God or our selves that God should when it pleases him single out some instrument to manifest his will to the world our enquiry then leads us to those things which may be proper notes and characters of such a person who is imployed on so high an Embassy And those are chiefly these two if his actions be such as could not flow from the power of meer natural causes and if the things he reveals be such as could not proceed from any created understanding First then for his actions these striking most upon our outward senses when they are any thing extraordinary do transmit along with the impressions of them to the understanding an high opinion of the person that does them Whereas the meer height of knowledge or profoundness of things discovered can have no such present power and influence upon any but such as are of more raised and inquisitive minds And the world is generally more apt to suspect its self deceived with words then it can be with actions and hence Miracles or the doing of things above the reach of nature hath been alwayes embraced as the greatest testimony of Divine authority and revelation For which there is this evident reason that the course of nature being setled by divine power and every thing acting there by the force of that power it received at first it seems impossible that any thing should really alter the series of things without the same power which at first produced them This then we take for granted that where ever such a power appears there is a certain evidence of a Divine presence going along with such a person who enjoyes it And this is that which is most evident in the actions of Moses both as to the Miracles he wrought both in Aegypt and the Wilderness and his miraculous deliverance of the Israelites out of Aegypt this latter being as much above the reach of any meerly civil power as the other above natural We therefore come to the rational evidence of that divine authority whereby Moses acted which may be gathered from that divine power which appeared in his actions which being a matter of so great weight and importance it being one of the main bases whereon the evidence of divine revelation as to us doth stand and withall of so great difficulty and obscurity caused through the preferring some parties in Religion above the common interest of it it will require more care and diligence to search what influence the power of miracles hath upon the proving the Divine Commission of those who do them Whether they are such undoubted credentials that where ever they are produced we are presently to receive the persons who bring them as extraordinary Embassadors from heaven imployed on some peculiar message to the sons of men For the full stating of this important question two things must be cleared First In what cases miracles may be expected as credentials to confirm an immediate commission from heaven Secondly What rational evidence do attend those miracles to assure us they are such as they pretend to be First For the cases wherein these miracles are to be expected as inducements to or confirmations of our faith concerning the Divine imployment of any persons in the world And here I lay down this as a certain foundation that a power of miracles is not constantly and perpetually necessary in all those who mannage the affairs of Heaven here on earth or that act in the name of God in the world When the doctrine of faith is once setled in sacred records and the divine revelation of that doctrine sufficiently attested by a power of miracles in the revealers of it What imaginable necessity or pretext can there be for a contrived power of miracles especially among such as already own the Divine revelation of the Scriptures To make then a power of working miracles to be constantly resident in the Church of God as one of the necessary notes and characters of it is to put God upon that necessity which common nature is freed from viz. of multiplying things without sufficient cause to be given for them and to leave mens faith at a stand when God hath given sufficient testimony for it to rely upon It is a thing too common and easie to be observed that some persons out of their eagerness to uphold the interest of their own party have been fain to establish it upon such grounds which when they are sufficiently searched to the bottom do apparently undermine the common and sure foundations whereon the belief of our common Christianity doth mainly stand It were easie to make a large discourse on this subject whereby we may rip open the wounds that Christianity hath received through the contentions of the several parties of it but this imputation cannot with so much reason be fastened on any party as that which is nailed to a pretended infallible chair for which we need no other instance then this before us For while the leaders of that party make a power of miracles to be a necessary note of the true Church they unavoidably run men upon this dangerous precipice not to believe any thing as a matter of faith where they find not sufficient miracles to convince them that is the true Church which propounds it to them Which necessarily follows from their acknowledged principles for it being impossible according to them to believe any thing with a divine faith but what is propounded by the Church as an infallible guide and it being impossible to know which is this infallible guide but by the notes and characters of it and one of those notes being a power of miracles I cannot find out my guide but by this power and this power must be present in the Church for nothing of former ages concerning faith as the Miracles of Christ his resurrection c. is to be believed but on the Churches account and therefore where men do not find sufficient conviction from present miracles to believe the Church to be an infallible guide they must throw off all faith concerning the Gospel for as good never a whit as never the better And therefore it is no wonder Atâ—eism should be so thriving a plant in Italy nay under if not within the walls of Rome it self where inquisitive persons do daily see the juglings and impostures of Priests in their pretended miracles and from thence are brought to look upon Religion its self as a meer imposture and to think no Pope so infallible as he that said Quantum nobis profuit haec de Christo fabula Such horrid consequences do men drive others if not bring themselves to when they imploy their parts and industry rather to uphold a corrupt interest then to promote the belief of the acknowledged principles of Christian faith But as long as we assert no necessity of such a power of miracles to be the note of any true Church nor any such necessity of an infallible guide but that the miracles wrought by
Christ and his Apostles were sufficient evidences of a divine spirit in them and that the Scriptures were recorded by them to be an infallible rule of faith here we have more clear reason as to the primary motives and grounds of faith and withall the infallible veracity of God in the Scriptures as the last resolution of faith And while we assert such an infallible rule of faith delivered to us by such an unanimous consent from the first delivery of it and then so fully attested by such uncontroulable miracles we cannot in the least understand to what end a power of miracles should now serve in the Church especially among those who all believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God Indeed before the great harvest of Converts in the primitive times were brought in both of Iews and Gentiles and the Church sully setled in receiving the Canon of the Scriptures universally we find God did continue this power among them but after the books of the New Testament were generally imbraced as the rule of faith among Christians we find them so far from pretending to any such power that they reject the pretenders to it such as the Donatists were and plead upon the same accounts as we do now against the necessity of it We see then no reason in the world for miracles to be continued where the doctrine of faith is setled as being confirmed by miracles in the first preachers of it There are only these two cases then wherein miracles may justly and with reason be expected First when any person comes as by an extraordinary commission from God to the world either to deliver some peculiar message or to do some more then ordinary service Secondly When something that hath been before established by Divine Law is to be repealed and some other way of worship established in stead of it First When any comes upon an extraordinary message to the world in the name of and by commission from God then it is but reason to require some more then ordinary evidence of such authority Because of the main importance of the duty of giving credit to such a person and the great sin of being guilty of rejecting that divine authority which appears in him And in this case we cannot think that God would require it as a duty to believe where he doth not give sufficient arguments for faith nor that he will punish persons for such a fault which an invincible ignorance was the cause of Indeed God doth not use to necessitate faith as to the act of it but he doth so clearly propound the object of it with all arguments inducing to it as may sufficiently justifie a Believers choice in point of reason and prudence and may leave all unbelievers without excuse I cannot see what account a man can give to himself of his faith much less what Apology he can make to others for it unless he be sufficiently convinced in point of the highest reason that it was his duty to believe and in order to that conviction there must be some clear evidence given that what is spoken hath the impress of Divine authority upon it Now what convictions there can be to any sober mind concerning Divine authority in any person without such a power of miracles going along with him when he is to deliver some new doctrine to the world to be believed I confess I cannot understand For although I doubt not but where ever God doth reveal any thing to any person immediately he gives demonstrable evidence to the inward senses of the soul that it comes from himself yet this inward sense can be no ground to another person to believe his doctrine divine because no man can be a competent judge of the actings of anothers senses and it is impossible to another person to distinguish the actings of the divine Spirit from strong impressions of fancy by the force and energy of them If it be said that we are bound to believe those who say they are fully satisfied of their Divine Commission I answer First this will expose us to all delusions imaginable for if we are bound to believe them because they say so we are bound to believe all which say so and none are more confident pretenders to this then the greatest deceivers as the experience of our age will sufficiently witness Secondly Men must necessarly be bound to believe contradictions for nothing more ordinary then for such confident pretenders to a Divine Spirit to contradict one another and it may be the same person in a little time contradict himself and must we still be bound to believe all they say If so no Philosophers would be so much in request as those Aristotle disputes against in his Metaphysicks who thought a thing might be and not be at the same time Thirdly The ground of faith at last will be but a meer humane testimony as far as the person who is to believe is capable of judging of it For the Question being Whether the person I am to believe hath divine authority for what he saith What ground can I have to believe that he hath so Must I take his bare affirmation for it If so then a meer humane testimony must be the ground of divine faith and that which it is last resolved into if it be said that I am to believe the divine authority by which he speaks when he speaks in the name of God I answer the question will again return how I shall know he speaks this from divine authority and so there must be a progress in infinitum or founding divine faith on a meer humane testimony if I am to believe divine revelation meerly on the account of the persons affirmation who pretends unto it For in this case it holds good non apparentis non existentis eadem est ratio if he be divinely inspired and there be no ground inducing me to believe that he is so I shall be excused if I believe him not if my wilfulness and laziness be not the cause of my unbelief If it be said that God will satisfie the minds of good men concerning the truth of divine revelation I grant it to be wonderfully true but all the question is de modo how God will satisfie them whether meerly by inspiration of his own spirit in them assuring them that it is God that speaks in such persons or by giving them rational evidence convincing them of sufficient grounds to believe it If we assert the former way we run into these inconveniences First we make as immediate a revelation in all those who believe as in those who are to reveal divine truths to us for there is a new revelation of an object immediately to the mind viz. that such a person is inspired of God and so is not after the common way of the Spirits illumination in Believers which is by inlightning the faculty without the proposition of any new object as it
