it self but only by Denomination from extrinsecal and forreign Respects Respects not ingenite in the things themselves but by Positive and humane constitutions superinduced upon them the like Opinion are many now among us who apprehend that Iust and Legal are the same as if all in any Government and Society done according unto Humane Law and constitution were justly done whereas what Lactantius long ago observ'd is most true that it is not Iustice which is Uniform simple and the same in all the World but Interest or Utility that is the Cause of Humane Laws which are therefore so difform various and manifold because as well the Interest as Humours of the People to which they be adapted are so And how can men be Just by conforming but to Laws that are made by men who may be Unjust Aliud est igitur saith the Father civile jus quod pro moribus ubique variatur aliud est vera Justitia quam uniformen simplicem proposuit omnibus Deus Civil Law therefore which is everywhere diversified according to the several manners of men is one thing and true Justice another which uniform and simple is proposed by God to All. But to return to Archelaus Aristippus and Carneades They might as well have said That there is no Asperity or Laevity in Tangible Objects no Harmony or Dis-harmony in sounds that among odors vapours and colours some are not in Nature Pleasing and Agreeable unto these respective Senses they affect and others contrary but that this Agreeableness and Disagreeableness of Objects to the Sense from which they are denominated Good or Evil to it is but a fiction of the Humane Mind I say as well For the Practique Understanding is but aâ— High and racy Sense and as other Senses so this within its capacity and Sphere of comprehension has Objects that are contrary some are Agreeable and some are otherwise and she Iudges of them There is Ingrafted in the Mind of Man an Intellectual Sense a Discernment of what is Good and Evil as in the Eye a sensible one of White and Black In the Palate a Taste of Bitter and Sweet In the Ear a Power to Discriminate Harmonies and Discords in all a sense of Pleasure and Pain What is Harmonious Equal Congruous and consequently Pleasing and Agreeable unto Practique Reason and accordingly approved by it which it honours with a Dictate that it ought to be pursued or effected that is called morally Good and what is Dis-harmonius Inequal or Inconcongruous and consequently Painful and Disagreeable and accordingly disallowed of which the Understanding Dictates that it ought to be Avoided that is Morally Evil. To be morally Good or Evil is to be Good or Evil in point of Manners Good and Evil in manners are the Objects of the Practique Understanding there are things Agreeable and Disagreeable to the Mind and Practique Understanding as well as to other Senses There are things Good and things Evil to this High and Racy Sense as well as to Inferiour Ones The System of Prime Common Plain Self-evident Dictates of the Practique Understanding or Reason whose Number can no better be Determin'd than that of Fundamentals in Religion is generally called the Law of Nature not only because it is described as it were in Nature and in the very habitudes and Respects of things themselves but also because as our Apostle happily expresseth it it is a Law whereby a man is so unto himself that is his very faculties themselves which are his Nature do as it were prescribe him Laws which in Opposition unto Positive and written Laws are called Unwritten and under that Notion were acknowledged by the Wisest Heathen by Plato by Aristotle by Cicero to be the Catholique or common Law of all mankind I say it is called Law the Law of Nature but in Strictness and Propriety it is not Law barely for that it is a frame of things that Natural Reason sheweth fit and necessary to be done or forborn for seeing Law is nothing but the signification of what a Superiour Power and authority requires from us in point of doing or not doing as we would have him pleased or incurr his Displeasure Reason doth not by a naked Dictate of the Reasonabless and fitness of things make the Doing of them Duty and Obedience For though Reason do injoyn for Matter and Substance but what God doth yet properly its Dictate is not Law upon the bare account of being an Injunction and command of Reason but as it is an Injunction and command of God which is signified to us and made known by Reason Else Man in the State of Nature were his own Lord and Governour Yes that men do hold themselves obliged unto things proposed to them by the Practique Understanding as unto Duties which they owe and consequently that the Dictates of the Mind or Understanding are Regarded by them as Laws ariseth from a Belief implanted in them That what Reason manifests to be convenient or unconvenient Equal or Unequal Congruous or Incongruous is the Will of One above them that they should Perform or Omit It being Law only that is capable of making Duty and the will of the Superiour only that is capable of making Law Reason though it may inform us what is fit and congruous to be done yet Inforces not what is so to be duty if there go not a Perswasion with it that what it sheweth is the will of a Superiour The Law of Nature is the Law of God written in Nature which Reason sheweth and this maketh Duty That Principle by which a Man is Conscions that there is a Superiour Power requiring him as he would either Please or Displease to do what Reason dictates fit and convenient and to forbear the contrary is Conscience which I take as it Exists in us to be an Instinct of Nature or if you will pardon the expression A Natural Habit and Impression transmitted with the Geniture from Parents unto Children Reason shews what is to be done but this conscience binds it on the man as Duty and makes him to believe what Reason shews to be the Will of a Superiour So the Apostle these not having a Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts their Conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while Accusing or Excusing one another I call Conscience an Instinct To comprehend which it will behove us as well to look abroad and about as into our selves There is in Animals that want Reason a Principle of Action which we call Instinct by which a Hound doth follow the Hare the Hare avoids the Hound a Chicken dreads the Kite a Lamb at first fight of the Wolf will tremble and seek Sanctuary By which Birds instructed both to build their Nests to sit on their Eggs and to feed their young are moved to seek Places of most Advantage and Retreat to conceal them And such a Principle in man is
