impossible to conceive The Immortal and ever-blessed God can be subject to nothing of passion or frailty The Godhead is uncapable of any imperfection and therefore uncapable of receiving any impressions of Sufferings from the Humane Nature as the Soul doth from the Body of Man So that tho' the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ be fitly explain'd by that between the Soul and the Body in Man yet the manner of acting is very different For Finite Beings can mutually act and be acted upon by each other in their several actions and passions but the Divine Nature of Christ being impassible could suffer nothing by all that was inflicted on the Humane but remain'd infinitely Happy and Glorious under all the Torments and Agonies endur'd by our Saviour both in his Soul and Body As God is pleas'd to aid and assist and support innocent and good Men in their sufferings and to direct and conduct them thro' the course of their Lives So God was not only present with the Humane Nature of Christ but was so united to it as to become one Person with it which since the Godhead could suffer nothing from it is no more unworthy of God than if he had only guided him with his Spirit as he did the Prophets without any personal Union There is no inconvenience or absurdity in believing that God should by the most intimate and personal Union become united to a Man who did weep and bleed and die For as God by this Union did not change the Nature he had assumed or prevent the Sufferings of it so he did not partake in them No Man can deny â—upon Principles of Philosophy but that it is very reasonable to believe that God may afford a more peculiar presence to one Man than to another and that this Man may yet be subject to Afflictions and therefore the Son of God might become united to the Soul and Body of Christ in as intimate a manner as the Soul and Body are united to each other in us and yet this union of the Divine Nature might not preserve the Humane from the Sufferings incident to the rest of Mankind but must leave it to submit to them tho' they were never so grievous when this was the very End and Design of the Union It was not below the Majesty of God to be Personally united to a most Innocent and Sinless and Holy Man tho' he was a Suffering and Afflicted Man and it is not the Personal Union as some are apt to conceive which could be any diminution to God's Glory but their own error and mistake in what they surmise would be the consequence of such an Union II. The Humiliation of the Son of God in assuming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd It was the greatest condescension and humiliation in the Son of God to take upon him our Nature For it is a gracious and merciful condescension for him to take care of us by his Providence God humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Ps cxiii 6. But some times and in some places he is in a more peculiar manner present upon Earth and that is an extraordinary condescension tho' he is always the same in himself and never the less present or the less happy in Heaven But it was the most wonderful condescension in God to unite himself to our Humane Nature and to become one Person with it and so to die for us tho' his Divine Nature did not and could not suffer but only the Humane Nature to which it is united He was not ashamed to call Men his Brethren and in all things to be made like unto his Brethren Hebr. ii 11 17. but vouchsafed to assume our Nature in its lowest Condition and to be so strictly and personally united to the most afflicted of all the Sons of Men as to ascribe all his Sufferings to himself for the benefit of all Mankind It is the Infinite Mercy of God to vouchsafe us the comfort of his presence in any way or measure but it is the most astonishing and adorable act of his goodness that he would be pleas'd so far to condescend as to take our very Nature upon him that he might be born and might die for our sakes And that which magnifies his mercy and goodness in the highest measure is certainly most worthy of the good and merciful God III. The satisfaction of Christ by dying for our Sins may be explain'd without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd The Christian Faith is That as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ and that this Person consisting both of God and Man united suffer'd for our Salvation But that all the Sufferings were inflicted on the Humane Nature and terminated in it But by vertue of the Personal Union of his Divine with his Humane Nature all Christ's Sufferings receiv'd an infinite value and merit and became entituled and ascrib'd to God himself because they were undergone by that Person who is God as well as Man tho' they were not undergone by him in his Divine but only in his Humane Nature Thus God is said to have purchas'd his Church with his own blood Acts xx 28. For Actions and Passions in any person are Personal and are attributed to the whole person and sometimes those Actions and Passions which can be perform'd in one of those Natures only which constitute a person are yet attributed to the other Nature which is uncapable of them otherwise than by that relation which results from the union of both Natures whereby all things that befall the person may be affirmed of it as such and therefore have respect to both the Natures of which it consists and may be apply'd to it under the denomination of either of them All the Souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy Souls Exod. i. 5. If a Soul touch any unclean thing Lev. v. 2. And the Soul that eateth of it shall bear his Iniquity Lev. vii 18 20. In these and many other places of Scripture Actions and Passions peculiar to the Body are by reason of the union of the Soul and Body attributed to the Soul Nay both in the Hebrew and the Greek Text the Soul is sometimes put for the Body even of a dead Man Lev. xxi 11. xxii 4. in which sense (x) On the Creed Art v. Bishop Pearson explains Acts ii 27. Ps xvi 10. And in other places the Body or Flesh is often taken for the whole Man and that is attributed to it which the Flesh is of it self uncapable of The Flesh distinctly considered and apart from the Soul can neither Sin nor Pray nor Understand nor Worship nor partake of the Spirit nor be Justified and yet all these things are ascribed to the Flesh without any mention made of the Soul All Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth Gen. vi 12. O thou
that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all Flesh come Ps lxv 2. And all Flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob Isa xlix 26. All Flesh shall come to worship before me saith the Lord Isa lxvi 23. And all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke iii. 6. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh Acts ii 17. Joel ii 28. By the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Galat. ii 16. And we say in our own Language any Body thinks or any Body understands tho' we all know it is the Soul and not the Body which thinks and understands It is very usual in other Books and very agreeable to the stile of Scripture and to the common speech and sense of Men for those Actions of a Person to be attributed to one of the united Natures which could be perform'd only in the other And the Union between the Godhead and the Manhood being like that which is between the Soul and the Body the Son of God is said to have Suffered and the Son of Man to have come down from Heaven not that the Godhead Suffered or that the Humane Nature of Christ was in Heaven before his Incarnation but according to the usual stile of Scripture the Union between the Divine and Humane Natures entitles the Person consisting of them both under the denomination of either Nature to that which was done in the other tho' as the Humane Nature did not partake of the perfections of the Divine so neither did the Divine Nature partake of the sufferings of the Humane But both Natures being personally united the person is sometimes denoted by one and sometimes by the other Nature All the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God proceed upon the like mistake with theirs who are apt to imagine that it is unworthy of God to be every where and in all places to behold and be present at the worst of Actions as if the Sun's brightness would not be the more resplendent and glorious if it could penetrate into the obscurest corners and recesses of the Earth or as if his Rays could be sullied and defiled by the foulness of any Object which they shine upon And if it be no diminution to God's Infinite Glory and Majesty to be Omnipresent it can be none to be more nearly and even Personally united to some part of the Creation and therefore it cannot be unworthy of God to be so united to the Humane Nature to manifest his love and favour and extend his goodness to Mankind As God is every where present so he is in a more especial manner present in some places than in others by the acts of his Power or of his Grace and Favour and he has vouchsafed a more especial presence to some Persons than to others and thus he was present with his Prophets who were sent to prepare for and foretell Christ's coming But he was personally united to the Humane Nature of Christ And this is the highest Honour and Advancement to our Nature for God thus to assume it but it can be no diminution to the Divine Majesty because God continues as he was from all Eternity without any alteration only by his personal Presence and Union with our Humane Nature he causes all the performances and sufferings of it to be meritorious for the Salvation of Mankind The Son of God did not so come down from Heaven as to be no longer there but to forsake his Father's Kingdom He still continued in Heaven in the same Bliss and Glory that he enjoy'd with his Father from all Eternity tho' he so manifested himself to the World as to come and abide in it by assuming our Humane Nature Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Joh. iii. 13. No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven He who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence was still in Heaven as much as ever with respect to his Godhead tho' he made a more peculiar residence than he had before done on Earth by dwelling in our Nature here The Son of God who is at all times every where present is yet in a peculiar manner present where ever he is pleas'd to manifest himself by peculiar acts of his goodness and power as he was pleas'd to do in a most stupendous manner in that Flesh which he took upon him of the Blessed Virgin And it cannot be thought inconsistent with the Majesty of God to actuate the Humane Nature and to be joyned in the most strict and vital union with it supposing God only to act upon it and not to be acted upon by it nor to suffer the miseries and feel the pains which the Humane Nature endures which would be Blasphemy to assert of the Divine Nature of Christ but to be in Heaven still in his sull Power and Majesty But some Man will say how is this Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ made or wherein doth it consist To whom we may reply as our Saviour sometimes did to the Scribes and Pharisees by asking another Question and enquiring how the Body and Soul in Man are united or how God is present in all places and how in him we live and move and have our Being And if no Man can tell how these things are tho' no Man can deny the truth and reality of them then it is not to be expected that we should be able to tell how the union between the Divine and the Humane Nature in Christ is made or in what it consists We must acknowledge it a Mystery which it is above any Man's capacity to explain but that there is such an union we learn from the Scriptures and thither we appeal for the truth of it And the putting such Questions argues either a great mind to cavil or great inconsideration and shortness of thought For what Man is there pretending to Reason and Argument of so little observation as not to take notice that of all the things which we daily see and perceive to be in the World the nature and manner of existence of very few or rather of none of them is fully understood by us It is sufficient for us to know that great Reasons may be given for this dispensation of the Son of God Incarnate and that no Material Objection can be framed against it Secondly No other way as far as we can apprehend could have been so proper and expedient as the Incarnation of the Son of God to procure the Salvation of Mankind and therefore none could so well become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness The proof of this must depend upon the Reasons for Christ's coming into the World and they are all comprehended in this one thing the abolishing or taking away of Sin And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin 1 Joh. iii. 5. We are