resolve the particular emergent cases concerning predictions The prediction of future events is no further an argument of Prophetick spirit then as the fore-knowledge of those things is supposed to be out of the reach of any created understanding And therefore God challengeth this to himself in Scripture as a peculiar prerogative of his own to declare the things that are to come and thereby manifests the Idols of the Gentiles to be no Gods because they could not shew to their worshippers the things to come Isaiah 44. 6 7. From this hypothesis these two Consectaries follow 1. That the events which are foretold must be such as do exceed the reach of any created intellect for otherwise it could be no evidence of a Spirit of true Prophecy so that the foretelling of such events as depend upon a series of natural causes or such as though they are out of the reach of humane understanding yet are not of the Diabolical or such things as fall out casually true but by no certain grounds of prediction can none of them be any argument of a Spirit of Prophecy 2. That where there were any other evidences that the Prophet spake by Divine Revelation there was no reason to wait the fulfilling of every particular Prophecy before he was believed as a Prophet If so then many of Gods chiefest Prophets could not have been believed in their own Generations because their Prophecies did reach so far beyond them as Isaiahs concerning Cyrus the Prophet at Bethel concerning Iosias and all the Prophecies concerning the captivity and deliverance from it must not have been believed till fulfilled that is not believed at all for when Prophecies are accomplished they are no longer the objects of faith but of sense Where then God gives other evidences of Divine inspiration the credit of the Prophet is not suspended upon the minute accomplishment of every event foretold by him Now it is evident there may be particular Divine revelation of other things besides future contingencies so that if a reason may be given why events once foretold may not come to pass there can be no reason why the credit of any Prophecy should be invalidated on that account because every event is not exactly correspondent to the prediction It is most certain that what ever comes under Divine knowledge may be Divinely revealed for the manifestation which is caused by any light may extend its self to all things to which that light is extended but that light which the Prophets saw by was a Divine light and therefore might equally extend it self to all kind of objects but because future contingencies are the most remote from humane knowledge therefore the foretelling of these hath been accounted the great evidence of a true Prophet but yet there may be a knowledge of other things in a lower degree then future contingencies which may immediately depend upon Divine revelation and these are 1. Such things which cannot be known by one particular man but yet is certainly known by other men as the present knowledge of things done by persons at a remote distance from them thus Elisha knew what Gehezi did when he followed Nâ—aman and thus the knowledge of the thoughts of anothers heart depends upon immediate Divine revelation whereas every one may certainly know the thoughts of his own heart and therefore to some those things may be matters of sense or evident demenstration which to another may be a matter of immediate revelation 2. Such things as relate not to future contingencies but are matters of faith exceeding the reach of humane apprehension such things as may be known when revealed but could never have been found out without immediate revelation such all the mysteries of our religion are the mystery of the Trinity Incarnation Hypostatical union the death of the Son of God for the pardon of the sins of mankind Now the immediate revelation of either of these two sorts of objects speaks as much a truly Prophetical spirit as the prediction of future contingencies So that this must not be looked on as the just and adequate rule to measure a spirit of Prophecy by because the ground of judging a Prophetical spirit by that is common with other things without that seeing other objects are out of the reach of humane understanding as well as future events and therefore the discovery of them must immediately flow from Divine revelation 3. The revelation of future events to the understanding of a Prophet is never the less immediate although the event may not be correspondent to the prediction So that if it be manifest that God immediately reveal such future contingencies to a Prophet he would be nevertheless a true Prophet whether those predictions took effect or no. For a true Prophet is known by the truth of Divine revelation to the person of the Prophet and not by the success of the thing which as is laid down in the hypothesis is no further an evidence of a true Prophet then as it is an argument a posteriori to prove Divine revelation by If then the alteration of events after predictions be reconcileable with the truth and faithfulness of God there is no question but it is with the truth of a Prophetical spirit the formality of which lies in immediate revelation The Prophets could not declare any thing more to the people then was immediately revealed unto themselves What was presently revealed so much they knew and no more because the spirit of Prophecy came upon them per modum impressionis transeuntis as the Schools speak and not per modum habitus the lumen propheticum was in them not as lumen in corpore lucido but as lumen in aëre and therefore the light of revelation in their spirits depended upon the immediate irradiations of the Divine Spirit The Prophets had not alwayes a power to Prophecy when they would themselves and thence it is said when they Prophesied that the Word of the Lord came unto them And therefore the Schools determine that a Prophet upon an immediate revelation did not know omnia prophetabilia as they speak in their barbarous language all things which God might reveal the reason whereof Aquinas thus gives the ground saith he of the connexion of diverse objects together is some common tie or principle which joynes them together as charity or prudence is in moral vertues and the right understanding of the principles of a science is the ground why all things belonging to that science are understood but now in Divine revelation that which connects the objects of Divine revelation is God himself now because he cannot be fully apprehended by any humane intellect therefore the understanding of a Prophet cannot comprehend all matters capable of being revealed but only such as it pleaseth God himself freely to communicate to the Prophets understanding by immediate revelation This is further evident by all those different degrees of illumination and Prophecy which the Iews and other
mysteries our faith stands upon this twofold bottom First that the being understanding and power of God doth infinitely transcend ours and therefore he may reveal to us matters above our reach and capacity Secondly that whatever God doth reveal is undoubtedly true though we may not fully understand it for this is a most undoubted principle that God cannot and will not deceive any in those things which he reveals to men Thus our first supposition is cleared that it is not repugnant to reason that a doctrine may be true which depends not on the evidence of the thing it self The second is That in matters whose truth depends not on the evidence of the things themselves infallible testimony is the fullest demonstration of them For these things not being of Mathematical evidence there must be some other way found out for demonstrating the truth of them And in all those things whose truth depends on Testimony the more creditable the Testimony is the higher evidence is given to them but that testimony which may deceive cannot give so pregnant an evidence as that which cannot for then all imaginable objections are taken off This is so clear that it needs no further proof and therefore the third follows That there are certain ways whereby to know that a Testimony delivered is infallible and that is fully proved by these two Arguments 1. That it is the duty of all those to whom it is propounded to believe it now how could that be a duty in them to believe which they had no ways to know whether it were a Testimony to be believed or no. 2. Because God will condemn the world for unbelief In which the Justice of Gods proceedings doth necessarily suppose that there were sufficient arguments to induce them to believe which could not be unless there were some certain way supposed whereby a Testimony may be known to be infallible These three things now being supposed viz. that a doctrine may be true which depends not on evidonce of reason that the greatest demonstration of the truth of such a doctrine is its being delivered by infallible Testimony and that there are certain ways whereby a Testimony may be known to be infallible Our first principle is fully confirmed which was that where the truth of a doctrine depends not on evidence of reason but on the authority of him that reveals it the only way to prove the doctrine to be true is to prove the Testimony of him that reveals it to be infallible The next principle or Hypothesis which I lay down is That there can be no greater evidence that a Testimony is infallible then that it is the Testimony of God himself The truth of this depends upon a common notion of humane nature which is the veracity of God in whatever way he discovers himself to men and therefore the ultimate resolution of our faith as to its formal object must be alone into the veracity of God revealing things unto us for the principium certitudinis or foundation of all certain assent can be fetched no higher neither will it stand any lower then the infallible verity of God himself and the principium patefactionis or the ground of discovery of spiritual truth to our minds must be resolved into Divine Testimony or revelation These two then not taken asunder but joyntly God who cannot lye hath revealed these things is the only certain foundation for a divine faith to rest its self upon But now the particular exercise of a Divine faith lies in a firm assent to such a particular thing as Divinely revealed and herein lyes not so much the Testimony as the peculiar energy of the Spirit of God in inclining the soul to believe peculiar objects of faith as of Divine revelation But the general ground of faith which they call the formal object or the ratio propter quam credimus is the general infallibility of a Divine Testimony For in a matter concerning divine revelation there are two great questions to be resolved The first is Why I believe a Divine Testimony with a firm assent The answer to that is because I am assured that what ever God speaks is true the other is upon what grounds do I believe this to be a Divine Testimony the resolution of which as far as I can understand must be fetched from those rational evidences whereby a Divine Testimony must be distinguished from one meerly humane and fallible For the Spirit of God in its workings upon the mind doth not carry it on by a brutish impulse but draws it by a spiritual discovery of such strong and perswasive grounds to assent to what is revealed that the mind doth readily give a firm assent to that which it sees such convincing reason to believe Now the strongest reason to believe is the manifestation of a divine Testimony which the Spirit of God so clearly discovers to a true believer that he not only firmly assents to the general foundation of faith the veracity of God but to the particular object propounded as a matter of Divine Revelation But this latter question is not here the matter of our discourse our proposition only concerns the general foundation of faith which appears to be so rational and evident as no principle in nature can be more For if the Testimony on which I am to rely be only Gods and I be assured from natural reason that his Testimony can be no other then infallible wherein doth the certainty of the foundation of faith fall short of that in any Mathematical demonstration Upon which account a Divine Testimony hath been regarded with so much veneration among all who have owned a Deity although they have been unacquainted with any certain way of Divine revelation And the reason why any rejected such a Testimony among the Heathens was either because they believed not a Deity or else that the particular Testimonies produced were meer frauds and impostures and therefore no Divine Testimony as it was given out to be But the principle still remained indisputable that on supposition the Testimony were what it pretended to be there was the greatest reason to believe it although it came not in such a way of probation as their sciences proceeded in From which principle arose that speech of Tully which he hath translated out of Plato's Timaeus Ac difficillimum factu à Diis ortis sidem non haber◠quanquam nec argumentis nec rationibus certis eorum oratio confirmetur By which we see what a presumption there was of Truth where there was any evidence of a Divine Testimony And no doubt upon the advantage of this principle it was the Devil gained so great credit to his oracles for therein he did the most imitate Divine revelation From hence then we see what a firm bottom faith in the general stands upon which is nothing short of an Infallible Divine Testimony other things may conduce by way of subserviency for the discovery of this but nothing
