Neither was it because of his extraordinary Piety For Moses called the meekest of Men was without doubt in that equal to him 'T was then because of the advantage he enjoyed both in Seeing and Hearing the Messias But how comes our Saviour to add that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than him Must we understand by the Kingdom of Heaven that Kingdom of which John himself said the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Was it not rather because John saw none of all the Wonders of that Kingdom which the least of Christ's Disciples had seen Which indeed was the reason that our Saviour told them Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Matth. 13. 16 17. Now all this evidently supposes the Miracles of Christ and all the other marvellous Events which serve for a Confirmation of our holy Religion What he also said himself concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is altogether strange and very surprising Nay the very name he gave to that sin implies something in itself Singular and Extraordinary For no body before him ever expressed himself after this manner Men were not ignorant that sinning against God was a very great Crime but they had no Knowledge of the sin against the Holy Ghost much less were they satisfied if there was any harm in Blaspheming against him This unusual Language necessarily proceeded from a new Revelation and from new and different objects not seen or heard of before For the Jews knew not what the Holy Ghost was if we take that word in the Sense of the Evangelists Nay there were some of them who tho converted to the Gopsel of Christ yet still were ignorant of the true meaning of that Expression In the mean while if we will but consult the Writings of the New Testament and therein the Gospels the Acts of the Holy Apostles and the Epistles of those great and extraordinary Men they will presently inform us that by the Holy Ghost must be understood in most of those places the extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit imparted to the Men of those days and that to Blaspheme against him is downright Blasphemy against that Divine and Glorious Principle of all things which was the cause of all the Perfections and Miracles of Christ and gave such Power unto Men. So that there is first in that Text such an obscurity as proves that the Evangelists could not have thought of inventing it had not Christ himself really utter'd these very words and secondly it undeniably supposes the miraculous matters of fact the Pharisees were wont to ascribe to the Power of Belzebub wherein indeed Chiefly consisted the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost In like manner this Text Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. implies a very puzling Difficulty because it was not usual formerly for Men to express themselves after this manner It is a very difficult matter indeed to understand the true meaning of that Text but it is yet far more difficult to invent it and all the Doctors in the World might put their Heads together and yet never be able to invent the like Text. Above all it was not natural for the Jews to invent any such thing because they had no such objects amongst them as could fill up their Minds with any such Ideas When we suppose the Baptism of the Holy Spirit confer'd upon Christ's Disciples we may then easily comprehend the true meaning of that mysterious but very remarkable Expression We might also add to this Text that other which mentions the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire In like manner it pleased God in his Wisdom that they who related to us the History of Christ's Resurrection should tell us also some things which we cannot at first view easily comprehend tho they have a true and reasonable meaning on purpose to make us understand that as it was impossible those obscure and difficult sayings ascribed to him by them should come of themselves into their thoughts had not he really spoke them so consequently it can never be supposed that those Men should have forg'd the History of Christ's Resurrection or their Discourses with him after he was risen from the Dead as for instance these Words which he spake to Mary touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father John 20. 17. We could make almost an infinite number of such Remarks as these which tho' they cannot come up to an evident Demonstration yet are very proper to make us sensible of the Truth of those matters of fact we are now speaking of The Sincerity of the Disciples will further appear by the great number of Circumstances with which their Narrative is fill'd some whereof are so singular that they can't easily enter into any Man's Mind and others so unbecoming their Master or dâ—â—â—dvantageous to themselves that there is not the least Probability they could have any Desire to forge them others are so inseparably united with those Events which must necessarily have been well known that they durst not so much as think of forging them against the publick Knowledge every body must have had of them as we have already proved at large But lastly 't is not our present Design to insist purely upon probable Reasons tho' never so probable and sufficient of themselves to form a true and perfect