c. 7. in Ceylon the Noya will stand with half his Body upright for two or three hours together (q) See Mr. Mede lib. 1. Disâ—â— xli These may be for Monuments of the Truth of the Curse upon the rest as some of the Race of the Giants were left in the Land of Canaan till David's time as a Memorial to the Israelites of the Miraculous Power of God in the Conquest of the Land by their Forefathers The Curse of the Ground was for a Punishment to Adam and his Posterity and can be considered no otherwise nor be made matter of Objection unless it be thought unreasonable to inflict a Curse upon Mankind for this Offence of eating the Forbidden Fruit by making the Earth less fruitful and pleasant to them Tho' the Garden of Eden were the most delightful and happy Part of the Earth yet the whole Earth before the Fall was very different from what it has been since For if it had continued as it was the Curse and Punishment upon Mankind could not have been effected in that manner in which it was determined 2. Our First Parents were turned out of Paradise and not suffered to taste of the Tree of Life They had been charged not to eat of the Fruit in the midst of the Garden and Threatned with Death that is that they should become Mortal and be sure to die if they would presume to eat of it To be subject to Misery both in Body and Mind so that the Body should decay and at last be dissolved and the Soul which could not Perish should be miserable after its separation from the Body was the Original Notion of Death and our First Parents who had never feen what Natural dying was understood Death no otherwise than as a Privation of Happiness and consequently a State of Misery both in this Life and the next The first was unavoidable the latter to be avoided by Repentance and a future Obedience thro' Faith in God's Mercy for Christ's sake They were hindred from tasting of that Tree which was to have been the Means and Instrument of Immortality to them For God who has given a Medicinal Vertue and a Power of Nourishment to other Fruits and Herbs might convey a Power and Influence into this Tree of rendring Men Immortal by preventing the decays of Nature and Nourishing or Strengthning them to an endless Life How this should have been we are now no more able to know than to become immortal here upon Earth But this was God's Decree that Immortality should be annext to the tasting of that Tree and therefore our First Parents when they had incurred the Penalty of Death were not suffered to taste of it but were forced out of Paradise and it was just that they should be hindred from enjoying any longer the Delights of Paradise for the Transgression of a Commandment which wantonness only and a vain and criminal Curiosity could make them disobey We are able to give little more Account how the Food we now eat can nourish and sustain us from time to time for Threescore and Ten or Fourscore Years than how the Fruit of the Tree of Life should have been a preservative to keep Men alive for ever only this we have the Experience of and so fancy we can tell how it comes to pass but that is strange to us and what is strange Men wonder at and will hardly believe it But since God has endued our ordinary Food with a power of Nourishment no man can reasonably doubt but that he might endue this Fruit with such a Vertue that it should have made men immortal to Taste of it and have prevented that decay of Nature which now still creeps upon us in the use of other Food We may well suppose that if they had once tasted of this Fruit they should have suffered no Decay but have lived in constant Vigour here tho' partaking afterwards only of other Nourishment till they had been translated to Heaven Or it might be design'd not as a Physical but a Sacramental Cause of Immortality that is as a Sign and Pledge of Immortality God having decreed that upon the Tasting of this Fruit Adam and his Posterity should have been immortal But the Forbidden Fruit being of a most delicious Taste as well as pleasant to the Eyes and containing a very fermenting Juice might put the Blood and Spirits into great Disorder and thereby divest the Soul of that Power and Dominion which it had before over the Body and by a closer and more intimate Union with Matter might reduce it to that miserable Condition which has been propagated and derived down to Posterity with the Humane Nature from our First Parents as some Poysons now strangely affect the Nerves and Spirits without causing immediate Death but make such Alterations in the Body as are never to be cured And it could not be fitting that Man should become immortal in this Condition or that the Threatning of God however should not take place From what has been hitherto said upon this Subject I hope it is evident that there can be no necessity of running to Allegorical Interpretations to explain the Fall of our First Parents And indeed all the Reason that can be given why it is represented under an Allegory will rather prove the Litteral Sense For if the Simplicity and the Customs and Manner of Life in the Beginning of the World did require that the Fall of our First parents should be describ'd under an Allegory of this Nature for the very same Reasons we may suppose that the Fall was in this manner For what is it which makes it seem improbable but only its being disagreeable as some Men conceit to Reason But if it be absurd to suppose that such a thing should have been in the Beginning of the World why is it not as absurd that such a thing should be represented to those who liv'd at the beginning of the World as if it had been If this was then the most fitting and proper Representation of the Fall why was it not the most likely manner for it to happen by God's Dispensations are always fitted to the Capacities and Circumstances of those who are most concern'd in them and the Devil in his Temptations applies himself to the Circumstances of those whom he would seduce And it cannot be conceiv'd that the most remarkable Thing that ever has befaln Mankind except the Redemption of the World by Christ should so come to pass as not to be told to Posterity but in an Allegory For if the Litteral Truth had ever been known it was impossible it should be forgotten in so few Generations and that Moses should put an Allegory in the room of it Did the Children of Israel know the Historical Truth of the Fall or did they not know it If they did why should Moses disguise it under an Allegory rather than the rest of the Book of Genesis If they did not know it how could it be forgotten
recedant Hieron in Amos. c. v. Ex quo perspicuum est Apostolos Evangelistas ipsum Dominum salvatorem ex Hebraeo transferre quod legerint non curantes de syllabis punctisque verborum dummodo sententiarum veritas transferatur Id. in Malach. c. iii. CHAP. XX. Of the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God THIS is that Article of our Faith which was to the Jews a Stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness 1 Cor. i. 23. and has ever been most liable to the Objections of Infidels and therefore I shall take the more care to give the clearest and fullest account I can of it I. I shall here consider the necessity of the Incarnation of the Son of God for the satisfaction of the Justice and the vindication of the honour of God II. Tho' it should be suppos'd that God could have pardon'd the Sins of Men upon any other terms than the death and satisfaction of his own Son in our Flesh I hope fully to prove that this is so far from being unworthy of God that no other way of our Reconciliation with him as far as we are able to apprehend could have been so becoming the Divine Wisdom and Goodness 1. There seems to have been a necessity for the Incarnation of the Son of God for the satisfaction of God's Justice and the vindication of his Honour For God is Infinite Justice as well as Infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice must punish Offenders unless full satisfaction be made for the Offence because Infinite Justice must demand to the utmost extent of Justice and must require whatsoever can in Justice be demanded But Infinite Mercy found out a Means to satisfie this Infinite Justice which Satisfaction could be made only by the Obedience and by the Death of the Son of God who by his Obedience unto Death even the Death of the Cross vindicated the Honour of God by performing in our Nature a perfect and absolute Obedience to all that ever God required of Mankind and by suffering to the utmost of all that the Sins of the whole World deserv'd It is for the Honour of God that his Laws should be exactly observ'd and observ'd by one who is of that very Nature for which they were ordain'd and that Satisfaction should be made in the same Nature for the Sins of it Christ therefore taking our Nature upon him paid down the uttermost Farthing which in strictness of Justice must have been demanded but which could never have been paid by any Created Being for the Sins of the whole World And he fulfill'd all Righteousness in Obedience to the Divine Laws which otherwise could never have been fully obey'd And as far as God's Justice and Honour was concern'd to see his Laws obey'd and to demand satisfaction for the breach of them so far the Incarnation of the Son of God must be necessary because these things could be perform'd by no Creature 2. Tho' it should be suppos'd that God could have pardon'd the Sins of Men upon other Terms than the death and satisfaction of his own Son in our flesh yet the Incarnation and Death of his Son is so far from implying any thing unworthy of God that no other way of our Reconciliation with him as far as we can apprehend could so much have become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness First There is nothing in this whole Dispensation unworthy of God Here I am to consider that which was the great prejudice taken against the Christian Religion at its first Propagation and is still the great Objection of the Enemies of the Gospel of Christ and of their own Salvation They are apt to represent it to themselves as an unnecessary thing and unworthy of God that he should send his only begotten Son into the World for the Redemption of Mankind they imagine that the Infinite Wisdom of God could have found out other Methods of Salvation for us and that this would never have been made use of if there could have been any other It might be enough in Answer to such Objections to say with the Apostle nay but O Man who art thou that replyest against God shall the Person saved say unto him that saved him why hast thou saved me thus will we not be contented to be saved unless we can be fully certified in all the Reasons and Methods of our Salvation May not God bring to pass our Redemption in such a way as he shall see fitting or shall we question his Wisdom if his Mercy be so much greater than we can comprehend How infinite is his Mercy and how monstrous our ingratitude if his goodness be made an objection against the truth of his word and be alledg'd as an Argument for our Unbelief What if God willing to shew the heinousness of Sin and to make known the riches of his Mercy chose this way for the Redemption of the World What if many Reasons may be given why this Method was the most proper and expedient and what if there might be infinitely greater and better Reasons for it than all the wisdom of Man can conceive But tho' the Revealed will and Counsel of God ought to silence all Disputes in this as well as in all other Cases yet I think this Objection is capable of a very plain and direct Answer For whatever weight there may seem to be in it it is all grounded upon a Mistake and upon a wrong Notion of the Union between the Divine and the Humane Nature of Christ For if the Godhead be not so united to the Manhood as to suffer with it there is no imaginable Reason why its Union with the Manhood should be supposed to be unworthy of God I shall therefore 1. Shew the unreasonableness of this Supposition that the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ should cause the Godhead to suffer with the Manhood 2. I will prove that the Humiliation of the Son of God in assuming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd 3. That the satisfaction of Christ by dying for our Sins may be explain'd without it I. The unreasonableness of this supposition that the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ should cause the Godhead to suffer with the Manhood This Objection supposes the Godhead to be so united to the Manhood in the Person of our Saviour as that the Divine Nature must really and properly partake in all the Sufferings which befell his Person It supposes that Christ as God suffer'd the Miseries of Humane Life and at last underwent Death upon the Cross which is so far from being the Doctrine of the Gospel that it is no better than Heresie and Blasphemy and has always been rejected and condemned as such by the Catholick Church That the Union of the Godhead with the Manhood should render the Godhead capable of Sufferings as the Soul by being united to the Body becomes sensible of its pains is indeed a thing not only unworthy of God but