eorum qui eam non putamus in manibus esse plumbatis The accusation for treason lay in their refusing to supplicate the Idols for the Emperors welfare 2. Because they would not swear by the Emperors Genius Thence Saturnius said to the Martyr Tantum jura per genium Caesaris nostri if he would but swear by the Genius of Caesar he should be saved Yet though they refused to swear by the Emperours genius they did not refuse to testifie their Allegiance and to swear by the Emperors safety Sed juramus saith Tertullian Sicut non per genios Caesarum it ae per salutem corum quae est augustior omnibus geniis 3. Because they would not worship the Emperours as Gods which was then grown a common custom Non enim Deum Imperatorem dicam vel quia mentirinescio vel quia illum deridere non audeo vel quia necipse se Deum volet dici si homo sit as the same Author speaks Nay the primitive Christians were very scrupulous of calling the Emperours Dominus hoc enim Dei est cognomen because the name Lord was an attribute of Gods and applied as his name to him in Scripture The reason of this Scrupulosity was not from any question they made of the Soveraignty of Princes or their obligation to obedience to them which they are very free in the acknowledgement of but from a jealousie and just suspicion that something of Divine honour might be implyed in it when the adoration of Princes was grown a custom Therefore Tertullian to prevent misunderstandings saith Dicam plane Imperatorem Dominum sed more Communi sed quando non cogor ut Dominum Dei vice dicam They refused not the name in a common sense but as it implyed Divine honour 4. Because they would not observe the publick festivals of the Emperors in the way that others did which it seems were observed with abundance of looseness and debauchery by all sorts of persons and as Tertullian smartly sayes malorum morum licentia piet as erit occasio luxuriae religio deputabitur Debauchery is accounted a piece of loyalty and intemperance a part of religion Which made the Christians rather hazard the reputation of their loyalty then bear a part in so much rudeness as was then used and thence they abhorred all the solemn spectacles of the Romans nihil est nobis saith the same author dictu visu auditu cum insania Circi cum impudicitia Theatri cum atrocitate arenae cum Xysti vanitate They had nothing to do either with the madness of the Cirque or the immodesty of the Theatre or the cruelty of the Amphitheatre or the vanity of the publick wrestlings We see then what a hard Province the Christians had when so many Laws were laid as birdlime in their way to catch them that it was impossible for them to profess themselves Christians and not run into a Praemunire by their Laws And therefore it cannot be conceived that many out of affectation of novelty should then declare themselves Christians when so great hazards were run upon the professing of it Few soft-spirited men and lovers of their own ease but would have found some fine distinctions and nice evasions to have reconciled themselves to the publick Laws by such things which the Primitive Christians so unaenimously refused when tending to prophaness or Idolatry And from this discourse we cannot but conclude with the Apostle Paul that the weapons whereby the Apâ—stles and Primitive Christians encountered the Heathen world were not fleshly or weak but exceeding strong and powerfull in that they obtained so great a conquest over the imaginations and carnal reasonings of men which were their strong holds they secured themselves in as to make them readily to forsake their Heathen worship and become chearful servants to Christ. Thus we see the power of the doctrine of Christ which prevailed over the principles of education though backt with pretended antiquity universality and establishment by civil Laws But this will further appear if we consider that not only the matters of faith were contrary to the principles of education but because many of them seemed incredible to mens natural reason that we cannot think persons would be over forward to believe such things Every one being so ready to take any advantage against a religion which did so little flatter corrupt nature either as to its power or capacity in so much that those who preached this doctrine declared openly to the world that such persons who would judge of the Christian doctrine by such principles which meer natural reason did proceed upon such one I suppose it is whom the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that owned nothing but natural reason whereby to judge of Divine truths could not entertain matters of faith or of Divine revelation because such things would seem but folly to him that owned no higher principle then Philosophy or that did not believe any Divine inspiration neither can such a one know them because a Divine revelation is the only way to come to a through understanding of them and a person who doth not believe such a Divine revelation it is impossible he should be a competent judge of the truth of the doctrine of Christ. So that the only ground of receiving the doctrine of the Gospel is upon a Divine revelation that God himself by his Son and his Apostles hath revealed these deep mysteries to the world on which account it is we are bound to receive them although they go beyond our reach and comprehension But we see generally in the Heathen world how few of those did believe the doctrine of Christ in comparison who were the great admirers of the Philosophy and way of learning which was then cryed up the reason was because Christianity not only contained far deeper mysteries then any they were acquainted with but delivered them in such a way of authority commanding them to believe the doctrine they preached on the account of the Divine authority of the revealers of it Such a way of proposal of doctrines to the world the Philosophy of the Greeks was unacquainted with which on that account they derided as not being suited to the exact method which their sciences proceeded in No doubt had the Apostles come among the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a great deal of pomp and ostentation and had fed mens curiositiâ—s with vain and unnecessary speculations they might have had as many followers among the Greeks for their sakes as Christ had among the Iews for the sake of the loaves But the matters of the Gospel being more of inward worth and moment then of outward pomp and shew the vain and empty Greeks presently finde a quarrel with the manner of proposing them that they came not in a way of clear demonstrâ—tion but stood so much upon faith as soon as it were delivered Thence Celsus and Galen think they have
should discover further then Gods general goodness to such as please him but no foundation can be gatherd thence of his readiness to pardon offenders which being an act of grace must alone be discoverd by his Will I cannot think the Sun Moon and Stars are such itinerant Preachers as to unfold unto us the whole Counsel and Will of God in reference to mans acceptance with God upon repentance It is not every Star in the Firmament can do that which the Star once did to the wise men lead them unto Christ. The Sun in the Heavens is no Parhelius to the Son of righteousness The best Astronomer will never finde the day-star from on high in the rest of his number What St. Austin said oâ— Tullies works is true of the whole Volume of the Creation There are admirable things to be found in them but the name of Christ is not legible there The work of Redemption is not engraven on the works of providence if it had a particular divine revelation had been unnecessary and the Apostles were sent on a needless errand which the world had understood without their Preaching viz That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to men their trespasses and hath committed to them the Ministry of Reconciliation How was the word of reconciliation committed to them if it were common to them with the whole frame of the world and the Apostles Quaere elsewhere might have been easily answered How can men hear without a Preacher For then they might have known the way of salvation without any special messengers sent to deliver it to them I grant that Gods long suffering and patience is intended to lead men to repentance and that some general collections might be made from providence of the placability of Gods nature and that God never left himself without a witness of his goodness in the world being king to the unthankful and doing good in giving rain and fruitful seasons But though these things might sufficiently discover to such who were apprehensive of the guilt of sin that God did not act according to his greatest severity and thereby did give men encouragement to hearken out enquire after the true way of being reconciled to God yet all this amounts not to a firm foundation for faith as to the remission of sin which doth suppose God himself publishing an act of grace and indempnity to the world wherein he assures the pardon of sin to such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel Now is not this an inestimable advantage we enjoy by the Scriptures that therein we understand what God himself hath discoverd of his own nature and perfections and of his readiness to pardon sin upon those gracious terms of Faith and Repentance and that which necessarily follows from these two hearty and sincere obedience 2. The Scriptures give the most faithful representation of the state and condition of the soul of man The world was almost lost in Disputes concerning the nature condition and immortality of the soul before divine revelation was made known to mankind by the Gospel of Christ but life and immortality was brrught to light by the Gospel and the future state of the soul of man not discoverd in an uncertain Platonical way but with the greatest light and evidence from that God who hath the supreme disposal of souls and therefore best knows and understands them The Scriptures plainly and fully reveal a judgement to come in which God will judge the secrets of all hearts when every one must give an account of himself unto God and God will call men to give an account of their stewardship here of all the receits they have had from him and the expences they have been at and the improvements they have made of the talents he put into their hands So that the Gospel of Christ is the fullest instrument of discovery of the certainty of the future state of the soul and the conditions which abide it upon its being dislodged from the body But this is not all which the Scripture discovers as to the state of the soul for it is not only a prospective-glass reaching to its future state but it is the most faithful looking-glass to discover all the spots and deformities of the soul And not only shews where they are but whence they came what their nature is and whether they tend The true Original of all that disorder and discomposure which is in the soul of man is only fully and satisfactorily given us in the Word of God as hath been already proved The nature and working of this corruption in man had never been so clearly manifested had not the Law and Will of God been discovered to the world that is the glass whereby we see the secret workings of those Bees in our hearts the corruptions of our natures that sets forth the folly of our imaginations the unruliness of our passions the distempers of our wills and the abundant deceitfulness of our hearts And it is hard for the most Elephantine sinner one of the greatest magnitude so to trouble these waters as not therein to discover the greatness of his own deformities But that which tends most to awaken the drowsie sensless spirits of men the Scripture doth most fully describe the tendency of corruption that the wages of sin is death and the issue of continuance in sin will be the everlasting misery of the soul in a perpetual separation from the presence of God and undergoing the lashes and severities of conscience to all eternity What a great discovery is this of the faithfulness of God to the world that he suffers not men to undo themselves without letting them know of it before-hand that they might avoid it God seeks not to entrap mens souls nor doth he rejoyce in the misery and ruine of his creatures but fully declares to them what the consequence and issue of their sinful practices will be assures them of a judgement to come declares his own future sâ—verity against contumacious sinners that they might not think themselves surprized and that if they had known there had been so great danger in sin they would never have been such fools as for the sake of it to run into eternal misery Now God to prevent this with the greatest plainness and faithfulness hath shewed men the nature and danger of all their sins and asks them before hand what they will do in the end thereof whether they are able to bear his wrath and wrestle with everlasting burnings if not he bids them bethink themselves of what they have done already and repent amend their lives lest iniquity prove their ruine destruction overtake them and that without remedy Now if men have cause to prize and value a faithful Monitor one that tenders their good and would prevent their ruine we have cause exceedingly to prize and value the Scriptures which give us the truest representation of the state and