id jus habet at jus puniendi non punientis causa existit sed causa communitatis alicujus Poena enim omnis Propositum habet Bonum commune ordinis nimirum conservationem onem exemplum ita quidem ut rationem expetibilis non habeat nisi ab hoc fine cum jus Dominii Crediti per se sunt expetibilia Hoc sensu Deus ipse Dicit se poena eorum qui puniuntur non delectari And I will add to Grotius his Testimony for the Resemblance and Conformity it hath therewith that of a Worthy Person of our own who also tells us as the Author last mentioned That the Obligation to Punishment arises from the Injury the Publick sustains by the Impunity of Crimes of which Magistrates are to take care for the Reason of Punishment is not because a Law is broken but because the breach of the Law tends to dissolve the Community by Infringing of Laws and the honour of those who are to take care of them For if we consider it the measure of Punishment is in a well ordered State taken from the Influence which crimes have upon the peace and interest of the Community therefore Pride Avarice Malice are not Punish'd by Humane Laws as severely as Theft c. So that the common note talked of Fiat Justitia pereat mundus is a piece of Pedantry rather than true wisdom And that hence it appears in Humane Laws the Reason of Punishment is not that such an Action is done but because the Impunity in doing it may have a bad influence on the Publick interest but in debts the right of Restitution depends upon the Injury received by a Particular Person who looks at no more than the Reparation of his loss by it I make no question but whatever Perswasion you may possibly have had before you have this now that I will do you all the right imaginable in the Argument seeing I acknowledge that the Notion that is its Basis and Foundation hath such Authority to countenance and favour it which that I may I shall reduce the Reason which you urge to Form and so display it in its Utmost Evidence and Force and then joyn Issue upon it And in Forms it runs thus All Punishment which is inflicted justly is inflicted either for the Good of the whole or of the part But Everlasting Punishment as such is neither inflicted for the Good of the whole nor for the God of the Part. Therefore Everlasting Punishment as such is not inflicted justly and consequently not at all For Everlasting Punishment is none if not Just. Or thus All Iust and Righteous Punishment is inflicted not to torment but to amend the Party Punished or the Society whereof he is a member that both may enjoy the sweets But Infernal Everlasting Punishments are not cannot be inflicted to amend the Punished or the Society but only to Torment the Offendor Therefore c. This is your Argument in Form wherein I take it to be so conclusive so cogent against Mr. Hobbs and men of his Perswasion that I see not how on his Principle the force thereof is avoidable The Answer he vouchsafech it is utterly uncapable of being applyed Neither of the Propositions in the mentioned Syllogism are in the least considered A Truth you will assoon acknowledge as you shall have read what he sayes Concerning Revenge saith he which by the Law of Nature ought nor to aim as I have said r. 3. sect 10. at present delight but future Profit there is some difficulty made by such as object the continuance of Punishment after the Day of Iudgement when there shall be no place neither for amendment not for example This Objection had been of some force if such Punishment had been ordained after all sins were part but considering the Punishment was instituted before the sin it serveth to the benefit of mankind because it keepeth men in Peaceable and Vertuous Conversation by the terror and therefore such Revenge was directed to the Future only Who seeth not how unapplyable to either Proposition in the mention'd Argument this Answer is besides the great Harshness that Revenge should not regard the Past but the Future and as great a mistake or Ignoratio Elenchi as if the thing is question were the Instituting and Ordaining of Eternal Punishment whereas indeed it is the Inflicting between which there is no little Difference since if the Menacing and Threatning of Revenge respects the Future yet the Execution and Performance of that Revenge doth in common sense regard the Past. Wherefore seeing Mr. Hobbs's Answer will not satisfie a thinking man I must Essay to give the argument another wherein though I might content my self simply to deny the Major namely that All Punishment which is inflicted justly is inflicted either for the Good and Reformation of the Party Punished or for Example to Others yet considering of how great advantage it may prove not only to detect a false Notion of Punishment but instead thereof to Settle and Establish a true One I shall in order thereunto expartiate in my Answer And there are four things that I will do in it First I will consider Punishment in general as Abstracting from Divine and Humane and so from common Notions endeavour to explain