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
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
upon them when they least think of him with a mighty and terrible Judgment and with a sudden and unexpected Fury But to stand by and look on unconcern'd and then to take Men upon such a Surprize without giving them any notice of it before-hand is a thing impossible to be accounted for and can never be reconcil'd with the Divine Attributes St. Athanasius (b) S. Athan de Incarnatione Verbi Dei insists at large upon this Argument and carries it so far as to prove the Necessity of the Incarnation of the Son of God from it He urges That it would have been unworthy of the Goodness of God to suffer all Mankind to be destroy'd by the Fraud and Malice of the Devil or by their own Fault and Negligence and that it had been more consistent with his Wisdom and Goodness never to have created Men than to have suffer'd them thus to perish An Earthly King says he when he has planted a Colony will not carelessly suffer his Subjects to become Slaves to a Stranger or to revolt from him but he will by his Proclamations admonish them of their Duty and oftentimes will send Messages to them by his Friends and if there be a Necessity for it will go to them himself to awe them by his Presence and recall them to their Obedience And as he there adds shall not God much rather be so mindful of his Creatures as to use some Means to reclaim them from their evil Ways and regain them to his Service Especially when they must be utterly undone for ever unless he take care of them It is plain then that though we had never heard of such a thing as a Miracle or a Prophecy or of reveal'd Relgion yet from the Consideration of the State of the World and the great Ignorance and Corruption of Humane Nature it would be reasonable to expect that God should some way make known his Will to Mankind and we cannot reconcile it to his Attributes nor conceive how it should be consistent with them for him to be an unconcerned Spectator of so much Folly and Wickedness without taking any care to remedy it God cannot be oblig'd to force Men to obey his Commandments and comply with his Will but rather to leave it at their own Choice whether they will be Happy or Miserable but it was necessary to propose the Terms of Salvation to them to offer them their free Choice to set before them Life and Death Blessings and Cursings and so to leave the Obstinate without all Excuse And this is all which I am here concern'd to prove That it is reasonable to suppose that God would reveal himself to Mankind and that it is not conceivable how it should be consistent with the Divine Attributes for him not to do it To own the Being of a God and yet to deny a Providence is so great an Absurdity that none of the Philosophers but Epicurus were guilty of it and this was look'd upon in him as amounting to the Denial of the Divine Existence And to grant both the Being and the Providence of God and yet to confine the Divine Care and Providence to the Bodies only and Outward Condition of Men and to imagine that the Spiritual and Immortal Part of Man is disregarded or neglected by him is no less an Absurdity than wholly to deny his Providence or his Existence because this is to deny the most considerable and inestimable Part of Providence which concerns our Souls and our Eternal State and therefore it is by Consequence to deny the Attributes of God and to represent him not as he is in himself but Unwise Unmerciful and Unholy To say that there is no such thing as a Divine Revelation is no better in Effect than Atheism For whoever can be of this Opinion must believe only the Being of such Gods as Epicurus own'd that never concern'd themselves with Humane Affairs which was only in other Words to say that they were no Gods at all It has therefore been the constant Belief and Opinion of all Nations that their Gods did in some way or other Reveal themselves to Men and though so great a Part of the World have worshipp'd False Gods and have been mistaken as to the particular Revelations which they receiv'd for Divine yet it must proceed either from Ancient Tradition or from the Reasonableness of the thing it self or from both that the World should expect that the Divine Being should by some Means communicate himself to Men and declare his Will to them CHAP. II. The Way and Manner by which Divine Revelations may be supposed to be Delivered and Preserved in the World MAnkind had so corrupted themselves that the Will and Laws of God could not be effectually made known to them but by some extraordinary way of Revelation God had manifested himself in the Creation of the World and by the Preservation of all things from the Beginning according to their several Natures For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead Rom. i. 20. But Men had corrupted themselves even in the plainest and most fundamental Points of all Religion and acted against all the Dictates of Natural Reason in worshipping the vilest Parts of the Creation rather than God himself and in Contempt and Defiance of Him had set up even four-footed Beasts and creeping Things instead of Gods How then could the Power and Authority of God be asserted but by some extraordinary way of Revelation since the ordinary and constant Methods of God's revealing and manifesting himself by his Providence in the Preservation and Government of the World had been so far perverted and abus'd as that Men were seduc'd to the Worship of any thing or of every thing rather than of God Mankind had neither the Will nor Ability to reform themselves and had by their own Fault brought themselves under an utter Incapacity of being reform'd but by some extraordinary Revelation Natural Reason might have taught them to be less Wicked but nothing could make them Righteous but a Revelation and the gross Errors and Crimes which the wisest Men had fall'n into shews the Necessity of an extraordinary Revelation from God to instruct and inform the World And the Ways of extraordinary Revelation are but these two either God's immediate Revelation of himself to particular Persons or a Power of working Miracles and of Prophesying and Foretelling future Events bestow'd upon some to convince others that they are Inspir'd and come with a Commission from God to instruct them in what he has reveal'd But it cannot seem requisite that God should immediately Inspire or make an immediate Revelation to every particular Person in the World For either he must so powerfully influence their Minds and Affections as to take away their Choice and Freedom of Acting which would be to offer Violence to Humane Nature or else Men would
Messiah the Jewish Law was to become impracticable and impossible to be observ'd For if the City and Temple were not destroy'd the confinement of the Jewish Worship to one certain Place must necessarily imply an alteration in their Worship upon the coming of the Messiah and the calling of the Gentiles who could not all be supposed to assemble thrice every year at Jerusalem and therefore the Prophets foretold That Jerusalem should then be no longer the only place of God's Worship but that Men should Worship him in any place of the World 'T is true the Prophets often mention the resort which should be made from all Nations to Jerusalem and to the Temple or the Mountain of the Lord. But then these are Mystical Expressions for the City of Jerusalem and the Temple are used by the Prophets as Types of the Christian Church and therefore Ezekiel (m) Lightfoot 's Prospect of the Temple ch 2. describes the Temple larger than the whole City of Jerusalem and the City in greater dimensions than all the Land of Canaan to shew that we are not to understand these Expressions literally A Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedeck different from that of Aaron was Prophesied of Psal cx 4. and a New Covenant different from that which was made with the Children of Israel upon their coming out of the Land of Aegypt Jer. xxxi 31 32. And this Covenant was to extend to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews For from the rising of the Sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my Name and a pure offering for my Name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts Malach. i. 11. If against all this it be alledged That the Mosaical Law was to endure for ever it ought to be considered what sense that expression bears in the Law it self And that expression is there used to denote the continuance of any thing which was not designed for some particular occasion or season only but was to last as long as the nature and general design of its Institution would admit The Servant whose Ear was bored was to serve his Master for ever Exod. xxi 6. by which is to be understood not all his Life but only till the year of Jubilee whereas he that had not his Ear bored was to be set free in the seventh year ver 2. And even before the year of Jubilee he whose Ear was bored might be freed with his Master's Consent (n) Grot. ad loc either by Manumission or Redemption and was at liberty upon the death of his Master not being bound to serve his Son Their anointing shall surely be an everlasting Priesthood throughout their Generations Exod. xl 15. which can be understood to extend no farther than as long as their Genealogies were preserved and the Tribe and Generations of the High-Priests could be distinguished I will abide in thy Tabernacle for ever Ps lxi 4. or in other words all the days of my Life Ps xxvii 4. Samuel was brought by his Mother to abide before the Lord for ever that is during his Life 1 Sam. i. 22. And by parity of Reason those Statutes and Laws are said to be Established for ever which were designed to be perpetual and standing Laws not temporary during their journeying in the Wilderness only as others were but to continue as long as the Constitution of the Government was to last and in this sense the Jews themselves (o) Id. de Veritat Lib. 5. §. 7. have taken the word and it is sufficiently explain'd Deut. xii 1. These are the Statutes and Judgments which ye shall observe to do in the Land which the Lord God of thy Fathers giveth thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the Earth or as we read ver 19. as long as thou livest upon thy earth that is their Law was obligatory to them as long as they had possession of the Land of Canaan or retained any right to possess it by God's donation But those Statutes and Judgments which were to be observed in the Land which the Lord had given them to possess can no longer be of any obligation to them when they are finally deprived of that Land The Ceremonial Law therefore by its Original Design and Institution being to continue in force but till the coming of Christ he gave the accomplishment to it and put a final period to its Obligation Instituting his Gospel in its stead which had been pre-figured by the Law and foretold both by Moses and the Prophets CHAP. XVII Of Sinful Examples Recorded in the Scriptures AS some have endeavour'd to excuse their own Sins by alledging the Sinful Examples which we find mention'd in the Scriptures so others who are no less fond of imitating them yet have from hence taken a pretence for Objections and Cavils I shall therefore shew that the bad Examples in some actions of Men whom we find in all other respects commended in the Scriptures are far from being proposed for our imitation but there is great reason why the Faults and Miscarriages of the best Men should be deliver'd down to us in the Scriptures for our Caution and Prevention as well as upon other accounts I. Several passages of the Scriptures contain only Matter of Fact and that very briefly express'd and a bare Narrative of any Action implies neither the Approbation nor the Censure of it but only declares that such a thing was done and in such a manner but the Nature of the Fact it self with the Circumstances of it or some Command or Permission or Prohibition in Scripture must discover the goodness or lawfulness or the wickedness of the Action No Historian is supposed to approve of all which he relates but he must report bad as well as good Deeds who will do the part of a faithful Historian II. The Rules of Good and Evil are plainly delivered in the Scriptures by which we are to judge of Actions and we are to conform our Actions not to the Example of Men but to the Law of God We are forewarn'd to follow no Man's Example when it is contrary to the Divine Law and therefore it could not be necessary in the relating of every evil Action to set a mark of Infamy upon it and a Caution against the imitation of it III. The Relation of the bad Actions of Good Men may be of great use and benefit tho' we are not to follow but avoid them Because 1. This shews the sincerity of the Pen-Men of the Scriptures that they spare no person whatsoever but relate the plain Matter of Fact even tho' themselves be concern'd when it is never so much to their disgrace as in the Denial of St. Peter and other instances 2. By this we learn the Frailty of Humane Nature and the necessary dependance that the best Men must have upon God for his Grace in
and Instruments whereby he is pleas'd to convey into our Souls the blessed Influences of his Holy Spirit Or lastly they may be consider'd as visible Rites whereby we are admitted into the visible Society of Christ's Church or profess our Communion with it And in all these respects it will appear how beneficial and requisite the Institution of Sacraments is and how fitting it is that God in his Dispensations with Men should appoint something outward and visible to be done or received by them I. Ceremonies and Rites of Initiation and of Worship have been Instituted in all Religions which is Evidence sufficient that the Nature of Man requires them and that our Worship cannot be wholly Mental and Spiritual And God is pleas'd in his Dealings with Mankind to condescend to their Capacities to ascribe to himself their Passions to allude to their Customs and to make use of such Means and Methods as Men are accustomed to in their Dealings with one another He best understands Humane Nature and knows all the dispositions and tendencies of it he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust Ps ciii 14. He considers that we are Flesh as well as Spirit he fully comprehends the strict Union between the Soul and the Body and the cause and manner of it and how great influence the one hath upon the other in their several Operations he planted in us all our Powers and Faculties and sees all their Motions and Inclinations the secret Springs of Action and Passion and has accordingly fitted and proportioned the Institution of his Laws and Ordinances We see among Men that they are not content only to understand one anothers Meaning or to express their Minds in words tho' they be the most solemn and significant but are wont to use some Ceremony and Solemnity of Action and Circumstances in matters of great Importance because this makes greater impression upon the Mind and lays upon it a more forcible and lasting engagement by taking in the Senses and Passions as Parties concerned with it and this is by experience found to have the best effect to all the ends and purposes of Agreement and Obligation between Men. Oaths themselves are not found to be so secure to be rely'd upon when they are only pronounc'd as when they are taken with such Circumstances of words and gesture as may create an awe and reverence in those who take them For the manner and circumstances in which any action is done raise and fix the Attention and express the Mind and Design of the Doer and are better retain'd in the Memory and work more upon the Will and Affections than the Action of itself can do This Orators very well understand for the Art of Rhetorick is almost nothing else but a skilfull management of the circumstances of actions to the advantage of a Cause And Philosophy informs us that the evil or goodness of Actions depends chiefly upon their Circumstances from whence we learn what the intention of the Mind is and to what degree of Resolution it came in the performance of any Action If an Action be performed at a solemn time and place in the presence of Witnesses met together for that very purpose upon great deliberation with such words and gestures as are very significant to express our full Design and Intention all these Circumstances consider'd make it much more our own proper Act and Deed