in one place rather than in another or why it should think when it is moved in a Right Line or in a Circle or in any Curve Line rather than when it lies still Again There is no reason why Matter should be able to think or not think according to its Situation or Position why it should think in the Brain rather than upon the Trencher or when it is digested and reduced to Animal Spirits rather than when it is in a more compacted Substance and has a different relation to the parts of Matter about it Lastly If any sort of Figure could produce Thought Stones must certainly think as well as the best of us and so indeed might any thing else for what Body is there that may not subsist under all varieties of Figure Neither can any lucky conjuncture of all these together produce a Power and Faculty of Thinking For imagine what Bulk Rest or Motion Situation and Figure you can to meet together they are all alike uncapable of so much as one Thought since there is nothing in the Nature of any of these Accidents or Modifications of Matter but it is as far from any Power of thinking as Matter it self is and therefore Thinking can no more arise from a combination of them together than it can proceed from the amassing together of Matter All the Accidents but Motion have nothing Active or Operative in them but are only Matter under different Modes and Relations And Motion whatever the Figure or Bulk and Contexture of any Body may be can be but Motion still and suppose what Contexture or Modifications you will what is Motion under all Determinations Collisions and Combinations but change of Place And how can change of Place produce Thinking under any variety of Contexture in the Particles of Matter Free-will is impossible to be accounted for by Matter and Motion as Epicurus found who was therefore forced to have recourse to his Declinationes Atomorum for which he is so justly exposed by Tully For neither can Matter determine its own Motion nor can Motion determine it self but must be determined by something External whereas all men find it in their power to determine themselves by an Inward and voluntary Principle It is true indeed that the Soul in its Operations depends very much upon the Temperament of the Body yet the Soul even in this state has Thoughts which have no Relation to the Body or any Material Thing as Thoughts of God and Spirits it s own Reflex Thoughts or Consciousness of its own Operations And if it were now capable of no Thoughts but such as have some dependance upon the Body yet this can never prove that the Soul it self is Material or that Matter Thinks A Man writes with his Pen and cannot write without one Is it therefore his Pen properly that writes and not the Man The Body is the Instrument of the Soul in its Operations here and as the Instrument is fit or unfit so must its Operations be more or less perfect But it is strange that the chief part of us should be of such a Nature that we can form no Idaea of it We may form an Idaea of it though but an imperfect one And do we not know that the Eye the noblest part of the Body cannot see it self but imperfectly and by Reflexion And let any Man try whether he can form a better Idea of a Materal Soul than of an Immeterial one But this Writer by Idaea seems to mean a Material Idea or Imagination and we cannot indeed form a material Idea of an Immaterial Spirit Yet after all which he or any Man else has said the Nature of the Soul is as clearly understood as that of the Body and there is nothing encumbred with greater Difficulties than Extension if that be the Essence of Matter and if that be not it is as hard still to know what the Essence of Matter is The Instance which he brings of Brutes is easily answered Whether they can think or not If they cannnot the Objection falls of it self If they can I should rather suppose that their Souls may be annihilated or may transmigrate and pass from one Brute to another than that the Souls of Men must be Material that the Souls of Brutes may be Material too Another Gentleman of late has asserted (u) Mr. Locke 's Hâ—mane Vnderstanding l. 4. c. 3. §. 6. That it is impossible for us by the Contemplation of our own Idea's without Revelation to discover whether Omnipotency hath not given to some Systems of Matter fitly disposed a Power to Perceive or Think Letter to the Bishop of Bercrâ—â— p. 65. and That there is a Possibility that God may if he pleases super-add to Matter a Faculty of Thinking which is what he likewise calls a Modification of Thinking or Power of Thinking But it seems not intelligible how God should super-add to Matter this Faculty or Power or Modification of Thinking unless he change the Nature of Matter and make it to be quite another thing than it is or join a Substance of another Nature to it But the Question is Whether a Faculty of Thinking can be produced out of the Powers and various Modifications of Matter And we can have no more conception how any Modification of Matter can produce Thinking than we can how any Modification of Sound should produce Seeing all Modifications of Matter are the same as to this Point and Matter may as well be made Matter by Modifying as be made to Think bâ— it This is just as if a Man should maintain That though all Immaterial Substances are not extended and divisible yet some of them may possibly be or Omnipotence may super-add to them a Faculty of Extension and Divisibility for Immeterial Substances may become Divisible and Material by the same Philosophy by which we may conclude that Matter may Think which is the same thing as to become Immaterial and to surpass all the Powers and Capacities of Matter But though I have upon this occasion mention'd this Gentleman here yet it would be a great Injury done him to rank him with the Authors of The Oracles of Reason There is prefix'd to the Pieces an Account of the Life and Death of that unhappy Gentleman Mr. Blount with a pretence to vindicate his Murther of himself because his deceased Wife's Sister refused to be marry'd to him by all the Topicks and Arguments of Reason and Philosophy Which is such an Vndertaking as I am confident was never heard of before to prove that a Man may very gravely and Philosophically kill himself if a Woman whom he ought not to marry will not be his Wife It is strange to see that Men should think it fit to vent such things as these in the Face of the World but this discovers the Reason and Philosophy of these Men and is a fit Preface to such a Book This Wisdom descendeth not from Above Behold the Men in their Principles and Practices the
it is true because it is for the benefit of Mankind that it should be so and upon that account it carries the visible Characters of Divine Wisdom and Goodness in it for it is certain that the Religion which God has established in the World must be of this nature that none but wicked men can dislike it and that all sober and good men must be well satisfied with it and mightily enclined to believe it nay even the worst men must be forced to confess that they owe their own safety and protection to the Doctrines of it And that such is the nature of the Christian Religion will be evident if we consider that I. It teacheth an universal Righteousness both towards God and Man II. It layeth down the only true Principles of Holiness III. It proposeth the most effectual Motives IV. It affords the greatest helps and assistances to an Holy Life V. It expresseth the greatest compassion and condescension to our infirmities VI. The propagation of the Gospel has had mighty effects towards the Reformation and Happiness of Mankind VII The highest mysteries of the Christian Religion are not merely speculative but have a necessary relation to Practice and were revealed for the advancement of Piety and Virtue amongst men I. The Christian Religion teacheth an Universal Righteousness both towards God and Man It teacheth us the nature of God that he is a Spirit and therefore ought to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and gives us an account of the Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Creation of the World and in the various dispensations of his Providence in the preservation and Government of it and especially in the wonderful work of our Redemption God is represented in the Scriptures as slow to anger and great in Power and who will not at all acquit the wicked Nahum i. 3. and we are required to love and serve him with all our Abilities both of Body and Mind Deut. vi 5. Matt. xxii 37. The Duties of men towards one another are no less strictly enjoyned than our duty towards God himself For the Scriptures oblige all men to the Conscientious performance of their several Duties in their respective capacities and relations They teach Wives and Children and Subjects and Servants Obedience not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake and they teach Princes and Husbands and Fathers and Masters a proportionable care and kindness and affection they check and restrain the rich and powerful from violence and oppression and command them to relieve those that are in want and to protect all that are in distress and to root up the very seeds and principles of Vice in us they regulate our desires and give Laws to our words and looks and thoughts they command an universal Love and Charity towards all Mankind to hurt no body so much as in a Thought but to do all the good which is in our power they oblige men to do as they would be done unto in all cases to consider others as men of the same nature with themselves and to love and respect them accordingly upon all occasions I may add what Grotius has not omitted that more favour and equity is extended to one half of humane kind by the Christian Religion than ever had been by any other for among Infidels Women are esteemed but as slaves to the Lusts of men who may have as many Wives as they please and change them as often as they think fit II. The Scriptures propound to us the only true Principles of Holiness For they teach us to perform all Duties both towards God and Man upon Principles of Love and Charity which are the only Principles that can make men happy in the performance of their respective duties and that can cause them to persevere in it What men do upon Principles of Love they do with delight and what men delight in they will be sure to do but fear hath torment and men will use all Arts to get rid of their fears and of that sense of Duty which proceeds only from an apprehension of Punishments and therefore is perpetually grievous and burthensom to them Rewards themselves may become ineffectual by proposals of contrary Rewards for smaller advantages which