reed or quench the smoking flax ver 8. he was to bring forth judgment to the Gentiles and the Isles were to wait for his Law There is a whole Chapter in the same Prophet Isa. 53. setting forth the Mean Appearance that the Messias was to make the Contempt he was to fall under and the Sufferings he was to bear and that for the Sins of others which were to be laid on him so that his Soul or Life was to be made an Offering for Sin in reward of which he was to be highly exalted In another place his Mission is set forth not in the Strains of War or of Conquest but of Preaching to the Poor Isa. 61. setting the Prisoners free as in a Year of Jubilee and comforting the afflicted and such as mourned In the two last Chapters of that Prophet mention is made more particularly of the Gentiles that were to be called by him and the Isles that were afar off out of whom God was to take some for Priests and Levites Which shewed plainly that a new Dispensation was to be opened by him in which the Gentiles were to be Priests and Levites which could not be done while the Mosaical Law stood that had tied these Functions to the Tribe of Levi and to the House of Aaron Ieremy renewed the Promise to the House of David of a King that should reign and prosper Jer. 23.5 in whose days Iudah and Israel were to dwell safely whose name was to be The Lord our Righteousness It is certain this Promise was never literally accomplished and therefore recourse must be had to a Mystical Sense The same Prophet gives a large Account of a new Covenant that God was to make with the house of Israel Jer. 31.31 not according to the Covenant that he made with their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt We have also Two Characters given of that Covenant one is That God would put his Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts that he would be their God and that they should all be taught of him The other is That he would forgive their iniquities and remember their sin no more One of these is in opposition to their Law that consisted chiefly in Rituals and had no Promises of Inward Assistances and the other is in opposition to the limited Pardon that was offered in that Dispensation on the condition of the many Sacrifices that they were required to offer There is a Prediction to the same purpose in Ezekiel Ioel prophesied of an extraordinary Effusion of the Spirit of God on great Numbers of Persons Old and Young Ezek. 36.25 Joel 2.28 that was to happen before the great and terrible Day of the Lord that is before the Final Destruction of Ierusalem Micah after he had foretold several things of the Dispâ—nsation of the Messiah Miâ—â—h 5.2 says that he was to come out of Bethlehem Ephratah â—ag 2.6 â— 8 9. Haggai encouraged those who were troubled at the meanness of the Temple which they had raised after their return out of the Captivity It had neither the outward Glory in its Fabrick that Solomon's Temple had nor the more real Glory of the Ark with the Tables of the Law of Fire from Heaven on the Altar of a Succession of Prophets of the Urim and Thummin and the Cloud between the Cherubims which last strictly speaking was the Glory all which had been in Solomon's Temple but were wanting in that In opposition to this the Prophet in the Name of God promised That he would in a little while shake the heavens and the earth and shake all Nations words that import some surprizing and great Change upon which the desire of all nations should come and God would fill the house with his Glory and the Glory of this latter house should exceed the Glory of the former for in that place God would give Peace Here is a plain Prophecy That this Templs was to have a Glory not only equal but superior to the Glory of Solomon's Temple These Words are too August to be believed to have been accomplished when Herod rebuilt the Temple with much Magnificence for that was nothing in comparison of the real Glory of the Symbols of the Presence of God that were wanting in it This cannot answer the Words That the desire of all Nations was to come and that God would give Peace in that Place So that either this Prophecy was never fulfilled or somewhat must be assigned during the Second Temple that will answer those solemn Expressions which are plainly applicable to our Saviour who was the Expectation of the Gentiles by whom Peace was made and in whom the Eternal Word dwelt in a manner infinitely more August than in the Cloud of Glory Zechary prophesied That their King by which they understood the Messias Zech. 9.9 was to be meek and lowly and that he was to make his Entrance in a very mean Appearance riding on an Ass but yet under that he was to bring Salvation to them and they were to rejoyce greatly in him Malachi told them That the Lord whom they sought Mal. 3.1 even the Messenger of the Covenant in whom they delighted should suâ—denly come into his Temple and that the Day of his coming was to be dreadful that he was to refine and purify in particular the Sons of Levi and a terrible Destruction is denounced after that One Character of his coming Mâ—l 4.1 was That Elijah the Prophet was to come before that great and dreadful Day who should convert many Old and Young Now it is certain that no other Person