than if it were done without them tho' the Intention were the same For what we declare before others to be our mind and purpose to do or undertake we cannot but think our selves bound to under more obligations than if we barely design'd it or promis'd it only to the Persons concern'd because the design of declaring it is to lay upon our selves a farther obligation to perform it and to call others as Witnesses against us if we neglect the performance of it and since our Resolution may be declar'd as well by Actions as by Words he that expresses his Resolution both these ways shews a farther design to oblige himself than if he should only use words to express it and if the Circumstances of Actions be stated and solemn and significant then all the ways and means concurr by which it is possible for Men to declare and express their Minds in any Case and to oblige themselves to the performance of any Covenant Now Sacraments are the Seals of the Covenant between God and Man and when God is pleas'd to receive Men into Covenant with himself it is requisite that Men should not barely give their assent to the Terms and Conditions of it and declare that they will undertake them but it is farther necessary that this should be done with all the Solemnity of Words and Actions that may engage them to the performance of it and render them inexcusable if they transgress it it is fitting it should be entred into and renewed in the presence of Witnesses that the Words should be Solemn and the Actions Significant and that nothing should be wanting which may testifie the Sincerity and secure the Fidelity of the Undertakers For if Covenants between Man and Man be made with all the formality of Witnesses and Hands and Seals and Delivery in solemn and express words if Men know themselves too well to trust one another without all this Solemnity it may well be expected that when God is pleas'd to permit them to enter into Covenant with himself he should not receive them under less Obligations of Caution and Security for their Integrity than Men are wont to use amongst themselves For every breach of Covenant with him is infinitely more affronting and sinful than any breach of Covenant with Man can be and therefore God who will not be mocked has appointed the most effectual Means to secure his Laws from contempt he knows the deceitfulness of Man's heart how perverse and stubborn it is especially in things of such a Nature as these are of to which Men are obliged by that Promise and Vow that they are required to make to him and that all the Restraints and all the Remembrances which Words or Actions can afford are little enough to keep Men in any tolerable measure to their Duty God was pleas'd to confirm his Promise to Abraham with an Oath and therein shew'd himself willing to give all the assurance that the most Incredulous Man can desire of the fix'd and unalterable stedfastness of his purpose and the Immutability of his Council that we might have a strong Consolation Heb. vi 17 18. And when God himself is pleas'd so far to condescend for our comfort and satisfaction it is most reasonable that he should oblige us to perform our part of the Covenant by all the ways that may put us in remembrance of our Duty and make us faithful and constant in the performance of it And this could be effected by no better Means than by outward Acts and visible Signs to testifie and profess in the most serious and solemn
bring to our remembrance the Body and Blood of Christ offer'd upon the Cross for us to make us Partakers of them and to be Pledges of all the Benefits which we receive thereby And as the Eucharist was appointed by Christ in the room of the Paschal Supper so Bread and Wine were in use among all Nations in their Religious Worship and nothing can more fitly express our Communion with God and with one another than to be entertained together at God's Table So that since there must be Sacraments or External Rites and Ordinances they could neither be fewer nor more suitable to the simplicity of the Gospel and to the Wants of Christians than the Sacraments of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper are CHAP. XXIV Of the Blessed TRINITY I Am not here to prove the Doctrine of the Trinity from the Scriptures but to suppose this to be the Doctrine which the Scriptures teach and to shew that no reasonable Objection can be brought against the Christian Religion upon that Account And indeed this was supposed to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures and objected against by (k) Lucian Philopatr Heathens long before the Council of Nice Which is a strong proof for the Truth and Antiquity of this Doctrine when it was so well known even to the Heathens that they upbraided the Christians with it in the second Century and in all probability from the very beginning for we find it then mentioned as a known and common Reproach Supposing then this to be the Doctrine of the Scriptures that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God I will shew I. That there is no Contradiction in this Mystery of our Religion II. That other things are and must be believed by us which we as little understand III. That the Belief of this Doctrine doth mightily tend to the advancement of Vertue and Holiness and hath a great influence upon the Lives and Conversations of Men. 1. There is no Contradiction in this Doctrine We are ignorant of the Essences of Created Beings which are known to us only by their Causes and Effects and by their Operations and Qualities and our Reason and Senses and Passions being continually conversant about these our Notions are formed upon the Ideas which we frame to our selves concerning the Creatures and this makes us the less capable of understanding the Divine Essence besides the infinite Disproportion between the Nature of God and Humane Faculties When we say that God is an Infinite and Incomprehensible Being we speak the general sense of Mankind and no Man cavils at it but because the Scriptures represent this Incomprehensible Being to us under the Notion of Father Son and Holy Ghost that is Matter of Cavil and Dispute Whereas God being essentially Holy and True we must believe him to be what he declares himself to be in the Scriptures and he being Incomprehensible we may not be able to comprehend it If God be infallibly True why do we not believe what he delivers concerning himself And if he be Incomprehensible what Reason can be given why the Divine Essence may not subsist in Father Son and Holy Ghost These are styled Three Persons because we find distinct Personal Acts and Properties attributed to them in the Scriptures and we may suppose Three Persons in the Unity of the Divine Nature without any appearance of contradiction This will be evident if we consider 1. The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity 2. The Unity of the Divine Nature 3. The Difference between the Divine Persons and Humane Persons 1. The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity The Divine Nature is in Three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in the Father Originally without either Generation or Procession in the Son as communicated to him by the Father not in any such way as Sons amongst Men have their Nature derived to them from their Fathers but yet in some such manner as is best exprest to our Apprehensions by styling him the Son of God tho' the manner of his Generation is altogether incomprehensible to us The Holy Ghost has the Divine Nature communicated to him from the Father and the Son not in the same way whereby the Son has it communicated to him from the Father but in some other different incomprehensible manner whereby he is not begotten but proceeds both from the Father and the Son The Divine Nature is communicated by the Father to the Son by Eternal Generation and by the Father and the Son to the Holy Ghost by Eternal Procession We have nothing further revealed to us of the Generation of the Son but that he is begotten or received the Divine Nature from the Father in some such way as for want of a fitter Word we can best understand by the Term of Generation and the Scripture teacheth us no more of the Procession of the Holy Ghost but that he is not begotten of the Father as the Son is but proceeds from the Father and the Son some other way and not by Generation But as he that would Discourse to a Man born Blind concerning Light must use many very improper expressions to make himself tho' never so imperfectly understood so it is here we have no words that are proper but these are sufficient to teach us all which we are capable of knowing at least all that is necessary for us to know of the Godhead 2. The Unity of the Divine Nature To say that Three Gods are one God or that Three Persons are One Person is a manifest Contradiction but to say that Three Persons are not One Person but One God is so far from a Contradiction that it is a Wonder how it should be mistaken for One by any who understand what a Contradiction means The Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God and yet they are not Three Gods but One God For neither of these Three Persons is God distinct and separate from the rest but they all are but One God One Lord Jehovah not Three distinct and separate Lords and so not Three Eternals nor Three Incomprehensibles nor Three Uncreated nor Three Almighties distinct and separate from each other but all the Three Persons together are One Eternal Incomprehensible Uncreated Almighty Lord God It is Matter of Dispute what is the Principle of Individuation in Men or what it is which causes one Man to be a different Individual Person from another and it is still more difficult to find out the Principle of Individuation in Beings which are purely Spiritual and have nothing of Material Accidents to distinguish them But whatever the Principle of Individuation in Men may be it is certain that the Consequence of it is that two Men may exist separately both as to Time and Place and that one may know more or less than the other they may live at a distance the one from the other and can never at once sill the same Numerical Place nor
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
those Apprehensions with their accustomed Arguments for Atheism and Infidelity I hope to prove in this Discourse That all but Atheists must he convinc'd of the Truth of the Revelations deliver'd down to us in the Old and New Testament if they will but take the pains to consider them And Atheists could never be convinc'd of any Revelation whatsoever for Men must first believe that there is a God before they can believe that he reveals himself either to themselves or others But besides their being ineffectual and never to be expected by such as this Conceit must be calculated for this Supposition of immediate Revelations to every Man in particular would fill the World with continual Impostures and Delusions For if every one had a Revelation made to himself every one might pretend to others what he pleas'd and we know from the Example of the Prophet who was sent to prophesie against the Altar at Bethel that a Man may be deluded by the Pretence of a Revelation made to another against an express Revelation made to himself and we may conclude that this would often happen from what we every day experience For if Men can be perverted by the Arts and Insinuations of others against their own Reason and Judgment they might as well be prevail'd upon to act against a Revelation made to them though Revelations were as common and familiar a thing amongst Men as Reason it self is So that immediate Revelations to every particular Man would have been needless and superfluous they would have been unsuitable to the Majesty and Honour of God and they would have been ineffectual to the Ends for which they must be suppos'd to be design'd and would have given many more Pretences to Impostures than there are now in the World But there were many Considerations even in a wicked World to move the Compassions of Infinite Mercy towards Mankind Though all were under the Dominion of Sin and unable of themselves to become righteous yet some were more wicked than others great Numbers of Men were carry'd away to commit heinous Impieties through their own Ignorance and the Example of others and though the Heathen were never without Excuse yet they were chiefly inexcusable because God had always a Revealed Will which he would by some Means or other have brought them to the Knowledge of if they had liv'd according to their Natural Knowledge of him and of their Duty towards him and though the Heathen had many Opportunities of becoming acquainted with the Revealed Will of God yet much Allowance was to be made for the Times of Ignorance before the Gospel God was pleas'd to reveal himself from time to time and at last by the Gospel in a more wonderful and evident Manner than ever he had done before and to afford Men fuller Means of Conviction and greater measures of Grace to comply with it and work out their own salvation And God has made these Revelations of his Will by enduing certain Men with a Power of Prophesying and working Miracles who were to declare his Will to others and to certifie the rest of the World that it was indeed his Will and Commandments which they deliver'd And this was the most proper Method and most worthy of God For as I have prov'd God would not create Mankind and then take no further Care of them since in the State of Innocence they better deserv'd his Care and have ever after stood in so much need of it and could at no time be happy either in this World or the next without it And it cannot with any Reason be objected by those who have never so great a Mind to cavil at the Terms and Means of Salvation by the Gospel That God should apply himself to every Person by a particular Revelation both because so much Condescension and Indulgence would be ill bestow'd upon those who have so little deserv'd it and because it would have no better Effect than Prophecies and Miracles have had towards the Conversion of Men but a very ill one in affording Pretences to all sorts of Impostures And where two several Means are alike suitable to any End no Man surely will presume to prescribe to Almighty God and say that he ought to have us'd one rather than the other much less when one is inconvenient and the other the only proper Means to be us'd II. I proceed therefore to shew That Prophecies and Miracles are the most sitting and proper Means for God to discover and reveal himself to the World by It is evident that they are not accompany'd with those Inconveniences with which immediate Revelations would have been there is no Prophecy nor Miracle but it has the design'd Effect upon many Persons the Majesty and Honour of God is not expos'd to the Scorn of every prophane and obstinate Offender and there is as effectual Care taken to prevent Impostures as possibly could have been And as Prophecies and Miracles have none of the Inconveniences which immediate Revelations would have had so I shall shew that they have all the Advantage and Usefulness which it can be suppos'd that immediate Revelations would have had if they had been granted to every Person in particular All that any immediate Revelation could do is to afford Men the Means of Conviction and Assurance that the Revelation proceeds from God as certainly as that God himself is And this Prophecies and Miracles do 1. Concerning Prophecies it is observable That the Oracles and Lying Divinations with which the Devil has impos'd upon the World shew That it is natural for Men to expect that God should reveal himself by Prophecies Which made them so prone to receive false Prophecies from their false Gods And this may teach us that true Prophecies are to be expected from the True God Many Prophecies are of that Nature that none but God Omniscient could be the Author of them and these in their Accomplishment must carry an indisputable Evidence of Divine Revelation along with them Such are the Predictions of Things to be fulfilled many Ages afterwards which in the fulfilling depend upon the Counsels and Determinations of free Agents and Predictions of the Sins of Men which they could not be determin'd to but by their own Choice It is above the Capacity of Humane Understanding to conceive how it is possible that Things should be foreseen so long before either the Actions or the Agents themselves have any Existence or how Contingencies can be the Object of Infallible Prescience And therefore for God to foretell Things of this Nature by his Prophets is a most proper and certain Way of Revelation because it is above the Power of any finite Being to do the like It is the Prerogative of him that formeth the Mountains and createth the Wind to declare unto Man what is his Thought The Lord the God of Hosts is his Name Amos iv 13. For which Reason the False Gods are challeng'd to foretell these Things Shew the Things that are to
