Tradition of Men i. e. it is the result of Humane Wit only it is the meer Institution of Man and hath nothing Divine and Heavenly i. e. of supernatural Revelation in it And therefore this Clause cannot be understood as it is by most Expositors of the Legal and Mosaical Ceremonies which we know were instituted by God himself The Apostle adds that it is after the Rudiments of the World i. e. it is a meer doâ—ing on the Custom and Prescription of the Men of the World It is an adhering to the Opinions of the chief part of Mankind who are pleas'd with the Philosophy as well as the Religion of their Country It is true the Rudiments of the World in 2 Cor. 2. 20. and in Gal. 4. 3. are the Ceremonial Law which was as the first Rudiments or Alphabet in which the World was instructed at first and train'd up and taught a Religion which was to make way for a more perfect One. Or the Jewish Rites and Ceremonies are call'd the Elements or Rudiments of the World saith * In Galat. 4. 3. Grotius because the chief of those Ceremonies viz. Temples Altars Sacrifices First-Fruits c. were common to all the World But though the Rudiments of the World are to be understood in those fore-named places of the Iewish Ceremonies yet it doth not follow thence that those Expressions are to be understood so here for the same words may be diversly taken according to the different Matter they are applied to It is probable that the Rudiments of the World mention'd in the 20 and 22 Verses of this Chapter wherein this Text is are meant of the upstart Doctrines of some Heretical Christians If ye be dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the World i. e. if you have no regard to Errors and false Opinions which worldly Men hold in opposition to Christ's true Doctrine Why do ye dogmatize so it is in the Greek after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men The Mosaical Ordinances seem not to be intended here as our Translators import for the things which the Apostle speaks of are * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctrines of Men. This cannot be applied to the Ordinances and Rites appointed by God from Heaven as the Judaical Ceremonies were Therefore the Rudiments of the World here are the Inventions of worldly-minded Hereticks who were at that time crept into the Church and the Apostle smartly demands of the Colossians Why some among them did so stifly and dogmatically adhere to the Opinions of those Seducers who bid them touch not taste not handle not i. e. superstitiously forbad them to eat certain Meats and perswaded them to abstain from Marriage as a thing unlawful And as Heretical Opinions are referr'd to in this place so something else may be meant by these words in another and particularly in the Text where it is plain that the Rudiments or Elements of the World refer to the Philosophy just before mentioned the Apostle seeming to allude to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the four Elements of the World those simple Bodies of which all mundane Things consist and which are generally the Subject of Philosophers And thus the woâ—d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in Wisd. 7. 17. where you read that Wisdom teacheth Men the knowledg of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Composition of the World and the Operation of the Elements It is likely then that the Apostle hath an Eye here to the Mundane Philosophy or to the Philosophers who doted on the several Elements as Thales on Water another on Fire and the rest on the other Elements as the first Principles of all things Thus you see how reasonable it is to apply the Rudiments of the World to the Philosophy here spoken of and not to the Mosaical Ceremonies as Expositors generally have done So that Ancient and Learned Father Clemens Alexandrinus declares that Philosophy and the Rudiments of the World are in this place the same But he gives this Reason why the Apostle * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calls it the Elements of the World viz. because it teacheth the First Elements and is but a preparatory Discipline to Truth These first Rudiments and Elements are weak and beggarly as the †Gal. 4. 