are present and in hand may be more prevalent than never so much greater which are future and looked upon only at a distance But a sense of Love and Gratitude and Charity can never fail of its effect because this brings its reward with it and makes our duty a delight He who loves God will certainly obey him and he that does not love him never can truly obey him as he ought but will be ever repining at his Duty and will be for seeking all pretences to excuse himself from it He who doth not love his Neighbour will be for taking all opportunities of pursuing his own advantage against him but he who loves him as himself will never do him any injury He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law For this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Love worketh no ill to his neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. xiii 8. The Love of God and of our Neighbour comprehends the whole duty of man which is a Doctrine no where to be met withal but in the Holy Scriptures all the Wisdom of Philosophers could never discover this Doctrine which sets before us the only infallible principles of obedience And it must be a most gracious and wise Law which makes Love the Principle and Foundation of our whole duty both towards God and Man III. The Christian Religion proposeth the most effectual motives of Obedience and Holiness of Life The moral Reasons and Arguments for a vertuous Life are so great and evident that those who live otherwise are generally convinced that they ought not to do it but because the Arguments from Reason are to faint and lifeless to oppose to sense and passion therefore the Christian Religion is purposely fitted to every faculty and presents us with greater objects of fear and love and desire than any thing in the world can do And as God will be served by us upon no other Principle but that of love so the chiefest Motive to our Obedience express'd throughout the Scriptures is the Divine Love They represent to us all the methods which God has been pleased to use as necessary to reclaim the world by his mercies and his judgments by sending his Prophets at sundry times and in divers manners and at last by sending his own Son He saw the fondness that men have for this World and for the pleasures and sins of it how subject they are to Temptations and how prone to comply with them and therefore he has been pleased to pursue
by the name of America or that the Torrid and Frigid Zones could be habitable No mystery in Religion can seem more incredible to any man than these things did appear even to Wise and Learned men and if they had not been found to be by Navigation they might have seem'd incredible still for ought we can tell tho now we wonder at the ignorance of former times that they should make any doubt of them and admire how they came to lye so long unknown for these things seem obvious when they are once discovered and it would be a disparagement to us if we could not make as great discoveries at home as those do who travel to the Indies And if we will but consider a little with our selves we shall find that we may be at least as much mistaken in our Philosophy about the things of another World as our Ancestors were for so many ages concerning so much of this and shall conceive it very possible that there may be a Heaven and a Hell tho we never spoke with any body that had been in either of those places and that there may be a Trinity and a Resurrection tho we were able to give no account of them For Nature it self exceeds our comprehension and therefore the Divine Essence and the Almighty Power of God must needs much more exceed it The motion of the Heavens and of the Winds and Seas the light of the Sun and Moon and Stars the conception and birth of all Creatures nay the growth of Corn and of the very Grass of the Field and all the most obvious and inconsiderable productions of Nature have so many wonderful difficulties in the explication of them that if we were not mightily inclined to flatter our selves I am afraid we should sooner turn Scepticks than be able to imagin that we can give any tolerable account of them For when all is done we know just enough of them to acknowledge and admire the infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness of God and to be led to a stedfast belief and assurance of what he has revealed of himself and of the World to come that the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World may be clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 How little is it that we know of this Earth where we live and which we dote so much upon For by the least calculation it is above three thousand and five hundred miles to the Center but the Art and Curiosity of Man has never reached according to Mr. Boyle's account after all his enquiries among Navigators and Miners (a) Excellency of Theology Sect. 4. above one mile or two at most downward and that not in above three or four places either into the Earth or into the Sea yet all Astronomers agree as he afterwards observes that the Earth is but a Physical point in comparison of the Starry Heaven Of how little extent then says he must our knowledge be which leaves us ignorant of so many things touching the vast bodies that are above us and penetrates so little a way even into the Earth that is beneath us that it seems confined to but a small share of the superficial part of a Physical Point And to shame the pride and vanity of Mankind the chiefest discoveries in Philosophy as he likewise observes have been the productions of Time and Chance not of any Wisdom or Sagacity Which is a remarkable acknowledgment in a person who has oblig'd the world with so many wonderful Improvements in experimental Philosophy The Circulation of the Blood has been but lately found out and was looked upon as absurd at its first discovery tho now what man can doubt of it And some of the most common effects of Nature might seem as strange as any if the frequency of them did not prevent our wonder Maimon More Nevoch pt 2. c. 18. If as Maimonides puts a case we suppose a man of never so good natural parts so brought up as to be ignorant of the manner how the several species of Animals are preserved and propagated in the world how many scruples might he raise to himself concerning their Conception and Formation Might he not object that it is impossible that the Infant should ever live and be nourished and grow in the Womb and would he not offer abundance of Demonstrations to prove that the Natural Birth of Mankind and of all other Creatures is utterly impossible Our Saviour in his discourse with Nicodemus answers his Doubts concerning the New Birth by putting him in mind that he was as little able to give an account of the Wind and that he could not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth implying that there is much less reason to doubt of things of a Spiritual nature because we are able to give no sufficient explication of them when we are thus at a loss about the most common and obvious things in the world Joh. 3.8 And S. Paul confutes all objections against the Resurrection by a like Argument alledging that as it would be intolerably absurd to deny or doubt of the growth of Corn because it cannot perfectly be explained so it is much more absurd to deny or doubt of the Resurrection for no better reason since supernatural things must be more obscure and harder to be understood by us than natural 1 Cor. 15.36 Indeed Infidelity could never be more inexcusable than in the present Age when so many discoveries have been made in Natural Philosophy which would have been thought as incredible to former Ages as any thing perhaps that can be imagined which is not a downright contradiction That Gravitating or Attractive Force by which all Bodies act one upon another at never so great a distance even through a Vacuum of prodigious extent lately demonstrated by Mr Newton the Earth together with the Planets and the Sun and Stars being placed at such distances and dispos'd of insuch order and in such a manner as to maintain a perpetual ballance and poise throughout the Universe is such a discovery as nothing less than a Demonstration could have gained it any Belief And this System of Nature being so lately discovered and so wonderful that no account can be given of it by any Hypothesis in Philosophy but it must be resolved into the sole Power and good Pleasure of Almighty God may be a caution against all Attempts of estimating the Divine Works and Dispensations by the Measures of Humane Reason The vastness of the World's extent is found to be so prodigious that it would exceed the Belief not only of the Vulgar but of the greatest Philosophers if undoubted experiments did not assure us of the Truth of it We are assured by men of the best art and skill in those things * See Mr Boyle of the high vencration Mans Intellect owes to God that every Fixt Star of the first magnitude is above an hundred
times bigger than the whole Globe of the Earth and yet they appear less thro the Telescopes than they do to the naked Eye and look no bigger than meer Specks or Physical Points of Light and the Sun which is some millions of miles nearer to us than the Fixt Stars is by Mathematicians generally believed to be above an hundred and threescore times bigger than the Earth and by the exactest calculations is estimated to be eight or ten thousand times as big as the whole Earth and as Mr Boyle thinks may perhaps be found to be yet much vaster by further observations The Earth is * Huygen 's Conject concerning the Planetary Worlds lib. 2. computed to be above seventeen millions of German miles distant from the Sun And a Bullet carried with the same swiftness that it has when it is shot out of a great Gun supposing it moved from the Earth to the Sun would spend twenty five years in its passage to move from Jupiter to the Sun it would require one hundred and twenty five years and from Saturn thither two hundred and fifty years and such a Bullet by Mr Huygens's computation would spend almost seven hundred thousand years in its passage between us and the nearest of the Fixt Stars he speaks concerning the nearness of em and then stands amaz'd to think what a prodigious number besides there must be of those which are placed so deep in the vast spaces of Heaven as to be as remote from these as these are from the Sun For if with our bare eye we can observe above a thousand and with a Telescope can discover ten or twenty times as many what bounds of number says he must we set to those which are out of the reach even of these Assistances especially if we consider the infinite Power of God Really when I have been reflecting thus with myself methought all our Arithmetick was nothing and we are versed but in the very Rudiments of Numbers in comparison of this great summ For this requires an immense Thedsury not of twenty or thirty Figures only in our Decuple Progression but of as many as there are grains of Sand upon the shore And yet who can say that even this number exceeds that of the Fixt Stars The Quantity of Motion in the world is no less wonderful For if the Earth move upon its own * Mr Boyle ibid. Axis a place situate under the Aequator must be carried with as swift a motion as a Bullet shot out of a Cannon and if the Earth stand still and the Stars move round about it a Fixt Star in the Aequator must move fifty two thousand five hundred fifty five miles in a minute of an hour which if not more is at least three thousand times faster than the motion of a Cannon Bullet and the motion of the Fluid Matter intersperst between the Earth and the Stars must be answerably rapid And yet all these prodigious motions are so exactly proportioned and moderated that as that Great Philosopher observes no Watch for a few hours has ever gone so regularly as the whole World has been moved for so many Ages And in the consideration of innumerable Instances of the stupendous Works of Nature the ingenuous says he confess their Ignorance and the confident betray theirs But if any man shall think these Calculations extravagant as discoveries in Philosophy are commonly thought by such as are little conversant in it let him remember that they are set down