come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods Isai xlii 23. But because Things foretold may sometimes come to pass by Chance or it may be in the Power of Evil Spirits to foretell them when they are in Design and Agitation and just ready for Action or to discern Things done at distant Places and to make probable Guesses which may prove true from the various Circumstances of Affairs which they observe in the World We may therefore be assur'd from the Consideration of the Divine Attributes of Goodness and Truth that God will not suffer false Religions to be impos'd upon the World under his own Name by Diabolical Predictions without affording Means to discover them to be such When a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be afraid of him Deut. xviii 22. This is the Mark of Distinction between a False and a True Prophet That whatever the latter foretold in the Name of the Lord should come to pass but whatever the first foretold in his Name should not come to pass which implies that God will disappoint such Predictions and not suffer them to come to pass otherwise the coming to pass of Things foretold could be no certain Mark of a true Prophet because they might come to pass by Chance The Prophet which prophesieth of peace when the word of the Prophet shall come to pass then shall the Prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him Jer. xxviii 9. But if the Prophecy were not pretended to be in the Name of the True God but were given out with a profess'd Design to entice Men to the Worship of False Gods then God might suffer it to be fulfill'd to prove his People Deut. xiii 1 2 3. For this was consistent with God's Truth and Goodness especially after Warning given and after so clear a Revelation both by Prophecies and Miracles If any Man in this Case would be seduc'd by any Wonder or Prophecy to follow other Gods it must be great Perverseness in him But when Prophecies are deliver'd by many Prophets in divers Ages and different Places all teaching the same Doctrine and tending to the same End and Design in their several Revelations and that End is the Discouragement of all Wickedness and the Maintenance of all Vertue and true Religion these Prophecies have all that can be requisite to assure us that they are from God and God by suffering them to pass so long in the World under his own Name and with all the Characters of his Authority upon them has given us all possible Assurance that they are his and engag'd us in Honour to his Divine Attributes to believe that they really are by his Authority And the Certainty of Prophecies being thus grounded upon the Divine Attributes besides the direct Evidence which they afford to whatever is deliver'd by them they add an undeniable Confirmation to those Miracles which have been foretold and are wrought at the Time and in the Manner and by the Persons foretold by the Prophets and the Prophecies likewise receive as great a Confirmation from such Miracles For Prophecies and Miracles which are singly a sufficient Evidence of Divine Revelation do mutually support and confirm each other and hereby we have all the Assurance that can be expected of any Divine Revelation And therefore as Prophecy is in it self a most fitting and proper way of Revelation so in Conjunction with Miracles it is the most certain way that can be desir'd 2. The Suitableness and Efficacy of Miracles to prove a Divine Revelation It is an extravagant thing to conceive that God should exclude himself from the Works of his own Creation or that he should establish them upon such inviolable Laws as not to alter them upon some Occasions when he foresaw it would be requisite to do it For unless the Course of Nature had been thus alterable it would have been defective in regard to one great End for which it was design'd viz. it would have fail'd of being serviceable to the Designs of Providence upon such Occasions The same Infinite Wisdom which contriv'd the Laws for the Order and Course of Nature contriv'd them so as to make them alterable when it would be necessary for God by suspending the Powers or interrupting the Course of Nature to manifest his extraordinary Will and Power and by the same Decree by which he at first establish'd them he subjected them to such Alterations as his Wisdom foresaw would be necessary We can as little doubt but that He who made the World has the sole Power and Authority over it and that nothing can be done in it but by his Direction and Influence or at least by his Permission and that the Frame and Order of Nature which he at first appointed can at no time be alter'd but for great Ends and Purposes He is not given to change as Men are and can never be disappointed in his Eternal Purposes and Designs But when any thing comes to pass above the Course of Nature and contrary to it in Confirmation of a Revelation which for the Importance and Excellency of the Subject of it and in all other respects is most worthy of God we may be sure that this is his doing and there is still further Evidence of it if this Revelation were prophesy'd of before by Prophets who foretold that it should be confirm'd by Miracle As when Men Born blind receiv'd their Sight when others were cur'd of the most desperate Diseases by a Touch or at a Distance when the Dead were rais'd and the Devils cast out these were evident Signs of a Divine Power and Presence which gave Testimony to the Doctrine deliver'd by those by whom such Miracles were wrought and the Divine Commission and Authority was produc'd for what they did and taught For what could be more satisfactory and convincing to Men or more worthy of God than to force the Devils themselves to confess and proclaim his Coming To cause the most insensible things in Nature to declare his Power by giving way as it were and starting back in great Confusion and Disorder at his more immediate and particular Presence to inform Men that the God of Nature was there This gave Testimony to the Things reveal'd and challeng'd the Belief of all Men in a Language more powerful than any Humane Voice whilst God shew'd forth his Glory and made known his Will by exercising his Sovereignty over Nature in making the whole Creation bow and tremble and obey All which was perform'd according to express Prophecies concerning Christ that there might be a visible Concurrence both of Prophecies and Miracles in Testimony of him And this Dispensation of Miracles was admirably fitted to propagate that Religion which concern'd the Poor as well as the Rich the Unlearned as well as the Learned Miracles were suitable
therefore whatsoever he did or wrote as by his Direction and Command was really so For if there ever were or can be any such thing as a Miracle it must be confessed that the Works performed by Moses were such and therefore the only Enquiry will be Whether they were really performed by Him since it is absurd to think that God may not upon great Reasons alter the course of Nature And I shall undertake to prove supposing only that there was such a Man as Moses and that the Jewish Law was given by him That it is of Divine Authority and stands confirmed by all the Miracles which are related in the Pentateuch to have been wrought by Moses And that there was such a man and that he delivered the Law to the Israelites is affirmed by the best Heathen Authors as Diodorus Siculus Strabo and others and was never yet that I have heard of question'd by any Man For those who will not acknowledge that Moses wrote the Books which contain it yet confess that the Law it self was of his prescribing But if it should be question'd whether there ever was such a Man who gave them their Law how absurd is it to imagine that a new and burthensome Law which at first was so very uneasie to them and which nothing but a full persunsion of its Divine Authority could ever have made them so zealous for should be received by any Nation merely upon a feigned and groundless Report that Moses had at some time or other delivered it in such a manner and in such circumstances if there never had been such a Man or such a Law-giver in the World Could any one or more Men persuade a whole Nation to this or could a whole Nation conspire to deceive their Posterity with a belief of it What mighty Charm could there be in a Name never heard of before and in a Story newly invented that a whole Nation should presently grow fond of it They must consider Humane Nature very little who can fansie any thing so unnatural I shall therefore take it for granted that there was such a Man as Moses and that the Jewish Law was given by him And if it be once proved that the Matters of Fact or Miracles related of him were indeed performed as they are related to have been no rational Man can doubt but that they were brought to pass by an Almighty Power I shall now therefore consider the History of the Jews barely as National Records not as written by an Inspired Author For it will appear from them considered only as an Account of Matter of fact that Moses was a Person inspired and assisted by God and both wrote and did all by God's express Will and Appointment And if we question the Authority of the Books of Moses in this matter when they are considered but as National Records it must be upon one of these accounts Either 1. Because the Matters of fact contained in them as they are there related to have been done were not at first sufficiently attested Or 2. Because the Records themselves are seigned and therefore the Relations there set down are not to be depended upon For if the Miracles be sufficiently attested supposing the Truth of the History then if the History be true the Miracles must be so too 1. The Miracles and Matters of fact contained in the Books of Moses as they are there related to have been done were at first sufficiently attested The permission of Polygamy amongst the Israelites for the encrease of that People the peculiar Fruitfulness of the Climate of Aegypt where the Women are observed to bring forth often two or three sometimes more Children at a birth the long Lives of Mankind in those Ages and above all the Promise of God made to Abraham That he would bless and multiply his Posterity in Isaac's Line Gen. xxii 17. caused the Children of Israel to be exceeding numerous in a few Generations after they came into Aeygpt A Syrian ready to perish was their father and he went down into Aeygpt and sojourned there with a few and became there a nation great mighty and populous Deut. xxvi 5. The fighting-Men from twenty years old and upward that were numbred in the Wilderness of Sinai in the second year after they came out of the Land of Aegypt were Six hundred thousand and Three thousand and five hundred and fifty besides the Tribe of Levi Num. i. 1 46 47. And the Males of the Levites that were numbred from Thirty Years old to Fifty were Egtht thousand and five hundred and fourscore Num. iv 47 48. And the number of Males from Twenty Years old and upward which was taken in the Plains of Moab was Six hundred thousands and a thousand seven hundred and thirty besides the Levites and those that were numbred of them were Twenty and three thousand all males from a month old and upward and not a man of these was numbred before in the wilderness of Sinai chap. xxvi 51 62 64. And those of the other Sex must be supposed to have been about the same number when both these Accompts were taken In all reckoning Men Women and Children and Servants the Number is computed at three Millions And all this People the Parents and the Children who as they died grew up in their stead were conducted for Forty Years together by a constant course of Miracles wrought continually in their sight God took him a nation from the midst of another nation by temptations by signs and by wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm and by great terrours Deut. iv 34. They could not be ignorant whether there were Miracles wrought to procure their Deliverance out of Aegypt these were publick and notorious both to the Israelites and the Aegyptians the Magicians were not able to do the like with their Inchantments but were forced to confess This is the finger of God Exod. viii 19. and they were of that nature and of such mighty consequence that they could not fail of being particularly taken notice of when two Nations were so much concerned in the Effects and Events of them The Children of Israel had been Witnesses of Ten Plagues inflicted successively upon the Aegyptians in the most remarkable manner that can be conceived to procure their Deliverance and when Pharaoh pursued them as they were going away it was impossible for them to escape from him but by Miracle the People were in the greatest consternation they wished themselves again in Aegypt and made such Expostulations with Moses as it was natural for Men in that condition to make and such as shewed that upon the first opportunity they would have been ready â—o deliver up Moses to secure themselves and malâ—â— their peace with Pharaoh And they said unto Moses Because there were no graves in Aegypt hast thou taken us away to die in â—he wilderness Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Aegypt Is not â—his
and had seen his Miracles and had been enabled by him to do the like and they were never credulous but always backward and slow of belief and the Resurrection of Christ was a surprizing thing to them For though he had often plainly foretold it to them yet the disappointment of their hopes of a Temporal Kingdom and the great terrour and consternation that his Death had put them into had quite broke their Spirits and thrust all hopes or thoughts of a Resurrection out of their minds and they were very hardly brought to a belief of it But he overcame their unbelief and satisfied all their scruples by such ways as must be convincing or else we can never be convinced that there is any real man besides our selves in the World and that all the rest are not mere Shadows and Ghosts they did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead they all beheld the marks in his hands and in his side and one of them who would not otherwise be perswaded to the belief of his Resurrection did thrust his fingers into the Print of the Nails by which he was fastned to the Cross and his hand into the wound of his side which was made by the Soldiers Spear just before he was taken down from it so that they knew him as certainly to be risen again as they had ever known him to be alive before his Death The Apostles were so diffident that our Saviour upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen Mark xvi 14. But it is observable that as St. Thomas was at first absent and was suffered afterwards to be so very difficult of Belief so it is said of the two Disciples that were walking to Emaus that their eyes were holden that they should not know him It was purposely so ordered by the Divine Providence that they might not readily know and acknowledge him but that the manner of his Manifestation of himself to them might be an invincible argument against all opposers that no Man might have any thing to object when every circumstance was as narrowly examined and with as great caution and circumspection and diffidence as it could have been done by himself if he had been there For I think we may challenge the boldest and subtilest Adversary to say what he could have done more to discover the Truth if he had been then living and amongst the Apostles than was done by them That which we have heard says St. John which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life for the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you 1 Joh. 1.2 3. which is all that is possible for any witness to say as to any matter of Fact and they who could speak and write in this manner must be competent witnesses if no other exception can lye against them they certainly speak home to the purpose and all that any Witness can be desired or supposed to speak II. As the Apostles could not be