9. Apostle saith of the Jewish Institutions they are weak because they cannot throughly purge the Soul of Vice and teach it to master its evil Habits they arâ— poor and beggarly because they cannot enrich the Soul with any of those Graces which are requisite to Eternal Happiness In this respect they are not after Christ as 't is said here i. e. they are not like the Excellent Doctrine of Christ which was from Heaven and is ever accompanied with extraordinary Efficacy The Apostle goes on in the Verses after the Text to give the Reason of his Caution against Philosophy * V. 9. For in Him i. e. in Christ saith he dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily As if he had said Let no Man impose upon you by a lame and imperfect Philosophy for now there is introduced an absolute and compleat Doctrine namely that of our Lord Jesus who hath the Fulness of all Wisdom incorporated into him Or the dwelling of the Fulness of the Godhead bodily in him may signify the perfect Glory and Majesty of the Divine Nature display'd in the Flesh when the Word became Incarnate when God was made Man Bodily denotes the Hypostatical Union whereby the Divine Nature is united to the Humane and both concur to make up one Person The Godhead dwells in Christ not only Spiritually as in all Saints and Believers but so that the Divine and Humane Nature are joined by a Personal Vnion Or you may consider that of our * Dr. Haâ—mond Learned Annotator who tells us that the word †Essentia substantia res ipsa idem ipse identitas Gnetzem which is the Hebrew word for Body signifies oftentimes no more than Being or Essence and imports the Existence and Reality of the thing spoken of And accordingly he saith that the Body of Sin and the Body of Death mention'd in the New Testament are no more than Sin and Death the real Being of them is denoted and nothing else Thus here also the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers to the Hebrew one and is a kind of Expletive for nothing but the real Being of the thing here spoken of is to be understood by it But I conceive there is something more than this meant by the word Bodily for it signiâ—ies not only the Real but Substantial and Solid Fulness of Christ. The greatest Masters of Humane Wisdom attain'd to the Shadow only but he is the Body the Substance And so it follows * Ver. 10. Ye are compleat in him saith the Apostle you have all Things by Christ there is nothing wanting and defective in the Christian Doctrine it is an exact Model of Moral and Divine Wisdom But the Philosophy which
be put to death Therefore his Daughter was no Cherem no Execration no Devoted Wretch This Law of Cherem or Anathema gave the Jews no License to turn Assassines and Cut-throats and to take away the Lives of their own Children Of which * De Iure Nat. Gent. l. 4. c. 11. Mr. Selden and other Learned Men were so convinced that upon this very account they assert and think they prove that Iephthah did not offer up his Devoted Daughter in Sacrifice But by their leave all that they prove hence is this that he should not have done it Besides this sort of Vows called Cherems was to be made by particular Warrant from God who is Lord and Disposer of Life and Death and can Sentence and Devote to Dâ—struction whom and what he pleaseth But we read of no Warrant that Iephthah had to Vow the Death of his Daughter much less to proceed to Execution therefore it was direct Murder to put her to Death And particularly as to Sacrificing her that was a most Inhumane Horrid and Barbarous Act and expresly forbid of God and hated by him Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not burn thy Sons and thy Daughters in the fire as the Heathens used to do to their Gods For every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done Deut. 12. 31. For Iephthah then to Vow the Sacrificing of his Daughter was so far from being according to the Law and Acceptable to God that it was an Abomination to him Yea some of the very Pagans themselves thought such-an Act as this to be Unlawful Thus * In vit Pelopidae Plutarch tells us that Agesilaus being commanded in a Dream to Sacrifice his Daughter refused to do it and that when Pelopidas in a Vision was bid to Sacrifice a Virgin he look'd on it as a Severe and Impious Command Agamemnon it is true Sacrificed his own Daughter but even a Prophane and Atheistical Poet could blame him for it crying out against his * Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum Lucret. l. 1. Superstitious Religion as the ill Motive which prompted him to so vile a Practice Yea it is probable that This is the very Instance which I am now treating of Iphigenia was Iephthah's Daughter for the Greeks mistook Iphigenia for Iephthigenia which plainly signifies the Daughter of Jephthah And Agamemnon was mistaken for Iephthah for he being a known Man in the Trojan Wars which were in Iephthah's time as the