the Nature of it and the Ends Where I will shew it to be Vindictive Secondly I will shew that the Notion of Revenge is not incompetent to God but that He is a Revenger Thirdly I will shew that all Infernal Punishments are Vindictive or that they are Revenges Fourthly I will answer those Objections that either Mr. Hobbs's Principles or other mens suggest against what I say concerning Eternal Punishment and â—he Person than God sustains in punishing To the First And what is Punishment in the common sense and Notion which all the World has of it but Infliction of some Evil of Pain on an offender for some Past offence Or as others judge it fitter to express it An Infliction of a Natural for a Moral Evil. Malum Pane propter malum Culpe Malum Passionis propter malum Actionis Evil of Suffering for evil Doing Indeed the Notion strictly taken immediately agreeth but to Corporal Punishment as it is distinguisht from Pecuniary That being called Poena properly this Mulcea But yet it Secondly agrees to Mulcts also For these though in Propriety of Language they be not called Pains are yet called Penalties to signifie they are not Punishments but in that Respect wherein as Evils they do Afflict and Pain This then Is the true and proper Notion and the most agreeable to Holy Scripture of Punishment as it abstracteth from Divine and Humane and it importeth in it somewhat as the matter somewhat as the form For the matter it importeth Pain for the term Pain in English is deriv'd from Poena the word for Punishment in Latine and indeed what ever is inflicted could not be a Punishment unto the Party if it did not some way
Pain him For the Form it importeth a Relation to committed sin in recompence of which and as a thing deserved the Pain or Evil is inflicted for Pain inflicted without Relation unto some Offence and Transgression may indeed be called an Affliction but to make that Pain a Punishment it must regard some Injury some wrong done for expiating which it is inflicted Thus Punishment it is Retributive and that it is so the very Terms that signifie it in the Greek do also manifestly show in which Language it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which imply a Retribution and so the Learned Selden understood it who sayes Ex ratione essentiâ Poenae proprie dictae est ut pro peccato seu culpa aliqua impendatur c. Omnigena enim est partim Retributiva c. In this Notion Punishment is really Revenge and indeed in general is styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Revenge by Plato in Gorgias Vindicta by A. Gellius and Ulpian that great Lawyer defineth it Vindicta noxae A Vindication of received wrong For what other is Revenge than what I have described Punishment a Retribution of Evil a rendring Evil back again for evil received or a making him to suffer evil that hath first done it Only it looks in common Usage as if in some formalities they differ'd and that to make Revenge Punishment there were requir'd a Sanction of it by Law as if to render Evil where there is no Law to countenance and favour it were bare Revenge but where there is it were Punishment This I say it seems for whether any such Distinction be indeed to be allowed or not I make a great Question For as much as all Revenges antiently were called Punishments Genuine and Proper So Pausanids 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antients were wont to call Revenges Punishments Nor is Castigation or Chastisement whatever Scaliger and others think to be excepted for as Punishment it is Retributive it looketh backward and is inflicted in the name of merit for some transgression past and consequently is Revenge though as it looketh forward to the Future and is intended to Reform the Party and to prevent his doing so again it is but a Remedy or Medicine I say it again that Castigation in the Prospect of it is not Punishment and in the Retrospect it is Revenge and so saith Selden in the place before quoted Omnigena enim est partim â—altom Retributiva tametsi simul etiam fuerit medicinalis ut in Scholis loquuntur seu emendationi sive ipsius peccantis sive aliorum adhibita Neque sanâ— Platonicum illud neminem Prudentem Punire quia Peccatum est sed ne peccetur verum satis esse potest nisi intelligas c. And from what I have already offer'd it doth evidently follow First That it is not warily expressed by you that Punishment is not inflicted to Torment the Criminal you might as well have said that Punishment is not inflicted to be Punishment it is Essential unto Punishment to be Afflictive for otherwise it could not be the issue and effect of Wrath or Anger which yet I shall evince it presently to be To vex and grieve the offender is the proper end of Anger and its proper design and it is in this as Aristotle tells us that it differs from Hatred and Malice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this brings me to the Second Consectary That all Punishment as inflicted on transgressors for Offences Pâ—stâ—iniaâ— issue and effect of Anger for what else is Anger but as Aristotle hath defin'd it and as our own Experience sensibly evinces it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Appetition in Desire of Revenge and consequently Punishment is in satisfaction and contentment to Anger Hence the Scripture Paraphrases Punishment by the letting out of wrath or Anger I know the famous Scaliger defineth Anger otherwise that it is not Appetitâ—â—s Ultionis but Depulsinis not a Desire of Revenging but â—verting Evil. A Notion not a little opposite to common sense and to be admired how possibly it could be his who was so wrathful and Vindictive a Man and when from his own experience was as capable is ever any was of knowing better But I take the Answer to him to be very Pertinent which Cardan a Scholar as Substantial