Demonstration when joyned together I therefore proceed to that which is in itself wholly Demonstrative Now the whole Demonstration of the Truth of Christian Religion depends upon this Argument namely that the Apostles and Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost whence it follows that all those matters of fact are most certainly true We have already given an invincible proof of the Consequence of this Argument by shewing that it was impossible the Disciples should have been imposed upon in all these matters of fact that tho' they might have been deceived in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not be imposed upon in his Resurrection that tho' they should have been imposed upon in his Resurrection yet they could not be deceived in his Ascension and that tho' they should have been deceived in his Ascension yet they could not be so too in the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost which are matters of fact that they knew by inward sense and continual Experience I prove also the Principle of this Argument viz. that the Disciples of Christ sincerely believed all those matters of fact by the same Gradation I say then that the Disciples could not impose upon Men as to the Miracles of Christ not only because they asserted them at the Expence of their own
Necessities in Persecutions in Distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak then am I strong Nay he pretends that all those who are animated with the same spirit that he was cannot forbear piously rejoycing in their sufferings But the fruit says he of the spirit is Loâ—â— Joy Peace long Suffering Gentleness Goodness Faitâ— Mâ—ekness Temperance Gal. 5. 22. That is the trâ—â— Character of a Christian And the Apostles desigâ— in preaching was to plant these Virtues in the mindâ— of men But let us see further some other marks of the joyfulness and confidence of St. Paul He expresses himself after this manner in some of his Epistles 2 Cor. 4. 8 9 10. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be mde manifest in our body And in another place yea and if I be â—ffered upon the sacrifice of your faith I rejoyce with you â—ll for the same cause also do ye rejoyce with me Phil. 2. â—7 From whence could proceed those motions of Joy which St. Paul so naturally expresses which no Art can imitate which run through all his Epistles from the beginning to the end and which seem to spring from an heart which not being able to conâ—ain its inward pleasure and satisfaction opens and â—nlarges it self and breaks forth into these lively â—xpressions of Joy Certainly such sentiments as these could never â—pring from Nature For Nature sends forth sighs â—nd groans under her sufferings The Stoicks who â—ndeavoured to stifle her innocent complaints preâ—ended that a man might overcome himself to that degree as to preserve his mind serene and calm in â—he midst of Torments but the Stoicks never went â—o far as to believe that joy could spring out of the midst of the bitterness of afflictions None but the Christians could ever find unspeakable joy and comâ—ort in the midst of their sorrows Who was that â—aul then that had thoughts so elevated Only an â—mpostor if we will believe the Incredulous By â—hat strength or power does he so much surpass the â—ertue of the Stoicks By the power of the greatest â—mposture that ever was And can any one really be â—erswaded of such a thing For my part the only â—ifficulty I find in all this is to imagin that the proud â—retended Patrons of Humane Reason should be so â—nreasonable and Extravagant CHAP. XII Wherein we further examine the Epistles of St Paul THe third thing to be observ'd in the Epistles of St. Paul is that they are as it were a continual repetition of the Death Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ or at least of such things as essentially belong to them so that altho the four Gospels should be lost still the Substance and Essentials of the Gospel are to be found in the Writings of St. Paul Now this appears in the beginning of almost every one of his Epistles Concerning his Son says he in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 1. v. 4. which was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holyness by the Resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ But this appears yet more expresly in several other places as in the 15. Chap. of his first Epistle to the Corinthians v. 3 5 6 7 8. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and thâ—â— he was seen of Cephas then of the twelve After thâ—â— he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present but soâ—â— are fallen a sleep After that he was seen of James thâ—â— of all the Apostles And last of all he was seen of 〈◊〉 also as of one born out of due time So boldly does this Apostle speak of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He does not only say in general terms that Jesus Christ was seen after his Resurrection but in particular that he was seen of Cephas of James of the other Apostles and of himself that he was seen by five hundred brethren at once of whom the greatest part was then living whom he appealed to as witnesses of the Truth of what he said and who might easily have contradicted him if it had been false But if so