Masters of Chronology have agreed it was easie for the Poets to take one Warlikeman or Great Captain for another and to represent the History of Iephthah under the Name of Agamemnon as I shall shew at another time it was the common use of the Poets to disguise Passages of Sacred History with Fables and Prophane Names particularly as for this Sacrificing of his Daughter it being so Remarkable but yet so Infamous an Act it is certain that it was spread abroad and known among the Nations and could not but be abhorred by all Persons of Sobriety and Reason So far is it from being allowed by a Particular Law of God as some pretend Again There are Others who that they may effectually prove the Lawfulness of this Fact tell us it was done by the particular Instinct of the Holy Spirit that Iephthah was immediately stirred up by God to Atchieve this singular Enterprize which in others would have been unlawful * Epist. ad Iulian. St. Ierom of old seem'd to be of this mind and Peter Martyr afterwards was enclined to think the same but he presently corrected himself And truly no less could be expected from him for it is a very near approach to Blasphemy to say that so Wicked a Perpetration was by favourable Instinct from God himself especially when he hath so particularly forbidden it as you heard in the former particular Indeed from what I delivered there this Bold Opinion is sufficiently confuted for if Sacrificing his Daughter was downright Murther and was a Breach of Moses's Law and of the Law of Nature then it is intolerable Folly and Presumption to plead for the Lawfulness of it Moreover if there had been here a Divine Impulse or a Particular Command from Heaven as in the Example of Abraham who was bid to do what he did and that for Trial only he would not have rent his Cloaths and been troubled but he would have likewise check'd his Daughters Sorrow as well as his own by declaring that his Resolution to Sacrifice her was from a particular Dictate which he received from Heaven Thus we have reason to reject the Opinion of those Men who hold that Iephthah sinned not in Sacrificing his Daughter for neither of the Arguments which they alledge have any Truth and Reality in them there was no Express Law of God nor any Divine Instinct in the case Wherefore we may safely and confidently aver with the Great Iewish Antiquary before cited That * Antiq. Iud. l. 5. c. 9. the Sacrifice which â—ephthah offered was not lawful nor acceptable to God but that on the contrary it was Unlawful and Sinful And so most of the Antient Fathers of the Church who have spoken of this do assert But here we may be thought to be reduced to a great streight in maintaining this Post for if all Humane Slaughter was forbid by God and is against Nature and is utterly Unlawful and Vicious how came Iephthah to commit this Fact What made him act so Strangely What could be the Motive to so Horrid an Enterprize If it was so Gross an Enormity how can we think this Great Man this Judge with his High Priest and Priests about him yea and the whole Sanhedrim to advise him could be guilty of such a Vile and Notorious Crime as this Here then I am to give an Account why and whence it was that Iephthah acted thus Extravagantly and as it may seem profligately and I hope it will not be offensive if I take liberty to dissent from the generality of Writers in this matter For though I agree with those who hold that Iephthah sacrificed his Daughter and that he did very ill in it yet I differ from them in the Ground and Occasion of it which is the thing I will now insist upon and for which I chiefly designed this Discourse They attribute it to the Corruption of that Age telling us that very Strange and Exorbitant things were done in those days as the Book of Iudges expresly relates And moreover they add that Iephthah herein followed the Examples that had been before him for Humane Sacrifices were commonly offered by the Heathens that dwelt in Palestine Deut. 12. 31. Their Sons and their Daughters they burned in the fire to their Gods and particularly we read that the Ammonites offered their Children to Moloch in the Flames Nay it cannot be denied that this Horrid and Bloody Idolatry was practised by some of the Israelites a little before Iephthah's
