over to a belief of that for which they were brought in Proof even that Christ was the promised Messiah For albeit such Miracles were true because impossible to be produc'd by the Immediate virtue of any second Cause whatsoever nevertheless they could not have been convincing it being possible for the Devil to counterfeit the like by a quick Transportation and Exchange of Bodies or by a speedy supply of new Matter in which case it would be very difficult to discern the true Miracles from those which were false and specious What is reported of Simon Magus may serve for an Instance He could appear flying in the Air he could transform himself into divers Shapes and turn Stones into Bread which no doubt was done by the Devil in imitation of Christ's Miracles last mention'd not by any true conversion but by a sudden and insensible conveyance of one body into the room of another The Efficacy of Christ's Miracles for the conviction of Atheists is sufficiently prov'd from the credit of the Reporters of them the holy Apostles That the Apostles indeed did transmit the Memory of them to future Ages by their writings contained in the New Testament is prov'd upon that more than Moral certainly we have from Universal Tradition and that they made no false Reports in this matter is prov'd also beyond all dispute in their infinite sufferings for the belief of Christ and from the miraculous success their Doctrines found in obliging the whole World to follow their belief The evidence of which Truth is as clear and convincing as ever any thing since the first Creation as will appear more fully in the following Chapter CHAP. XXV Of the Effects wrought by Christ and his Religion ANother General Argument to prove the Truth of Jesus's Messiah-ship as also the Verity of his Religion is taken from the Events and Consequences of the Christian Faith in the conquest it made over all the World and this in two Respects first over Devils second-over Men. And first for Devils Those many famous or rather infamous Oracles to which the Heathens for so many Ages had recourse and paid so great a Veneration about the time of Christ's appearance began universally to sink and diminish in their Credit and a little after become utterly abandon'd That renowned one of Apollo at Delphos was mute in the Times of Juvenal and as for the others of Greece as of Amphiaraus Juvenal Satyr 6. Eloea Tegyra as also that of Ammon so much celebrated amongst the Heathens Plutarch Plutarch lib. de defect Oracul complains that they were all Dumb only that at Sebaclin in Boeotia was Vocal the rest to his great astonishment and sorrow were either silent or prostrate on the Ground No less remarkable is that known Passage of the same Author in the account he gives of Epitherses who sailing near the Isles call'd the Echinades heard a doleful Voice as did all the rest who were about him crying from the shore The great Pan was dead Whereupon follow'd a most doleful noise of Harlings and Groans which thing when told Tiberius he was much amaz'd consulting the Philosophers there in Rome who this Pan should be Now 't was under Tiberius that Christ was crucified The other great Conquest which the Christian Religion made was over Men and they were of two sorts Jews and Gentiles As for the Jews 't is notorious with what malicious Calumnies with what secret Conspiracies with what open Tumults with what perfidious Subornations with what indefatigable Travels and with what a constant and universal Concurrence they all endeavour'd the suppression and utter destruction of a few followers of Jesus They stirr'd up the People every where not only in their own Teritories but in all the adjacent Countrys round about to lay Hands upon the poor Disciples and their Friends One while they endeavour'd to expose them to the Sword of the Romans as Adherents to some new King other whiles they charg'd them with Blasphemy and as Prevaricators from their Law and every where they were branded with Ignominy and with the dangerous Characters of Factions and Seditions This we find lively painted out by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and more particularly exemplified in St. Paul of whose Character and Deportment 't will not be unseasonable to take a transient veiw This blessed Instrument of the World's Conversion was at first we read a most violent persecutour of the Christians and was so much the more dangerous forasmuch as he was not animated by private Animosity or with a wanton humour of seeking applause by a popular Zeal but by a serious persuasion and conviction of Conscience that what he did was for the Glory of Almighty God And certainly when Men are once of this Persuasion whether their belief be Orthodox or Erroneous they cannot choose but raise great Commotions and will combate with insuperable difficulties And thus it was with this blessed Apostle till such time as he was miraculously converted and with the change of his Name which happened a little after was dignified with a nobler change of his Nature and of a ravenous Wolf became a vigilant and painfull Sheepherd With what popular Clamours and open Violence did the Jews seek him every where to suppress this Convert With what hellish Plots and Snares did they labour every where to suppress him How often was he whipt and scourg'd to the