great a number of people really saw Jesus Christ after his Resurrection that matter of fact can never be false For how is it possible that five hundred three hundred nay fifty persons should maugre all punishments conspire together to maintain a fiction But if such a number of persons neither saw nor certified they had seen Christ after his Resurrection how should St. Paul have presumed to write this to an infinite number of persons who seeing and conversing with the Apostles must have known the certainty of it How durst he name those whom he pretends that Jesus Christ appeared to after his Resurrection How great was his boldness to assign so great a number of Witnesses of that Truth and to affirm that the greatest part of them were still living How comes he to speak of it slightly by the way or only as a thing universally known He tells it but not with any turn of Wit or fineness of Expression which Impostors use to varnish over a specious lye who use the more art and insinuation the more incredible the things are they would induce men to believe But why should not he boldly assert the Truth of the Resurrection since as he pretends the Holy Ghost evidently bare record of it In a word St. Paul speaks in his Epistle of miracuâ—ous gifts as of a thing universally known He calls them the Gifts of the Holy Ghost and sometimes only the Holy Ghost He that should attempt to cut off from his Epistles every place wherein he menâ—ions them would certainly take away the most considerable part of them To one says he is given â—he spirit the gift of Wisdom to another the gift of Knowledge by the same spirit to another Faith by the same spirit to another the gift of healing by the same spirit to another the working of Miracles to another Prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another divers kind of tongues but all these worketh that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12. 8 9 10 11. You see how St. Paul cursorily mentions this matter of fact as a matter of uncontested Experience Mean while 't is observable that we have not to do with one single gift but several miraculous gifts in which there was no Artifice or Illusion For tho' it might be pretended that some certain people had received the gift of tongues and altho' those very people should
themselves capable of Imparting those gifts to other Men and consequently as much as if he should advance that the Apostles wrote none of all those Epistles that were ascribed to them that they preach'd not publickly at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost nor settled any Church therein or taught Men that they should stedfastly believe in the Gospel Lastly should he say that the Apostles sincerely believed all these things but yet that none of them were true 't is as much as if he asserted that they had neither Eyes Ears nor Memory and that several thousands of People were all deprived of their Senses by the same kind of bewitching folly so that those who embraced the Doctrine which they taught must at the same time precisely and necessarily have lost their Reason and yet 't is evident that folly is the only Principle that makes us lead good lives and sanctifies the corrupt Affections of Men. It is certain that by considering the union of all these Circumstances together there arises from them such a Moral Demonstration as is worth all other Mathematical Demonstrations in the World But to be as brief as possible I say that this Demonstration after all consists in the two following propositions As thus the Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost It follows therefore that these four Events are most certainly true The Consequence of this argument is evident because these are matters of fact that were altogether incapable of Illusion or Deceit and in which it was absolutely impossible they should have been deceived For tho the Disciples might have been decieved in one single Miracles yet how could they be deceived in several Miracles at once Tho it were possible they might have been deceived in the Miracles of Christ yet they could not be deceived in his Resurrection Tho' they might have been decieved in his Resurrection yet they could not be deceived in so many sensible Marks which Christ gave them of his Presence after he was risen from the Dead and above all in his Ascension Tho' they might have been deceived even in his Ascension yet they could not be deceived in the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost because they had a continual Experience of that last Miracle They knew whether it was true or not there had appeared to them Cloven Tongues like as of fire but still they knew yet much better whether they had really received the Gift of Tongues which were represented to them by that external Symbol the Holy Ghost having particularly chosen that Gift above all others on purpose to make it the more remarkable because of all sorts of Gifts this is certainly the most unimitable and the least capable of Error and Illusion For pray how is it possible I should perswade my self that I can speak the Persian Chinese and Arabick Tongue or that I understand all those Languages when they are spoken to me had I no such Gift of Tongues And if it be so rare a thing to see one single Man