deceived themselves so they would not deceive others having no temptation to it but acting against all the Interests and advantages of this world And those who had denied or forsook Christ when he was living would never have been so zealous and resolute to suffer for him after he was Crucified if they had not been fully assured of his Resurrection It is not to be imagined they would have suffered all manner of Torments and Deaths only to bear Witness to a thing they had known to be false and it has been already proved that they could not be deceived in it but must have known it to be false if it had been so and therefore it must be true that Christ is risen from the Dead or else we must suppose the Apostles to have been of so different a nature from all the rest of Mankind as to delight in the things which all others fear and abhor even in Bonds and Imprisonments in infamy and torments and all the punishments that can be inflicted he that would endure all these for the sake of what he knew to be false must surely not be of humane nature and we may as well doubt whether the Apostles were Men as we are as whether Christ did rise from the Dead III. They alledged such circumstances as made it impossible for them to deceive those to whom they testified the Truth of Christ's Resurrection though they had had never so much mind to do it They declared that that Jesus whom the Jews had caused to be Crucified and had then placed a Guard of Soldiers to secure his Sepulchre lest his Disciples should take him away was notwithstanding all their care risen from the Dead and that that Report of the Jews that his Disciples came by night and stole him away while the Watch slept was utterly false nay that it was a suborned story and that the Chief Priests had given the Soldiers Money to say it Now if Christ had not really been risen how easily had all this been disproved and what a Provocation was this to the chief Priests to disprove it If they could their Honour and Reputation and their Interest with the People was highly concerned to vindicate the Truth of the Report which they had hired the Souldiers to give out and if there had been no such Report what reason could St. Matthew have to pretend there was And if against all Reason and common sense he had pretended such a report when there had been none it must have been the greatest disservice to his Cause that could have been thought of But when there was such a report amongst the Jews that his Disciples had stoln him away by night if this could have been made good against them would his Disciples so soon after in the very City where he had been Crucified declare to the Face of the Chief Priests assembled in Counsel the God of our Fathers hath raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour and to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are his Witnesses of these things Acts v. 30 31 32. Was not this as much as could be said to challenge them to produce those Soldiers to confront them But besides the senseless story that Men should be able to know what was done when they confess themselves to have been asleep the Apostles could soon have confuted that calumny by the Miracles which they wrought by virtue of his Resurrection if the Soldiers had been asleep when the Body was taken away yet the Jews were certainly awake when they invented and spread the report and when they saw the Miracles and heard the strange Languages by which the Apostles proved it to be false and declared that
us with the endearments of his Love and with such condescentions of Grace and Favour as must needs mightily affect the most obstinate sinner who has but the sense and gratitude of a man left in him to consider them and then he has denounced his wrath and vengeance against all such as will not be led and persuaded to their own happiness by the infinite love of Christ He was born he lived he died for us he has procured our pardon he proffers us his grace and assistance he promises us eternal happiness with himself in heaven upon our obedience and last of all he threatens us with eternal misery if we will not be happy thus forcing us as it were to happiness if we will not be perswaded to it for this is all the force that free Agents are capable of And if all that infinite Love could do to excite our Love if all the rewards that infinite Mercy and Goodness could propose and the severest punishments that Almighty Vengeance can inflict will not prevail with men to follow Vertue and refrain from Vice nothing can possibly prevail with them Love is most apt to produce Love and hopes of Reward have a mighty effect upon men of any good temper and disposition but the fears of punishment are wont to work upon the very worst men and where infinite loving kindness eternal Rewards and eternal Punishments do all concur to bring men to the practice of Vertue no motive can be wanting by which human Nature is capable of being wrought upon IV. The Christian Religion affords the greatest helps and assistances to an holy Life God who is a Spirit and is the Author of the Being and of the Life and Motion of all things doth more especially act upon the Spirits and Minds of Men by putting into them good desires and by inclining their hearts to keep his commandments and perform his will And this Grace and Favour of God towards us this spiritual aid and strength is sufficient to enable us to conquer sin and over come Temptations And we are exhorted to come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Heb. iv 16. which we are assured shall be bestowed upon us for Christ's sake through his Merits and by vertue of his Mediation and Intercession All the world has been sensible of the great proneness in humane nature to evil and backwardness to what Reason it self seems to dictate as good and fit to be done but the Christian Religion only has provided a Remedy to cure this great corruption of our Nature and assist us in the performance of our duty V. The Christian Religion expresseth the greatest compassion and condescention to our infirmities Christ died to make satisfaction for our sins and to procure acceptance with God for us upon our repentance he interceeds for us and pleads the Merits of his own Death and Passion in our behalf we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins though they be never so great and heinous if we do but truly repent of them and forsake them And the sins of ignorance and surprize and infirmity are not inconsistent with the terms of Salvation but a general humiliation and repentance with a constant and sincere endeavour to serve and please God will through Christ's Merits be accepted of by him for such sins as we have no sufficient means or ability of knowing to be sins and for such as by reason of the frailty of our Nature we cannot live wholly free from Nothing is required of us but a sincere and honest diligence to do what we can and a lively Faith to rely upon Christ's Merits for the pardon of what sins we are not able wholly to avoid Men are forward to complain of the uneasiness of the Christian Yoke without any true experience and trial of it and without considering the Principles and Motives and Helps and the condescending and gracious Terms which the Gospel proposes Indeed to lay some injunctions and restraints more than are absolutely necessary is but what all Lawgivers have done For some things are to be forbidden as a prevention and a preservative from the commission of sin and others commanded as preparatory qualifications and dispositions to vertue and to make the practice of it more easie and certain to us And if men are allowed in all Governments to have this Authority certainly God who has an absolute Power over us and perfectly knows what is necessary for our good and for the ends of his Government has an undeniable right to forbid or command us some things which by the Law of nature we might have been allowed or excused from But these are very few and all things considered no Religion ever was so compassionate and easie as the Christian Religion VI. The Propagation of the Gospel has ever had great effects towards the reformation and happiness of Mankind What could be more beneficial to the world and more for the peace and happiness of all Mankind than to be taught to live under a perpetual sense and awe of the love and fear of God and to be constrained to perform our several Duties to each other in our respective capacities and relations with the utmost fidelity and integrity and to have this enforced upon the Consciences of Men by the hopes and terâ—ore of a future Judgment and an eternal state of happiness or misery as they shall prove obedient or disobedient These then must be acknowledged to be Doctrines most worthy of God and the proper subject of a Revelation For however men may wish as to themselves in particular that they had not been abridged their sinful pleasures yet in respect to the common good of Society it must needs be confess'd by the most inveterate Enemies of Christianity and by those who will believe nothing of another life that if the Christian Religion were as generally practised as it is professed it would make mankind as happy as it is possible for men to be in this Life through the belief and expectation of a Life to come And as much as the Practice of the Christian Religion has been neglected it is so far from being a speculative notion only that it has a real and perpetual Influence for the good of the world even in the worst and most degenerate Ages We are not at this distance of time easily made sensible how great Blessings the Christian Religion brought to mankind in that Reformation which it soon introduced into the world For upon their Conversion there became such a visible alteration in the Tempers and Lives of men that they seemed to have changed their very Natures and to be born again and become new Creatures from whence Conversion is stiled Regeneration This the Apologists generally insist upon that the Converts to Christianity became quite other men and practised all kinds of Vertue with incredible zeal though
the Gods of other Nations did not worship them after their manner and yet the Rites of the Romans themselves in the worship of Cybele Flora Bacchus c. were very scandalous and wicked And all their sports and spectacles which had nothing surely in them that could be proper for Divine Worship were invented and performed in honour of their Gods (p) Quintil Institut lib. iii. c. 8. whence Quinctilian says the Theatre might be stiled a kind of Temple 3. But besides their bloody Spectacles where men were exposed to be killed by Beasts or by one another their Altars themselves were not free from humane Blood For the barbarous cruelty of the Religions amongst the Heathens was such that they were obliged to offer up innocent Men and Children in Sacrifice to their Deities Some of the Rabbins have been of opinion that Jephtha sacrificed his Daughter but others deny it (q) Utcunque autem seres ea habuerit id certum puto esse non reperiri apud Magistros qui ex jure aliquo immolandam eam esse affirmaveâ—it Selden de jure Nat. Gent. lib. iv c. 2. The â—aughters of israel went yearly to lament or to talk with 〈◊〉 as it is in the Margin Judg. xi 40. and all are agreed that if he did sacrifice her he sinned in doing it and we know that Abraham was hindred by a Miracle and a voice from Heaven when he was about to slay Isaac But it was a custom among the (r) Grot. ad Deutr. xviii 10. Phoenicians and Canaanites for their Kings in times of great calamity to sacrifice one of their Sons whom they loved best and it was common both with them and the Moabites and Ammonites to sacrifice their Children The Egyptians the Athenians and Lacedaemonians and generally all the Graecians the Romans and Carthaginians the Germans and Gauls and Britains and in brief all the Heathen Nations throughout the world offered up men upon their Altars and this not on certain emergencies and in imminent dangers only but constantly and in some places every day but upon extraordinary Accidents multitudes were sacrificed at once to their Bloody Deities (Å¿) Diodo Sic. apud Euseb de laudib Constant c. xiii Lanctant lib. i. c. 21. ex Piscennio Festo as Diodorus Siculus and others relate that in Africk two hundred Children of the principal Nobility were sacrificed to Saturn at one time And (s) Euseb Praepar lib. iv c. 16. Macrob. Saturn lib. i. c. 7. Alex. ab Alexand. lib. 6. c. ult Aristomenes sacrificed three hundred men together to Jupiter Ithometes one of whom was Theopompus King of the Lacedâ—emonians And the same custom is found practised amongst the Idolatrous Indians of offering whole Hecatombs of humane Sacrifices to their false Gods (t) Jos Acost Hist lib. 5. c. 19 21. In Peru when their new Ingra was crowned they sacrificed two hundred Children from four to ten years of Age And the Son was wont to be sacrificed for the Life of the Father when he was in danger of death Sometimes the Mexicans have sacrificed above five thousand of their captives in a day and in divers places above twenty thousand as Acosta writes out of the informations he had from the Indians (u) Liv. lib. xxii c. 57. Livy makes mention of Humane Sacrifices at Rome and (w) Plutarch in Marcello initio Plutarch says they continued in his time and it was not till about the time of Constantine's Reign that A final stop was put to so strange and Abominable a Practice for tho it abated very much under Adrian yet it was used when Minutius Felix wrote and (x) Lact. lib. 1. c. 21. Lanctantius mentions it as not laid aside in his time Notwithstanding it is so much against humane Nature as well as contrary to the Divine Mercy and Goodness yet it made up so great a part of the Heathen Religion and was become so customary that it was hard to bring men off from it which at the same time demonstates both how false such Religions were and that men had a most undoubted experience of invisible Powers or else in so many Nations both the Kings and People would never have sacrificed their own Children to their false Gods to avert the evils which they were threatned withal The Persons that introduced the Heathen Religions were either Men of Design who established themselves in their Power and Authority by it as Numa or Men of Fancy and Fiction as the Poets whom Plato would have banished out of his Common-wealth And the Gods of the Heathens who must be supposed to reveal these Mysteries and Ways of Worship were always more wicked than their Votaries whose greatest Immoralities consisted in the Worship of them the gross Enormities not only of Venus and Bacchus but of Saturn and Jupiter are too well known to need any particular relation There was no Body of Laws or Rules of good Life proposed by their Oracles but on the contrary they were in commendation of lascivions Poets or they flattered Tyrants or they appointed Divine Worship to be paid to such as won the Mastery at the Olympick Games or to Inanimate things or they promoted some other ill or vain and unprofitable design as Oenomaus the Philosopher observed and proved by particular instances recited out of him by (y) Euseb Praepar lib. v. c. 34 35. Eusebius The Laws of (z) Plutarch in Lycurg Lycurgus were approved of and confirmed by the Delphick Oracle and yet Theft and a Community of Wives and the Murder of Infants was allowed by these Laws This is enough to shew that the Heathen Religions could not be from God since they taught the Worship of Idols and of Devils and the Mysteries and Rites of them were utterly inconsistent with the Goodness and Purity of Almighty God And whoever doth but look into the Religions at this day amongst the Idolatrous Indians by their ridiculous and cruel Penances and other Superstitions besides the sacrificing of Men and sometimes of themselves as the Women who offer themselves to be burnt with the Bodies of their dead Husbands and the like will soon be convinced that they cannot be of God's Institution The Chineses themselves who have so great a Reputation for Wisdom are like the rest both in their Idolatries and in many of their Opinions and Practices It is evident therefore that none of the Heathen Religions can make any probable claim to Divine Revelation having none of the Requisites to such a Revelation but being but of a late Original not far divulged supported neither by Prophecies nor Miracles from God and containing Doctrines that are Idolatrous Impure Cruel and every way wicked and absurd CHAP. V. Of the Philosophy of the Heathens BUT besides the Religions of the Heathen divers of the Philosopherss pretended to something Supernatural as Pythagoras Socrates and some others and therefore it will be proper here to examinlikewise the Justice of their Pretensions And
