgiveness Since he knows that he deserves to be punished and therefore can never deserve to be forgiven It must be therefore a free Act of Grace and Mercy in God to forgive even penitent Sinners and upon what Terms and in what Manner he will do it depends wholly upon his own Good-will He may forgive Sins if he pleases and it is agreeable to his Natute to do it if Sinners do repent and forsake their Sins but whether God hath actually made known to us the way of Reconciliation cannot be known by any Principles of Nature because it is a Matter of Fact and must have such Proof as a thing of that Nature is capable of II. Having thus shewed how strongly the Principles of Natural Religion do make way for entertaining this Point of the Christian Doctrine as to God's sending his Son into the World in order to our Reconciliation with him and our Salvation by him it remains now to shew how justly God doth require the Belief of it from us as true for the next words tells us That he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God v. 18. This some may say is very hard Doctrine for they believe as much as they can and if they can believe no more it is no fault for no Man can be bound to believe more than he can I do not question but Nicodemus to whom these words are generally supposed to be spoken by our Saviour thought he had gone a great way when he used those words to Christ v. 2. Rabbi we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no Man can do these Miracles that thou dost except God be with him i. e. He was willing to believe him some great Prophet whom God had sent and this was a fair step for a Ruler among the Jews who were generally very unreasonable Unbelievers But Christ tells him plainly this would not do for unless he believed him to be the only begotten Son of God he could not be saved And this is the great Point That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life v. 16. Not as though meer believing this were sufficient for this carries a great many other things along with it but that since God had sent his only begotten Son into the World upon such a Message he did expect that he should be received and entertained as such upon their utmost Peril But can we believe farther than we have Reason to believe No God doâ—h not expect it from us provided that with sincere and impartial Minds we set our selves to consider and weigh the Evidence and with great Humility beg the Assistance of Divine Grace without which God may justly leave us to our Unbelief It would be too large a Subject now to lay open the several Arguments to prove that it is as evident as a Matter of Fact can be made to us that God did send his Son that the World through him might be saved Therefore I shall only mention these two things 1. That if the Matters of Fact are true concerning the History of Christ's coming as related by the Evangelists there can be no Reason to doubt his being the Son of God For he that was the most exact Pattern of Humility and Self-denial not only frequently assumes this Title to himself and his most intimate Disciples affirm it of him but God himself gave the most ample and convincing Testimony to it by his miraculous Birth and a Voice from Heaven to that Purpose at his Baptism by a long Train and Series of publick and usefull Miracles to attest the Truth of his Doctrine by his Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven and wonderfull Effusion of the Holy Ghost with the strange Effects which followed it so that no one who doth believe these things to be true can have any ground to say that he cannot believe Christ to be the Son of God 2. That if these Matters of Fact are not to be believed as true we cannot be bound to believe any thing but what we see our selves For the Distance of Time and Place are equal in this Case and no other Matters of Fact are so well attested as these are And so as the Apostle saith of Christ's Resurrection If he be not risen our Faith is vain so in this Case I say if there be not Reason to believe these things all Faith is vain For no other Matters of Fact which we should be accounted Fools for not believing have had such a sort of Testimony which these have had For these things were not conveyed by a silent Tradition for some time till the chief Parties were dead who could either prove or disprove them but they were publick and exposed to all Manner of Examination They were not deliver'd by one or two who were trusted with a Secret but openly avowed by a great Number of competent Witnesses who were present and none of them could be brought by the greatest Sufferings to deny or falsify or conceal any Part of their Evidence that when these things had been thus delivered by those who saw them who were most remarkable for their Innocency and Integrity in the next Ages they were examined and enquired into by Men of Sagacity and Learning who upon the strictest Search found no Reason to suspect their Testimony and therefore heartily embraced and defended the Christian Faith And from thence they have been conveyed down to us not by
Mysterious Doctrine of the Resurrection although artificially couched by wayâ— of Insinuation and Address 1. It is not a vain thing to suppose it because God had Promised it For no Tradition of Fathers no Conjectures of Philosophers no Power of Nature could be a sufficient Foundation to build such an Article of Faith upon nothing short of the Promise made of God 2. It is not a new thing started by him to disturb and perplex the Minds of Men it was a Promise made to our Fathers i. e. it was involv'd and implied in the great Promise of the Messias and the Happiness to come by him which was not with Respect to this World but the World to come the full and compleat Enjoyment whereof must suppose a Resurrection of the dead 3. It is not an unreasonable thing which appears by S. Paul's putting it to them in such a manner Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead Wherein the Apostle hath shew'd us the