to do any Good Act with any respect to a Reward to be received for the doing of it These Soaring Souls would needs maintain that Vertue is to be loved and Good to be done merely for its own sake they declared that the foresight of a Recompence did not influence upon them at all in what they Did or Suffer'd and that no Good Man ought to make any thing a Motive to Vertue and Goodness but these themselves Seneca Epictetus Arianus Antoninus and other Stoicks will furnish you with Passages to this purpose But Christianity which is the Sublimest Doctrine in the World is not of this strain if we may credit one of the greatest Professors of it who freely declares that if in this Life only we have hope 1 Cor. 15. 19. we are of all Men most miserable From whence it appears that there must be an expectation of another Life there must be the assurance of a Future Recompence join'd with the Pleasure and Intrinsick Goodness of a Holy Life It is true it is Servile to fix the Eye altogether on the Wages but it is Disingenuous and Ungrateful not to take notice of the Reward which God hath purposely set before us True Love is destroyed if God and Holiness be not imbraced for themselves But then on the other hand Christian Hope which is also an Emiment Grace is annulled if the Opinion of the Stoicks be valid It is clear therefore that their Doctrine is False and Erroneous and is the Result of their Vain Thoughts of Themselves and of a counterfeit Zeal to Vertue and a mere shew and ostentation of it For if we could examine things truly and fully it may be there would be found no such thing under Heaven as a Vertue wholly and perfectly Disinteressed such as hath no Advantage no Benefit no Emolument belonging to it or so much as supposed to be consequent of it Therefore when these Men tell us that * Virtutum Omnium pretium in ipsis est Sen. Epist 81. no Reward is to be look'd after when like the Love-Pharisees call'd so in the †Sota c. 1. Talmud they pretend to obey the Law merely and only out of Love of Vertue without the least respect to a Future State we may reasonably conclude that in this as in other things they affect Chimaera's and Fictions and are ready on all Occasions to give proof of their Self-Conceit and Haughty Imaginations 3. To give another Instance of these Mens unsufferable Pride they grew up to such a pitch of it that they were inclined to throw off Magistracy and Government and to withdraw themselves and others from the Jurisdiction of the Powers they lived under Their Wise Man was a King nay King of Kings as you heard before and thence they would infer that he was Above all Allegiance and Subjection to Authority This Notion made them so Domineering and Imperious that they broke out into Tumults and Seditions as Tacitus observes of them in his Annals It went against the Philosophick Grain to be Subjects and Servants But this is contrary to St. Paul's Politicks Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers and to his Oeconomicks Art thou call'd a Servant mind it not i. e. do not think that That Condition renders thee the worse in the sight of God serve God and thy Master at once and therein thou wilt shew thy self a Good Christian. So much of the Stoicks Pride The Third Thing they were taken Notice of for and which was a piece of Singularity in these Philosophers was their Apathy as * In Zenone Laertius acquaints us And we are told by †Plin. lib. 7. c. 19. another that Diogenes the Cynick for you must know the Cynicks were but over-grown Stoicks was a great Maintainer of it This put an unnecessary Restraint and Violence upon the Natural Affections of Mankind and would not allow Humane Nature either to laugh or weep Their Wise Man that they made was but a Statue and so indeed he was as good as some of their Gods he was stupid and sensless upon occasion he was not permitted to resent the Occurrences of the World were they never so surprizing and admirable He was to be silent upon the Rack and when the Stone or Gout tortured him he was to force a Smile and it was a Mortal Sin for you must remember all Sins were alike with these Gentlemen to wax pale at the sight or feeling of the Incision-Knife He was to Play with Torments and to Sport with Pain and Misery Thus they believed the Sense of Morality was to devour all Sense of Humanity But this was the Doctrine of some only of that Rigid Sect. The Soberest of them did neither speak nor think thus the Apathy or Indolency which they maintain'd was a very Laudable and Innocent thing Let Seneca speak for them * Non educo saplentem ex hominum numero c. Epist. 