when he proposes Rules of Vertue and cautions to arm men against Vice and Temptation how much short doth he fall of the Christian Doctrine If any man says he tell you that such an one hath spoken ill of you make no Apollogy for your self but answer He did not know my other faults or else he would not have charged me with these only cap xlviii This is a sine saying a pretty turn of thought but what is there in it comparable to that aweful and sacred Promise Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Mat. v. 11 12. Again when a man values himself says Epictetus for being able to understand and explain the Books of Chrysippus say you to your self unless Chrysippus had written obscurely this man would have had nothing to boast of But what do I design To study Nature and follow it cap. lxxiii This is no ill Satyr upon the vanity of men but is there any thing in it like that Piety and Authority with which St. Paul reproves the same vice 1 Cor. viii 1.2 3. The best thing that can be said of the Heathen Philosophers is that most of them frequently confest the great imperfection of their Philosophy and placed their greatest wisdom in this That they were more sensible than others of their ignorance and Socrates profest that to be the Reason why the Oracle of Apollo declared him to be the wisest man because he knew how ignorant he was better than other men did As to the Chinese Philosophy we know little of it their (u) Confuc lib. iii. Par. 4. p. 36. Philippi â—â—uplet Prooem Declar. Books of Philosophy being all destroyed at the command of a Tyrant who reigned about two hundred years before Christ from the Fragments which were afterwards gathered up and yet remain among them we can only perceive that Confucius and the rest of their best Philosophers taught no more than what they had learnt by Tradition from their Ancestors and when they forsook this Tradition they fell into the grossest errors which are maintained by the learned men amongst them at this day II. Whatever there is of excellency in the Philosophy of the Heathens is owing to Revelation It is generally supposed that humane Reason could have discovered the more common and obvious Precepts of Morality contained in the Scriptures but it is more probable that it could not have discovered most of them if we may judge by the gross absurdities which we find as to some particulars in the best Systems of Heathen Philosophy and from the general practice of offering up men for sacrifices to their Gods and of casting away and exposing their Children in the most civilized Nations But it is evident from what has been already proved at large that the Heathens were not left destitute of many helps and advantages from the Scriptures which divers of the Philosophers had read and many things which seem now to be deductions from natural Reason might have their Original from Revelation for things once discovered seem easie and obvious to men which they would never have been able to discover of themselves We wonder now how men should ever suppose there could be no Antipodes and are apt to admire how America could lie so long concealed rather than how it came at last to be discovered and the case is the same in many other Discoveries especially in moral Truths which are so agreeable to Reason that they may seem the natural Productions of it though a contrary custom and inclination and the subtlety of Satan working upon our depraved Nature might perhaps have made it very difficult if not impossible without a Revelation to discern many Doctrines even of Morality which now are most common and familiar to us What Maxim is more agreeable and therefore as one would think more obvious to humane Reason than that every man should do to others as he would have them do to him And yet Spartianas an Heathen Historian says that Alexander Severus had this excellent rule of natural Justice and Equity either from the Jews or Christians There is no Book of Scripture which seems to contain plainer and more obvious things than the Proverbs of Solomon and (x) Ld. Bacon Advance of Learning B. viii c. 2. yet an Author of great Learning and Judgment has given an Essay how a considerable defect of Learning may be supplyed out of this very Book producing such cautions instructions and axioms from thence relating to the business and government of humane Life in all varieties of occasion as are no where else to be met withal No man can tell how far humane Reason could have proceeded without Revelation since it never was without it but always argued from those Principles which were at first delivered by God himself to Noah and were propagated amongst his Posterity throughout all Ages and Nations though they were more corrupted and depraved in some Ages and Nations than in others (y) Plat. de Legib. Dialog 1. Plato derives the Original of all Laws from Revelation and the Doctrines of Morality of the most ancient Philosophers were a kind of Cabbala consisting of general Maxims and Proverbs without argument or deduction from Principles and it is the same thing at this day in those Countries where Aristotle's Philosophy has not prevailed who was one of the first that undertook to argue closely from Principles in Morality And in other parts of Philosophy I shall prove by some remarkable instances that humane reason failed them in the explication of things which were generally received and acknowledged The existence of God is clearly and unanswerably demonstrated by Tully and (z) Tull. de Legib. lib. 1. the Unity of the God-head is as plainly asserted by him with what strength of Reason with what plainness with what assurance doth (a) Tull. de Natur. Deor. lib. 2 ii Balbus the Stoick speak concerning the existence of the Deity but when he would explain the Divine Nature he describes a mere Anima Mundi and exposes himself to the scorn and laughter of his Adversary which shews that humane Reason could go no further than to discover the existence of God and that we can know little of his nature but by Revelation and that whatsoever true and just notions the Heathens had of the Divine Nature must be chiefly ascribed to that That the world was created the Philosophers before Aristotle generally asserted and that Water was the first matter out of which it was formed is acknowledged by (b) Arist de coelo lib. i. c. 10. Metaphys lib. i. c. 3. Aristotle to be esteemed the most ancient opinion but when he set himself to argue the point he concluded the world to be eternal which according to modern Philosophy is as absurd and impossible as any thing that can be imagined The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul was delivered down from all
the most implacable enemies of Christianity and brought Christians into contempt among the Heathen for nothing could make the Gospel of less account in their esteem than to deduce its Authority from the Books of the â—ews who soon after the Crucifixion of Christ became vile and contemptible in the eyes of all the World It can be no great wonder to see men drawn into those vices under the pretence of Religion which no Laws nor Punishments can restrain them from but for a Religion that forbids all vice under the severest penalties to prevail in a vicious world is truly miraculous Besides it is Death by the Law of Mahomet to contradict the Alcoran men are forbid all disputation and discourse about Religion they are charged to believe none but Mahometans and to look upon all others as unworthy of all manner of conversation So that the Sword in the hands of furious and ignorant Zealots is the only way by which that Religion was designed to be propagated But nothwithstanding all these compliances with the Lusts and Passions of men if we take in all Ages since the Incarnation of Christ the Christian Religion not to mention the Jewish has had a much larger propagation than ever Mahometanism has had and has at all times been taught in more parts of the world and even amongst Mahometans themselves And the Alcoran it self asserting the Divine Authority and Mission both of Moses and Christ serves in some measure to propagate the Faith of the Old and New Testament so far I mean as to give an advantage and opportunity for men to make enquiry into them and become acquainted with them CHAP. VII The want both of Prophecies and Miracles in the Mahometan Religion MAhometanism is grounded neither upon Prophecies nor Miracles Mahomet indeed calls himself Prophet very solemnly but we have but this one instance of his Prophetick Spirit (a) Alcoran c. 66. When the Prophet went to visit one of his Wives God revealed to him what she desired to say to him he approved one part and rejected the other when he told his Wife what was in her will to speak to him she demanded of him who had revealed it to him He that knoweth all things hath revealed it to me that ye may be converted your hearts are inclined to do what is forbidden if ye act any thing against the Prophet know that God is his Protector Here is not one circumstance to make the story credible Mahomet pretended to no Miracles but when he has raised that objection as he often doth that the world would not believe in him unless they saw some Miracle he answers (b) Meor c. 13. I am not sent but to Preach the Word of God Tho afterwards he mentions that ridiculous story of the Moons being divided in these words (c) Ib. c. 54. The Day of Judgment approacheth the Moon was divided into two parts nevertheless Infidels believe not Miracles when they see them they say that this is Magick they lye and follow but their Passion but all is written Here is no proof nor any pretence to it but only a confident assertion of a thing ridiculous And yet unless we will believe this Prophecy and this Miracle there is nothing in the whole Alcoran either of Miracle or Prophecy to give it any Authority except that must be accounted one which he so often boasts of viz. It s wonderful Doctrine and Eloquence for (d) Ib. c. x xi xvi he challenges all the world to produce any thing like it protesting (e) C. vii that he could neither write nor read and therefore must needs have it by Revelation And he introduceth God swearing to the Truth of it almost in every Chapter and this is all he offers in answer to the suspicions which he so frequently suggests men then had of his being an Impostor CHAP. VIII The Alcoran is false absurd and immoral I. THE Alcoran is false as when it makes (a) Ib. c. xix the Virgin Mary Sister to Aaron when it asserts that (b) Ib. c. iv Christ was not Crucified but one like him in Contradiction to the Testimony of Jews Christians and Heathens and that Christ (c) Ib. c. lxi Prophesied of him by Name without the least proof or ground for it but against all the evidence that can be to the contrary II. The Alcoran contains things absurd and ridiculous as in that story of the sleepers (d) C. xviii the Infidels say they were five and that their Dog was the sixth they sâ—eak by opinion but the true Believers affirm them to be seven and their Dog to be the eighth And (e) Ib. c. xxvii in the story of Solomon's Army composed of Men Devils and Birds of the Queen of the Pismires and Solomon's discourse with the Bird called the Whoop who brought him tydings of the Queen of Sheba III. The Doctrines of the Alcoran are impious and immoral Mahomet makes all the Angels worship Adam in several parts of his Alcoran and his sensual Paradice is well known and his allowance of many Wives but perhaps his injustice is not so generally taken notice of (f) Ib. c. iv xxiii in permitting the professors of his Religion to take away their Slaves Wives from them The Law of Mahomet proceeds from a savage and cruel spirit obliging those that embrace it to destroy all that are not of it however the Mahometans have not always acted according to the cruelty of their Religion humane Nature not being always able to act so much contrary to it self But this is Mahomet's Doctrine (g) Ib. c. iii. God loveth not the unjust he forgiveth sins to those that believe and extirpate Infidels (h) Ib. c. iv If they forsake it the Law of God pretended to be set down in the Alcoran kill them where you find them Be not negligent to pursue the Infidels And this the (i) Tavern Voyage de Ind. lib. iii. c. 24. Faquirs at their return from Mecha are very mindful of with a furious zeal killing all they can that they meet who are not Mahometans till they are killed themselves and then they are reputed Saints and Prayers are made at their Graves Such is the Alcoran as we now have it and yet it is not now as it was at first written by Mahomet (k) Sandys Trav. lib. i. p. 54. many alterations have been made in it by inserting some things and striking out others and taking some of the absurdities away Mahomet the Second particularly is said to have made great alterations and additions (l) Ricauts Hist of the Ottom Empire lib. ii c. 10. But the Persians the followers of Haly charge Abu-Beker Omar and Ozman whom the Turks follow with falsifying the Alcoran CHAP. IX Of Mahomet AFter this account of Mahomet's Alcoran there will be no need to say much of his Person the general Doctrines of the Alcoran shew him to have been lustful proud fierce and cruel
But thus much in this place shall suffice all particulars having been largely insisted upon in their proper places And since as sure as there is a God there must be a Revealed Religion if any Man will dispute the Truth of the Christian Religion let him instance in any other Religion that can make a better Plea and has more certainty that it came from God let him produce any other Religion that has more visible Characters of Divinity in it and we will not scruple to be of it but if it be impossible for him to shew any such as has been proved then he ought to be of this since there must be some Revealed Religion and if that Religion which has more evidence for it than any other Religion can be pretended to have and all that it could be requisite for it to have supposing it true and which it is therefore impossible to discover to be false if it were so If this Religion be not true God must be wanting to Mankind in what concerns their eternal Interest and Happiness he must be wanting to himself and to his own Attributes of Goodness Justice and Truth And therefore he that upon a due examination of all the Reasons and Motives to it will not be a Christian can be no better than an Atheist if he discern the consequence of things and will hold to his own Principles for there can be no Medium if we rightly consider the Nature of God and of the Christian Religion but as sure as there is a God and nothing can be more certain the Gospel was revealed by him CHAP. II. The Resolution of Faith HAving proved the Truth and Certainty of our Religion I shall in the last place upon these Principles give a Resolution of our Faith which is a subject that has caused such unnecessary and unhappy Disputes amongst Christians in these latter Ages for in the Primitive Times this was no matter of Controversie as indeed it could not then and ought not now to be 1. Considering the Scriptures only as an History containing the Actions and Doctrines of Moses and the Prophets and of our Saviour and his Apostles we have the greatest humane Testimony that can be of men who had all the opportunities of knowing the truth of those Miracles c. which gave Evidence and Authority to the Doctrines as Revealed from God and who could have no Interest to deceive others but exposed themselves to all manner of dangers and infamy and torments by bearing Testimony to the Truth of what is contained in the Scriptures whereas Impostures are wont to be invented not to incur such sufferings but to avoid them or to obtain the advantages and pleasures of this world And so this Testimony amounts to a moral certainty or as it is properly enough called by some to a moral infallibility because it implies a moral impossibility of our being deceived by it such a certainty it is as that nothing with any reason can be objected against it We can have as little reason to doubt that Christ and his Apostles did and suffered and taught what the Scriptures relate of them in Jerusalem Antioch c. as that there ever were such