came during the Second Temple to whom these Words can be applied so that they were not accomplished unless it was in the Person of our Saviour to whom all these Characters do well agree But to conclude with that Prophecy which of all others is the most particular When Daniel at the End of the Seventy Years Captivity was interceeding for that Nation Dan. 9.24 25 26 27. an Angel was sent to him to tell him That they were to have a new Period of Seventy Weeks that is Seven times Seventy Years 490 Years and that after Sixty two Weeks Messiah the Prince was to come and to be cut off and that then the People of a Prince should destroy the City and the Sanctuary and the end of these was to be as with a Flood or Inundation and Desolations were determined to the end of the War They were to be destroyed by Abominable Armies that is by Idolatrous Armies They were to be made desolate till an utter End or Consummation should be made of them The Pomp with which this Destruction is set forth plainly shews that the Final Ruin of the Iews by the Roman Armies is meant by it From which it is justly inferred not only that if that Vision was really sent from God by an Angel to Daniel and in consequence to that was fulfilled then the
the Philistines put the People under a Curse if they should eat any Food till Night and this was thought to be so obligatory that the Violation of it was Capital and Ionathan was put in hazard of his Life upon it Thus the High-Priest put our Saviour under the Oath of Cursing Matth. 26.63 64. when he required him to tell Whether he was the Messias or not Upon which our Saviour was according to that Law upon his Oath and though he had continued silent till then as long as it was free to him to speak or not at his pleasure yet then he was bound to speak and so he did speak and owned himself to be what he truly was This was the Form of that Constitution but if by practice it were found that mens pronouncing the words of the Oath themselves when required by a Person in Authority to do it and that such Actions as their lifting up their Hand to Heaven or their laying it on a Bible as importing their Sense of the Terrors contained in that Book were like to make a deeper Impression on them than barely the Judges charging them with the Oath or Curse it seems to be within the compass of Human Authority to change the Rites and Manner of this Oath and to put it in such a Method as might probably work most on the minds of those who were to take it The Institution in general is plain and the making of such Alterations seems to be clearly in the Power of any State or Society of men In the New Testament we find St. Paul prosecuting a Discourse concerning the Oath which God sware to Abraham Heb. 6.13 14 15. who not having a greater to swear by swore by himself and to enforce the Importance of that it is added An oath for confirmation that is Ver. 16. for the affirming or assuring of any thing is the end of all controversy Which plainly shews us what Notion the Author of that Epistle had of an Oath He did not consider it as an Impiety or Prophanation of the Name of God Rev. 10.6 In St. Iohn's Visions an Angel is represented as lifting up his hand and swearing by him that liveth for ever and ever And the Apostles even in their Epistles Rom. 1.9 Gal. 1.20 that are acknowledged to be writ by Divine Inspiration do frequently appeal to God in these words God is witness which contain the whole Essence of an Oath Once St. Paul carries the Expression to a Form of Imprecation 2 Cor. 1.23 when he calls God to a record upon or against his soul. These seem to be Authorities beyond exception justifying the use of an Oath upon a great occasion or before a competent Authority according to that Prophecy quoted in the Article which is thought to relate to the Times of the Messias And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in truth in judgment and in righteousness and the nations shall bless themselves in him Jer. 4.2 and in him shall they glory These last words seem evidently to relate to the days of the Messiah So here an Oath religiously taken is represented as a part of that Worship which all Nations shall offer up to God under the New Dispensation Against all this the great Objection is That when Christ is correcting the Glosses that the Pharisees put upon the Law whereas they only taught that men should not forswear themselves but perform their oaths unto the Lord our Saviour says Swear not at all neither by the Heaven nor the earth Matth. 