God I must necessarily apprehend him to be absolutely perfect because the grounds of my knowledge that there is a God are from those absolute perfections which there are in him and if I could suppose him not absolutely perfect I must suppose him not to be God for that is necessarily implyed in his definition Now then if all certainty doth suppose the existence of a being so absolutely perfect I must before I can know any thing certainly conclude that there is an infinity of knowledge wisdom power and goodness in this God for those are things which all who understand them will grant to be perfections and if they be in God they must be absolute i. e. infinite And if they be infinite it necessarily follows that they must transcend our apprehensions so that now we have gained this principle in order to faith that we must grant something to be unconceivable before we can come certainly to know any thing From whence it follows that those who will not believe any thing to be true because it is above their apprehensions must deny the foundation of all certainty which as we have proved doth suppose something to be infinite or above our capacity to comprehend That we have as great certainty of what-ever is revealed to us from God as we can have of the truth of any thing which we most clearly understand For the truth of knowledge depending on this supposition that there is a God whose goodness will not suffer us to be deceived in the things we clearly understand there is the same foundation for the act of faith as for that of knowledge viz. That God will not suffer us to be deceived in matters which himself hath revealed to us Nay there seems to be far greater on these accounts First That there is not so great danger to be deceived in reference to objects of sense as there is in reference to objects of Divine revelation because objects of sense make a continual impression upon the Organs of sense and as to these things we see the whole world agrees in them so far as they are necessary to life and withall they bear a greater correspondency to the present state of imperfection which the soul is now in but now matters of Divine revelation are of a more sublime and spiritual nature which mens minds on that account are more apt to doubt of then of things obvious to sense and withall they call the mind so much off from sense that on these accounts the proneness to doubt is greater and therefore the foundation of certainty from Gods not suffering us to be deceived must be stronger Secondly There is not so great danger in being deceived as to matters of sense or knowledge as there is in things of Divine revelation For we see granting sense to be deceived and that we have no certainty at all in natural things yet affairs of life are managed still mens outward welfare depends not on the judgement of sense the merchant hath never the less gold in his Ship because his sense deceives him in judging that the earth moves from him when the Ship moves from it The Sun doth never the less inlighten the world though our senses be aâ—l of Epicurus his mind that the Sun is no bigger then he seems to be but now as to matters of Divine revelation they are things of the most unspeakable weight and importance which depend upon our believing or disbelieving them And therefore if the goodness of God be such as it will not suffer us to be deceived in our judgement of material and sensible beings how much less in reference to the foundation of our certainty as to things Divinely revealed We see then what rational evidence there is not only consistent with but necessarily implyed in the foundation of faith even as great as in any thing which we do most perfectly know so that the in-evidence which is so much spoken of as an ingredient of the nature of faith must not be understood of the foundation whereon the act of faith doth stand but of the condition of the object which being a matter of divine revelation is a thing not obvious to our senses In which sense the Apostle speaks that faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the firm expectation of things hoped for and strong conviction of things which are not seen In which words as Erasmus well observes is contained only an high Encomium of faith and no Dialectical definition of it viz. that faith soars above things of sense or present enjoyment yea though the objects of it be never so remote from either yet where there is sufficient evidence of Divine Revelation faith boggles at no difficulties but is firmly resolved that that God who hath revealed these things can and will bring them to pass in his own time There is not then any such contrariety between the foundation of faith and knowledge as the Schoolmen have perswaded the world we see both of them proceed on the same foundation of certainty all the difference is faith fixeth on the veracity of God immediately in reference to a Divine Testimony knowledge proceeds upon it supposing no Divine revelation as to the things it doth discover We hence infer that if the certainty of our knowledge depends on this principle that God will not suffer us to be deceived then we are bound to believe whatever God doth reveal to us though we may not be able to comprehend the nature of the things revealed For as to these things we have the same ground of certainty which we have as to any natural causes for as to them we now suppose from the former principle that setting aside the existence of God we could have no certainty of them but that the formal reason of our certainty is resolved into this that Gods goodness will not suffer the understanding to be deceived as to these things the same I say as to spiritual mysteries revealed by God the ground of our certainty lies not in the evidence of the things but in the undoubted veracity of God who hath revealed them All that I can imagine possible to be replyed to this is that Gods veracity assures us in natural causes that we are not deceived only where we have a clear and distinct perception of the things but now in matters above our reason to comprehend there can be no clear and distinct perception To this I answer First it is evident in the foundation of all certainty of knowledge that there may be a clear and distinct perception of that which we cannot comprehend viz. of a being absolutely perfect for if we have not a clear and distinct perception of God the foundation of all certainty is destroyed which is the necessary existence of such a being and he that shall say he cannot have a clear perception of God without comprehending him doth contradict himself for if he be a being infinite he must be incomprehensible therefore
of reason to tell us that the soul cannot subsist after death without the boay from what Philosophy was this derived certainly from that which was very loth to acknowledge the immortality of the soul of man And any one who strictly observes the close coherence of the principles of the Peripatetick Philosophy will find very little room left for an eternal being to interpose its self in the world and therefore some have shrewdly observed that Aristotle speaks more favourably of the being of God in his Exotericks then in his Acroamaticks which all that know the reason of the names will guess at the reason of I demand then must the received principles of Philosophy and those short imperfect Theories which were formed more from tradition then experience by the ancient Greeks be taken for the standard of reason or no If they must we may soon forsake not only the sublimer mysteries of the Trinity Divinity of Christ Resurrection c. but we shall soon shake hands with Creation Providence if not immortality of souls and the Being of God himself If these things be disowned as the standard of reason let us know what will be substituted in the room of them and what Laws our faith must be tryed by Are they only Mathematical demonstrations or the undoubted common notions of humane nature which whosoever understands assents to them let any of the forementioned mysteries be made appear to contradict these and we will readily yield up our selves captives to reason But in the mean time let no jejune unproved hypotheses in Philosophy be set as Iudges over matters of faith whose only warrant for that office must be Stat pro ratione voluntas Let the principles we proceed by be first manifested to be collected from a most certain and universal inspection into the nature of all beings let the manner of process be shewed how they were collected lest they labour with the common fault of the Chymists of establishing hypostatical principles from the experiments of some particular bodies which others do as evidently refute and lastly let it be made appear that these principles thus collected will serve indifferently for all beings spiritual as well as material infinite as well as finite and when this Task is exactly performed we will make room for Reason to sit upon the Bench and bring the Scriptures as the Prisoner to its Bar. Fourthly According to this principle what certainty can we have at all of anything we are to believe who hath fixed the bounds of that which men call reason how shall we know that thus far it will come and no further If no banks be raised against it to keep it in its due channel we may have cause to fear it may in time overthrow not only the Trinity Incarnation Resurrection of the dead but all other articles of the creed too What prescription can be pleaded by one sort of men for reason more then for another One will not believe this article of his faith because against his reason and why not another reject another article on the same pretence for whatever the ground of unbelief be if it be but baptized by the name of reason it must by this principle pass uncontrouled if a sullen Philosopher shall tell us that the notion of an immaterial substance contradicts his reason as much as the Trinity doth theirs and that the Universe is nothing else but a Systeme of bodies by what Artifice will our Masters of reason purge away all that black choler that so clouds his mind that he cannot see the notion of a spirit through it And such one will make a hard shift but he will reconcile his opinion with Scripture too and therefore why should he be bound up to mens explications of Scripture when there is no necessity that he can see of understanding it in any other way then his own If another should come and tell us that we must be all Anthropomorphites and that otherwise the Scripture were not intelligible shall not this man put in for reason too Nay lastly if another shall come and speak out and tell us Religion is but a device of subtle men that all things come to pass through chance that the world was made by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms and that all are fools which are not Atheists and that it is impossible to apprehend the Being of a God and therefore by the same reason that they reject some mysteries of Religion he rejects the foundation of all because an infinite being is incomprehensible whither now hath our Reason carried us while we pâ—etend to reject any thing as divinely revealed meerly on that account that it is above our reason But it may be replied On what account then do we reject the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and the ubiquity of the body of Christ as repugnant to reason if we do not make reason judge in matters of faith I answer 1. We reject these opinions not only as repugnant to reason but as insufficiently proved from Scripture whereas we here suppose it not being our present business to prove it that the several doctrines of the Trinity Incarnation Resurrection of bodies c. are only rejected on that account that though Scripture seems to speak fair for them yet it is otherwise to be interpreted because supposed to be repugnant to reason 2. Those doctrines before mentioned are eminently serviceable to promote the great end of the Gospel and are inlaid in the very foundation oâ— it as that of the Trinity and Divinity of Christ but these we now mention are no ways conduceable to that end but seem to thwart and overthrow it and transubstantiation establisheth a way of worship contrary to the Gospel 3. All the foundation of transubstantiation is laid upon ambiguous places of Scripture which must of necessity have some Tropes and Figures in them but the doctrine of the Trinity is not only contained in plain Scripture but is â—videnced by visible appearance as particularly at the baptism of our Saviour 4. There is far greater ground why we should reject Transubstantiation and ubiquity as inconsistent with reason then that they should the Trinity on this account because the grounds of reason on which we reject those opinions are fetâ—hed from those essential and inseparable properties of bodies which are inconsistent with those opinions now these are things within the reach of our understandings in which case God himself sometimes appeals to reason but it is quite another case when we search into the incomprehensible nature of God and pronounce with confidence that such things cannot be in God because we cannot comprehend them which gives a sufficient answer to this objection The substance then of this discourse is that whatever dâ—ctrine is sufficiently manifested to be of divine revelation is to be embraced and believed as undoubtedly true though our reason cannot reach to the full apprehension of all the Modes and circumstances of it So that as to these sublime