utmost severity of the Law against which he never offended His Sufferings are amply describ'd by himself in his 2 Epist to the Corinth c. 11. which Epistle was wrote about the Year of Christ 58 and consequently contain'd nothing of the Persecutions and Afflictions of his following Life for eleven Years after With what indefatigable labour did he plant Religion almost in all Regions of the known World at that time What Hardships and Miseries did he suffer from Reproach and Calumnies from Hunger and Cold and from Watchings and weary Travels He was every where invested with Perils assaulted with Temptations and besieg'd with Enemies all which was nothing to the Anxieties and Troubles of his Soul for the concerns and wellfare of all the Churches writing instructive and consolating Epistles every where conforming himself to the necessities of others and as much as in him lay transferring the burden of all the Christian World upon his own shoulders and willing to be made an Anathema himself for the good and safety of others which he labour'd to promote by Preaching Praying Disputing Writing and Exemplary living in all quarters of the World With what noble courage did he always meet the Persecuting Jews with what prudential conduct did he avoid their Treacheries and with what solid Reasons did he combate their Errours With what boldness of address did he dispute with the Philosophers of Athens the only Masters of the World for the Acts of Argument and Judicature Where ever he went he made his Conquests over the Judgments and Wills of others as well as over his
God been capable to have procur'd their Happiness For it would be unjust to condemn Men for not doing of a thing and yet condemn them too although they doe it and therefore a good Life join'd with their Knowledg must leave them with a reasonable Excuse or make them capable of Salvation 'T is true St. Paul speaks in general Terms that the Gentiles were Idolaters and for that reason condemnable as acting contrary to Knowledg but that all the Gentiles thus acted contrary to Knowledg does by no means follow from St. Paul's manner of expressing himself it being usual in Scripture to speak of all in general and comprehensive Terms when such as are or may be excepted are very few in number So the Prophet Elijah in the Term of that general Apostacy under Ahab exclaim'd saying that he alone was left of all the true Worshipers of God 1 Kings 19. But God tells him that he had left in Israel 7000 Men who had not bow'd the Knee to Baal and even in Sodom the most wicked Town that ever was upon the Earth there was found a Righteous Lot To put the Question out of all dispute we have a most pregnant Proof from St. Paul in his continuation of this Argument 2 Rom. v. 10. pronouncing Glory Honour and Peace to every one that worketh Good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of Persons with God telling us also that not the Hearers but that the Doers of the Law are justified before God For when the Gentiles who have not the Law that is a reveal'd Written Law doe by Nature the Things contain'd in the Law they having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts their Consciences also bearing witness c. In this Place St. Paul treating professedly of the Law of Nature by which the Gentiles did act calls it the Law viz. of God written in their Hearts and that acting according to the Dictates of this Law they doe the Things contain'd in the Law having the Testimony also of their Consciences acquitting them for so doing and therefore Doers of the Law are justified in the sight of God And truly I am the more confirm'd in this Opinion when I think upon that last great and final Sentence which shall pass on Men at the general Judgment of the World Many then shall make great Ostentation of the Faith saying Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name Mat. 7. and in thy Name cast out Divels c. But Christ knows them not but tells them Mat. 25. that because they did not doe Works of Mercy towards their Brethren the suffering Members of Christ they should go into utter Darkness but that those who did shew compassion towards them should enter into Everlasting Happiness Let us now see what may be objected against this Discourse And first Christ before his Ascension Mark 16. says He that believeth and is Baptiz'd shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damn'd Now that those who never heard of Christ do not believe is plain also from 10th to the Rom. How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher therefore no Salvation to those who never heard of Christ To this Objection which indeed carries the greatest force of any thing that can be urg'd I answer First that Passage of the 16th of St. Mark He that believeth not is damn'd is not to be understood negatively as though an Ignorance of Christ and of his Doctrines did certainly expose Men to Damnation for then the Children of Christian Parents dying before they come of Age to make an Act of Faith would be damn'd The Words then of this Place do include a positive Act of dis-believing or rejecting the Doctrines of Christ after they are propos'd This is evident from the Context in the precedent Verse where Christ gives Authority to his Disciples saying Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believeth