5.34 35 36 37. James 5.12 nor by Ierusalem nor by the head but let your communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And St. Iames speaking of the enduring Afflictions and of the Patience of Iob adds But above all things my brethren swear not neither by the heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation It must be confessed that these words seem to be so express and positive that great regard is to be had to a Scruple that is founded on an Authority that seems to be so full But according to what was formerly observed of the manner of the Judiciary Oaths among the Iews these words cannot belong to them Those Oaths were bound upon the Party by the Authority of the Judg in which he was passive and so could not help his being put under an Oath Whereas our Saviour's words relate only to those Oaths which a man took voluntarily on himself but not to those under which he was bound according to the Law of God If our Saviour had intended to have forbidden all Judiciary Oaths he must have annulled that part of the Authority of Magistrates and Parents and have forbid them to put others under Oaths The word Communication that comes afterwards seems to be a Key to our Saviour's words to shew that they ought only to be applied to their Communication or Commerce to those Discourses that pass among men in which it is but too customary to give Oaths a very large share Or since the words that went before concerning the performing of Vows seem to limit the Discourse to them the meaning of Swear not at all may be this Be not ready as the Iews were to make Vows on all occasions to devote themselves or others Instead of those he requires them to use a greater Simplicity in their Communication And St. Iames's words may be also very fitly applied to this since men in their Afflictions are apt to make very indiscreet Vows without considering whether they either can or probably will pay them as if they would pretend by such profuse Vows to overcome or corrupt God This Sense will well agree both to our Saviour's words and to St. Iames's and it seems most reasonable to believe that this is their true Sense for it agrees with every thing else whereas if we understand theâ— in that strict Sense of condemning all Oaths we cannot tell what to make of those Oaths which occur in several Passages of St. Paul's Epistles and least of all what to say to our Saviour's own answering upon Oath when adjured Therefore all rash and vain swearing all swearing in the Communication or Intercourse of Mankind is certainly condemned as well as all Imprecatory Vows But since we have so great Authorities from the Scriptures in both Testaments for other Oaths and since that agrees so evidently with the Principles of Natural Religion we may conclude with the Article That a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth it It is added in a Cause of Faith and Charity for certainly in trifling matters such Reverence is due to the Holy Name of God that swearing ought to be avoided But when it is necessary it ought to be set about with those regards that are due to the Great God who is appealed to A Gravity of Deportment and an Exactness of weighing the truth of what we say are highly necessary here Certainly our Words ought to be few and our Hearts full of the Apprehensions of the Majesty of that God with whom we have to do before whom we stand and to whom we appeal who knows all things and will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil FINIS
were to deliver him up â— Sam. 23. â—1 12. and yet both the one and the other was upon the condition of his staying there and he going from thence neither the one nor the other ever happen'd Here was a Conditionate Prescience Such was Christ's saying That those of Tyre and Sidon Sodom and Gomorrah would have turned to him Matth. 11. â—1 22. if they had seen the Miracles that he wrought in some of the Towns of Galilee Since then thisPrescience may be so certain that it can never be mistaken nor misguide theDesigns orProvidence of God and since by this both the Attributes of God are vindicated and the due Freedom of the Will of Man is asserted all difficulties seem to be easily cleared this way As for the giving to some Nations and Persons the Means of Salvation and the denying these to others the Scriptures do indeed ascribe that wholly to the Riches and Freedom of God's Grace but still they think that he gives to all Men that which is necessary to the state in which they are to answer the Obligations they are under in it And that this Light and common Grace is sufficient to carry them so far that God will either accept of iâ— or give them further degrees of Illumination From which it must be inferâ—â—d That all Men are inexcusable in his sight and that God is always just and clear when he judges Psal. 51.4 since every Man had that which was sufficient if not to save him yet at least to bring him to a state of Salvation But besides what is thus simply necessary and is of it self sufficient thâ—râ—â—re innumerable Favours like Largesses of God's Grace and Goodness these â—od gâ—ves freely as he pleases And thus the great Designs of Providence go on according to the Goodness and Mercy of God None can complain tho' some have more cause 〈◊〉 rejoice and glory in God than others What happens to Nations in a Body may also happen to Individuals some may have higher Privileges â—e put in happier Circumstances and have such Assistances given them as God foresees will become effectual and not only those which though they be in their nature sufficient yet in the Event will be ineffectual Every Man ought to complain of himself for not using that which was sufficient as he might have done and all good Men will have matter of rejoycing in God for giving them what he foresaw would prove effectual After all they acknowledge there is a depth in this of God's not giving all Nations an equal measure of Light nor putting all Men into equally