places in the world nay we have that much better attested than this for many men have died in Testimony of the Truth of it II. This Testimony being considered with respect to the nature of the thing testified as it concerns eternal Salvation which is of the greatest concernment to all mankind it appears that Gods Veracity and Goodness are engaged that we should not be deceived inevitably in a matter of this consequence So that this Moral Infallibility becomes hereby Absolute Infallibility and that which was before but Humane Faith becomes Divine being grounded not upon Humane Testimony but upon the Divine Attributes which do attest and confirm that Humane Testimony and so Divine Testimony is the ultimate ground why I believe the will of God to be delivered in the Scriptures it is no particular revealed Testimony indeed but that which is equivalent to it viz. the constant Attestation of God by his Providence For it is repugnant to the very notion of a God to let men be deceived without any possible help or remedy in a matter of such importance And so we have the ground of our Faith absolutely Infallible because it is evident from the Divine Attributes that God doth confirm this Humane Testimony by his own III. The Argument then proceeds thus If the Scriptures were false it would be impossible to discover them to be so and it is inconsistent with the Truth and Goodness of Almighty God to suffer a deceit of this nature to pass upon mankind without any possibility of a discovery therefore it follows that they are not false Here is 1. The object or thing to be believed viz. that the Revelation delivered to us in the Scripture is from God 2. The Motive or Evidence to induce our Belief viz. Humane Testimony 3. A confirmation of that Testimony or the Formal Principle and Reason of our Belief viz. the Divine Goodness and Truth The object therefore or thing believed is the same to us that it was to those who saw the miracles by which the Scriptures stand confirmed viz. the revealed Will of God and the Ground and Foundation of our Belief is the same that theirs was viz. the Divine Goodness and Truth whereby we are assured that God would not suffer Miracles to be wrought in his own Name according to Prophecies formerly delivered and with all other circumstances of credibility only to confirm a Lye The only difference then between the resolution of Faith in us and in the Christians who were Converted by the Apostles themselves is this that tho we believe the same things and upon the same grounds and reasons with them yet we have not the same immediate motives or evidence to induce our Belief or to satisfie us in these reasons and convince us that the Revealed Will of God contained in the Scriptures is to be believed upon these grounds that is to satisfie and convince us that the belief of the Scriptures being the Word of God is finally resolved into the Authority of God himself and is as well certified to us as his Divine Attributes can render it For they were assured of this from what their own senses received but we have our assurance of it from the Testimony of others The Question therefore will be whether the motives and arguments for this Belief in us or the means whereby we become assured that the Revealed Will of God is contained in the Scriptures be not as sufficient to produce a Divine Faith in us and to establish our Faith upon the Divine Authority as the motives and arguments which those had who lived with the Apostles and saw their Miracles could be to produce that Faith in them which resolved it self into the Divine Authority And this enquiry will depend upon these two things 1. Whether
and such Prophecies delivered as give to the Scriptures the full evidence and authority of a Divine Revelation If therefore it be enquired why we believe the Scriptures to be the word of God the Answer is upon the account of the Miracles and Prophecies which concurring with all other circumstance requisite in a Revelation confirm the Truth of them If it be asked how we know that these Prophecies and Miracles are true and effectual and not feigned or insufficient I answer because we have them so related and attested that considered barely as matter of Fact they have all the credibility that any matter of Fact is capable of and therefore may as safely be relied upon as any thing which we do our selves see or hear If it be further urged that for all this I may be deceived since all men are fallible and no man is infallibly assured that there is such a place as Rome who never saw it though no man neither can any more doubt of it than he can doubt whether there be such a place as London who lives in it I acknowledge that there is a bare possibility of being deceived in all humane evidence but yet I deny that we can possibly be deceived in this case because though the evidence it self be humane yet the things which it concerns are of that Nature that God would never suffer the World to be thus long imposed upon in them without all possibility of finding out the Truth So that here we resolve our Faith into the Divine Authority by reason of the same Miracles by reason whereof the Eye witnesses of them did resolve theirs into it but they believed these Miracles as seen by themselves and we believed them as seen and witnessed by others but both they and we believe them as the works of God himself It might have been alledged if we had seen those Miracles that we might possibly be decived and so indeed we might if we could not have securely relyed upon Gods Truth and Goodness that they were designed by him to confirm the Doctrine for the sake of which they were wrought and we may with equal security rely upon the same Truth and Goodness for the certainty of the History of them as we could have done for the sufficiency of them to the purpose for which they were wrought tho they had been performed in our sight since it is as impossible to find out any deceit in the account given of them as it would have been for us to find any in the Miracles themselves at the time of their performance Humane Testimony is the conveyance and the means of delivering the Truths contained in the Holy Scriptures down to us and we who could neither see the Miracles nor hear the Doctrines at the first hand have at this distance of time the truth of them ascertained by a continued successive Testimony till we arrive at such as were immediate witnesses of them Now those that saw and heard all things which are delivered to us in the Scriptures could not esteem their sences infallible but they notwithstanding believed our Saviour and his Disciples to be so of whom yet their senses only could give them means of assurance that they were infallible They knew their senses might deceive them or that they might be mistaken concerning the objects of sence but nevertheless they believed that our Saviour and the Apostles could not deceive them upon this only ground that their sences or their reason by deduction from sence told them so There was not one man of them perhaps but had often observed his senses misrepresent objects to him and yet in this case upon the sole Testimony of their senses they grounded an infallible Faith because though their sences had misrepresented objects yet it was in a wrong medium at an undue distance or by reason of some indisposition of the sense it self and still their sences or rather their reason by the help of their sences discovered that their sences had led them into mistakes But in the present case when the Object was placed in open and frequent view to the greatest advantage when it was publick and exposed to multitudes when all agreed in the same opinion concerning it and when the matter was of infinite importance here they had reason to conclude that the God who framed their Sences would not suffer them to be so hurtful to them as they must needs have been if they had been deceived by them In like manner in the Testimony which descends to us from former Ages we see with other mens eyes and hear with other mens ears and though the Testimony of others may often fail us and is subject to a double inconveniency through the incapacity and unfaithfulness of witnesses yet as in the former case so here when all circumstances are weighed and considered and after the utmost tryal no reason can be found to with-hold our assent but all things stand undisproved and no just scruple appears but only a bare possibility of being deceived and this arising not from any defect but that of humane nature it self here Gods Goodness and his Truth must needs interpose to take away that only impediment which otherwise must unavoidably hinder any thing from ever being known to be infallible The only certainty which we can have that our sences are true is this That God will not suffer them to be deceived where the disposition of the medium and distance of the Object and all other circumstances are rightly qualified because that would be inconsistent with his Attributes of Justice Goodness and Truth but it would be inconsistant with these Attributes not upon the account of our Bodies for they would be provided for as well though our sences were deluded we should see and hear and taste just as we do now though we were never so much deceived in these sensations therefore the Truth and Goodness and Justice of God are engaged not to suffer us to be deceived in respect to our Souls not in regard to our Bodies and if we have no certainty that our sences do not deceive us but because God would not suffer such a cheat to be put upon us as we are intelligent and rational Beings we have the same and much greater reason to conclude that he would not suffer us to lye under such a delusion in reference to our eternal Interest If God would not suffer our minds unavoidably to lye under a temporal delusion of no great consequence have we not much more reason to conclude that he would not suffer us unavoidably to be deceived by any means whatsoever in reference to our eternal Interest For in this case to be deceived is to be destroyed and to suffer it is a thousand times worse than if he should suffer all Mankind at once not only to be deceived by their sences but to be poisoned by that deceit and therefore the special Providence and particular care of God must be concerned to prevent it
If we have nothing to object but the imperfection of human nature we may rely upon God that this shall never mislead us in a matter of such consequence whether the imperfection be in our own sences or in the Testimony of others In short the Miracles related in the Scriptures will as effectually prove a Divine Revelation to us as they could to those that saw them but the difference is that they believed their sences and we believe them and all things considered we have as much reason to believe upon their evidence as they could have to believe upon the evidence of their sences Let us consider History as a medium by which these Miracles become known to us and compare this medium with that of Sight If a man would be sceptical he might doubt whether any medium of Sight be so fitly disposed as to represent objects in their due proportion and proper shape he might suspect that any Miracles which he could see were false or wrought only to amuse and deceive him and there would be no way to satisfy such an one but by telling him that this is inconsistent with the Truth and Goodness of God So in this other medium of History which to us supplies the want of that of Sight a man may doubt of any matter of Fact if he Pleases notwithstanding the most credible evidence but in a matter of this nature where our Eternal Salvation is concerned we may be sure God will not suffer Mankind to be deceived without all possibility of discovering the deceit The circumstances have all the marks of credibility in them and therefore if they be duely attended to cannot but be believed and the Doctrine which they are brought in evidence of being propounded to be believed under pain of Damnation require that they should be attended to and considered and that which is in its circumstances most credible and in its matter is supposed necessary to Salvation must be certainly true unless God could oblige us to believe a Lye For not to believe things credible when attended to and known to be such is to humane nature impossible and not to attend to things proposed as from God of necessity to Salvation is a very heinous Crime against God and to think that God will suffer me to be deceived in what I am obliged in Honour and obedience to him to believe upon his Authority is to think he can oblige me to believe a Lye But it may be objected if this be so how comes it to pass that they are prâ—nounced blessed who have not seen and yet have believed John xx 29. Which seems to denote that a peculiar Blessing belongs to them because they believe upon less evidence I answer that they are there pronounced Blessed who had so well considered the nature and circumstances of things the Prophecies concerning the Messias and what our Saviour had delivered of himself as to believe his Resurrection upon the report of others not because others might not have as sufficient Grounds for their Belief as those who saw him after his Resurrection but the evidence of sense is more plain and convincing to the generality of men though Reason proceeds at least upon as sure and as undeniable Principles A demonstration when it is rightly performed is as certain as the self evident Principles upon which it proceeds though it be so far removed from them that every one cannot discern the connexion Demonstrations may be far from being easie and obvious but are oftentimes we know very difficult and intricate which yet when they are once made out are as certain as sense it self The Blessing is pronounced to him who believes not upon less evidence But upon that which at first seems to be less which is less observable and less obvious to our consideration but not less certain when it is duly considered For which reason our Saviour after he had wrought many Miracles that were effectually attested by sufficient witnesses required Faith in those who came to be healed of him because the Testimony of others was the means which in Ages to come was to be the motive of Faith in Christians and he thereby signified to us that there may be as good Grounds for Faith upon the report of others as we could have from our own sences and generally those who came in unbelief went away no better satisfied Wherefore it is said that in his own Country because of their unbelief he could do no mighty work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick Folk and healed them Mark vi 5. He could not do his mighty works because they would be ineffectual and would be lost upon them and he could do nothing Insignificant or in vain if they would reject what had been so fully witnessed to them they would not believe whatever Miracles they should see him do It is very remarkable that amidst all his Miracles our Saviour directs his Followers to Moses and the Prophets and appeals to the Scriptures for the Authority of his very Miracles and that even after his Resurrection he instructs his Disciples who saw and discoursed with him out of the Scriptures to confirm them in the truth of it Luke xxiv 26 27. He requires the Jews to give no greater credit to his own Miracles than that which he implies they already gave to the wrirings of Moses so as firmly and stedfastly to believe that he came from God And we having all the helps and advantages which the Jews had to create in them a Belief of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and many more and greater Motives if it be possible to believe these of the New must therefore have sufficient means to excite in us that Faith which our Saviour required of those who saw his Works and heard his Doctrine which certainly was a Divine Faith and all the Faith which if it be accompanied with sincere and impartial obedience is required in order to Salvation Upon the whole matter I conclude that the Truth of the Christian Religion is evident even to a Demonstration for it is as Demonstrable that there is a God as it is that I my self am or that there is any thing else in the World because nothing could be made without a Maker or created without a Creator and it is as Demonstrable that this God being the Author of all the perfections in men must himself be infinitely perfect that he is infinitely Wise and Just and Holy and Good and that according to these Attributes he could not suffer a false Religion to be imposed upon the world in his own Name with such manifest Tokens of credibility that no man can possibly disprove it but every one is obliged to believe it FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by R. Wellington at the Dolphin and Crown in St. Paul 's Church-Yard Newly Published A Treatise of Medicines containing an Account of their Chymical Principles the Experiments made upon them their Various Preparations and Vertues and the