sarcastically answer the argument from the common consent of men quasi verò quidquam sit tam valdè quam nihil sapere vulgare as though nothing men did more generally agree in then in being fools yet as it is evident that the ground of that scoffe was from the several manners of Divination then in use so it cannot be thought to be a general impeachment of humane nature in a thing so consequent upon the being of a God which as himself elsewhere proves is as clear from reason as from that Testimonium gentium in hac una re non dissidentium as the Christian Cicero Lactantius speaks the consent of Nations which scarce agree in any thing else but that there is a God That which we now infer from hence is that God may make known his mind in a way infallible though not immediate for in case of Inspiration of meer men it is not they so much which speak as God by them and in case that God himself should speak through the vail of humane nature the Testimony must needs be infallible though the appearance of the Divinity be not visible Those evidences whereby a Divine Testimony may be known must be such as may not leave mens minds in suspense but are of their own nature convincing proofs of it For although as to the event some may doubt and others disbelieve the Testimony so proved yet it is sufficient for our purpose that in the nature of the things supposing them to be such as we speak of they are sufficient for the eviction that the testimony attested by them is divine and infallible I know it is a great dispute among many whether those things which are usually called the common motives of faith do of their own nature only induce a probable perswasion of the truth of the doctrine as probable which they are joyned with or else are they sufficient for the producing a firm assent to the doctrine as True I grant they are not demonstrative so as to inforce assent for we see the contrary by the experience of all ages but that they are not sufficient foundation for an unprejudiced mind to establish a firm assent upon is a thing not easie to be granted chiefly upon this account that an obligation to believe doth lie upon every one to whom these evidences of a Divine Testimony are sufficiently discovered And otherwise of all sins the sin of unbelief as to God revealing his mind were the most excusable and pardonable sin nay it would be little less then a part of prudence because what can it be accounted but temerity and imprudence in any to believe a doctrine as true only upon probable inducements and what can it be but wisdom to withhold assent upon a meer verisimilitude considering what the Lyrick Poet hath long since truly told us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a falshood may frequently seem truer to common understandings then truth its self and as Menander speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a meer verisimilitude may have more force on vulgar minds then truth hath If therefore there be no evidences given sufficient to carry the minds of men beyond meer probability what sin can it be in those to disbelieve who cannot be obliged to believe as true what is only discovered as probable I cannot therefore see how an obligation to believe a Divine Testimony is consistent with their opinion who make the utmost which any outward evidences can extend to to be only the bare credibility of the doctrine attested by them I can very well satisfie my self with the ground and reason why the more subtle wits of the Church of Rome do essert this for if nothing else can be produced by all motives of faith but only a probable perswasion of the truth of Christian doctrine then here comes in the fairest pretence for the Infallibility of their Church for otherwise they tell us we can have no foundation for a Divine faith for how can that be a foundation for Divine faith which can reach no higher then a moral inducement and beget only a probable perswasion of the credibility of the doctrine of Christ But on what account those who disown the Infallibility of the Church of Rome in the proposal of matters of faith should yet consent with those of it in an hypothesis taken up in probability meerly out of subserviency to that most advantagious piece of the mysterie of iniquity is not easie to resolve Unless the over-fondness of some upon the doctrine of the Schools more then of the Gospel hath been the occasion of it For how agreeable can that opinion be to the Gospel which so evidently puts the most defensive weapons into the hands of unbelief For doubtless in the judgement of any rational person a meer probable perswasion of the credibility of the doctrine of Christ where an assent to it as true is required can never be looked on as an act of faith for if my assent to the truth of the thing be according to the strength of the arguments inducing me to believe and these arguments do only prove a probability of Divine Testimony my assent can be no stronger then to a thing meerly probable which is that it may be or not be true which is not properly assent but a suspending our judgements till some convincing argument be produced on either side And therefore according to this opinion those who saw all the miracles which Christ did could not be bound to believe in Christ but only to have a favourable opinion of his person and doctrine as a thing which though not evidenced to be true by what he did yet it was very piously credible but they must have a care withall of venturing their belief too far only on such moral inducements as miracels were for fear they should go farther then the force of the arguments would carry them Had not this opinion now think we been a very probable way to have converted the world upon the Preaching of Christ and his Apostles when Christ saith though ye believe not me believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him Nay saith this opinion that is more then we are bound to do though we see thy works we are not bound to believe thy Testimony to be Divine and certainly true but we will do all we are bound to do we will entertain a favourable opinion of thy person and doctrine and wait for somewhat else but we do not well know what to perswade us to believe When the Apostles Preach the danger of unbelief because the doctrine of the Gospel was confirmed by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost what a fair answer doth this opinion put into the mouths of Infidels that notwithstanding all these signs and wonders they were never bound to believe the Gospel
of the spirit upon the soul it cheerfully embraceth that Truth which is revealed and cordially yields up its self in obedience to it This is the Divine faith which the Scripture acquaints us with and not such a one as meerly believes the truth of a Divine Testimony and as to the production of this faith I acknowledge meer rational evidence to be insufficient because they proceed in 2â— very different ways the one is to satisfie mens minds of the truth of the doctrine the other is to bring them effectually to adhere unto it The asserting of the one therefore doth no more tend to destroy the other then the saying that a Telescope will help us to discover very much of the heavenly bodies doth imply that a blind man may see them if he makes but use of them Although therefore the natural man cannot savingly apprehend the things of God yet there may be so much rational evidence going along with Divine revelation that supposing reason to be pure and not corrupted and steeped in sense as now it is it would discover spiritual evidence to be the most real and convincing evidence Thus far we have proved that where there is any infallible Testimony there is sufficient rational evidence going along with it to make it appear that it is from God CHAP. IX The rational evidence of the truth of Christian Religion from Miracles The possibility of miracles appears from God and providence the evidence of a Divine Testimony by them God alone can really alter the course of nature The Devils power of working miracles considered Of Simon Magus Apollonius The cures in the Temple of Aesculapius at Rome c. God never works miracles but for some particular end The particular reasons of the miracles of Christ. The repealing the Law of Moses which had been setled by miracles Why Christ checked the Pharisees for demanding a sign when himself appeals to his miracles The power of Christs miracles on many who did not throughly believe Christs miracles made it evident that he was the Messias because the predictions were fulfilled in him Why John Baptist wrought no miracles Christs miracles necessary for the overthrow of the Devils Kingdom Of the Daemoniacks and Lunaticks in the Gospel and in the Primitivâ— Church The power of the name of Christ over them largely proved by several Testimonies The evidence thence of a Divine power in Christ. Of counterfeit dispossessions Of miracles wrought among Infidels Of the future state of the Church The necessity of the miracles of Christ as to the propagation of Christian Religion that proved from the condition of the publishers and the success of the Doctrine The Apostles knew the hazard of their imployment before they entred on it The boldness and resolution of the Apostles notwithstanding this compared with heathen Philosophers No motive could carry the Apostles through their imployment but the truth of their Doctrine not seeking the honour profit or pleasure of the world The Apostles evidence of the truth of their doctrine lay in being eye-witnesses of our Saviours miracles and resurrection That attested by themselves their sufficiency thence for preaching the Gospel Of the nature of the doctrine of the Gospel contrariety of it to natural inclinations Strange success of it notwithstanding it came not with humane power No Christian Emperour till the Gospel universally preached The weakness and simplicity of the instruments which preached the Gospel From all which the great evidence of the power of miracles is proved OF all rational evidences which tend to confirm the truth of a Divine Testimony there can be none greater then a power of working miracles for confirmation that the Testimony which is revealed is infallible The possibility of a power of miracles cannot be questiond by any who assert a Deity and a Providence for by the same power that things were either at first produced or are still conserved which is equivalent to the other the course of nature may be altered and things caused which are beyond the power of inferiour causes For though that be an immutable Law of nature as to Physical beings that every thing remains in the course and order wherein it was set at the Creation yet that only holds till the same power which set it in that order shall otherwise dispose of it granting then the possibility of miracles the subject of this Hypothesis is that a power of miracles is the clearest evidence of a Divine Testimony which will appear from these following considerations God alone can really alter the course of nature I speak not of such things which are apt only to raise admiration in us because of our unacquaintedness with the causes of them or manner of their production which are thence called wonders much less of meer juggles and impostures whereby the eyes of men are deceived but I speak of such things as are in themselves either contrary to or above the course of nature i. e. that order which is established in the universe The Devil no question may and doth often deceive the world and may by the subtilty and agility of his nature perform such things as may amuse the minds of men and sometimes put them to it to find a difference between them and real miracles if they only make their sâ—nses judges of them And such kind of wonders though they are but spaâ—ingly done and with a kind of secrecy as though they were consulting with Catiline about the burning Rome yet the Devil would have some especially when Ignorance and Superstition are Ascendents to keep up his interest in the world Or else when he is like to be dispossessed and thrown out of all he then tryes his utmost to keep as many to him as may be thus when the Spirit of God appeared in the miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles and the Primitive Church he then conjured up all the infernal powers to do something parallel to keep possession of his Idolatrous Temples as long as he could Thus we find Simon Magus dogging the Apostles as it were at the heels that by his Magick he might stagger the faith of people concerning the miracles wrought by the Apostles after him Apollonius appeared upon the Stage but his wonders are such pittifull things compared with those wrought by Christ or his Apostles that it could be nothing but malice in Hierocles to mention him in competition with Christ. But those things which seem a great deal more considerable then either of these were the cure of a blind man by Vespasian in Egypt mentioned by Tacitus and Suetonius wherein there was a palpable imitation of our Saviours curing the blind man in the Gospel for the man told Vespasian restituturum oculos si inspuisset that he should receive his sight by his spittle so Spartianus tells us of a woman that was cured of her blindness by kissing the knees of the Emperour Adrian and Boxhornius hath produced an old Fable in the Temple of