according to the best observations that the wit of man after the experience of so many Ages has been able to make So that whether these accounts be true or false they shew the insufficiency of humane Understanding to examine the works of God and do by consequence shew how much more â—uncapable the wisest of men are to comprehend the Infinite essence of the Creator himself The famous Mr * Conject concerning the Pâ—â—xetar Worlds Lib. 1. Huygens lately mentioned speaking of the passage and communication of Light every way and in every point of Space through such vast Regions which must be much more to be admired if there be suppos'd to be a Vacuum in which there can be nothing to direct or determine its Motion and regulate its Course has these words all these things are so wisely so wonderfully contrived that it is above the power of humane Wit not to invent or frame somewhat like them but even to imagin or comprehend them To say nothing of the strange Discoveries concerning the Formation and Contexture of the Bodies both of Plants and Animals the innumerable little Animals which are discovered by Microscopes in but one drop of water and many other observations of the like nature are so wonderful that we might well suspect the truth of the experiments if men of the greatest skill and integrity as well in our own as in other Countreys did not agree in them The vast quantities of water which are continually flowing out of so many thousand Rivers into the Sea keep their constant course and are some way so disposed of as that the Sea and Land retain always a due proportion to each other But the Original of the Fountains from whence those Rivers proceed and how this Circulation of Waters is made is still matter of dispute The concussions of Earthquakes reaching sometimes to so vast an extent and the prodigious eruptions of Fire from divers burning Mountains in several parts of the Earth throwing out abundance of matter in Rivers of Fire of great breadth for many miles together seem incredible to those who have not read and considered these things The Verticity of the Loadstone the Flux and Reflux of the Sea Life and Motion every thing in Natural Philosophy when seriously examined has so many inexplicable Difficulties as would make a considerate man very modest in his Censures concerning things supernatural For if we had been placed in another World a Natural History of this might have seemed as strange to us as any thing Revealed can do now And it must be great presumption in us who know so little of the World we live in to talk pragmatically of another which we have only been told of and to believe no more than our Sences can inform us of when every Sence may inform us how narrow and imperfect our Knowledge is and that we take upon Trust or swallow in the Gross what we are commonly least distrustful about And not only Nature but even Art exceeds the Apprehensions of most men The Mechanical Powers and Motions are wont to be mistaken for Magick by such as have not skill and experience in those matters the performances of Archimedes were so wonderful beyond all expectation or belief that the King of Syracuse is said to have made a Decree to forbid any man to question whatever Archimedes should assert The Force of Gun-powder might be thought incredible if it were not so common amongst us Not to mention that the Indians took
Gross God was pleased therefore to display his Glory before the Angels and by several steps and degrees to excite their Praise and Love and Adoration which moved them to Songs and Shouts of Joy and by this means his Glory and their own Happiness was advanced much beyond what it would have been if all things had been created and disposed into their Rank and Order at one Moment They look'd into the first Principles and Seeds of Things and every day presented them with a glorious Spectacle of New Wonders the first Seven Days of the World they kept a continual Triumph or Jubile and thus their Voices were tuned and raised as I may say to those Praises which were to be their Employment and their Happiness to all Eternity the more they saw the more they knew and the more they knew of the Works of God the more they for ever loved and adored Him This affords us a Reason why so much more time was spent in the forming of the Earth and the Creatures belonging to it than in the formation of the Heavenly Bodies Because the Heavens are of a Uniform and Similar Nature and a vast Vacuum is now supposed to be in them and therefore the Nature of them might without any successive Production be displayed at once to the Angels but the Earth being of a Compound Nature and containing Creatures of very different kinds it required more time to give a distinct perception of the several Parts and Species of it And the Planets being of the like Nature with the Earth since the Earth the Seat of Man's Habitation was framed by such leisurely degrees as might give a suitable Idea of it the other Planets might be framed at once there being nothing more in them than what was observeable in the Formation of the Earth or they might be framed together with the Earth by the same Measures and Degrees But according to the Mechanical way the Angels would have only the Prospect of a vast Chaos rolling and working for many thousands of years perhaps before any thing considerable could have been framed out of it And those tedious delays must yet according to this Notion have been carried on by such certain Methods that there could have been little wonderful in it to an Angel when the Mechanical Philosophers themselves think they can point out the several Steps and Motions by which all was done The making of Man was the last and finishing Work of the Creation when the World was prepared for the Reception of him and he was made with much solemnity Let us make Man in our Image after our Likeness Gen. i. 26. and the Man and the Woman were made apart For Adam was Created with all the Perfections suitable for him both as a Man and as the first Man out of whom Eve was to be formed As Man he was to have all the Parts and Faculties which Men have now but in greater Perfection as the first Man he was besides to have a Rib or (c) Dicunt etiam Vnam ex eostis ejus idem esse quod unam ex partibus ejus vel unam partem ejus quam explicationem confirmant ex eo quod in Targum vocabulum Tzelah costa redditur per Setar ut Tzelah costa Tabernaculi redditur in Targum per Setar latus Tabernaculi ita hic dicunt Mitzalotar idem esse quod Missitrohi Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 30. Part out of which the Woman was to be made Which being the Principal and as it were the seminal Matter no mention is made of any other but as Animals and Plants are properly said to come from the Seed tho' they are not made of that only so Eve was properly made of Adam's Rib tho' other Matter besides might go to her Composition This way of Formation was to betoken that Love and Duty which ought to be between Husband and Wife And as the Creation and Happiness of Man provoked the Envy of Evil Angels so no doubt it occasioned the Joy and Praise of the Good ones 2. By this successive and Gradual Production and Disposition of things in six days at the Creation the Glory of God is likewise more manifested to Men than it would have been if all had been done at once or by slow and tedious Methods This gives us a more clear and distinct comprehensive Notion of the Works of God than we could otherwise have had It is acknowledged that Moses has given such an Account of the Creation as is more intelligible and better adapted to the Capacities of the generality of Men than that which any one would now obtrude upon us as a true Account of it But whatever Reasons can be assigned why the Creation should be described as it is in the Book of Genesis the same Reasons will prove that it was fitting it should be so performed If it be more suitable to the Capacities and Apprehensions of Men that the Creation of the World should be delivered to us as finished in six days rather than in a less or a longer time it was fit that it should have been really finished in this space of time and should be indeed so performed as might make the History the more useful to us For in respect of God it was alike to Create all things in an instant or to do it successively in a shorter or a longer time and in respect of Mankind no reason can be assigned why the History of the Creation should be delivered so as to represent it to Men as performed in this manner but the same Reason will hold why it should have been in the same manner performed God Blessed the Seventh day and Sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his Work which God Created and Made Gen. ii 3. and so Exod. xx 10 11. the Observation of the Sabbath or of one day in Seven to the Honour of God is established upon the Worlds being Created in six days and therefore if it be reasonable to keep one day in Seven Holy in Remembrance of the Creation it must be reasonable that the Creation of the World should have been performed in six days since the Obligation to observe a Seventh day in remembrance of the Creation implies that God rested on the Seventh day after he had Created the World in Six or in the same space of time which is contained in six days God saw it fitting that a day should be set apart to Commemorate the Creation and to Praise him for all his wonderful Works and that this day should return at such a distance of time and he observed such Order in the Creation that every day between these Periods of time might bring some particular work of it to Remembrance and every Seventh day might conclude in the Commemoration of the whole Creation Our Saviour answers the Pharisees when they proposed the Question to him about Divorces by putting them in Mind of the Order which God used in the Creation Have
ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them Male and Female And said for this cause shall a Man leave Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they twain shall be one Flesh Matth. xix 4 5. And St. Paul in like manner to shew that the Woman ought not to usurp Authority over the Man proves it by this Argument For Adam was first formed then Eve 1 Tim. ii 13. and in another place and upon another occasion he observes that the Man is not of the Woman but the Woman of the Man 1 Cor. xi 8. And long before the Prophet Malachi had Argued from the same Topick Malach. ii 15. And Hebr. iv 4. it is noted that God did rest the Seventh day from all his Works from whence the Apostle concludes that he that is entred into his rest he also hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his Vers 10. Now as these and whatever other Arguments are to be found in the Scriptures of the like Nature do evidently suppose the Creation of the World in the same manner as it is related in the Book of Genesis so they explain to us the Reasons why it was thus Created For all these Arguments had been lost and there could have been no ground for them if the World had been otherwise created As certainly therefore as this Arguing from the manner of the Creation is good So certain it is both that the World was so Created and that there was great Reason for it But whatever some Philisophers may think now there is nothing which would have been more disagreeable to the Notions of the Generality of the wisest Men in all Ages than that the World should be made upon Mechanical Principles He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fact Psal xxxiii 9. He Commanded and they were Created Psal Cxlviii 5. This expresses not only the Truth of the History but the general sense of Mankind who have ever had this Notion of God that to command and to do is the same thing with him And therefore the Objection till of late has run the other way that God did rather Create the World in an instant than in six days It was little suspected formerly that divers Years or many Ages were spent in the Creation It was in the Description of the Creation of the World that Longinus observed the sublime Style of Moses and if the Relation of it be admirable the Creation it self in such a manner as is there related must be much more admirable For it is proper for it