and as Real and every way as great as himself has given long ago on this occasion Verum locum saith he 〈◊〉 open invenit quibas suaes ineptias dissunderet Utinam vera esseâ—t quae definit saepe anim â—â—lia quaerâ—râ— soleo que non nvenio â—piud uliquem Sed absit ut ab illo accipiam qui nec ab aliquo veterum significata haec accipit nec ostendit quod ita fiâ—â— sed vult quae simplics narrationi 〈◊〉 dictatori atquiâ—e ovacula â—â—ipiam c. Again the Sentiment of Sâ—necâ— that Noble Stoick which also Gratius owns as his That Justice is not Ira but Ratio that Justice is Reason and not Aâ—ger is alledged Aâ— if it were impossible that Justice should be Reason if it were Anger A Notion worthy only oâ— Persons who believe the Affection to be Intrinsecally evil or who understand them in their Irrationâ—â— excesses only as Seneta did when he talked so and not of those that can believe that they be natural that they are ascribed to God that under Regulations and within their Bounds they are not Evils but Perfections We may be â—ngâ—â— and not sin For my part I am with those Philosophers of whom I read in Plutarch who think that there is Reason in Passion Once Animal in man is Rationale Humane Passions Regulated and Conducted by the Mind are no Irrational Extravagancies or Emotions Opposite to Humane Reason but Vertues that partake it and in themselves Accomplishments that Integrate the Humane Nature without which it would be Lame Imperfect Defective In a word Vindictive Justice as Justice it is Reason as Vindictive it is Anger and though it be not that Anger which is excessive and extravagant a thing so far from being governed by Reason and participating of it that 't is inconsistent with it and is a Perturbation that transports a man beyond all Bounds Yet Anger it is as Anger is that Rational Inclination that a Person hath to vindicate himself for those Indignities and those Affronts that are done him In this sense all Punitive Justice is Anger and in this sense also 't is Reason so that 't is not true to say that Justice is Reason and not Anger For Punitive Justice is both it is Reason and Anger or Reasonable Anger In fine I oppose to Seneca's Authority that of Plato and of Aristotle So much in general for the Nature of Punishment Now touching the Ends of Punishment and that Division which is made thereof in reference to them I say that seeing there are several Parties in every Punishment that is Inflicted of which the One is Agent
light he affords enough to leave them inexcusable and without cause of complaint because he doth afford them more than they improve or use And Thirdly What in this occasion will abundantly illustrate and set off Divine Goodness as well as Justice he requireth not from men according to the light and means they have not but according unto what they have expecting less from them to whom he hath afforded less and only more from these who have the opportunities and the means of doing more And First By way of Premise I lay it down as Fundamental in the Christian Doctrine and Profession That there is no salvation but by Iesus Christ for it is he the Son of God that hath assumed humane Nature that hath satisfied in it the Divine Justice that by his Obedience and Death hath rendred God Attonable to man and that hath procured all the terms whatever they be on which Divine Majesty is pleased to transact again with us and to receive us into favour He is the Prince of peace that Glorious Intercessor that hath gone between the wrath of God and us but for whom Apostate Adam had been lost for ever and there had been no more reserves for Happiness or overtures of Grace for him and his Descendants than for the faln and Apostare Angels Christ is the Foundation-Stone the Chief Corner-Stone in this building God so lov'd the world that he gave his Son This is my beloved Son through whom I am well pleased Sacrifice and Offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared for me Lo I come The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world This I take it is the meaning of that known expression There is no other name given under Heaven by which we can be saved but the name of Iesus viz. That no other Person is to be acknowledged to have the Honour of being the Procurer of Peace and Reconciliation for us with the Divine Majesty and of having marked out the way to glory but only Jesus Christ it being too important and momentous an Affair for any but Emmanuel or Jesus one that is God as well as man to undertake to manage For who but God-man could dare to go between God and man Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people that it might be fulfilled They shall call his name Emmanuel which is by Interpretation God with us The Connection must be noted it evinces that he only could be Iesus that was Emmanuel thou shalt call his name Iesus that it might be fulfill'd they shall call his name Emmanuel as if Iesus and Emmanuel were but One name There is no other name given but the name of Jesus whereby we can be saved It is not the name of Moses nor of Pythagoras nor Plato nor of Mahome◠or of any other meer man these are not names that merit this honour It is Iesus is the only name it must be God with us that saves us The Practical Belief of This is called faith in Christ and is a thing so absolutely necessary to salvation that without it 't is impossible to please God or be accepted with him But as absolutely necessary to salvation as belief is it is not so in every Degree or every Act of it there are Degrees of Faith and there are several Acts there is a Formal and explicite apprehension and belief of this Truth in so many terms that there is One God the Father Almighty Propitiated and Attoned towards men and that there is One Mediator Jesus Christ God-man that hath attoned and