and is Baptiz'd shall be sav'd but he that believeth not shall be damn'd So that they are damn'd who after the Gospel was preached to them did yet reject it all which concerns not those who never heard of Christ nor of his Gospel This then doth supersede that also of Rom. the 10th where the Apostle speaketh of a positive and explicite Act of Faith for v. the 9th he saith that if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy Heart that God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be sav'd Now as such a Faith cannot be attain'd but by the preaching of the Gospel or from extraordinary Revelation so neither doth it follow from hence that all who have not receiv'd this joyfull Tidings of the Gospel shall not be sav'd He that is a great Linguist is generally reckon'd to be a learned Man and yet from thence it doth not follow that he who is not a great Linguist is not a learned Man upon the whole the Sense of the Apostle amounts to no more but this that they who by the hearing of God's Word or of Teachers shall arrive to a knowledg of Jesus Christ their Saviour and believe his Resurrection are in a State of Salvation quoad Antecedens in respect of the means but quoad Consequens or the effect that all such shall actually be sav'd is no way ascertain'd from the foremention'd place We read every where in Scripture of those who make shipwrack of their Faith and of falling from the Faith and when we are exhorted to stand stedfast in the Faith this does imply a possibility of lapsing Nor is it any thing to the purpose to say that no Man who has once embrac'd the true Faith can fall from it for the Faith which the Apostles exhorts us to stand stedfast in is doubtless the True Faith In like manner at the 13 v. of the same 10th Chap. to the Romans we read that whosoever calleth upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved and yet Matth. 7th we read Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the Will c. So that all such Places are not to be understood Mathematically and precisely such as cannot be otherwise but morally or as to the general being attended with a good Life and good Works of Christian Charity But it may be farther objected John the 3d. Except a Man be born of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God so that Salvation cannot be had without Baptism but they who never heard of Christ could never be Baptiz'd into Christ and must be therefore excluded Salvation To this I answer that Baptism under the Gospel is the same with Circumcision under the Law this being a Type of the other and both of them a Sign or Seal of a Covenant of Mercy But in
most prone to Idolatry their Kings also and Rulers being most of them Vicious and Idolaters in Times of Peace easily drawn away to follow the Superstition of their Neighbours and at length broken to pieces by a miserable Captivity and even the scatter'd Fragments of their Nation batter'd by a continual series of Calamities and irrepairable Disorders And yet notwithstanding all these disadvantages we find their Religion to have been miraculously preserv'd for the space of Fifteen hundred years For the Law of Moses was never abolish'd nor any new Rites introduc'd by the solemn Decrees of the Sanhedrim so that there was still the Face of a Church and Men rais'd up in an extraordinary manner to support the same by their exemplary Lives and seasonable Instructions all which could not be but by the singular and special Power of Almighty God when for so long a Tract of Time all human Means universally conspir'd to the utter Ruin and Extirpation of it CHAP. XV. Of the Authority of the Old Testament THE Divine Authority of the Books of the Old Testament in which the Jewish History and Religion is contain'd may be demonstrated first from the Matter and Manner of their writing next from Records of human Antiquity And First The Old Testament has singular Advantages above any other Works and Writings whatsoever in respect of its Antiquity It begins with the Creation of the World with a short account of the Antidiluvian Times down to the general Deluge after which time it shews the Re-settlement of Mankind as also what Nations were of greatest Antiquity and then comes more particularly to the Ancestors of the Jewish and describes the plainness of the first Ages in the Lives and Manners of their Patriarchs From thence it descends gradually to the Time of the Jews settling in Egypt in many delectable Passages with some account also of the Neighbouring Nations During their abode in Egypt we have little Account till such time as Moses appear'd to whom the Law was given From Moses downwards we have a more large and accurate History distinguish'd by several Successions of Judges and Kings and the years they govern'd reduc'd to certain Periods of Time even to the Babylonish Captivity we have a particular History also of their Re-settlement and after some intermission we have an Account of their Actions under the Government of their High-Priests during their Wars with the Greeks Not long after which Time followed the Birth of the Messiah In short the Acts and Monuments of the Old Testament are of that Antiquity that even the first Historians amongst the Greeks as Herodotus and Thucydides flourish'd but about the time of Esdras who was one of the last