71. I do not saith he draw out a Wise Man from amongst Mankind and place him out of the Number of Men for he that is Sensless is no Man And this Philosopher's Practice was sutable to this Principle for we find him in his Writings often resenting the Evils which befel the World Himself or his Relations So Antoninus Sirnamed the Philosopher shed Tears upon occasion of a Friend's Death and his Father Antoninus Pius for he was his Son by Adoption excused him saying Permit him to be a Man Arianâ—s ‖ L. 3. c. 2. prosessedly declares against that Apathy which takes away Natural Affection It becomes a Man saith he not to be Sensless and Immoveable but to keep and preserve his Natural and Acquired Affections and Relations as a Father a Son a Brother a Citizen The Affections are not to be Eradicated and Expelled but the best way is ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de Curios to Change them and Turn about and Fit them for our Purpose and so make them Easy and Advantagious to us Reason and Nature and Christianity approve of the Emotions of our Affections so far as they are Instrumental to Vertue and are restrained within their Due Limits The Passions are not wholly to be Rooted up but to be Diverted they are not to be Banished but to be Curbed and kept under These Gibeonites are not to be Kill'd but to be made Serviceable and kept in Obedience Iesus wepâ— over the Grave of his Friend and thereby for ever Hallowed all Tears and Consecrated all Natural and Humane Affections It is certain that the Passions are of great use in Religion and may be subservient to the noblest Ends and Purposes of it Therefore our Apostle might justly enter his Caveat here against those Hard and Flinty Philosophers who talk'd of an utter Dispassion and would make Men to be Iron and Stones Thus I have acquainted you what were the Opinions and Practices of the Epicurean and Stoick Philosophers with whom St. Paul grappled Thence you may guess what
on the unjust who lets the greatest Delinquents share in his Favour and communicates his Mercies and Blessings to the vilest Sinners In short it is the excellent and generous Nature of Christianity to forgive Offences when the Criminal acknowledges them iâ— is yet a greater degree and height of it to take no notice of them where the Community is not concerned but to pass them by as not worth our observing but the greatest and highest Glory of it is to love our Enemies to pray for them that persecute us to return Good for their Evil and to be kind and obliging even to the worst of Men. 3. Self-Murder which is a Notorious Affront and Injury to Humane Nature was defended by the Chiefest Philosophers of them all They held that a Man need not ask Leave before he went out of the World that when they saw themselves in Danger they might be as cruel to themselves as the Gods were yea that it was Religious to dispatch that Life which the Gods were resolved to destroy It was determined by the Stoicks that a Man might Kill himself rather than endure Servitude Reproach or Long and Grievous Diseases And this Cato defends if Tully doth not belie him as we have no reason to think he doth That Stoick it seems was a Severe Common-wealth's Man and could not fit himself to the Turn of the Times The Gods must give him a Reason why Caesar vanquish'd Pompey and because they would not he fell upon his own Sword and dispatch'd himself This the Great Roman Philosopher approves of and thinks it was not without God's Leave that he departed hence He expresly saith * Tusc. Quaest. God gave him a just Occasion of dying as he dâ—d Socrates and he reckons him among those who are discharg'd and dismiss'd by God Some others of the most Philosophical Men either directly slew themselves or were wilfully accessary to their own Deaths Thus Lycurgus the Great and Renowned Lawgiver of Sparta pined himself to death which Fact †In vitâ Lycurg Plutarch approves and applauds with a Jest viz. that he made an end of himself by a total abstinence from Meat to teach his Country-men Temperance ‖ Cic. Tusc. Quest. l. 1. Cleombrotus a Platonist having read Plato's Phâ—do where Socrates being about to die discourses of the Immortality of the Soul went and threw himself down headlong into the Sea And other Great Men of Morals as Empedocles Demosthenes Anaxagoras Chrysippus yea and Zeno the Father of Stoicism were Felons of themselves Those who pretended to be great Despisers of Pains and Sufferings ran away from them as soon as they felt the Anguish of them Observe it the very Stoicks who were such Unpassionate and Immoveable Moralists were for leaving the World before their Time This they call'd Withdrawing themselves and a fair Retiring out of the World And the Famous Seneca in no fewer than Four Epistles maintains this Practice In one of which he plainly tells us whatever he had said at other times concerning the Great Extremities which might put a Man upon killing himself that * Nec hoc tantiâ—m in necessitate ultimâ facit sed cum primum illi coeperit suspecta esse fortuna c. Epist. 