true Method of asserting and defending the Mysteries of the Christian Faith viz. not to undertake to demonstrate things by natural Reason which are uncapable of it but first to prove them to be of Divine Revelation and then to shew that there is no Objection from Reason which can make that Revelation incredible And this I shall endeavour to make out as to the Subject here mentioned and that 1. In General with respect to the Doctrine of the Resurrection 2. More particularly 1. As to the Resurrection of Christ 2. As to the Resurrection of the Dead at the great Day 1. In General as to the Doctrine of the Resurrection It is no unreasonable Method of proceeding with Mankind to suppose some general Principles agreed on before we undertake to prove particular Doctrines For when we go about to reason at all we must suppose the Foundations of certainty without which it is to no purpose to undertake to convince any Man of any thing When we prove that there is a God we must suppose something that is without our selves in the Frame of this visible World and from the order of Causes the variety of Effects the nature of successive Beings we justly infer that it could not be always just as it is and therefore it will be produced by a Being Superiour to it whose Power must be Infinite as giving Being to that which had none and disposing things in such a manner as we see them For as nothing can be without a Cause so it is most unreasonable to suppose that which once was not should put it self into Being or a blind and unactive Cause should produce such admirable Effects An infinite Power being then necessarily supposed as to the Production of the World it cannot be unreasonable to apply it to a particular Effect although above the power of natural Causes if it be such a one as is agreeable to the infinite Wisdom of God It is an unreasonable thing to suppose any absurd Doctrine to be true because God's Power is infinite For he doth not imploy his Power but in a way most agreeable to his Wisdom and his Wisdom is discovered in the suitableness of the End and the clearness of Divine Revelation It is as possible for God now to raise the Dead as at the great Day but we have no reason to believe it because it doth not now answer the great End of the Resurrection which is in order to an eternal State Therefore altho' there be an equal Possibility in the thing yet there is not an equal Credibility because this doth by no means come up to the declared Purpose of God's raising the Dead which is of very great moment for Mankind to believe and expect If I could believe it possible for the Body of Christ to be in ten thousand places at the same time which I cannot yet if it were not to attain some great and spiritual End which cannot be carried on another way I have the same reason to think it incredible as I have to believe that God will not imploy his infinite Power as often as a Priest shall think fit by repeating the words of Consecration And we never find in the whole History of Scripture the infinite and miraculous Power of God tied to a certain Form of words and that to no spiritual End viz. either for the Conviction Conversion or Sanctification of Mankind to which other means more proper and agreeable are appointed But in the Case of the Resurrection of the Dead our Saviour hath sufficiently declared the End and Design of it to be such that we may justly suppose that if God will imploy his infinite Power it would be for such a Purpose The hour is coming saith Christ in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Can we imagine the Power of God to be imployed for a more suitable End to the Design of his Providence than this It is not to make them capable of acting over again all that Folly and Vanity and Vice which they live in now it is not meerly to shew his Power over all the scattered Atoms of our Bodies and that he can when he pleases fetch them of their secret Repositories and dispose and unite them so as to make the same Bodies it is not to convince then the unbelieving part of Mankind when they see that effected which they before thought incredible for they who will not believe now upon the Evidence which God hath given so as to prepare themselves for that great Day shall then be forced both to believe and tremble Altho' then we do own that without God's infinite Power we look on the Resurrection as impossible yet this ought to be no disparagement to the Doctrine since the End of it is such as doth so fully agree with the Wisdom and Design of Providence It 's true the ancient Fathers who discoursed much to the Heathens upon the Argument of the Resurrection which they thought one of the most incredible Parts of the Christian Doctrine do make use of many comparisons and Similitudes from natural Causes and Effects But we are not to look on them as strict Proofs but as handsome Illustrations being designed to take off the Scorn and Derision with which the Heathens entertained the Doctrine Thus they speak of a Diurnal Resurrection viz. Of the Day dying into Night and being buried in Darkness and in the Morning springing out of its Grave of Obscurity and Silence with a fresh Glory and Splendour of an Annual Resurrection when the Trees begin to have a new Life in them and the precious Liquor which shoots up into the withered Body and Branches and so brings forth new Leaves and Flowers and Fruit. But after all we know that such a Revolution of Days and Nights and the several Seasons of the