happy Circumstances which they cannot unriddle but still Justice Goodness and Truth are saved tho' we may imagine a Goodness that may do to all Men what is absolutely the best for them And there they confess there is a difficulty but not equal to those of the other side From hence it is that they expound all those Passages in the New Testament concerning the Purpose the Election the Foreknowledge and the Predestination of God so often mentioned All those they say relate to God's design of calling the Gentile World to the knowledge of the Messias This was kâ—pt secret tho' Hints of it are given in several of the Prophets so it was a Mystery but it was then revealed when according to Christ's Commission to his Apostles to go and teach all Nations they went Preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles This was a Stumbling-block to the Iews and it was the chief Subject of Controversy betwixt them and the Apostles at the time when the Epistles were writ So it was necessary for them to clear this very fully and to come often over it But there was no need of amusing People in the beginnings of Christianity and in that first infancy of it with high and unsearchable Speculations concerning the Decrees of God Therefore they observe that the Apostles shew how that Abraham at first Isaac and Iacob afterwards were chosen by a discriminating Favour That they and their Posterity should be in Covenant with God And upon that occasion the Apostle goes on to shew that God had always designed to call in the Gentiles though that was not executed but by their Ministry With this Key one will find a plain coherent sense in all St. Paul's Discourses on this Subject without asserting antecedent and special Decrees as to particular Persons Things that happen under a permissive and directing Providence may be also in a largeness of expression ascribed to the Will and Counsel of God for a permissive and directing Will is really a Will though it be not antecedent nor causal The hardning Pharaoh's heart may be ascribed to God though it is said that his heart hardned it self Exod. 7.22 Exod. 8.15 19 32. because he took occasion from the stops God put in those Plagues that he sent upon him and his People to encourage himself when he saw there was a new Respite granted him And he who was a cruel and bloody Prince deeply engaged in Idolatry and Magick had deserved such Judgments for his other Sins so that he may be well considered as actually under his final Condemnation only under a Reprieve not swallowed up in the first Plagues but preserved in them and raised up out of them to be a lasting Monument of the Justice of God against such hardned Impenitency Whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9.18 must be still restrained to such Persons as that Tyrant was It is endless to enter into the discussion of all the Passages cited from the Scripture to this purpose this Key serving as they think it does to open most of them It is plain these Words of our Saviour concerning those whom the Father had given him are only to be meant of a Dispensation of Providence and and not of a Decree since he adds And I have lost none of them Joh. 17.12 Phil. 2.12 Acts 13.48 except the son of Perdition For it cannot be said that he was in the Decree and yet was lost And in thâ— same Period in which God is said to work in us both to will and to do we are required to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling The Word rendered ordained to eternal life does also signify fitted or predisposed to Eternal Life That Question Who made thee to differ 1 Cor. 4.7 seems to refer to those Gifts which in different degrees and measures were poured out on the first Christians in which Men were only passive and discriminated from one another by the freedom of those Gifts without any thing previous in them to dispose them to them Christ is said to be the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 2 Pet. 2.1 and the wicked are said to deny the Lord that bought them and his Death as to its extent to all men is set in opposition to the Sin of Adam so that as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation so by the righteousness of one Rom. 5.18 the free gift came upon all men to justification of life The all of the one fide must be of the same extent with the all of the other So since all are concerned in Adam's Sin all must be likewise concerned in the Death of Christ. This they urge further with this Argument That all Men are obliged to believe in the Death of Christ but no Man can be obliged to believe a Lye therefore it follows that he must have died for all Nor can it be thought that Grace is so efficacious of it self as to determine us otherwise why are we required not to grieve God's Spirit Why is it said Acts 7.51 Matth. 23 37. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye How often would I have gathered you under my wings but ye would not What more could I have done in my vineyard that has not been done in it These seem to be plain Intimations of a Power in us Isa. 5.4 by which we not only can but often do resist the Motions of Grace If the determining Efficacy of Grace is not acknowledged it will be yet much harder to believe that we are efficaciously determined to Sin This seems to be not only contrary to the Purity and Holiness of God but is so manifestly contrary to the whole Strain of the Scriptures that charges Sin upon Men that in so copious a Subject it is not necessary to bring Proofs Hos. 13.9 Joh. 5.40 Ezâ—k 33.14 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help And ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Why will you dye O house of Israel And as for that Nicety of saying That the Evil of Sin consists in a Negation which is not a positive Being so that though God should determine Men to the Action that is sinful yet he is not concerned in the Sin of it They think it is too Metaphysical to put the Honour of God and his Attributes upon such a Subtilty For in Sins against Moral Laws there seems to be an Antecedent Immorality in the Action it self which is inseparable from it But suppose that Sin consisted in a Negative yet that Privation does immediately and necessarily result out of the Action without any other thing whatsoever intervening So that if God does infallibly determine a Sinner to commit the Action to which that Guilt belongs tho' that should be a Sin only by reason of a Privation that is dependent upon it then it does not appear but that he is really the Author of Sin since if he is the Author of the sinful Action on which the Sin depends as a Shadow upon its Substance he must be esteemed say they the Author of Sin And though it may be said That Sin being a Violation of God's Law he himself who is not bound by his Law cannot be guilty of Sin yet an Action that is Immoral is so essentially opposite to Infinite Perfection that God cannot be capable of it as being a contradiction to his own Nature Nor is it to be supposed that he can Damn Men for that which is the necessary result of an Action to which he himself determined them As for Perseverance the many Promises made in the Scriptures to them that overcome Rev. 2 3. that continue stedfast and faithful to the death seem to insinuate that a Man may fall from a good state Those famous Words in the Sixth of the Hebrews Heb. 6. do plainly intimate That such men may so fall away that it may be impossible to renew them again by repentance And in that Epistle Heb. 10. where it is said The just shall live by faith it is added but if he draw back any man is not in the Original my Soul shall have no pleasure in him And it is positively said by the Prophet Ezek. 18.24 When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his sin that he hath sinned shall he dye These Suppositions with a great many more of the same strain that may be brought out of other places do give us all possible reason to believe that a good Man may fall from a good state as well as that a wicked Man may turn from a bad one In conclusion the End of all things the Final Judgment at the Last Day which shall be pronounced according to what Men have done whether good or evil and their being to be rewarded and punished according to it seems so effectually to assert a Freedom in our Wills that they think this alone might serve to prove the whole Cause So far I have set forth the Force of the Argument on the side of the Remonstrants As for the Socinians they make their Plea out of what is said by the one and by the other side They agree with the Remonstrants in all that they say against Absolute Decrees and in urging all those Consequences that do arise out of them And they do also agree with the Calvinists in all that they urge against the possibility of a certain Prescience of future Contingents So that it will not be necessary to set forth their Plea more specially nor needs more be said in opposition to it than what was already said as part of the Remonstrants Plea Therefore without dwelling any longer on that I come now to make some Reflections upon the whole Matter It is at first view apparent That there is a great deal of weight in what has been said of both Sides So much that it is no wonder if Education the constant attending more to the Difficulties of the one side than of the other and a Temper some way proportioned to it does fix Men very steddily to either the one or the other Persuasion Both Sides have their Difficulties so it will be natural to chuse that Side where the Difficulties are least felt But it is plain there is no reason for either of them to despise the other since the Arguments of both are far from being contemptible It is further to be observed That both Sides seem to be chiefly concerned to assert the Honour of God and of his Attributes Both agree in this That whatever is fixed as the primary Idea of God all other things must be Explained so as to be consistent with that Contradictions are never to be admitted but things may be justly believed against which Objections may be formed that cannot be easily answered The one Side think That we must begin with the Idea of Infinite Perfection of Independency and Absolute Soveraignty And if in the Sequel Difficulties occur which cannot be cleared that ought not to shake us from this primary Idea of God Others think That we cannot frame such clear Notions of Independency Soveraignty and Infinite Perfection as we can do of Justice Truth Holiness Goodness and