70. his Wise Man need not stay till Extreme Necessity urgeth him to such a violent Action but as soon as his Fortune begins to be suspected as soon as he perceives there is some likelyhood of his being brought into ill Circumstances he may prevent them all by going aside He hath this leave given him by the Stoicks as well as by the Platonists and other Philosophers But Reason and Christianity and some of the Philosophers too in a better Mood oppose it as a Rash and Foolish Attempt nay as a vile and wicked Enterprize It is an usurping on God's proper Right and Authority who only hath Power to dispose of Man's Life When God calls for our Lives then we are to part with them submissively and willingly but not before In the mean time we must entertain Poverty Sickness Disgrace or whatever Crosses befal us with invincible Patience and Resolution We must not shamefully relinguish our Stations and like imprudent Pilots quit the Guidance of the Vessel in the midst of a Storm We must bear up undauntedly against the briskest Assaults and resolve to grapple with all sorts of Hazards and Extremities We must prepare our selves to look new Dangers in the face and by the Divine Assistance make way through the thickest Troops of Opposition When we are assaulted with Sufferings we must not crouch and sneak and fly like Cowards but we must resolve to maintain our Post and weather out our Miseries with a Courage becoming Christianity Be the Way we pass through rough or smooth difficult or easy 't is the Divine Appointment and God hath not made any Calamity insupportable it may soon wear off of it self however Time will take it away But we must be careful that we do not by any means put an end to it by doing so to our Lives This is a high Offence against God against the Community of which we are a part and against our selves and Humane Nature it self This is a manifest token of base Fear and Cowardice and Abjection of Mind it argues unmanly Precipitancy and Unadvisedness a distrust of Providence a defect of Faith and Hope and Christian Courage and even black Despair it self But how brave and noble is it after all our hard Service to go off honourably with the Comfort of having fought a good Fight and finished our Course and kept the Faith and of having persevered in our Duty to the end maugre all Discouragements and Hardships This is true Christian Philosophy 4. Lewdness i. e. Immodest and Obscene Speeches Ribaldry and loose Talk with Lascivious Gesture and Behaviour with Lewd and Filthy Practice were countenanced by the greatest Pretenders to Deep Notions and Morality yea and were not thought contrary to the Principles of Philosophy As for the Stoicks they professedly held that there is no Obscenity in Words And Chrysippus more particularly is named by Sextus Empiricus as the chief Assertor of this Chrysippus who was the very Prop and Buttress of the Stoicks Porch as Tully tells us was a Great Defender of this Opinion and propagated it among his Disciples They were wont as the same Author saith * Suo quamque rem nomine appellare Cic. Epist. l. 9. Ep. 22. to call every thing by its Name hereby excusing and palliating their Obscenity and he seems to take their part †Ibid. calling this Lewdness of Speech Libertatem loquendi a Liberty of speaking From tolerating of Obscene Words they proceeded to license the Lewdest Actions and therein were justified by the concurrent Practice of other Philosophers He that rifles Plato's Politicks shall find that Plurality of Wives and even a Community of Women are allowed by him The wisest Philosopher shews himself here most absurd for thus he argueth