to be thus described for no other Reason but because it was proper for it in this manner to be done But what would Longinus have said if the Creation had been related to have been performed not by any command which had its immediate effect but by the tedious Process of Mechanical Causes What Grandeur what evidence of the Divine Power and Majesty is there in this more than in any Chymical Operation if the Mechanical Hypothesis were true It were strange Presumption to demand of Almighty God a Reason of all his Actions and not to believe him upon his Word that he has done any thing but when and how some Men conceit it ought to have been done But what I have now said may at least serve to silence the Cavils of such Men. 2. The Preservation of the World is not performed according to Mechanical Laws or Principles The Mechanical Hypothesis supposes that Bodies act upon Bodies or Actives upon Passives in a certain course and according to such Laws as that being left to themselves they necessarily produce their Effects without any immediate Interposition of a Divine Power But this Notion is grounded wholly upon mistakes 1. It supposes that there was at first a certain quantity of Motion infused or impressed upon Matter which still continues passing from one Body to another according to certain Methods or Rules prescribed But this Supposition that there is always the same Quantity of Motion in the World is wholly precarious or rather notoriously false and the best Philosophers have been able to give no Account how Motion can be Communicated without an immediate Impulse or Concourse of the Divine Power 2. By the Mechanical Hypothesis it is supposed as a thing certain that there is a Plenum which at least is very uncertain or rather it has been demonstrated by Mr. Newton that there is a Vacuum not only interspersed but of a Prodigious and almost incredible extent at the distance of the Earths Simidiameter from us And by his Principles Gravitation must proceed from an immediate and constant Impression or Impulse of God For it proceeds from no Action of one Body upon another but is a Quality belonging to all Matter alike and to every particle of Matter however separate and distant from all others The Projectile Motion and that Attractive Force by which the Planets are carried in their Orbits cannot be communicated or performed according to any Mechanical Laws whereby they are determined from a Rectilinear to an Orbicular Motion For Bodies can act upon Bodies only by Contract and therefore cannot Communicate their Motion or any way determin or affect the Motion of each other in a Vacuum so vast as it must be near the Circumference of the several Orbits so that the old occult Qualities and Substantial Terms were not more repugnant to the Mechanical Hypothesis than these Principles are The being of a Vacuum must suppose an immediate Divine Power necessary to keep the System of the World in that order in which we see it continue For otherwise by this Principle of Gravitations being inherent in every Part of Matter all Bodies would press towards the Center and in a Vacuum there can be nothing to hinder their tendency towards it till they come crowding the upon another so that all the Order of things would soon be reduced to one confused Heap or Moss unless some immaterial Power interposed to hinder it It is evident then that the Mechanical Hypothesis is quite destroyed by these Principles For by these here is no Connexion of Causes and Effects according to any Laws of mere Matter and Motion but all must be done by the immediate Power of God Gravitation and the Projectile Motion must be impressed and suspended without any dependance upon surrounding Bodies they must produce their Effects thro' prodigious void Spaces where Bodies have no Communication of Motion from one to another And all being performed by the immediate directing and assisting Hand of God a Man may as well pretend to solve a Miracle Mechanically as to give any Account of the Phaenomena of Nature by Mechanical Laws according to these Principles 3. The Abetters of the Mechanical Hypothesis argue that God acts in the most General and Uniform ways that it is more becoming his Wisdom to let Nature have its course and that constantly to interpose would be a disparagement to the Order
those Parts of the World for the explication of divers places of Scripture which depend upon the knowledge of those Countries Now the whole Jewish Law may be divided into the Moral the Political or Judicial and the Ceremonial Law The Moral Part of Moses's Law which is contain'd in the Ten Commandments and enjoyns our Duty towards God and towards our Neighbour is just and holy beyond all Controversy or Exception And the Political or Judicial Part with the Ceremonial was adapted to the Circumstances and Necessities of those Ages and that Nation And if the Moral Part be absolutely most Divine and Holy and the Positive Institutions both Political and Ritual were the most fit and proper for that Time and Government that is if they were the best that could be for those Ages and that People then the whole Body of the Mosaick Law is without all just Exception And that this is so it will be evident if we observe the Reasons upon which the Positive Laws amongst the Jews were instituted 1. The Judicial Laws relating to the Administration of Justice in the Jewish Government are so reasonable that they have been transcrib'd into the Laws of the wisest Heathen Nations as hath been particularly shewn by Learned Men. There are but few of the Judicial Laws which have been objected against and these have been often and effectually vindicated The Law which seems most harsh and rigorous is that of Retaliation which yet was the most antient way of Punishment in most Nations and was not unjust for the Laws to inflict tho' it was sinful in the Persons injured to require it out of a Desire of Revenge and with a Delight to gratify themselves in their Enemies Sufferings For if it be just to punish the taking away of a little Money with Death how can it be unjust to inflict the same Punishment for the depriving a Man of his Eye And if it be not unjust to make Death the Punishment of striking out an Eye and what Nation doth not punish much less Injuries with Death How can it be unjust to punish the Offender with the Loss of his own Eye One of the severest Laws that ever was known amongst a civilised People was that of the Twelve Tables which gave leave to (a) Sunt enimquaedam non â—audabilia Natura sed jure concessa ut in xii Tabulis Debitoris Corpus inter Creditores dividi licuit quam legem mos ' Publicus repudiavit Quintil. Institut lib. iii. cap. 6. the Creditors among the Romans to divide the Debtor's Body between them if he were insolvent This was one of those things which are not commendable in their own Nature but yet are allow'd and permitted as Quintilian has observ'd upon particular Reasons but this Law was laid aside by a general Disuse and (b) Lighf Hor. Hebraic ad Mat. v. 38. that of Retaliation among the Jews was interpreted by them according to an Antient Tradition to be meant not of strict Retaliation but of a Compensation to be made in Money to the Person maimed 2. Many of those Rites which may seem strange to us were so far from being esteem'd absurd that they became common in those Countries as Circumcision was antiently and is to this day practised in many Parts of the World (c) Grot. ad Lev. xi Act. x. 15. the Aegyptiaus and many other Nations abstain'd from Swines Flesh and the Aethiopians from most of the Meats which were forbidden the Jews such Abstinencies being necessary for Health in those Countries Frequent Washings likewise are requisite in hot Countries for Health and Refreshment Religion prescrib'd only the Time and Manner and particular Occasion of it the Thing it self is Natural And when we see such a Body of Laws of so great Antiquity well contriv'd and wisely instituted for the Substance of them if there be in some of them any thing peculiar and singular tho' they were but the Laws of a Man yet common Modesty and Candor might make us conclude that so wise a Lawgiver must have some good Reason for those particular Laws which at this distance of Time and Place cannot be so obvious to us but it would be Rashness to suspect that he had no sufficient Reason for those who appears to have enacted the rest with so great Wisdom Thus it would be natural for a Man of tolerable Modesty to conclude even concerning a System of Humane Laws tho' no probable Account could be given of many of them But when God is the Lawgiver this ought to silence all Disputes that they are his Laws and therefore must be wise and good for that People at that Time and in their Condition and Circumstances The Will and Authority of God without any other Reason is sufficient of it self in any Case to be alledg'd and it may be fit in some Cases that we should have no other Reason to produce It is a rash and dangerous thing to conclude that God did not command this or that because we do not see why it should be commanded this is to say that we will not believe God to be the Author of any thing which we do not like or would not have to be His. Are we wont to argue thus about Humane Laws Would it be any Excuse for a disobedient Subject to say that in his Opinion such Laws were not fit to be made and that therefore he would not believe his Prince had made such Laws when he had all due notice and full evidence that he had appointed them but was resolved to reject the whole Body of Laws upon the account of some which he did not fancy which yet were obsolete and out of Date Do we not allow that Reasons of State and of Government may require many things to be done and many Laws to be made which it doth not belong to private Men to be curious about and which the greatest Part of the Subjects are not able to comprehend And are not God's Thoughts infinitely above the Thoughts of the wisest Men and infinitely farther out of our Reach than the Counsels of the most Prudent and Politick Prince can be above the Understanding of his meanest and most ignorant Subjects How shall we dare then to reject any Divine Revelation because it is not agreeable in every particular to our Thoughts and Notions of things But I shall enquire however into the Reasons and Grounds which appear to us at this distance of Time for the Ceremonial Laws and I doubt not but these will be sufficient to justify them to all impartial Men. 1. The Ceremonial Laws were given the Jews to prevent them from falling into Idolatry For they were design'd to distinguish the Jews in many things from the Neighbouring Nations and to hinder them from following their Idolatrous Customs And the Customs of the (d) Summa vero rei haec eft quemadmodum in praecedentibus tibi dixi dogmata ritus Zabiorum hodie nobis esse incognitos ita