Year depends upon certain and natural Causes viz. the Diurnal and Annual Course of the Sea All that can be proved hence is that things may not always remain in the same State of Darkness and Inactivity but that the same God who hath appointed the Times and Seasons for other things may if he please restore Mankind after a long Night and cold Winter in the Grave to a State of Life and Vigour at the Day of Resurrection The Story of the Phoenix so often mentioned by the Ancients holds well enough against the Authors of it for the Christians had it from the Heathens viz. to prove there is no Absurdity in believing the Possibility that Life may be restored after the Corruption of the Body and that they had no reason to deride Christianity for a Doctrine which themselves owned in their famous Tradition of the Phoenix But when they argued strictly about this Matter they resolved it into the same infinite Power of God whereby he made the World And according to the due order of our Creed we must first believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth before we are to believe the Resurrection of the Body And although the Matters of Faith be not capable of strict Demonstrations yet we have this strong Evidence to convince Mankind of the Credibility of it viz. If they do believe that God made the World and the Bodies of Mankind at first they can have no reason to question his Power to new make them if they do not they must believe something far more absurd than the Doctrine of the Resurrection viz. that this World should make it self and that all things should fall into that admirable Order they are in without the Power and Management of an infinitely Wise Creatour And setting aside the Consideration of infinite Power such Persons ought not to find fault with asserting the Possibility of the Resurrection for why may not the same Particles of Matter in a long Tract of time hit together again to make up the same Body as well as such are at first supposed to have made up not only the visible World but the wonderful Fabrick of any single Body of Mankind Why should it be more incredible that a dead Body should be raised out of its Grave than that the Body of a Man should spring out of the Earth at first from a meer Fermentation of Matter So that the most Atheistical Persons have no reason to reject the Doctrine of the Resurrection as a thing incredible to them But yet there are some Difficulties which deserve to be cleared to remove any Temptations to Infidelity and those relate 1. To the quantity of the Matter to make up such a number of Bodies 2. To the sorting and Distribution of it for the making so many distinct Bodies as were before 1. As to the quantity of Matter not as to the main Body of the Earth out of the dust whereof Man's Body was framed at first but as to that which makes up the Bodies of Men as now they are And I think one Observation is sufficient to clear the Difficulties which relate to this that what passes away from us by insensible Transpiration was once as really a part of our Body as that is most visible and discernible in us now or will be when our Bodies corrupt in the Grave and are turned into Dust. I need not run to the Statick Experiments to prove the vast quantity of Matter belonging to our Bodies which passes continually away from us for there is one thing which sufficiently proves it and no Body can doubt of and that is we find all Persons grow and shoot up till they come to such a Stature and when they are attained to it all the Art and Contrivance and Nourishment they can use cannot make any addition to it To what a prodigious height would Mankind grow if every seven years they should shoot up in Proportion to the first Seven And if those parts which receive Nourishment did not spend themselves all Men when they cease growing upwards must have a vast Bulk For they take in greater Nourishment than when they shot up so fast But we find it otherwise in Mankind and therefore those which were once the real parts of the Body do insensibly go off and spend themselves and others come in their room And those which were the substantial Parts of the same Body are scattered up and down in our Atmosphere being wholly indiscernable by us but yet they are not annihilated nor lost to infinite Wisdom who ranges and disposes those minute Particles of our Bodies in such order that he can command them together as he pleases and so make up the same Body again But this carries me to the second Difficulty 2. As to the sorting and distribution of these dispersed Particles into so many distinct Bodies again It is but a mean Representation of the Possibility of this which the Chymists boast off viz. that they can reduce some Metalline Bodies to their own shapes and natural appearances from those wonderful Disguises they can put them into But from thence we may infer that the infinitely Wise God knows all the secret passages of Nature and every small part of a Body and can trace it through all its Changes and Shapes and bring it back again to unite with the other parts of the same Body The truth is we are mighty Strangers to the invisible Kingdom of Nature we make a shift to talk and reason a little about the Frame and Contexture of gross and visible Bodies but for those innumerable Parts which are out of the reach of our Senses we know they must be and are somewhere but in what Order and Variety we know not But this we know that the most minute parts we can discern by the help of Glasses although they appear rough and deformed to our naked Eyes as the Moss which grows upon the Earth yet when it is more narrowly searched into by the help of Glasses is found to have in it admirable Beauty and Curiosity And it is very observable that the more we look into the Works of Art the less we admire them but the more we search into what we account the most disorderly and confused parts of Nature even the least and most contemptible the more we are surprized with admiration Which shews the infinite Wisdom of the Maker of all things who hath all those things in due Order which seem to us impossible to be sorted or numbred And since God hath declared it to be his Design to raise the Bodies of the Dead we have no reason to question but that he disposes the several parts of them so as none shall be either lost or mislaid The Psalmist speaks of a Book in God's keeping wherein all our Members are written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And he hath a Book too wherein all the scattered parts