the Manifestation of the Son of God upon the Earth and to his Holy Institution which promotes Tender-heartedness and Pity and condemns whatever is Savage and Bloody But the Slaughter and Murder of Souls are the worst and highest Cruelty the Main Work and Business of that Implacable Enemy of Mankind Those Cursed Spirits being fallen themselves from God indeavour the Apostacy of all Mankind and this they do by drawing Men into Error and by tempting them to Sin and Wickedness They are as busy in debauching Mens Minds by Erroneous Opinions and False Doctrines as they are in any other Design and they get as much by it for by corrupting Mens Understandings and Notions they prepare the way for all other Mischiefs to ensue Heresies are of the Devil and lead to him and therefore Polycarp knew what he said when he call'd Marcion that Arch-Heretick the first-born of Satan But the inveigling to Practical Error which is no other than Vice gives him chiefly his Denomination of Tempter and consequently those who allure others to Vice those who entice them to Evil Courses are to be call'd by no softer Terms than those of Murderers and Devils for Tempting i. e. drawing others to Sin is properly the Work of the Devil this is that which he constantly practiseth and takes so much delight in But the Blessed Founder of Christianity is a Saviour and Lover of Souls who thus expostulated when he was on Earth What is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul This Jesus was Loving and Kind-hearted and submitted to a painful and ignominious Death to give an undeniable Demonstration of his Compassion to the Souls of Men. He ascended the Cross and shed his Blood there to convince the World how Tender he was of their Immortal Concerns and Everlasting Welfare And let me speak a Great Word He would even now leave all his Glories and die once more for Man if it were necessary for the procuring of his Happiness Lastly Carnality Lewdness and Vncleanness may fitly be stiled the Devil's Works It is well known that these prevailed even in the most Solemn Rites and Devotions of the Pagans As the Poets represent the Gods Lewd and Lascivious so the most Serious Authors tell us of the Impure and Filthy Sacrifices the Villanous and Beastly Rites performed to them They relate the Obscene Feasts of Bacchus and Priapus of Flora and Venus and acquaint us that they kept their Lupercalia or Festivals of Pan in running up and down naked behaving themselves in that lewd manner which cannot be named without injuring chaste and modest Ears Of the Eleusinian Solemnities in Honour of Ceres and Proserpina we have some Account from * Adv. Valentin Tertullian and the Religious Ceremonies of Isis were as lewd and obscene saith †De Isid. Osir. l. 1. Plutarch It is certain that Lewdness and Wantonness were the very Ingredients of their Worship and their very Temples were Stews Arnobius makes it his Business in his fifth Book to shew how obscene and unchaste how immodest and shameless their Rites and Ceremonies their Stories and Relations of their Gods were In brief Vncleanness hath been so eminently confirmed to be the Work of the Devil that the Foul Fiends have sometimes assumed Bodies to act it in as ‖ S. Augustin de civ Dei lib. 15. Bodin contr Wier some have thought But Christ coming in the Flesh destroyed even the Deeds of the Flesh he chose to be born of a Pure Virgin that he might give a Pattern of Spotless Purity in the World and the Design of his Holy Institution was to Sanctify Mens Bodies and Souls and to fit them for the unstained Pleasures of another Life Thus I have finish'd my Task having largely and particularly shew'd you what the Works of the Devil are either such Works as are done by that Evil Spirit or such Vices and Practices in Men as more nearly approach to the Devilish Nature and Temper and I have at the same time proved that our Saviour and his Religion do overthrow and destroy these Works of the Infernal Spirit I will only add a Critical Remark on that manner of Expression in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may loose our English Word it is likely coming from thence or dissolve c. for that is the exact rendring of the Word This supposes Bonds and Fetters We were in Durance and Captivity we were shut and lock'd up * Isa. 42. 7. in the Prison-house we were under the Power of Satan and Dominion of Sin but the Merciful Iesus came to rescue and redeem Mankind to knock off their Fetters and to set them at Liberty For this purpose the Son of God was manifested and for this only He came not as the Iews fondly imagined concerning their Messias to be a Great Earthly Monarch to wage War and to beat the Romans out of Iudea and to make his People Rich and Wealthy and to promote them to great Honours This alas was a poor Design and not worthy of the Messias but he came to effect a thing of greater Moment even of Universal Concern and that which is more Noble and Glorious than all Worldly Empire and Soveraignty He came to free his People from the Tyranny of Satan to vanquish the Prince of Darkness who had enslaved all Mankind Or this Word gives us a true Notion of our Saviour's Design thus The Devil had corrupted Man had been the great Instrument