have believed the doctrine of Christ to be the only way to salvation have been deceived either we must deny altogether a Divine Providence or say the Devil hath more power to deceive men then God to direct them which is worse then the former or else assert that there are no such things at all as either God or Devils but that all things come to pass by chance and fortune and if so it is still more inexplicable why such multitudes of rational and serious men and the most inquisitive part of the world as to such things should all be so possessed with the truth and certainty of these things and the more profane wicked and ignorant any persons are the more prone they are to mock and deride them If such men then see more into truth and reason then the sober and judicious part of mankind let us bid adieu to humanity and adore the brutes since we admire their judgement most who come the nearest to them 3. The multitude of these persons thus consenting in this Testimony could have no other engagement to this consent but only their firm perswasion of the truth of the doctrine conveyed by it because those who unanimously agree in this thing are such persons whose other designs and interests in this world differ as much as any mens do If it had been only a consent of Iews there might have been some probable pretence to have suspected a matter of interest in it but as to this thing we find the Iews divided among themselves about it and the stiffest denyers of the truth of it do yet inviolably preserve those sacred records among them from which the truth of the doctrine of Christ may be undoubtedly proved Had the Christian Religion been enforced upon the world by the Roman Emperours at the time of its first promulgation there would have been some suspicion of particular design in it but it came with no other strength but the evidence of its own truth yet it found sudden and strange entertainment among persons of all Nations and degrees of men In a short time it had eaten into the heart of the Roman Empire and made so large a spread therein that it made Tertullian say Hesterni sumus vestra omnia implevimus urbes insulas castella municipia conciliabula castraipsa tribus decurias palatium senatum forum sola vobis relinquimus Templa We have but newly appeared saith he yet we have filled all places with our company but only your Temples and before speaking of the Heathens Obsessam vociferantur civitatem in agris in castellis in insulis Christianos omnem sexum aetatem conditionem etiam dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen quasi detrimento moerent All sorts and conditions of men in all places were suddenly become Christians What common tye could there be now to unite all these persons together if we set aside the undoubted truth and certainty of the doctrine of Christ which was first preached to them by such who were eye-witnesses of Christs actions and had left sacred records behind them containing the substance of the doctrine of Christ and those admirable instructions which were their only certain guides in the way to heaven 4. Because many persons do joyn in this consent with true Christians who yet could heartily with that the doctrine of Christianity were not true Such are all those persons who are sensual in their lives and walk not according to the rules of the Gospel yet dare not question or deny the truth of it Such who could heartily wish there were no future state nor judgement to come that they might indulge themselves in this world without fear of another yet their consciences are so far convinced of and awed by the truth of these things that they raise many perplexities and anxieties in their minds which they would most willingly be rid of which they can never throughly be till instead of having the name of Christians they come to live the life of Christians and become experimentally acquainted with the truth and power of Religion And withall we find that the more men have been acquainted with the practice of Christianity the greater evidence they have had of the truth of it and been more fully and rationally perswaded of it To such I grant there are such powerful evidences of the truth of the doctrine of Christ by the effectual workings of the Spirit of God upon their souls that all other arguments as to their own satisfaction may fall short of these As to which those verses of the Poet Dante 's rendred into Latine by F. S. are very pertinent and significant for when he had introduced the Apostle Peter asking him what it was which his faith was founded on he answers Deinde exivit ex luce profundâ Quae illic splendebat pretiosa gemma Super quam omnis virtus fundatur i. e. That God was pleased by immediate revelation of himself to discover that divine truth to the world whereon our faith doth stand as on its sure foundation but when the Apostle goes on to enquire how he knew this came at first from God his answer to that is larga pluvia Spiritûs Sancti quae est diffusa Super veteres super novas membranas Est syllogismus ille qui eam mihi conclusit Adâ—ò acutè ut prae illâ demonstratione Omnis demonstratio alia mihi videatur obtusa i. e. That the Spirit of God doth so fully discover its self both in the Old and New Testament that all other arguments are but dull and heavy if compared with this It is true they are so to a truly inlightened conscience which discovers so much beauty and glory in the Scriptures that they ravish the soul although it be unable to give so full an account of this unto others who want the eyes to see that beauty with which a heart truly gracious hath We see ordinarily in the world that the attraction of beauty is an unaccountable thing and one may discern that which ravisheth him which another looks on as mean and ordinary and why may it not be much more thus in divine objects which want spiritual eyes to discover them Therefore I grant that good men enjoy that satisfaction to their own Consciences as to the truth of the Doctrine of Christ which others cannot attain to but yet I say that such do likewise see the most strong rational and convincing evidence which doth induce them to believe which evidence is then most convincing when it is seconded by the peculiar energy of the Spirit of God upon the souls of true Believers But yet we see that the power and force of the truth of these things may be so great even upon such minds which are not yet moulded into the fashion of true goodness that it may awe with its light and clearness where it doth not soften and alter by its heat and influence Now whence can it be that such
he tells us himself courting the Aegyptian Mysteries for compassing his Oedipus should have found some better arguments to prove an assertion of this nature then meerly the testimony of Iosephus the Hebrew book Iuchasin and some Arabick Writers not one of all which do mention the thing they are brought for viz. that Manetho was elder then Alexander All the business is they quote him as an ancient Writer but what then The Author of the Book Iuchasim was Abraham Zacuth a Iew of Salamancha who writ in the year of our Lord 1502. and this book was first printed at Constantinople 1556. Might not this man then well mention Manetho as an ancient Writer if he flourished above 1600 years before him in the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus And what if some Arabick Writers mention him are they of so great antiquity and credit themselves that it is an evidence Manetho lived in Alexanders time to be praised by them It would be well if Kircber and other learned men who think the world is grown to so great stupidity as to believe every thing to be a Iewel which is far fetched would first assert and vindicate the antiquity and fidelity of their Arabick Authors such as Gelaldinus Abenephi and many others before they expect we should part with our more authentick Records of History for those fabulous relations which they are so full fraught withall Were it here any part of my present business it were an easie matter so to lay open the ignorance falsity and fabulousness of those Arabians whom that Author relies so much upon that he could not be freed from a design to impose upon the world who makes use of their Testimony in matters of ancient times without a Caveat I know none fit to believe these Arabick Writers as to these things but those who have faith enough to concoct the Rabbins in matter of History Of whom Origen saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who are as Grotius truly saith pessimi historiae Magistri nam ex quo patria expulsi sunt omnis apud illos historia crassis erroribus fabulis est inquinata quibus proinde nihil credendum est nisi aliunde testes accederunt And as Is. Caubason passeth this sharp but due censure upon them Rabbinis ubi de Lingna Hebraica agitur vocis alicujus proprietate vel aliquo Talmudico instituto meritò à Christianis tribui non parum nbi verò à verbis venitur ad res aut ad historiam vel rerum antiquarum veteris populi explicationem nisi falli decipi volumus nihil admodum esse illis fidei habendum Sexcentis argumentis hoc facilè probarem si id nunc agerem And in reference to their ancient rites as well as history Ioseph Scaliger hath given this verdict of them Manifesta est Iudaeorum inscitia qui cum usu veterum rituum etiam corum cognitionem amiserunt multa quae ad eorum sacra historiam pertinent longè meliùs nos teneamus quam ipsi The same which these very learned persons say of Rabbinical may with as much truth be said of these Arabick Writers in matters of ancient history which I have here inserted to shew the reason why I have thought the testimony of either of these two sorts of persons so inconsiderable in the matter of our future discourse which being historical and that of the greatest antiquity little relief is to be expected from either of them in order thereto But to return to Kircher It is freely granted that Iosephus an Author of credit and age sufficient to give his opinion in this case doth very frequently cite Manetho in his Aegyptian History particularly in his learned Books against Appion but where he doth give the least intimation of Manetho being elder then Alexander I am yet to seek But Kircher will not yet leave the matter so but undertakes to give an account of the mistake which is that there were two Manetho's besides and both Aegyptians mentioned by Suidas one a Mendesian who writ of the Preparation of the Aegyptian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of perfume used by the Aegyptian Priests The other a Diospolitan who writ some Physiological and Astronomical Treatises whose works he hears are preserved in the Duke of Florenee his Librarie and this was he saith he who lived in the times of Augustus whom many by the aequivocation of the name have confounded with the ancient Writer of the Aegyptian Dynastyes Is it possible so learned a Iesuite should discover so little judgement in so few words For first who ever asserted the Writer of the Dynastyes to have lived in the time of Augustus Yet secondly if that Manetho whom Suidas there speaks of lived in Augustus his time according to Kircher then it must necessarily follow that the Compiler of the Dynastyes did for it is evident to any one that looks into Suidas that he there speaks of the same Manetho for these are his words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can any thing be more plain then that he here speaks of Manetho Sebennyta who was the Author of the Dynastyes though he might write other things besides of which Suidas there speaks But Kircher very wisely in translating Suidas his words leaves out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which decides the controversie and makes it clear that he speaks of the same Manetho of whom we have been discoursing Thus it still appears that this Manetho is no elder then the time of Ptolomy Philadelphus which was the thing to be proved Now for Berosus although the Chaldeans had occasion enough given them before this time to produce their antiquities by the Iews converse with them in Babylon yet we find this Author the first who durst adventure them abroad such as they were in Greek Now that this Berosus published his history after the time mentioned I thus prove Tatianus Assyrius tells us that he writ the Chaldaick history in three books and dedicated them to Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is read in the fragment of Tatianus preserved in Eusebius but it must be acknowledged that in the Paris edition of Tatianus as well as the Basil it is thus read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here it relates to the third from Alexander in the other to the third from Seleucus Now if we reckon the third so as to take the person from whom we reckon in for the first according to the reading in Eusebius it falls to be Antiochus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the other reading it falls to be Antiochus Soter for Seleucus succeeded Alexander in the Kingdom of Syria Antiochus Soter Seleucus Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiochus Soter But according to either of these readings our purpose is sufficiently proved For Antiochus Soter began to reign in Syria in the sixth year of Ptol. Philadelphus in Aegypt Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 succeeded him in the 22. year of Philadelphus