amongst the Jewish Writers In the next Place these Sacred Books have a singular Advantage above all other Writings whatsoever whether we consider the great variety of Matter contain'd in them or the Stile in which they are writ The Stile is for the most part very plain and obvious to all Capacities as Books of this kind ought to be but withal it speaks with that Gravity and Authority as becomes Divine Oracles not insinuating its Precepts by Rhetorical Arts but enjoyning them by a kind of Majesty and severe Commands and yet we have some Descriptions especially amongst the Prophets made with that liveliness of Representation and grandeur of Expression as far exceeds the Raptures of our Modern Poets or those of former Ages What Strains of Wit can draw such an Idea of a Glorious Combatant as that we meet with in Isaiah cap. 63. in the Description he gives us of our Saviour's Bloody but Victorious Conflict upon the Cross Who is he that cometh from Edom with died garments from Bozrah this that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength Answ I that speak in righteousness mighty to save Quest Wherefore art thou red in thy apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-press Answ I have troden the Wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me for I will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment And I looked and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me And I will tread down the people in mine anger and make them drunk in my fury and I will bring down their strength to the earth Can there be form'd a nobler Image of a Conqueror dapled with Blood wreeking with Revenge and panting and bestriding his prostrate Enemy in the sight of two Armies How far short of this is Aeneas's Character in his Combat with Turnus describ'd by Virgil So that Angelus Politianus shew'd a singular delicacy or rather a critical weakness in neglecting to read these Sacred Compositions for fear of debasing his Stile whereas Marsilius Ficinus and John Picus Mirandula Men of greater Parts and Learning delighted in nothing more than in the study of them If we consider the variety of Matter treated of in these Sacred Writings there is no Collection under Heaven can compare with them what excellent Observations and Instructions have we for Morality in the Books of Ecclesiasticus which without an Hyperbole may be said to be the best in that kind in the whole world as reaching to all the Circumstances of Life The Books of Solomon must tell a Heathen that he was a Man of vast Knowledge His Canticles shew him to have been a Man of a most pregnant Fancy His Ecclesiastes seems to have been a Discourse by way of Dialogue betwixt Wisdom and a Sensual Nature But his Proverbs do declare him to have been both Good and Wise and were writ probably before he was Corrupted The Books of the Prophets shew that they were writ by Men of intrepid Resolutions They reprove without Flattery and touch the Affections to the quick breathing always an Ardent Zeal for Vertue and for the Glory of Almighty God And as for the Book of the Psalms they are a kind of Poem and they must be confess'd of all Hands to flow from an inexhaustible Fountain of Piety and Devotion and teach us how we may Address our selves to God under the several Forms of Confession Petition Supplication Thanksgiving Vows and Praises And truly had David been inspir'd with a Human Spirit he would have employ'd his Poetick Fancy in illustrating some Passages of his own Life viz. His Fights and Victories as a Warriour and particularly his Engagement with Goliah would have afforded noble Matter for an Heroick Poem or else as a Courtier he would have Compos'd some soft Pastoral or Madrigal containing his Amours with Bathsheba or as a Friend he would have exercis'd his Fancy about his more Innocent Love and Affection for Jonathan But we find nothing of this Nature his Subject always is Divine one while as a Suppliant or
and commanded upon the whole it is nothing but a Hodg podg of Sentences or the abrupt transports of a Frantick Spirit which though in offensive many of them in themselves and pretending to promote vertue and a good life yet being so often repeated and without the least connexion of matter it quickly nauseates and carries not the least appearance of a Collection or Body of Laws being no better stuff than what any old intoxicated bigottist vents usually in a religious Fury so that the Alcoran may truly be said to be as dry incoherent devious and dangerous as the Sands of Arabia in which 't was hatcht But that we may come nearer to our journeys end through this barren Desart let us compare the Life and Doctrine of Jesus with that of Mahomet And here a sacred horrour puts a kind of stop to my Pen when I offer to compare I say two things so extreme as the holy Jesus with the most impure Impostour But since the Beauty of Light may without contradiction be illustrated by the gloming Nature of Darkness and the Goodness of God may become more visible by being oppos'd to the Deformity of the Devil let us I say compare these two Prophets together First then for the holy Jesus he tells his Followers That he did not bear record of himself but that the Works which he did testifie of him to which he appeals and of which we have spoken already As for Mahomet let us hear what