propitiated him And as there is a Formal and Explicit so there is a Virtual and Implicit Apprehension and Belief of it which he has that believes that God is that he is Gracious and Benign that he pardons sin and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him And one may as well implicitly and virtually Believe as Will For as he implicitly and virtually doth will the means although he doth not actually Reflect and think upon them that effectually doth will the End so he that does explicitly believe that God is gracious and well-pleased He doth implicitly believe in Christ in whom alone he is so the explicit belief of the Conclusion is the implicit and virtual belief of the Premises This Virtual and implicit Faith he may be said to have who feareth God and worketh Righteousness whether he be Jew or Gentile for he that feareth God and worketh Righteousness cometh unto God by doing so and he that cometh unto God must needs believe that God is and that he is a Rewarder A Faith that many of the Gentiles were as well the Owners of as the Jews for which they were accepted of God So Peter Of a truth I perceive that God is no Respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is Accepted with him And doubtless there were many Cornelius's and Iohn is plain He that worketh Righteousness is born of God Such Gentiles are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fearers of God Acts 12. 16. 26. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Worshippers v. 43. I pray Sir consider Rahab the Harlot and what kind of Faith it was for which she has the Honour of a Monument unto this day and for which her self and all her household were saved viz. The Lord your God is a God in the Heaven above and in the Earth beneath This was her Faith and the Ground and Basis of it what was it but Report and Fame We have heard how the Lord dryed up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Aegypt and what God did unto the two Kings of the Amorites We have heard All heard but she only believed savingly and therefore hid the Spies which the rest would kill This was her Faith she had heard of God the True God and who had not and she believed that God was and that he was a Rewarder therefore she hid his Servants which was her work of Righteousness All believed and trembled we heard and our hearts melted which is the Faith of Devils but she believed and wrought Righteousness she hid the Spies Her 's was a saving because a living a working Faith 'T is true some of the old believers are Illustrious Instances of Faith and of its vigor and power for though the day of Christ were far off yet they saw it clearly and distinctly Abraham sayes Christ saw my day though far off So Jacob The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come unto him shall the gathering of People be and so Iob I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall behold him standing on the earth But yet I find them not explicitly a Praying in the name of Christ or doing any thing therein So hitherto sayes he unto his own Disciples you have asked nothing in my name nor were
demoliri Tandem Plutonem desscere tun◠Homines fore Beatos neque alimento utentes neque umbram edentes When all the Devils works are Demolisht and his Government overthrown then blessed and happy shall men be They shall be as the Good Angels they shall not live on Elementary Aliment but they shall have glorious and heavenly Bodies So I interpret that neque umbras edentes That man was created upright and in the Divine Image and that He was Invested in a state of honour as well as of Innocence and had at first bestowed upon him all the Creatures God had made I have already evinced known among the Gentiles in the little Treatise that occasioned your Letter not only by the Testimonies of the Poets Hesiod and Ovid but of grave Philosophers of Plato of Hierocles and of others And therefore I will add here but one more and that shall be out of Hermes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father of all the Mind Being Life and Light produced man in his likeness in whom he was delighted as in his Off-spring for he was very beautiful and lovely bearing the Image of the Father And in very deed God was in love with his own similitude and assigned over unto him all that he had made That Men fell and by Temptation of the Devil or Serpent were cheated out of Paradise was a Truth no less acknowledged among the Heathen than that they once stood of which as I have given several Testimonies in my former Discourse so you may find more in Morney and Dr. Stillingfleet who both make the Table of Ophioneus whom Coelius Rhodiginus calls Daemonicum Serpentem the Devilish Serpent and Leader of the Rebels and Apostates from God to be a Depravation of the History of Moses concerning mans fall effected by the crafty Serpent Once that man at first was taken up in Contemplation and Enjoyment of the Great Creator but that afterwards converting to the Creature instead of walking in the way of Understanding which lyes above to the Wise and of conforming to the Dictates of the superiour faculties he took the lower way of Sense and Appetite and so of a man became a Brute and of Free a Vassal sold to Sin and Lust. As it is hinted in the Metamorphosis and Transmutations of the Pythagoreans and Poets wherein they feigned men transformed into the shapes of Beasts so it is expressed plainly by Iamblicus Contemplabilis ipse in se Intellectus homo erat quondam Deorum contemplationi conjunctus deinde vero alteram ingressus est animam circa humanam formae speciem coaptatam sive contemperatam atque propterea in ipso necessitatis fatique vinculo est alligatus Nor were they less acquainted with the way of mans Recovery and with the method wherein he is to be restored again unto felicity