is in the work of Grace So that according to this opinion there must be immediate inspiration as to that act of faith whereby we believe any one to have been divinely inspired and consequently to that whereby we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God Secondly Doth not this make the fairest plea for mens unbelief For I demand Is it the duty of those who want that immediate illumination to believe or no If it be not their duty unbelief can be no sin to them if it be a duty it must be made known to be a duty and how can that be made known to them to be a duty when they want the only and necessary means of instruction in order to it Will God condemn them for that which it was impossible they should have unless God gave it them And how can they be left inexcuseable who want so much as rational inducements to faith for of these I now speak and not of efficacious perswasions of the mind when there are rational arguments for faith propounded But lastly I suppose the case will be cleared when we take notice what course God hath alwayes taken to give all rational satisfaction to the minds of men concerning the persons whom he hath imployed in either of the fore-mentioned cases First for those who have been imployed upon some special message and service for God he hath sent them forth sufficiently provided with manifestations of the Divine power whereby they acted As is most clear and evident in the present case of Moses Exodus 4. 1 2 3 4 5. where Moses puts the case to God which we are now debating of Supposing saith he that I should go to the Israelites and tell them God had appeared to me and sent me to deliver them and they should say God had not appeared unto me how should I satisfie them God doth not reject this objection of Moses as favouring of unbelief but presently shews him how he should satisfie them by causing a miracle before his face turning his rod into a Serpent and God gives this as the reason of it vers 5. That they may believe that the Lord God of their Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee It seems God himself thought this would be the most pregnant evidence of Gods appearing to him if he wrought miracles before their faces Nay lest they should think one single miracle was not sufficient God in the immediate following verses adjoyns two more which he should do in order to their satisfaction and further verse 21. God gave him a charge to do all those wonders before Pharoah which he had put into his hand And accordingly we find Pharoah presently demanding a miracle of Moses Exodus 7. 9. which accordingly Moses did in his presence though he might suppose Pharoahs demand not to proceed from desire of satisfaction but from some hopes that for want of it he might have rendred his credit suspected among the Israelites Indeed after God had delivered his people and had setled them in a way of serving him according to the Laws delivered by Moses which he had confirmed by unquestionable miracles among them we find a caution laid in by Moses himself against those which should pretend signs and wonders to draw them off from the Religion established by the Law of Moses And so likewise under the Gospel after that was established by the unparallel'd miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles we find frequent cautions against being deceived by those who came with pretences of doing great miracles But this is so far from infringing the credibility of such a Testimony which is confirmed by miracles that it yields a strong confirmation to the truth of what I now assert For the doctrine is supposed to be already established by miracles according to which we are to judge of the spirits of such pretenders Now it stands to the greatest reason that when a Religion is once established by uncontrouled miracles we should not hearken to every whiffling Conjurer that will pretend to do great feats to draw us off from the truth established In which case the surest way to discover the imposture is to compare his pretended miracles with those true and real ones which were done by Moses and Christ and the ground of it is because every person is no competent judge of the truth of a miracle for the Devil by his power and subtilty may easily deceive all such as will be led by the nose by him in expectation of some wonders to be done by him And therefore as long as we have no ground to question the oertainty of those miracles which were wrought by Christ or Moses I am bound to adhere to the doctrine established by those miracles and to make them my rule of judging all persons who shall pretend to work miracles Because 1. I do not know how far God may give men over to be deceived by lying wonders who will not receive the truth in the love of it i. e. those that think not the Christian Religion sufficiently confirmed by the miracles wrought at the first promulgation of it God in justice may permit the Devil to go further then otherwise he could and leave such persons to their own credulity to believe every imposture and illusion of their senses for true miracles 2. That doctrine which was confirmed by undoubted miracles hath assured us of the coming of lying wonders whereby many should be deceived Now this part of the doctrine of the Gospel is as certainly true as any of the rest for it was confirmed by the same miracles that the other was and besides that the very coming of such miracles is an evidence of the truth of it it falling out so exactly according to what was foretold so many hundred years since Now if this doctrine be true then am I certain the intent of these miracles is to deceive and that those are deceived who hearken to them and what reason then have I to believe them 3. To what end do these miracles serve Are they to confirm the truths contained in Scripture But what need they any confirmation now when we are assured by the miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles that the doctrine by them preached came from God and so hath been received upon the credit of those miracles ever since Were these truths sufficiently proved to be from God before or no If not then all former ages have believed without sufficient ground for faith if they were then what ground can there be to confirm us in them now certainly God who never doth anything but for very great purposes will never alter the course of nature meerly for satisfaction of mens vain curiosities But it may be it will be said It was something not fully revealed in Scripture which is thus confirmed by miracles but where hath the Scripture told us that anything not fully revealed
seek for satisfaction as ever for granting that a Divine power is seen in one and not in the other he must needs be still dissatisfied unless it can be made evident to him that such things are from Divine power and others cannot be Now the main distinction being placed here in the natures of the things abstractly considered and not as they bear any evidence to our understandings in stead of resolving doubts it increaseth more for as for instance in the case of the Magicians rods turning into scrpents as well as Moses his what satisfaction could this yeild to any spectator to tell him that in the one there was a Divine power and not in the other unless it were made appear by some evidence from the thing that the one was a meer imposture and the other a real alteration in the thing it self I take it then for granted that no general discourses concerning the formal difference of miracles and wonders considered in themselves can afford any rational satisfaction to an inquisitive mind that which alone is able to give it must be something which may be discerned by any judicious and considerative person And that God never gives to any a power of miracles but he gives some such ground of satisfaction concerning them will appear upon these two considerations 1. From Gods intention in giving to any this power of doing miracles We have largely made it manifest that the end of true miracles is to be a confirmation to the world of the Divine commission of the persons who have it and that the testimony is Divine which is confirmed by it Now if there be no way to know when miracles are true or false this power is to no purpose at all for men are as much to seek for satisfaction as if there had been no such things at all Therefore if men are bound to believe a Divine testimony and to rely on the miracles wrought by the persons bringing it as an evidence of it they must have some assurance that these miracles could not come from any but a Divine power 2. From the providence of God in the world which if we own we cannot imagine that God should permit the Devil whose only design is to ruine mankind to abuse the credulity of the world so far as to have his lying wonders pass uncontrouled which they must do if nothing can be found out as a certain difference between such things as are only of Diabolical and such as are of Divine power If then it may be discovered that there is a malignant spirit which acts in the world and doth produce strange things either we must impute all strange things to him which must be to attribute to him an infinite power or else that there is a being infinitely perfect which crosseth this malignant spirit in his designs and if so we cannot imagine he should suffer him to usurpe so much tyranny over the minds of men as to make those things pass in the more sober and inquisitive part of the world for Divine miracles which were only counterfeits and impostures If then the providence of God be so deeply engaged in the discovering the designs of Satan there must be some means of this discovery and that means can be supposed to be no other in this case but some rational and satisfactory evidence whereby we may know when strange and miraculous things are done by Satan to deceive men and when by a Divine power to confirm a Divine testimony But how is it possible say some that miracles should be any ground on which to believe a testimony Divine when Christ himself hath told us that there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they should deceive the very elect and the Apostle tells us that the coming of Antichrist will be with all power and signs and lying wonders How then can we fix on miracles as an evidence of Divine testimony when we see they are common to good and bad men and may seal indifferently either truth or falshood To this I reply 1. Men are guilty of doing no small disservice to the doctrine of Christ when upon such weak and frivolous pretences they give so great an advantage to infidelity as to call in question the validity of that which yeilded so ample a testimony to the truth of Christian religion For if once the rational grounds on which we believe the doctrine of Christ to be true and Divine be taken away and the whole evidence of the truth of it be laid on things not only derided by men of Atheistical spirits but in themselves such as cannot be discerned or judged of by any but themselves upon what grounds can we proceed to convince an unbeliever that the doctrine which we believe is true If they tell him that as light and fire manifest themselves so doth the doctrine of the Scriâ—ture to those who believe it It will be soon replyed that self-evidence in a matter of faith can imply nothing but either a firm perswasion of the mind concerning the thing propounded or else that there are such clear evidences in the thing it self that none who freely use their reason can deny it the first can be no argument to any other person any further then the authority of the person who declares it to have such self-evidence to him doth extend its self over the mind of the other and to ones self it seems a strange way of arguing I believe the Scriptures because they are true and they are true because I believe them for self-evidence implyes so much if by it be meant the perswasion of the mind that the thing is true but if by self-evidence be further meant such clear evidence in the matter propounded that all who do consider it must believe it I then further enquire whether this evidence doth lie in the nâ—ked proposal of the things to the understanding and if so then every one who assents to this proposition that the whole is greater then the part must likewise assent to this that the Scripture is the Word of God or whether doth the evidence lie not in the naked proposal but in the efficacy of the Spirit of God on the minds of those to whom it is propounded Then 1. The self-evidence is taken off from the written Word which was the object and removed to a quite different thing which is the efficient cause 2. Whether then any persons who want this efficacious operation of the Spirit of God are or can be bound to believe the Scripture to be Gods Word If they are bound the duty must be propounded in such a way as may be sufficient to convince them that it is their duty but if all the evidence of the truth of the Scripture lie on this testimony of the Spirit then such as want this can have none at all But if â—astly by this self-evidence be meant