17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we the living the remaining that is the faithful which shall then be alive and remain upon the Earth St. Paul speaks of the Faithful here under a twofold denomination viz. of the Dead and the Living and speaking of the Living he uses the first Person Plural as being himself yet in the number of the Living not that he should be of that number at the Day of Judgment Thus frequent (c) Tollit animos Tullus Hostilius quasi ipse mandâ—sset spes inde nostris metus hostibus Flor. lib. 1. c. 3. Stipendiariam nobis Provinciam fecit Scipio Africanus Hispaniam lib. ii c. 17. Creticum Bellum si vera volumus noscere nos secimus lib. iii. c. 7. Examples are to be found where Historians Relating matters of Fact which happened long before their own Times use the expressions of we and our we Fought our Army Conquer'd that is the People of which I am now a Member or the Army of this People We the English Conquer'd France in the Reign of King Henry V. and if this had been Prophesy'd of it might have been said we shall Conquer c. Our Saviour speaking to the Jews says Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven when they had told him before our Fathers did eat Maâ—na in the Desart Joh. vi 31 32. And it might as well have been said to the Patriarchs you shall eat manna in the Wilderness as to the Jews of our Saviour's time you did eat it A Prophet foretelling things to come to pass after his own death might say We shall do so and so that is those of this Nation and People shall do it to which I belong and therefore reckon my self in the Number tho' I can have no share in the Action nor live to see it In the same manner St. Paul says we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. xv 51. that is we who are not yet in the number of the Dead but are to â—e reckoned amongst the present and future Living As when he writes to the Ephesians among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by Nature the Children of wrath even as others Eph. ii 3. it is Paraphras'd by Dr. Hammond thus among who we of the Gentile Church of Rome from whence I write formerly lived c. It is certain St. Paul expected his own death 2 Tim. iv 6. but it is usual with him to speak in his own person by a Figure and sometimes even when he mentions himself by Name 1 Cor. iv 6. and he expresly declares that he did neither by word nor letter signifie that the Day of Christ was at hand 2 Thes ii 2. V. The Day of Judgment is describ'd with so much Solemnity and so many Particulars that it may seem impossible for them all to be dispatched in the compass not only of one but of many Days But (d) Mede Epist xx the Jews from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took the expression of the Day of Judgment understood by it a Time of many years continuance and sometimes the term even of a thousand years And by Day in the Language of the Scriptures is to be understood Season or any period and distinction of time with respect to some particular thing or occasion as these are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens Gen. ii 4. that is in the Time consisting of six days the day of temptation in the Wilderness was forty years Heb. iii. 8 9. Nay St. Peter uses it to express Eternal Duration to him be Glory says he both now and for ever which in the Original is both now and to the day of Eternity 2 Pet. iii. 18. Day is us'd for Judgment itself 1 Cor. iv 3. and (e) Grot. ad 1 Cor. iv 3. so the Jews understood Days to be meant Job xxiv 1. In our Language Days-man signifies Judge or Umpire Job ix 33. and Diem dicere was the Law-term amongst the Romans for the Summons to a Tryal but it doth not follow from thence that the Cause must needs have been decided upon the same Day which was appointed for the hearing it (f) Itaque cum ego diem in Siciliam inquirendi perexiguam postulâssem invenit â—ste qui sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet non ut is idem conficeret diligemiâ industriâ suâ quod ego meo labore vigiliis consecutus sum Etenim ille Achaicus inquisitor ne Brundisium quidem pervenit Ego Siciliam totam quinquaginta diebus sic obij ut omnium populorum privatorùmque litter as injuriasque cognoscerem Cic. in Ver. Act. i. Tully by Day in his first Oration against Verres means the space of at least Fifty Days There is no Reason then to suppose that the Last Judgment must be confined to one or more Days but it will take up as much time as the Solemnity of the Proceedings require Hunc diem Judicii ultimum diem dicimus id est novissimum Tempus Nam per quot dies hoc judicium tendatur incertum est sed scripturarum more sanctarum diem poni solere pro tempore nemo qui literas illas quamlibet negligenter legerit nescit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. xx c. 1. CHAP. XXIII Of Sacraments THO' the Jewish Law was very requisite at that time and for that People when it was in force and the wisest and best Institution that could have been yet it was indeed a yoke and such a yoke as was burthensome and not to have been born but in sure hopes and expectation of better things to come And at the approach of the Son of Righteousness these shadows vanished and the Types having attained their end and accomplishment were laid aside and in their room Christ has Instituted as few Rites as it was possible only the two Sacraments one for our Initiation and first Reception and the other for our Re-establishment and Confirmation in that Covenant which he has been pleas'd to make with us And yet even these are thought too many by some who as if they were all Soul and Spirit without Body are only for a Mental and Spiritual Worship To vindicate therefore the Institution and use of Sacraments I shall First Consider the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Secondly I shall shew how fully the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper answer the End and Design of the Institution of Sacraments I. I will enquire into the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Sacraments may be consider'd either 1. as outward and visible Signs of our entrance into Covenant with God or of our renewing our Covenant with him Or 2. As Pledges of God's Grace and Favour towards us Or. 3. As the Means
is their Knowledge the same there is nothing in their common Nature to determine them that they should be born or die together or that there should be any mutual communication of the Thoughts and Operations of their Minds much less that their Life and Death and Operations should be all the very same So that this Principle of Individuation whatever be assigned to be it cannot belong to the Divine Nature which is Omnipresent Eternal and Omniscient the Existence Knowledge and Local presence of Men are Personal not Essential but Omnipresence Eternity and Omniscience are Essential Attributes of God and not Personal or do not belong to each Person as they are distinguished from one another but as they are united in the same Essence for they are predicated of the Father as God of the Son as God and of the Holy Ghost as God and not of each severally as Father as Son and as Holy Ghost Every of these Essential Attributes therefore cannot be numbred with the Persons in the Deity but can be but One as the Essence itself of the Deity is and tho' the Father be Eternal the Son Eternal and the Holy Ghost Eternal yet they are not Three Eternals or Three Individual Beings of Eternal Existence as Three Humane Persons are Three Men of a Finite Existence It is a Contradiction that there should be Three separate Infinite Persons for their being separate must suppose them to be Finite or to have a limited and confined Subsistence and therefore Three Infinite Persons can be but One God or One Being which has all the perfections of Personal Distinction without the imperfection of the Division of Persons 3. From hence appears the Difference between the Divine Persons and Humane Persons The Persons of Men are distinct Men as well as distinct Persons but this is no ground for us to affirm that the Persons in the Divine Nature are distinct Gods because the Divine Nature is acknowledged to be Infinite and Incomprehensible and when we speak of Three Persons in it we do not mean such Three Persons as Three several Men are But we read of the Person of the Father Hebr. i. 3. and of Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One 1 Joh. v. 7. and when we speak of Three Intelligent Beings we can have no Conception of them but under the Notion of Persons We learn from the Scriptures that there are Three Persons in the Deity which bear that Relation to each other which is best express'd by the Terms of Father Son and Holy Spirit but the Terms of Father Son and Spirit are not therefore so to be understood as they are in Humane Relations and the word Person is not to be understood as it is of Humane Persons and therefore whereas we use the word Person the Greeks call them Subsistencies but acknowledge that they mean the same thing under that difference of words And yet this is all the foundation of any pretence of contradiction in the Notion of the Blessed Trinity that Men will needs understand the Terms of Person and of Father Son and Spirit when they are applied to God as they do when we speak of Men and from thence they conclude that Three Persons in the Divine Nature must be Three Gods as Three Persons amongst Men are Three Men and that the Father must be Superiour and Elder than the Son as it is in Humane Generations But this is all Mistake Adam is stiled the Son of God in a sense of the word peculiar to himself Luke iii. 38. God is in one sense the Father of all Mankind and in another sense he is the Father of the Regenerate only and when in either sense we call him our Father we take not the Word Father in the same sense that we take it in when we apply it to Men and when we say he is the Father of his only begotten Son this is another sense of the word Father very different from all the former The Relation between the Father and Son is not the same in the Nature of God that it is amongst Men nor are the Divine Persons such as the Persons of Men are but these are the fittest and the most proper and significant Terms to express the Nature of God to us that Humane Language and Humane Understandings are capable of We must acknowledge that there is a vast disproportion and impropriety in these expressions and that they give us but a very imperfect conception of the Divine Nature but it is the most perfect that we are able to have of it or that it is necessary for us to have of it in this Mortal state and if we will but allow for the incompetency of our own Faculties to have Words and Notions adequate to the Divine Nature and will remember that God is God and that we are but Men there will appear to be no contradiction in the Notion of the Trinity The Divine Nature is such that it has Three distinct Principles of Operation and Subsistency which are so described and represented in the Scriptures by Personal Acts and Properties that we know them to be as really distinct as Humane Persons are which yet being but One God cannot in this respect be like Humane Persons And whoever will oppose this Doctrine of the Holy Trinity must prove that the Three Persons of the Trinity cannot be as really distinct as the Persons of Three Men are tho' they are not such Persons as the Persons of Men. And to prove this he must understand the Nature of God as well as he understands the Nature of Man for otherwise he can never be able to prove that Three Divine Persons may not be One God tho' Three Humane Persons cannot be One Man That they are distinct Persons is revealed and that these Three distinct Persons are but one God is revealed but wherein the Distinction and the Unity of these Three Persons consists is not revealed nor is it possible for us to understand it at least without a Revelation The Distinction of the Persons of Men is founded in a separate and divided Subsistence but this cannot be the foundation of the Distinction of the Divine Persons because Separation and Division cannot belong to an Infinite Nature There is then not Repugnancy in saying that there are Three Subsistencies or Three distinct Principles of Personal Acts and Properties in one undivided Infinite Nature or that the Persons in the Trinity act as distinctly and personally as Persons do amongst Men but are united in one Infinite Nature which is uncapable of existing in separate Subsistencies tho' not of acting and subsisting in Three distinct Persons or as distinctly from each other as the Persons among Men do act and subsist The Summ is that in the most perfect Unity of the Divine Nature do subsist the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost between whom is a real Distinction which tho' not the same yet is