than with his fall and the cause of it For as they took the Fall and Infelicity of man to consist in his Oblivion and Forgetfulness of God and in a foolish forsaking of himself abused as he was by false Appearances to Lust and Sensitive Appetite instead of firm adhering to Reason so they understood his Liberation and Redemption from that Servitude and Bondage no otherwise to be Effected than by his again Recovering that Acquaintance and Knowledge of God which he had formerly lost This is life Eternal to know thee sayes our Saviour and the same saith Iamblicus who speaks as much as here I have both as to the Fall of man and to his rise Considerare itaque decet qua praesipue ratione ab ejusmodi vinculis solvi potest est autem solutio nulla praeter ipsam Deorum cognitionem Idea namque felicitatis est ipsum cognolcere bonum Quemadmodum est Idea malorum ipsa quidem Bonorum oblivio fallacia circa malum c. Haec autem à Principiis cadens atque repulsa seipsam projicit ad corporalem Ideam dimetiendam That the Gentiles had heard of the Promise of Christ or God Incarnate and that some among them looked for him is not obscurely intimated by the Prophet in the Attribute he gives him that he was the Desire of all Nations For though the Incarnation of God or as our Apostle the manifestation of him in the flesh be a thing of so much difficulty to be apprehended that in the Judgement both of Epicurus and Laertius it is no less than plain folly and madness to believe it Quippe etenim mortalem arterno jungere una Constare putare fungi mutua posse Desipere est Yet 't is Undenyable that many as well Philosophers as others thought it possible And I make no question but moved by some old Tradition they earnestly expected such an One to come of which there are no Dark Evincements For not to insist on what the Noble Morney hath so closely pressed that Iulian himself believed Aesculapius the Son of Iupiter to have descended from Heaven to be incarnate to have appeared among men as a man in order to the restistution of both souls and bodies to their Pristine Perfection I say not to stay on that 'T is evident as well from Aristotle in his Ethicks as from others that they thought the like of Many great and eminent Persons among them of All which that I may not too much exercise your Patience with instancing in more than need I will elect but two for Examples For what did many of them think of great Pythagoras but what we believe of Iesus Christ that he was the Son of God a God incarnate sent to men in Humane shape on purpose to Reform and Correct their lives and by his own example to inflame and kindle in them ardent affections and desires after true Philosophy and Happiness And Aristotle meant no less when in a Book he wrote of the Pythagorean Philosophy he maketh mention of a certain Distribution of Beings possessed of Reason that was he sayes preserved of Holy men as one of the greatest and most Sacred Mysteries they had in keeping viz. That it was either God or Man or as Pythagoras as who would say as God-man or One Participating both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that you may not fancy I have put a false interpretation on the Text of Aristotle or have affirmed more of Pythagoras than ever entred into Humane Cogitation in respect of him before you shall have as much as I have said of him represented to you by Iamblicus who wrote his Life as the common sentiment of very many of Old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But others reported him to be one of the Coelestial Gods who came for the Benefit and Reformation of the mortal Life Affirming that he appeared in humane Form to men that he might graciously afford to corrupt nature a saving Incentive both to Philosophy and Blessedness And little less was said of Plato another great Luminary or Star that shined in the Gentile Orb for of him
visit Iewry to venerate Iaddus the Priest to Invest the Nation of the Jews with great Immunities and Priviledges From which time not only the People but their Usages and Laws became of so much Reputation that Ptolomy the Son of Lagus that great Patron of Learning and Lover of Books procured the Mosaick Writings to be solemnly translated into Greek then the Universal Language by which means the knowledge of Good as well as Copies of the Bible were dispersed and scattered throughout the whole Earth In a word who knoweth not that in our Saviours time there were Iews or Israelites of all Nations under Heaven of so large a spread then was the knowledge of God Acts 2. So beholding were the Gentiles and yet it cannot be denyed but that they so avers'd and hated the Iews to whom they were obliged that in their Writings they make no frequent mention of them and when they do any it is with hard words Reflecting on them as a People most conceited superstitious absolutely unworthy all remembrance for which Reason their Doctrines were by most despised or if received by some more knowing and discerning than the Rest and so proposed to others it ever was with much disguise and alteration left they should betray their Original Thus the Light shined in Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it not And so much by way of Demonstration of the knowledges the Gentiles had before Christ and of the Methods wherein it may be probably presumed they received them As for what they have been Owners of since and how they came to be so I shall only offer what is generally acknowledged that in the very first Age and Century the Gospel way communicated unto all the Earth either by the Apostles themselves or their Disciples and followers their sound went over all the Earth and their words to the End of the World and that there was not that Place and Region then inhabited wherein it may not be evinced by either plain and undoubted