possessed with that foolish kind of Madness as to imagin such a thing it is most certainly impossible that a great number of Persons should fancy that they on a sudden spoke all sorts of Languages in the World when there was no such thing It must then necessarily be granted that tho' the Disciples of Jesus Christ might perhaps have been imposed upon in all the other matters of fact yet they could not be deluded in this For a Man cannot be ignorant whether or no he speaks those Languages which were before wholly unknown to him much less can 2 Men be so much less again 12 and much less still 70 and since every one of these Persons must necessarily know what passes within himself it is impossible they should all believe they had received the Gift of Tongues when there was no such thing The Consequence therefore of our Argument is most certain most evident and undeniable if ever any thing was so and the Principle of it will appear to be so likewise The Disciples of Christ sincerely believed his Miracles Resurrection Ascension and the Effusion of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost If you would be more fully convinced of this 't is but reading the New Testament over from one end to the other There you will find that Sincerity and that full Perswasion in their disinteressed Self-denial which sprung from the Knowledge they had that Christ as their only treasure was ascended into Heaven there you will see their Joyfulness in Afflictions arising purely from the Testimony they bore to the Truth their Charity and Piety wholly inconsistent with the Character of Impostors their Humility Purity Patience burning Zeal and that fervent desire they had to Kindle all those Vertues in the Souls of others these being two undeniable matters first that the Disciples of Christ shewed themselves to have the most natural sentiments of Piety and Vertue imaginable secondly that Piety and Vertue can never proceed from Imposture and Deceit There you will also find the plain Honesty of the Disciples and the Sincerity of their Perswasion in the style of their Discourse For if it be true that Languages express the Genius and Manners of the People it may be very well affirmed that the Language of Christ's Disciples fully expresses the Miracles of the Gospel by a particular Energy which distinguishes the style of those Authors not only from that of all other Men but also from that of the Law You will meet with the same Sincerity even in that great number of obscure and difficult Texts which the Evangelists relate For on one hand it is impossible that they should counterfeit or invent those Precepts or those difficult and obscure Sayings which they make Christ utter to the People and on the other it is most certain that those difficult and obscure Texts almost always include some miraculous matter of fact or at least some Allusion to those supernatural Miracles First then I say that the Evangelists invented not those obscure and difficult Sayings they make Christ utter which are truly very numerous For how should those poor Fishermen have been industrious enough to forge and invent such Things which all the Doctors as have lived these sixteen hundred years down to us were hardly able either to understand themselves or make other Men comprehend Besides it is certain that those obscure and difficult sayings either contain the History of those miraculous matters of fact we are now speaking of or else include such plain and natural Allusions to them that it is easie for any one to perceive that he that relates those Texts both supposes that those matters of fact were certainly true and publickly known to the World Thus for instance why did our Lord say that there was not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist born of a Woman 'T was not surely because of his Miracles for he did none
account Perhaps we should not think it at all hard to conceive if the Holy Ghost had been pleased to reveal its Nature a little more clearly to us But such is the wonderful Conduct of God who is resolved to humble us and not to satisfy our vain Curiosity nor indulge the Pride of our Understanding which is too greedy of Knowledge 4 thly Because we are not wholly destitute of Images there being several capable to illustrate that Object tho never so incomprehensible in it self Thus for instance the same Soul is an Vnderstanding as it perceives a Will as it has a desire and a Memory as it recalls the things past to the Mind all which three Faculties are comprehended in one and the same Understanding In like manner also the same Light is in the Heavens a Sun in the Air Brightness and in the Cloud a false Sun 5 thly To all this we may yet further add that the greatest Difficulties of this Mystery proceed from those Speculations in which School Divinity has involved it to the great Scandal of our Faith and eternal Confusion of our Reason For who can endure the Liberty those Metaphysical Divines have taken in pretending to form and decide ridiculous rash and impious Questions concerning that greatest Mystery of our Religion Can we think any reasonable Man could read all their impertinent Questions without Indignation As whether several Divine Persons could take but one and the same Person Whether the Word could have