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Member of the Colledge of Physicians There is in the Press and will speedily be Publish'd Howell's Abridgment of his History of the World Epitomiz'd by himself Sub praelo Compendium Michaclis Etmulleris opera Medica tam praxis quam Chimia Cui Subjiciuntur Institutiones Medicae The History of Polybius the Megalopolitan containing a General Account of the Transactions of the whole World but principally of the Roman People â—uring the First and Second Punick Wars Translated by Sir Hâ—nry Sheers and Mr. Dryden In Three Volumes The Third Volume never before Printed A Mathematical Companion or the Description and Use of a new Sliding Rule by which many Useful and Necessary Questions in Arithmetick Military Orders Interests Trigonometry Planometry Stereomerry Geography Astronomy Navigation Fortification Gunnery Dyalling may be speedily resolved without the help of Pen of Compasses By William Hunt Philomath Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning By William Wotton B. D. Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham The Second Edition with large Additions With a Dissertation ugon the Egistles of Phalaris Themistocles Socrates Euripides c. and Aesop's Fables By Dr. Bentley An Italian Voyage or a compleat Journey thro' Italy In Two Parts With the Character of the People and Description of the chief Towns Churches Monasteries Tombs Libraries Palaces Villa's Gardens Pictures Statues and Antiquities as also of the Interest Government Riches Force c. of all the Princes with Instructions concerning Travel By Richard Lassel Gent. The Second Edition With large Additions by a Modern Hand THE REASONABLENESS AND CERTAINTY OF THE Christian Religion BOOK II. Containing Discourses upon such Subjects as are thought most liable to Objections By Robert Jenkin Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Exeter and late Fellow of St. John's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed for Peter Buck at the Sign of the Temple near the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet street 1700. THE PREFACE THERE never appeared I believe among Christians so general a Disaffection as in the present Age to the Christian Religion in Men pretending at least to Reason and Learning and Natural Religion and Moral Vertue And tho' I could have little Encouragement to hope that I should write any thing which might much prevail with Men of these Accomplishments yet I was persuaded that so good a Cause tho' but in weak Hands could not fail of some Effect upon all that would be at the pains to consider it And to this Purpose I thought the best way would be not to read Lectures as it were of Anatomy upon the several Parts of it and represent it Piece-meal like a lifeless Carcass divided and dissected tho' I had been able to shew never so much Skill in the Operation but to give an entire View of the Grounds and Reasons of Christianity the connexion of its Parts between themselves and the Preference which it has to all other Religions from whence I knew it must appear in as true a Light and with as much Life and Force as it could do under the Disadvantages which might be expected from no better a Pen. There is an Excellency in every Part of our Religion separately consider'd but the strength and vigour of each Part is in the Relation it has to the rest and the several Parts must be taken altogether if we would have a true Knowledge and make a just Estimate of the Whole But that which I made my more particular Care and which I thought the more requir'd my Pains because I had not observed it to be much insisted upon by others was to shew the Necessity of a Divine Revelation the insufficiency of Natural Religion and the Imperfections and Errors of Philosophy as well as the manifest Falshood of the Religions both of the Heathens and of the Mahometans and moreover to prove that besides all other Things requisite to a Divine Revelation the Religion delivered in the Old and New Testament has received a full Promulgation in all Parts of the World From these Foundations thus laid and secur'd we have no less than a Demonstration for the Truth of our Holy Religion We are often told by those that are no Friends to our Religion that we must by all means take great Care of not being deceived through the Prejudices derived from our Education but I believe it would be found upon Enquiry that such Men are so far from being prejudiced in Favour of our Religion that their Prejudices lie extreamly against it For besides the Corruption of Humane Nature always inclining to Error and Vice tho' they had the Principles of Christianity instill'd into them in their tender Years yet they could learn them then only as confest Truths to be receiv'd for Articles of Faith and Rules of Life But the first thing probably to which they have set themselves with any Application was the reading of Heathen Authors and when perhaps they have studied Philosophy and other Humane Learning for many Years but never considered Divinity as a Science and have searched into it no farther nor have any other Notion of it than what they were taught in their Childhood or Youth they look back upon their first Instructions as groundless and fit only for Children because they find little or nothing of them in those Authors with whom they have been so long conversant and whom upon many Accounts they have so just Reason to admire This seems to be the Case of many who have read antient Heathen Authors without the Regard which ought always to be had to That which is acknowledg'd by All who have made any due Enquiry into these Things to be the best Learning and of greatest Antiquity and is no where to be had but from the Scriptures Others there are who have often heard of the Names of Socrates Plato and Aristotle and of Tully Seneca and other Famous Writers they find them frequently quoted and commonly with Commendation seldom to discover any Fault in them unless it be in their Notions of Natural Philosophy where Religion seems to be less concerned They have heard too of the Greek and Latin Historians and these for any thing that they know or consider may be as Faithful and as Antient as the best But tho' all these Authors have indeed very many Excellencies yet we must not so far mistake as to think all things Excellent which they deliver I shall therefore besides what I have already observed make some farther Reflections in this place both upon the History and upon the Philosophy of Heathen Nations and then I hope I may be allowed to expostulate with
have done p. 237. CHAP. XIII Of the Fall of the Angels and of our first Parents THE Fall of Angels how caused p. 243. The Fall of Man The effects of it Visible however the Thing may be disputed p. 244. No Preexistence of Souls ib. Eve beguiled by the Serpent p. 246. The Sin of Eating the forbidden Fruit p. 249. Many Circumstances omitted in the Scripture concerning the State of our First Parents in Paradise and relating to their Fall ib. Why a Commandment was given them concerning a thing of an indifferent Nature p. 250. The Curse upon the Serpent p. 254. The Curse of the Ground p. 255. The Punishment of our First Parents p. 256. The Fall not Allegorical p. 374. The effects of it upon all Posterity p. 376. CHAP. XIV Of the Eternity of Hell Torments THE Eternity of Hell Torments consistent with the Justice of God because 1 Rewards and Punishments are a like Proposed to our choice p. 383. 2 The Rewards are Eternal as well as the Punishments p. 384. 3 It was necessary that the Sanction of the Divine Laws should be by eternal Rewards and Punishments p. 387. 4 It is necessary that eternal Punishments should be inflicted upon the Wicked according to this Sanction p. 388. Objections obviated p. 359. The Eternity of Hell Torments consistent with the Mercy of God p. 362. CHAP. XV. Of the Jewish Law OF the Judicial Laws p. 369. Of the Ceremonial Laws p. 371. They were given to prevent Idolatry p. 341. To signify and represent inward Purity and Holiness p. 344. This shewn of Circumcision p. 345. Of Purifications p. 346. Of Abstinences p. 346. Of Sacrifices and Oblations ib. The Jewish Worship was Typical of Christ and his Gospel p. 347. This proved of Sacrifices p. 348. Purifications p. 350. Incense ib. During this Ceremonial Dispensation there was a sufficient Revelation of the Internal and Spiritual part of Religion p. 352. The Love of God and of their Neighbour ib. A Future State p. 353. the Resurrection p. 354. CHAP. XVI Of the Cessation of the Jewish Law THE Types of the Law fulfilled in the Messias p. 332. The strange Evasions and absurd Opinions of the Jews ib. It was foretold by the Prophets that the Law was to cease upon the coming of the Messiah p. 335. It was afterwards to become impracticable p. 323. How it is to be understood that the Mosaical Law was to endure for ever p. 324. CHAP. XVII Of the Sinful Examples recorded in the Scriptures SEveral Places of the Scriptures relating Evil Actions contain only matter of Fact p. 327. The Rules of Good and Evil by which we are to judge of Actions are plainly delivered in the Scriptures p. ib. The Relation of the bad Actions of Good Men may be of use 1. To shew the Sincerity of the Pen-Men of the Scriptures 2. To discover the Frailty of Humane Nature and the necessity of imploring the Divine Grace 3. To shew that God can bring Good out of Evil p. 328. 4. For the Glory of God's Grace and for a Warning to future Ages p. 329. CHAP. XVIII Of the Imprecations in the Psalms and other Books of the Old Testament MAny of these Expressions are used in reference to the Nations on whom God had Commanded the Israelites to execute his Judgments p. 331. David being a King was a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that did Evil. p. 332. It is Lawful to Pray that Malefactors may be punished ib. The Jews might appeal to God as their Political Legislator and Governour p. 333. Those which seem Imprecations are oftentimes Predictions and Denunciations of Judgment p. 334. Divers Places are to be understood of Judas or of others like him p. 336. This supposition is implyed in Imprecations if they will persist in their Sins if they will not repent ib. What Charity was required under the Law and what was meant by the Word Neighbour p. 337. CHAP. XIX Of the Texts of the Old Testament cited in the New THe Apostles cited in the Scriptures of the Old Testament according to the Exposition of them then acknowledged by the Jews p. 340. A remarkable Passage from F. Simon to this purpose p. 342. The Epistle to the Hebrews much admired by a learned Jew for the sublime Sense therein given to the Texts of the Old Testament ib. CHAP. XX. Of the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God I THe necessity of the Incarnation of the Son of God considered p. 344. 2. Tho' it should be supposed that God could have pardoned the Sins of Men upon other Terms yet the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God is so far from implying any thing unworthy of him that no other way of our Reconciliation with him as far as we are able to apprehend could so much have become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness p. 345. 1. There is nothing in this whole Dispensation unworthy of God p. 346. which is proved by shewing 1 The unreasonableness of this Supposition that the Union of the Divine and Human Nature in Christ should cause the God head to suffer with the Manhood p. 347. 2 The Humiliation of the Son of God in affirming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffered p. 350. 3 The Satisfaction of Christ by Dying for our Sins may be explained without supposing it p. 351. 2. 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 p. 357. 1 The Doctrin and Preaching of the Son of God was of more Power and Authority than the Preaching or Doctrin of a Man or Angel could have been p. 358. 2 His Example is of greater Perfection and Holiness p. 360. 3 His Mediation and Intercession is of greater efficacy p. 362. 4 The Incarnation and Death of the Son of God is the most effectual means to excite in us Faith Hope and Charity and to dispose and engage us to all Vertue and Piety p. 364. CHAP. XXI Of the Fulness of Time or the Time appointed by God for the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour GOd had before-hand used all other means to shew the necessity of sending his Son at last p. 371. The Reception of the Gospel had been much more difficult if it had not been foretold in so many several Ages by the Prophets p. 374. The Time of Christ's coming might depend upon the Duration of the World p. 376. The World was then prepared for his coming p. 378. The particular Temper and Disposition of that Age in which our Saviour was born made it the most seasonable p. 380. CHAP. XXII Of the last Days and of the last Day or the Day of Judgment THE last Days of the World seldom mentioned in express Terms in Scripture but under the Resemblances of other Events p. 384. The Destruction of Jerusalem Typical of the Day of Judgment p. 385. This appears from Matt. 25. ib. The
moved to any alteration of Judgment by it His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel Judg. 10.16 or it was shortned as the Hebrew word is literally translated in the Margin that is according to * Maimon More Nevoch Part 1. c. 41 47. Part. 3. c. 24. Maimonides the Lords mind was shortened from afflicting them or he had no longer a mind to punish them When God is said to see the meaning is that he knows what is done when he is said to hear this signifies that he understands what is said †Non enim aliquid ignorat Deus ut examinando cognosâ—â—â— â—ed sciat Deus ita dixit beatus Job ut scire alios faciat secundum illud tentat vos Deus Dominus ut sciat uâ—rum diligatis eum id est ut scire caeteros faciat Hieron in Job c. 31 6. Now I know that thou fearest God Gen. 22.12 that is now I have had the proof of it and have made it evident that I know it To prove thee to know what was in thine heart Deut. 8.2 is the same as to make that appear and become known which I know to be in thine heart Gen. 11.5 the Lord is said to come down to see the City and Tower of Babel and Gen. 18.20 Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know which implies that God is not forward or willing to punish but that he proceeds as men do in things about which they use most care and deliberation God is represented as a good Governour who is unwilling to believe ill Reports and will make a full enquiry and inspection into the case before he punish offenders or in short here is an illustration in Fact of that adorable character which God proclaims of himself the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Exod. 34.6 God says that he could not destroy Sodom till Lot was escaped out of it Gen. 19.22 and to Moses he says Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them Exod. 32.10 But we must not imagin that the Reasons and Motives which Moses there represents to God in his prayer in behalf of the people of Israel could prevail more with him than his own infinite Wisdom and Goodness or that he could not have preserved Lot in the midst of Sodom as well as he delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abednego out of the Fiery Furnace But these things are thus exprest for an encouragement in Righteousness and to teach us dependance upon God for the righteous have power with God as well as with men and shall prevail Gen. 32.28 It was an exercise and trial of the Faith and Charity of Moses and is proposed as an example of Faith and Charity to all who should read that account of him Besides he was a Type of Christ and as such was to make intercession and attonement for the sins of the People Exod. 32.30 For Christ before his coming in the Flesh exercis'd his Mediatory power as to the visible administration of it by those who were appointed to be his Types and Representatives here upon