History or by apparent Probability that the name of Christ was heard of Go disciple all Nations saith our Saviour to his Apostles and the Fall of the Jews saith Paul shall be the Riches of the Gentiles Among the Fathers Tertullian Chrysostom Theophylact Hilary are of the same Opinion And in the Industrious Purchas you may read the several Peregrinations of the Apostles with the Proofs he gives of them It were easie for me to instance in the most Remote Regions how the Gospel came into them but that I judge it superfluous only because you mentioned China as an Example of the grossest Ignorance of God and Christ I shall mind you of the Antient Stone not many years ago discovered in it which affords an admirable Testimony that the Gospel penetrated thither by means of St. Thomas as also of the Chaldee Breviary rited by Alvarez Semedo which assures us of the early preaching of the Gospel of the same Apostle among the Chinesians Indians Aethiopians and Persians And for America it is evident from Vega who was born in Cusco and of the ' race of the Inca's That it was uninhabited long after the Incarnation of our Saviour and some have thought it worth their labour to evince That at least some of the Inhabitants in it are Iews And it would be worth ours had I leisure to display the admirable Methods wherein Providence hath from time to time revived the knowledge of Jesus Christ in Regions where it was effaced and worn out But you will say that perhaps the Antient Heathen might be so enlightned before Christ and so since and that those among them which were Humane and Civil might retain much of what they had received from their Ancestors or otherwise in points of Religion but that it is as evident there are a many Savage and Barbarous ones for instance not to mention any remote and distant times these in ours about the Bay of Soldania and Cape of Good Hope the Lapps and many others And shall these be damned to Eternal Torments for what they cannot help Shall these be cast into everlasting Darkness and Sorrows without Reserues c. I answer that besides that their Ancestors may long ago have had the opportunity of hearing the Gospel which they either entertained not or having entertained afterwards Revolted from it to Barbarity and Heathenism so that God in Righteous Judgement might punish them in their Posterity with the want of what they rejected I say besides that there is no Nation under Heaven so Inhumane Barbarous and Savage but that though it may not have as much as many others yet it hath sufficent light concerning God and concerning common Offices and Duties of men such as does leave them inexcusable and without Defence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Pauls expression Of this no Question can be made in as much as those that have the least light have more than they improve or live to which having there is no Reason for them to complain they have too little it is their Omission and no man may pretend the Advantage of his own Guilt as well as their Unhappiness they have no more who imploy not and improve not what they have Light is a Growing and Improvable thing they would have received more in using what they had The Blessed Spirit who is free and unconfined and who bloweth where he listeth would not have failed to Assist sincere and hearty endeavours This is certainly the cafe of all how Barbarous Rude and Savage soever they have sufficient Light and Means afforded to them to be better a Light within them and a Light without them Subjective and Objective Light First A Light within them This is the true Light that enlightens every man that comes into the world By the Light within I understand nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Practique Reason that Ray of Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness who is Original First and Primitive Reason by which a man enabled to discern Good and Evil Vertue and Vice Rectitude and Turpitude is agreeably inclined to Pursue one and to Refuse the other So Seneca I now therefore return unto that which thou desirest me to Resolve thee in how the knowledge of that which is Good and Honest came first unto us This Nature could not teach us for she gave us but the Seeds of Sciences and not Science it self Some say that we casually come to the knowledge thereof which is Incredible that the Image of Vertue shall casually appear unto any man But we suppose that by Diligence Observation and frequent conference of things estimated by that which is Good and Honest we have attained to this Knowledge c. I know that Archelaus Aristippus Carneades and others hold Opinion that neither Rectitude nor Turpitude Vertue nor Vice Good nor Evil are by Nature so but by Law and that there is nothing either Honest or Dishonest Vertuous or Vitious Good or Evil Essentially Intrinsecally and in
Conscience It is an Instinct or if you please a Natural Impression of a Future Judgement in the Mind of Man You may call it a Natural Habit. An Habit because it was at first an Adventitious Impression Natural because now it is Original and transmitted in the same way as other Natural Qualities This Impression of a future Judgement or the Fear of God as Judge might first be taken by Adam when after he had eaten the Forbidden fruit Hearing God coming he avoided him and fled which I the rather think because Natural Conscience before Illumination of it by Divine Grace is apter to accuse and terrifie for Evil done than to receive comfort for Good Which Impression so Received and Transmitted to Posterity is confirmed and strengthned or else weakned and abated in them and perhaps extinguisht by Education and Usage A constant Exercise of Religion by Preserving Fear of God preserves the Impression without that it first Abates and then Expires Men of no Religion