at first of depraving his very Nature and ever since he hath made it his Work to debauch Mens Minds and Manners and by all ways imaginable to render them like unto himself Hereupon the Son of God was sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might dissolve defeat undo these Works of the Devil This is the short and plain Account of the Grand End of Christ's being manifested in the World of his Incarnation Doctrine Life Sufferings Death and all his Undertakings whatsoever it was no other than this to undo to annul all that the Devil had done in the World Christ's task was to pull down what Satan had built up to untie to untwist all his Knots and Intrigues to baffle all his Plots and Contrivances to unravel the Inchantments of the Evil Spirit to break the Snares of Satan and to destroy the Destroyer FINIS ERRATA PAge 3. line 27. read Iunius P. 68. l. 22. prefix the Figure 7. P. 77. l. 10. r. in the Margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 118. towards the bottom the Parentheses are misplaced P. 127. l. 20. r. a Mem for a Teth. P. 171. l. 7. r. Nun for Caph. P. 217. l. 26. dele †P. 270. l. 8. after Writer add with others P. 272. l. 13. r. were P. 275. l. 2. after dieth make a Period P. 290. l. 13. r. signifies l. 24. for Arrows r. Rods l. 31. after Tribes add for it is certain that the Iews and other Nations mutually borrowed from one another P. 291. l. 3. after Israelites add as well as these aped them P. 318. l. 23. insert are P. 337. l. 15. r. Christianity's Books printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New with Annotations and Parallel-Scriptures To which is annexed The Harmony of the Gospels as also a Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clarke Synodicon in Gallia Reformata Or the Acts Decisions Decrees and Canons of those famous National Councils of the Reformed Churches in France Wherein are contained 1. A most faithful and impartial History of the Rise Growth Perfection and Decay of the Reformation in that Kingdom with its fatal Catastrophe upon the Revocation of the Edict of Nants in the Year 1685. 2. The Confession of Faith and Discipline of those Churches 3. A Collection of Speeches Letters Sacred Politicks Cases of Conscience and Controversies in Divinity determined and resolved by those grave Assemblies 4. Many excellent Expedients for preventing and healing Schisms in the Churches and for re-uniting the dismembred Body of divided Protestants 5. The Laws Government and Maintenance of their Colledges Universities and Ministers together with their Exercise of Discipline upon Delinquent Ministers and Church-members 6. A Record of very many illustrious Events of Divine Providence relating to those Churches The whole collected and composed out of Original Manuscript Acts of those Renowned Synods A Work never before extant in any Language In two Volumes By Iohn Quick Books printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion and John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Churchâ—Yard A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments with other Sermons By the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry An Enquiry into the Constitution Discipline Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourished within the first three hundred Years after Christ. Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages By an impartial Hand In two Parts Books printed for John Everingham at the Star in Ludgate-street near the West end of St. Paul's Church-Yard MIscellaneous Essays By Monsieur St. Euremont Translated out of French With a Character by a Person of Honour here in England By Mr. Dryden The Divine Art of Prayer Containing the most proper Rules to pray well With divers Meditations and Prayers sutâ—ble to the Necessities of Christians useful in every Family To which are annexed seasonable Prayers for Souldiers both in their Majesties Army and Fleet. Monarchia Microcosmi The Origine Vicissitudes and Period of Vital Government in Man For a further Discovery of Diseases incident to Humane Nature By Everard Maynwaring M. D. Books printed for John Wyat. THE Christian Virtuoso shewing That by being addicted to Experimental Philosophy a Man is rather Assisted than Indisposed to be a Good Christian. By the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq Experimenta Observationes Physicae Wherein are briefly treated of several Subjects relating to Natural Philosophy in an experimental way To which is added A small Collection of strange Reports By the same Author