taken upon him in an Hypostatical Union the Form of an Angel of a Beast of a Woman of an insensible Being of an Accident of an Act of Sin of a Devil so that if these Propositions were true God is a Sin a c. Whether the Word has taken the Soul in an Hypostatical Union rather than the Body or the Body rather than the Soul Whether if Man had not Sinned the Word would not have taken our Flesh upon him Whether Humane Nature was first united to the Essence or the Person Whether the Humane Nature was united to the Divine by several Unions Whether a Divine Person may take upon it self the Form of a created Person Whether Humanity was united to the Person of Christ by way of Accident or of Substance Whether the Humane and the Divine Nature are a part of Christ and whether Christ be two several things Whether Christ be of a create or uncreate Unity How it came to pass he did not take upon him the very individual Nature of Adam Whether this Proposition Christ is Man was true during those three Days he remained in the Grave Lastly Whether Christ should have died of old Age had he not been crucified in his Youth c. These are the only Difficulties that occur in the Christian Religion As for the rest 't is so essentially so visibly and so necessarily agreeable to Reason that we cannot but wonder that our Incredulous Adversaries have not yet perceived it This we have already sufficiently proved in several places of this Work and we cannot well insist further upon it without repeating again what has been already said It is sufficient therefore to observe that Christ is as it were the Reason of Nature Society and Religion He is the Light enlightening every thing without which we should fall into infinite Troubles and Perplexities Christ is the Center of all Events which seemingly relate to his coming he is the Center of Truths which are the more clearly revealed the nearer we approach him the Center of all the Mosaical Ceremonies which are meer Extravagance in themselves if they relate not to him the Center of all Virtues which have no sufficient Force or Motives able to induce us to practise them but by the consideration of Life and Immortality revealed to us in Christ the Center and Foundation of the inviolable Rule of Conscience which would be nothing else but Errour and Illusion if the Christian Faith were a Fable The Center of all those Characters of Wisdom visibly diplay'd in all the Works of God since nothing but the Christian Religion can lead Man to the true End of his Creation none but that can justify the Wisdom of God the Center of all the Hopes of Man for what is there that he could hope for if Christianity were a Lye The Center of all the Evidence and Certainty that is in our Knowledge for what is there that we could be certain of if our Soul were only a Disposition of Atoms and had no such Spirituality and Immortality as that imputed to it by the Christian Religion There need have been only a different Configuration of Parts to form first Notions quite contrary to those we now have Let any one therefore closely consider the Matter and it will appear to him that if we deny Christ who teaches to know our own selves in revealing to us Life and Immortality no Salvation can be expected either for Reason or Conscience X Portraiture of the Christian Religion Or the Proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion THere is nothing truer than that the Jewish Religion is great noble and divine and we cannot reflect on the Greatness of its Miracles the Sublimity of its Morality the Purity of its Doctrin the Holiness of its Precepts and the Completion of its Prophecies without immediately acknowledging it to be stampt with Divine Characters But yet we shall find it altogether defective if we separate it from Christianity since its Essence consists in its relation to that We cannot conceive without it how God can be the God of one Nation and yet not be that too of other Nations also that the Deity should be contained in a material Ark and being the Father of Spirits should so carefully seek after an external and corporeal Purity that unwilling to satisfy his Justice he should require Sacrifices of Men or if willing to be appeased by Offerings and Oblations he should demand such mean ones of them which were unworthy the Majesty of his God-head that God who made Heaven and Earth should dwell in a Temple made with Hands or that he who created all things visible and invisible should take pleasure in an external Pomp that he who made the Smelling which he wants not himself should delight in the smell of Incense or that his Voice properly so called should be heard to which Thunder it self scarce bears the Resemblance of an Echo I say we can never conceive any of these things without the help of Christian Religion For who can reconcile the Wisdom seen in the Religion of Moses with the Imperfections discoverable in it How could that Lawgiver prove so contrary to himself And how could so many Characters of Divinity be attended with so many seemingly superstitious Customs and trivial Ceremonies Consult but the Christian Religion and you 'll then no longer wonder at it there you will find both the Reason and Wisdom of every thing that surpris'd you in the Old Covenant All the Customs contained in the