could not deny the Evidence of the Fact supposing the thing possible but they would not own it possible that such a thing should be and upon that account rejected all the Evidence that could be produced as tending only to prove an Impossibility and so not to be regarded I shall therefore shew the possibility of the Resurrection of the Dead and that it is unreasonable to think it incredible that God should raise the Dead If it be incredible that God should Raise the Dead it must be upon one of these Two Accounts either because he cannot or because he will not do it For what God both can and will do is so far from being Incredible that it is a most undoubted Truth Therefore I shall First Prove that God is certainly able to Raise the Dead and Secondly That he certainly will do it 1. That God is certainly able to Raise the Dead is a thing credible in it self and therefore ought to be esteemed incredible by no sort of Men whatsoever tho' they have no Knowledge of any Revealed Religion if they have but right Apprehensions concerning God No Man can have a true Notion of God but he must know that God is a Being of Infinite Power and Wisdom that he made the World and all things therein that he preserves and sustains all Creatures and that all things are wholly at his Will and Disposal to do with them as he pleases that nothing can oppose or resist his Will or give him the least hindrance in any thing which he is pleased to undertake How then can it seem incredible that God should raise a Dead Man to Life again when he at first gave him his Life And is it not as easie to restore it to him as to give it him at first Might we not as well dispute that it is impossible for a Man to be Born as that it is impossible for him to be Raised from the Dead if our own experience did not convince us of that but not of this God who gave all that Power and Ability which Natural Causes have to produce their Effects may if he pleases produce the same Effects immediately by himself For it is not because he stands in need of any help from Natural Causes that he has appointed them but because it seemed best to his Infinite Wisdom to appoint this Course and Order in the World And it is evident even to Natural Reason that there must have been some who were immediately Created by God and were not born of others as Men are since that there must have been some First Parents some who had no Parents themselves but were of Gods immediate Creation that there must have been some who were the First of all Mankind and therefore could be born of no others Since then Man must of necessity have been first formed by God himself and not have come by a Natural Birth into the World it is evident that God might have made as many Men and Women after this manner as he had pleased and he who is the Author of our Nature may act without it and as much beyond and above any Natural Powers and Faculties in his Creatures as it seems best to him And it may as well be thought incredible that God should at first make Man as that he should be able to raise him up again after Death for Death is only the End of Nature's power of working not of the Power of God himself who as he originally made the Race of Mankind so he appointed the Nature of Things and gave it a stinted Power which it cannot exceed but his own Power is Infinite and no Bounds can be set to it When a Man is once Dead Nature has done with him and can never recover him to Life again for God ordained at first that according to the Course of Nature he should only be born and live here a while not that his Life should be restored again to him after Death But he is not so confined himself that he cannot give Life to the Dead but has reserved this as his own Prerogative and above any thing in Nature's Power God who formed Adam of the Dust of the ground might have formed all Mankind so if he had pleased and he can as easily raise all Mankind to Life again out of the Dust as he made the first Man out of it And the Atheist one would think has of all Men the least pretence to scruple the Resurrection of the Dead who must suppose that Mankind at first sprung out of the Earth as Plants do by a Spontaneous Production and for him to pretend that the Bodies of Men cannot be raised to Life again by an Almighty Power is as unreasonable as any thing in Atheism it self can be When at certain Seasons every Year we see things receive a New Life as it were according to the Course of Nature we may well conclude that if so strange an Alteration can proceed from Natural Causes then surely God is able to effect that which is much more wonderful and to raise even these Bodies of ours after they are dead and rotten in the Grave to Life again And since the Corn which is Sown in the Earth is not quickned except it die and will not revive and grow again and come to perfection unless it be first buried in the Ground and undergo great Alterations there it is a foolish thing as the Apostle argues to doubt of the Resurrection of the Dead because we cannot understand the way and manner of it Let Men Answer all the Difficulties in Nature and it will be time enough afterwards to dispute with them about a Resurrection but when we are at a loss about the most common and obvious things it must be great Presumption to deny the Resurrection because we cannot comprehend it when alas what is there besides that we are able to comprehend Will we presume to say that God can do nothing but what we understand how it may be done when every thing we see may inform us that his Wisdom is Infinite and his ways past finding out Indeed if we understood every thing else there might be some pretence to scruple the Resurrection because we do not understand how it shall be But when our Ignorance is so notorious in all other things it is the heighth of Folly and Perverseness to think our selves competent Judges of such a Mystery as this So far are we from being able to make any Estimate of God's Power and so far is the Resurrection from being Incredible because there may be Objections made about it which may seem unanswerable that if no other Answer could be given this would be sufficient that God can do more than we can have the least Thought or Conception of and that it is no Argument that he cannot do what we cannot conceive how it should be done so long as there is nothing contrary to the Divine Nature in it nor which implies a Contradiction the
Doctrine of the Resurrection would be very credible and certain too whatever other Objections might be urged against it which yet are not in themselves so formidable as they may be imagined to be All the Objections against the Resurrection of the Dead are either against the Resurrection of Bodies after their Corruption and Dissolution or against the Resurrection of the same Bodies of Men which they had before their Death because the parts of our Bodies are in a perpetual Change and Flux here and after Death by several Accidents as by the devouring of Humane Bodies by Men or by Fish or other Creatures which are afterwards eaten by Men it may come to pass that the same parts which Compounded one Man's Body shall afterwards belong to anothers and yet in the Resurrection they can belong but to one of these Bodies But 1. Bodies after their Corruption and the Dissolution of the Parts which compose them may be restored to Life by the Re-union of these Parts again We have several Instances of this in Natural Philosophy that Bodies divided into never so minute Parts tho' these Parts be mix'd and confounded with the Parts of other Bodies may by Chymical Operations be reduced to their former State and Condition and which is of nearer affinity to the Subject in hand after the Ashes of a Plant have been sown in a Garden fairer and larger Plants have sprung up than had been known of that kind in the place where the Experiment was made And (l) Mr. Boyle 's Consideration about the Possibility of the Resurrection Mr. Boyle thinks it scarce to be imagined what Expedients to reproduce Bodies a further Discovery of the Mysteries of Art and Nature may lead us Mortals to And much less says he can our dim and narrow Knowledge determine what means even Physical ones the most wise Author of Nature and absolute Governour of the World is able to employ to bring the Resurrection to pass And where the powers of Nature fail we know that God is Infinite and can want no means to effect whatever he pleases 2. We may rise with the same Bodies which we have here notwithstanding any Change or Flux of the parts of our Bodies while we live or any Accidents after Death It is agreeable to Reason and to the Observations of Philosophers and Physicians to believe that the Bones and Muscles and Nerves and all the Essential constituent Parts of Humane Bodies are of so firm and solid a substance as to suffer little Alteration during our Lives when once they are come to their full growth and proportion but to continue the same till we die and the Alterations which they undergo before Men come to their full Stature is by Addition of parts not by the diminution of those wherewith we are born It appears from a late Discourse of a (m) Dr. Haver's Osteolog 2d Discourse of Accretion and Nutrition Learned Physician that Nutrition is a supply of the Fluid Parts and that the proper Substance of the Solid Parts suffers no Diminution but in some extraordinary Cases and therefore can stand in no need of Reparation but in such a Case For the whole Body is Vascular or made up of Vessels and Pipes replenished with their several Substances so that in an Atrophy the Fibres become dry and the Nerves and Vessels are contracted and shrunk for want of the Spirits and Juices and Liquors which before filled and distended them But the Solid Parts are of so durable a Substance that they can suffer no Diminution but by such Corrosives to dissolve them as must produce Ulcers and such as would affect the Fibres with so intolerable Pains that the Torments of the Stone and Gout would be moderate and easie to them which in a Consumption would be Universal in all parts of the Body whereas there is no such Symptom in any Part and in the greatest Consumptions the Bones are found to retain their entire Bigness tho' a piece of Bone is sooner Dissolved by a Corrosive Liquor such as Aqua-Fortis than Muscular Fibres of equal quantity or weight It is wont to be observ'd upon this Subject that when the Change of Parts is gradual and in the course of some Years the Body may still be the same as it could not be if the Change were made all at once A Ship or House remains the same tho' it be never so often repaired and tho' the Materials in Succession of Time be all or most of them renewed whereas if it should be taken to pieces all at once and all the Materials should be changed and new Materials of the same Figure and Dimensions should be exactly in the same manner framed and built up together in their stead these would make another House or Ship and not the same that was before But when the Parts which constitute the Humane Body and give it the Denomination of the Body of this or that individual Man continue the same the same Person has the same Body in his Old Age that he had in his Youth as truly as he has the same Body in Sickness which he had in Health and the same under the Languishings of a Consumption which he had in his greatest Vigour and Strength For the Change is only in the variable and accidental Parts which are not necessary to constitute the Body of such a Man and the necessary constituent Parts tho' they were changed or altered as in some very rare cases they may be being so few in Comparison of the rest which make up the Bulk of a Man's Body can hardly be supposed by the devouring of Canibals or by any other Accident to become the constituent Parts of any other Man's Body (n) Sanctor De staticâ Medicinà Sect. 1. Aph. vi lix lx Sect. iii. Aph. x. Sanctorius from his Statick Experiments has Observed that a very inconsiderable part of what we eat is turned to Nourishment and from the small proportion which the Necessary constituent Parts bear to the rest and the unfitness of them as of Bones c. to nourish it may be concluded that little or nothing of that which turns to Nourishment can be supposed to be of those constituent Parts and considering further the great Changes which happen in our Bodies in the continual Flux of Parts and the small Proportion again which the constituent or necessary essential Parts have to the rest we may conclude supposing those parts as well as others to suffer Alteration that it is the greatest odds that the constituent Parts which turn to Nourishment do not by that Nourishment happen to belong to the constituent Parts of the Mans Body who is nourished by them when he comes to die So that if a Man should live wholly upon Humane Flesh which it is not to be believed that ever any Man did yet it would perhaps be above an Hundred to one whether any constituent Part of his Body were made up when he died of the constituent Parts of any