will in time be men of no Conscience Conscience in Adam was Knowledge he feared God because he knew him In his children Instinct they naturally fear a Reckoning and can't help it Taking this to be the true Nature of Conscience that it is the Practique or Reflexive Power of the mind as formed with an Instinct of a Future Iudgement All its Operations are most easily conceived For then if a man Reflect and seriously considers either that he hath omitted what he ought to have done or else hath practised what he ought not he is conscious in it that he hath Incurred the Displeasure of a Superiour Power and consequently is full of Terrors and Horrors from an apprehension of his coming to Judge for it or if he be conscious that he hath Performed what he ought and consequently that the Power above him is well pleased this possesseth him with secret Joy as being one in Favour with his Master who will not fail one day to make him see the Effects of it Their Consciences Accusing or Excusing This Conscience naturally is in every man who by it is a Law to himself till he fear it Of this Conscience the Heathen have spoken much Hear one or two for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is conscious to himself of any crime be he never so stout his conscience makes him most fearful and Timid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For a man to be conscious to himself of having done no wrong in his whole life it affords him unspeakable Pleasure So much for the Light within But Divine Bounty infinitely transcending humane Apprehension hath afforded Man not only Light within but Light without For that which may be known of God is manifest unto him For the Invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen in the things that are made even his Eternal Power and God-head and he left not himself without witness in that he did Good and gave us Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons filling our hearts with Food ' and Gladness This Light without is styled Natural Theologie and is a manifestation and Discovery in the things that are made and in the Providential Dispensation Government and Conduct of them That God is and that he is Almighty Infinite Eternal Immense All-wise All-knowing Bountiful and Benign which is principally shewed in the former And that he is Suâ—ream Rector and Governour of all that he loveth Righteousness and doth Right that he is Gracious and Merciful and that his Mercy is to All and over All his works and this is principally shewn in his Providence Hear Hierocles concerning Natural Theologie and perhaps Christologie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature having fashioned the Visible world according to Divine Measures did by Proportion every where in different manners conform it unto himself and express the Image of Divine Pulchritude in all the Species and kinds of Beings through the Universe in this one way in that another so that Heaven was to have Perpetual Motion Earth Stability but both of them to bear some Footsteps of Divine Similitude And so the Apostle who is the Image of the Invisible God the first born of every creature for by him as by an exemplar all things were made c. This Theologie indeed is â—ieroglyphical and Figurative Nature an Allegory God is represented in her and in Providence as a Cause in its Effects and as a thing is signified in the sign that sheweth it not to the sense but by it to the mind But as it is significant it is also suitable congruous convenient unto Humane Nature and consequently plain enough For as Man is an embodied and incorporated mind a Rational Discoursing Animal one that inferreth thing from thing so it is agreeable and sit that God should represent himself unto him in Types Figures Signs wayes wherein he is to exercise his Reason and Discourse Such is the Demonstration of Almighty God in the World It is not that of Colours to the eye but of Conclusions in the Premises unto the Mind the Theologie of Nature is significant and the World a System of Divinity AEnigmatical and Symbolical God is â—een and represented in it but so that while the Senses shew it is the Understanding that does see and read him The Invisible things of God are clearly seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being minded Sensibles are Signs and a Sign is what doth offer somewhat to the Sense but more to the mind God must be minded in things made or else no seeing of him in them so Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pursue the Footsteps or Vestigia of God And so Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow God or Imitate him who goeth not before us Visibly to the Eye but who is to be seen by the Understanding Harmonically in the Eutaxie and Goodly order of the World So much Light without and such a Light within have all and those who live not up unto it and don 't improve it are inexcusable and without the least Defence or Apologie so that they are without Excuse Now thou art inexcusable O man And I take it Jesus Christ himself in that so well known Parable of the Talents designed the Vindication of Divine Procedure in this Particular now before Us And if you will give me leave to say it even the satisfaction of your scruples For in the Distribution of the Talents to one five to another two to a third one conceive him by the first to intimate inlightned Iews and Christians by the second Civil and by the third Savage and Barbarian Heathens and then you have your case wherein be pleased to observe How he with one Talent when called to Account but Pleadeth for himself as you have pleaded for him by Reflection on his Master accusing him of want of Goodness and of as much Injustice for expecting from him what he could not do and for condemning him for what he could not help Then he which