he says of himself They will certainly cry out says he that Mahomet dream'd and invented Alcoran cap of the Prophets what he teacheth that he is a Poet and that all is but Fiction we will not believe him unless he shew us some Miracle as did the Prophets of Old To this Objection which Mahomet makes of himself and against himself we may be sure what Answer does he give Why truly and very wisely he lets the Objection even shift for it self as well as it can running on at his old impertinent Career and crying out We have destroyed many Towns because its Inhabitants were Incredulous those which we sent before thee were Men which were inspir'd by us demand of them who were before you and who liv'd under the written Law if you are ignorant of it They were Men who did Eat Drink and were Mortal we have accomplished what we promis'd them and sav'd them together with other Believers and have rooted out the unbelievers we have sent you a Book to instruct you do you not understand how many infidel Towns we have destroy'd and how many new Generations have been establish'd in their places c. a very fair and pestilent Answer to his own Objection and like the rest of the Alcoran There was one Miracle I confess father'd on him how that once upon a Time the Moon was cleft in twain and fell down upon the Ground wereupon Mahomet ran nimbly and catching up the Peices before they crumbled into Bits solder'd them together again and sent it up to Heaven whole and sound as a Bell a Miracle which no Man saw besides the Authour of it and serves only to convince his followers that he was no other than a Lunatick In the next place Jesus Christ was a Person of a most pure and holy Life as Mahomet himself confesseth whilst Mahomet owns himself in many places of the Alcoran to have been a very leud voluptuous and lustfull Person Thirdly the Doctrine of Jesus Christ was this Love your Enemies entertain not a lustfull Thought suffer Reproaches thankfully rejoice under Persecutions and the like the Doctrine of Mahomet is Kill your Enemies get as many Wives and Concubines as you can keep c. Fourthly the Instruments which Jesus made use of to propagate his Doctrine were a few poor simple Fishermen timorous and illiterate without Friends Money or Interest The Instrument which Mahomet had recourse to were Squadrons of Arm'd and Bloody Arabians Fifthly when Christ appear'd the Romans who oppos'd his Doctrine were in their greatest Glory for Learning Number and Strength there was then the largest and the most powerfull Emperour the World ever knew which made head against it when Mahomet appear'd the Empire was broken to pieces and the Countrey he appear'd in was utterly void of all Learning Knowledge Humility and sense of Christianity excepting a few Nestorian Hereticks Lastly Christ promis'd Salvation by dying and rising again Mahomet by sighting promising also that he would come again to them a thousand Years after his departure but he was not so good as his word in so much that the Mufti finding the People much dissatisfied and ready to Mutiny about the Non-accomplishment of this glorious Prediction found this Artifice to appease them saying That upon a more diligent perusal of the Sacred Books he discover'd a mistake in the Figure and so it was found to be 2000 and not 1000 Years before this most illustrious Prophesie should be fullfill'd which Cheat so silly as it was was sufficient to appease the deluded Rabble From all these Instances it appears abundantly that the great Success in the Propagation of the Mahometan Religion had its Birth and Progress from humane Artifice and Invention But here the Mahometan will reply if Jesus Christ were the Son of God and came down from Heaven to Redeem the World from Errour and Eternal Misery how comes it to pass that he has suffer'd such an Impostour as Mahomet to delude Mankind for above a thousand Years ravishing his Spouse the Church out of his Bosome and making most direfull Butcheries on the Sons and Members of it insomuch that there is scarce one third left to Christ so large and permanent are the acquisitions of Mahomet From whence 't will follow That Christ must either want Will or Power to defend that Church for whose sake 't is said that he came down from Heaven and was incarnate and suffered an Ignominious Death upon the Cross and that Mahomet as one of greater Power and Vertue to defend his Doctrine was no Impostour but a true and glorious Prophet A Discourse like this how Blasphemous and Offensive soever it may be to the Ears of a Christian must yet be suffer'd were I to dispute with a Mahometan and indeed it is the only thing of moment which any of that Religion can suggest in favour of it to which I answer First that the same Objection might be made against the Jewish Church of Old for they were in comparison of the Pagan World not so much as one to a thousand also they were frequently oppress'd by their Neighbours and at last their Laws and Nation in a manner extinguish'd in the Babylonish Captivity The Jewish Church indeed was a Type of the Christian and the Case the same in both God's promises were always Conditional there being requir'd Repentance and Duties on Man's part for failure whereof severe Judgments were ever denounc'd and thus much Mahomet himself allows every where in his Alcoran Now that