this God may do for the tryal of means faith whether they will forsake the true doctrine confirmed by greater miracles for the sake of such doctrines which are contrary thereto and are confirmed by false Prophets by signs and wonders Now in this case our rule of tryal must not be so much the wonders considered in themselves whether real or no as the comparing them with the miracles which were wrought in confirmation of that doctrine which is contrary to this which these wonders tend to the proving of Therefore Gods people under the Law were to examine the scope and drift of the miracles if they were intended to bring them to Idolatry whatever they were they were not to hearken to those who did them So now under the Gospel as the worship of the true God was then the standard whereby to judge of miracles by the Law of Moses so the worship of the true God through Iesus Christ and by the doctrine revealed by him is the standard whereby we ought to judge of all pretenders to work miracles So that let the miracles be what they will if they contradict that doctrine which Christ revealed to the world we are to look upon them as only tryals of our faith in Christ to see whether we Love him with our whole hearts or no. And therefore I think it needless to examine all the particulars of Lipsius his relations of miracles wrought by his Diva Virgo Hallensis and Asprecollis for if I see that their intention and scope is to set up the worship of Daemons or a middle sort of Deities between God and us which the Scripture is ignorant of on that very account I am bound to reject them all Although I think it very possible to find out the difference between true miracles and them in the manner and circumstances of their operation but this as it is of more curiosity so of less necessity for if the doctrine of the Scriptures was confirmed by miracles infinitely above these I am bound to adhere to that and not to believe any other doctrine though an Angel from heaven should preach it much less although some Popish Priests may boast much of miracles to confirm a doctrine opposite to the Gospel which I know not how far God may in judgement give those images power to work or others faith to believe because they would not receive the truth in the love of it and these are now those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lying wonders which the Scripture forewarns us that we should not believe viz. such as lead men to the belief of lyes or of doctrines contrary to that of the Gospel of Iesus Christ. Where miracles are true and Divine there the effects which follow them upon the minds of those who believe them are true and Divine i. e. the effect of believing of them is the drawing of men from sin unto God This the Primitive Christians insisted much upon as an undoubted evidence that the miracles of Christ were wrought by a Divine power because the effect which followed them was the work of conversion of souls from sin and Idols to God and Christ and all true piety and vertue As the effect of the miracles of Moses was the drawing a people off from Superstition and Idolatry to the worship of the true God so the effect which followed the belief of the miracles of Christ in the world was the purging mens souls from all sin and wickedness to make them new creatures and to live in all exactness and holiness of conversation And thereby Origen discovers the great difference between the miracles of Christ and Antichrist that the intent of all Antichrists wonders was to bring men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the deceivableness of unrighteousness whereby to destroy them but the intent of the miracles of Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the deceiving but the saving of the souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who can with any probability say that reformation of life and dayly progress from evil to good should be the effect of meer deceit And therefore he saith Christ told his Disciples that they should do greater works then he had done because by their Preaching and miracles the eyes of blind souls are opened and the ears of such as were deaf to all goodness are opened so far as to hearken to the Precepts and Promises of the Gospel and the feet of those who were lame in their inward man are so healed as to delight to run in the way of Gods Commandments Now is it possible that these should be the effects of any evil spirit But on the contrary we see the effects of all impostures and pretended miracles wrought by Diabolical power was to bring men off from God to sin and to dissolve that strict obligation to duty which was laid upon men by the Gospel of Christ. Thus it was in that early ape of the Apostles Simon Magus who far out-went Apollonius Tyaneus or any other Heathen in his pretended miracles according to the report which is given of him by the Primitive Christians but we see the intent of his miracles was to raise an admiration of himself and to bring men off from all holiness of conversation by afferting among other damnable heresies that God did not at all regard what men did but only what they believed wherein the Gnosticks were his followers Now when miracles are wrought to be Patrons of sin we may easily know from whom they come Those miracles are wrought by a Divine power which tend to the overthrow of the Kingdom of Satan in the world This is evident from hence because all such things as are out of mans power to effect must either be done by a power Divine or Diabolical For as our Saviour argues Every Kingdom divided against its self is brought to desolation and every City or house divided against its self cannot stand and if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how shall then his Kingdom stand Now Christ by his miracles did not only dispossess Satan out of mens bodyes but out of his Temples too as hath been shewn already And besides the doctrine of Christ which was confirmed by those miracles was in every thing directly contrary to the Devils design in the world For 1. The Devils design was to conceal himself among those who worshipped him the design of the Gospel was to discover him whom the Gentiles worshipped to be an evil and malignant spirit that designed nothing but their ruine Now it appears in the whole history of Gentilism the grand mystery of State which the Devil used among the Heathens was to make himself to be â—â—en and worshippâ—d for God and to make them believ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—ns were very good and benigne spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—â—onists and other Philosopherâ—â—o â—o much 〈◊〉 against the Primitiâ—â— Christians when thâ—◠〈◊〉 their Daemons to be nothing â—he but inâ—â—â—al and wicked spirits which sought the
condition of our souls 3. The Scripture discovers to us the only way of pleasing God and enjoying his favour That clearly reveals the way which man might have sought for to all eternity without particular revelation whereby sins may be pardond and whatever we do may be acceptable unto God It shews us that the ground of our acceptance with God is through Christ whom he hath made a propitiation for the sins of the world and who alone is the true and living way whereby we may draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience Through Christ we understand the terms on which God will shew favour and grace to the world and by him we have ground of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 access with freedome and boldness unto God On his account we may hope not only for grace so subdue our sins resist temptations conquer the devil and the world but having fought this good fight and finished our course by patient continuance in well doing we may justly look for glory honour and immortality and that crown of righteousness which is laid up for those who wait in faith holiness and humility for the appearance of Christ from heaven Now what things can there be of greater moment and importance for men to know or God to reveal then the nature of God and our selves the state and condition of our souls the only way to avoid eternal misery and enjoy everlasting Bliss The Scriptures discover not only matters of importance but of the greatest depth and mysteriousness There are many wonderful things in the Law of God things we may admire but are never able to comprehend Such are the eternal purposes and decrees of God the doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and the manner of the operation of the Spirit of God on the souls of men which are all things of great weight and moment for us to understand and believe that they are and yet may be unsearchable to our reason as to the particular manner of them What certain ground our faith stands on as to these things hath been already shewed and therefore I forbear insisting on them The Scripture comprehends matters of the most universal satisfaction to the minds of men though many things do much exceed our apprehensions yet others are most suâ—table to the dictates of our nature As Origen bid Celsus see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether it was not the agreeableness of the principles of faith with the common notions of humane nature that which prevailed most upon all candid and ingenuous auditors of them And therefore as Socrates said of Heraclitus his books What he understood was excellent and therefore he supposed that which he did not understand was so too so ought we to say of the Scriptures if those things which are within our capacity be so suitable to our natures and reasons those cannot contradict our reason which yet are above them There are many things which the minds of men were sufficiently assured that they were yet were to seek for satisfaction concerning them which they could never have had without Divine revelation As the nature of true happiness wherein it lay and how to be obtained which the Philosophers were so puzled with the Scripture gives us full satisfaction concerning it True contentment under the troubles of life which the Scripture only acquaints us with the true grounds of and all the prescriptions of Heathen Moralists fall as much short of as the directions of an Empirick doth of a wise and skilful Physitian Avoiding the fears of death which can alone be through a grounded expectation of a future state of happiness which death leads men to which cannot be had but through the right understanding of the Word of God Thus we see the excellency of the matters themselves contained in this revelation of the mind of God to the world As the matters themselves are of an excellent nature so is the manner wherein they are revealed in the Scriptures and that 1. In a clear and perspicuous manner not but there may be still some passages which are hard to be understood as being either prophetical or consisting of ambiguous phrases or containing matters above our comprehension but all those things which concern the terms of mans salvation are delivered with the greatest evidence and perspicuiry Who cannot understand what these things mean What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God that without faith it is impossible to please God that without holiness none shall see the Lord that unless we be born again we can never enter into the Kingdom of heaven these and such like things are so plain and clear that it is nothing but mens shutting their eyes against the light can keep them from understanding them God intended these things as directions to men and is not he able to speak intelligibly when he please he that made the tongue shall he not speak so as to be understood without an infallible interpreter especially when it is his design to make known to men the terms of their eternal happiness Will God judge men at the great day for not believing those things which they could not understand Strange that ever men should judge the Scriptures obscure in matters necessary when the Scripture accounts it so great a judgement for men not to understand them If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them Sure Lots door was visible enough if it were a judgement for the men of Sodom not to see it and the Scriptures then are plain and intelligible enough if it be so great a judgement not to understand them 2. In a powerful and authoritative manner as the things contained in Scripture do not so much beg acceptance as command it in that the expressions wherein our duty is concerned are such as awe mens consciences and pierce to their hearts and to their secret thoughts All things are open and naked before this Word of God every secret of the mind and thought of the heart lyes open to its stroke and force it is quick and powerful sharper then a two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The word is a Telescope to discover the great Luminaries of the world the truths of highest concernment to the souls of men and it is such a Microscope as discovers to us the smallest Atome of our thoughts and discerns the most secret intent of the heart And as far as this light reacheth it comes with power and authority as it comes armed with the Majesty