Earth which may give a satisfactory account of that power which Abraham Jacob and Moses and others are said to have had with God The summ of all is that to give the more Force and Life to the Discourses of the Prophets and to render them the more effectual to the ends for which they were designed God who is by the infinite excellency of his Nature uncapable of any Passion is pleas'd to be represented as subject to Love and Anger and Hatred and all the Passions of Humanity and He who knows perfectly all events from Eternity is contented even to seem sometimes to doubt of the effects of his designs and proposals and of the events of humane Actions to shew as * Origen Philocal c. 23. Hieron Theodoret ad Ezek. 11.5 Origen St. Jerom and Theodoret have observ'd the freedom of Men and to declare that their destruction is from themselves He speaks to us in the Language of Men and assumes to himself all the Passions of humane nature that by any means sinners may be perswaded to turn to him he is described as angry and grieved at the sins of Men and as one who rejoyceth at their Repentance not that the Divine Nature can be capable of Anger or Grief or Rejoycing which imply change and imperfection and therefore must be impossible in the most absolutely perfect Being but because Men are wont to be angry when they punish and to be grieved when those do amiss whom they would have do well and are wont to rejoice when they begin to reform therefore to set forth that God will certainly punish unrepenting Sinners and receive the returning Penitent and reward the Righteous both the Goodness and Justice of God are explain'd in such terms as may most move and affect Men to shew that the punishments he inflicts will in the end be as grievous as if he receiv'd some loss and disappointment by the obstinacy of the Wicked and that he will as bountifully reward the Good as if they had done him some great benefit and kindness and had made some addition to his own Joy and Happiness which is infinite and eternal and therefore uncapable of any 3. The Decorum or suitableness of the matter in the stile of Scripture This is to be considered with respect to the Persons the Occasion and Time and Country the Rules of Decency being variable according to Circumstances not fix'd and immutable as the Precepts of Morality are * More Nevoch Par. 3. c. 8. Maimonides has observ'd that the Holy Tongue has no words to express things obscene and 't is very remarkable that in those ruder Ages as they are commonly reckon'd the Hebrews had peculiar forms of Decency in their Expressions upon all occasions which required them And to know in that signification which it hath Gen. 4.1 and in many other places of Scripture was likewise used by the Greeks and is particularly taken notice of by * Hermog de Invent. lib. 4. c. 11. Hermogenes for the modesty of it We find the Heroes of †Vid. Athenae lib. 1. c. 4. cum Casaub Animad De Antiquis illustrissimus quisque Pastor erat ut ostend it Greca Latina Lingua veteres Poetae Varro de Re Rustic lib. 2. c. 1. Homer employ'd in as mean Offices as the Patriarchs and * Herodot 6. c. 137. Herodotus declares that in Ancient Times the Greeks had no Servants but did their own work themselves or had no other help but that of their Children and 't is reasonable that their manner of speech should be suitable to their way of living
therefore were called Prophets which is an argument that in the common opinion of men inspired Writers might use such forms of Speech as would not be proper nor decent for others to use And this liberty was taken by Orators as well as Poets when the occasion seemed to require it as may be observed in * Panegr Panathen Isocrates For the ancient Orators too by Longinus's observation pretended to something more than humane and would be thought to speak by some kind of impulse upon which account this liberty might be allowed them But it may well be thought needless for me to have used so many words on this subject when there is so little occasion for any objection of this nature in the Holy Scriptures and where-ever there can be any pretence for it it has been considered in its proper place but I thought it might not be labour ill bestowed to shew here besides how had Criticks they are that can object at this rate I will say further that the passage Tob. 5.16 concerning the Dog which followed Tobias which has given occasion to unwary and unskilful men to insult with so much scorn over a Book that is very useful tho not of Divine Inspiration is not only innocent but agreeable to the best patterns of Antiquity * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odiss ii Nec non gemini custodes limine ab alto Procedunt Gressumque canes comitantur herilem Aen. 8. Hoc in Homero lectum est in Historia Romana quae ait Syphax inter duas canes stans scipionem appellavit Serv. Homer and Virgil who thought it a very proper and natural ornament of their Poems to describe Dogs following their Masters Homer speaking of Telemachus and Virgil of Evander And Servius produceth an Example of the same thing out of the Roman History IV. As to the Method used in the Holy Scriptures there is no reason to expect that Prophecies should be written according to the order of time in which they were delivered or that Histories should be digested into Diaries or Annals since there may be Reasons whether known or unknown to us why they should be otherwise placed And thus the Lyrick â—â—â—ts * Vid. Hieron ad Hieremiae cap. 21 25. who pretended to Enthusiasm and an imitation as it were of Prophecy do not confine themselves to observe any order of Time Some things last foretold might be first to be fulfilled or some things were more or less remarkable or concerned the Jews more or less than others but generally in the Prophetical Books of Scripture what concerns the same subject is put together tho fore-told or falling out at different times that the clearer and more distinct view may be had of it This as †Hieren ad Ezech. cap. 29 30. St Jerom observes is the cause of diveâ—â— Transpositions in point of Time in the Prophesies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and †Id. ad Dan. c. 7. he takes notice that Daniel having set down the Prophecies which had relation to the several Reigns of Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar Darius or Cyrus according to the order of Time afterwards declares the Revelations that were made to him that had no dependance upon the times in which they were made but were written for the benefit of Posterity But the several Transpositions in the Scripture are sufficiently accounted for by Commentators And it must be observed that the Sacred Writers mention no more of Civil affairs than was necessary to their purpose and therefore in many things they refer to the Histories then extant for a fuller account of them their design was not to write a compleat History of all events but they confine themselves to such as were most fit for them to take notice of and keep within the compass of their proper business It was expedient that the same Doctrines should be repeated in divers places of Scripture and interspersed with other things according to no certain Art or Method because this prevents their being corrupted or falsified as they might have been if they had been all reduced to several distinct Heads and placed according to the Rules of Art If one Prophet repeats what another Prophet had said this is to give it a new confirmation to revive the remembrance and shew the certainty and importance of it It is ordinary in the best Authors not only to find the same things repeated in divers places of their Works but to meet with them repeated in the very same words thus Isocrates Xenophon and Demosthenes transcribe in one part of their Works what they have written in another but none I think so frequently as Demosthenes tho * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ulp. Enarr Oâ—at Demosthen coâ—t Midiam Vlpian has observed that this was a usual thing with the Ancient Writers It was customary likewise with the Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to allude to the Verses of Homer and to apply them with little variation upon all occasions as may be seen frequently in Diogenes Laertius All the cavils therefore that are made against the style of Scripture proceed from ignorance of Antiquity and from rashness in judging of ancient Times and foreign Countreys by our own Whoever would either delight or profit must speak and act in some measure according to the genius of the people with whom he converses and if we will but read the Scriptures with the same candour and respect with which we read the Writings of Human Authors and consider the Times and Persons and the Occasions upon which they were written there is nothing that can seem harsh or improper either in the words or actions of the persons inspired for it was the manner of those Countries to speak by their actions almost as much as in words If we will but observe the circumstances in which the several parts of the Scriptures were written we shall find cause to admire the Simplicity and Plainness and Modesty of the style of the Scriptures In many Books of the Scriptures the style is sublime and elegant beyond any thing to be found in other Writings and yet as natural as if it could not have been otherwise exprest and this is the true excellency of style that it be plain and natural and yet eloquent Longinus gives a high character of Moses's style in a Book the design whereof is to represent the most perfect Idea of Eloquence indeed such is the fitness both in Verse and Prose of the words and style of Moses so admirably suited to the subject upon all occasions as if he had been to prescribe a pattern of true Eloquence as well as to enact Laws H. Stephens has observed that there is a great resemblance in Herodotus to the style of the Scriptures Herodotus had Homer in his view throughout his History and Homer's expressions are the same with those used in the Scriptures in many instances as particularly when he so often mentions the children of the Trojans and the children of
be avoided but by the care and concernment of an extraordinary providence and they are of so little moment that it could not be expected that God should particularly concern himself to prevent them 3. The Penmen of the Scriptures in their Proverbs or Parables often allude to Customs or to things that happened in those times in which they lived that were then commonly known but being unknown now may well make many places of their Writings obscure to us which were not so to those of their own time This is alledged as the reason of the obscurity * Obscuâ—itates inquit sex 〈…〉 â—ssignemus culâ—◠〈…〉 sed inscitiae non 〈…〉 quanquam hi 〈…〉 quae Scripta 〈…〉 â—ercipiunt culpa 〈…〉 â—am longâ—aetas ver 〈…〉 â—ores veteres oblite 〈…〉 qâ—â—â—us verbis moribus 〈◊〉 sententia legum comprenensa est A. Gell. lib. xx c. 1. of the Laws of the Twelve Tables among the Romans at the distance of less than seven hundred years after their first being enacted And thus it is in all Books of Antiquity especially in such Books as have frequent occasion to hint at things so notorious at the time when they were written that it was needless to give any particular account of them This has made Notes and Comments necessary upon all Ancient Books and those places need them most which treat of things formerly so well known that the Authors did not think fit to insist upon them but supposed them and only alluded to them rather than exprest or explained them For which reason we owe the Informations which we have of the Roman Antiquities chiefly to Greek Authors because it had been absurd for Romans writing to men of their own City and Nation to acquaint them with the customs of Rome which they knew as well as themselves but those things were proper for Foreigners to take notice of for the information of Foreigners And whatever Allusions either in Parables or otherwise are made to such things must needs be difficult to us because whatever is thus spoken with reference to any thing can be known no better than the thing itself and that which served for an Illustration at the first Writing renders the sense obscure when the thing used for Illustration becomes unknown Nothing is more generally known than the proverbial Sayings of a Nation to the people of it but there is nothing that needs more explication to Foreigners And these Sayings are very frequent both in the discourses of our Saviour and throughout the whole Scriptures for they are the most significant and instructive way of Discourse and the most easily apprehended by such as are used to them The use of Proverbs is natural to all Nations and they are the result of the experience and observation of any people So that the most effectual and readiest way of Instruction is to apply these Sayings generally known and received to particular cases and occasions But then these commonly depend upon the customs of a people or upon some History or particular Accident and oftentimes are taken up at first upon small occasions and the intention and signification of them is apt to be forgotten or mistaken in future Age or by other Nations And therefore all places of Scripture exprest in Allegorical or Proverbial Forms of Speech or by Types and Resemblances of things must needs have been better understood in those times when they were written than they are now because we have but an imperfect Notion of many things to which the Allusion is made or from whence the similitude is taken and the very thing which makes them now obscure to us made them the more plain and intelligible to them who lived at the time of their being written 4. Maimonides * Maim More Nevoch Praef. lays this down as a fundamental Rule of the explication of the Scripture that we should attend to the main Scope any Design of Parables and not insist upon every word and circumstance which is added to make them more Natural but not as any necessary part of them And in those Ages when Prophecies were so frequent and Types and Allegories so constantly made use of they had certain Rules and Methods †Joseph Gell. Jud. lib. iii. c. 14. of Interpretation as we learn from Josephus which thro length of time and the corruption of succeeding Ages are now lost And it is certain that the Jews in the time of our Saviour and his Apostles were often confused and silenced by them with the Application of Types and Prophecies which were then acknowledged to belong to the Messias and were ever so understood by the Jews but would scarce be understood so by us if we did not find them thus interpreted and apply'd We see then that the obscurity of many places of Scripture proceeds from the length of Time and other accidents and that therefore it could not be prevented unless God should make a New Revelation to every Ago and Nation of the World which yet would be of little effect to those who will not be convinced nor perswaded by that Revelation which we have in the Scriptures Tho the Scriptures were designed for the Benefit and Instruction of all Ages and Nations yet they often had a more direct and immediate Regard to the Age and Nation in which they were first penned We have nothing left but the Names of most of the Historians mentioned by St Jerom as necessary to be read in order to explain the Prophecies of Daniel and many objections made against the Scriptures would have no pretence if we knew the circumstances of affairs and had a compleat History of those times to which they relate but God having given us full evidence that the Scriptures are written by his Appointment and Direction expects to be believed upon his word and has not thought fit to gratify the curiosity of men who will disbelieve it And if men will use any tolerable care and diligence the Sense and Importance of the Scriptures may be so far understood as is needful in all Times whatever difficulties there may be in some particular passages II. I shall consider more particularly the obscurity of Prophesies and shall shew what certainty there is in the Types made use of by the Prophets 1. As for any differences which are to be met with in the Interpretation of Prophecies they may proceed partly from the Infirmities and Passions of humane Nature by which it comes to pass that when men undertake to write upon any subject they are seâ—dom sausâ—â—d with what others have said before them but 〈…〉 seeking 〈…〉 Iâ—â—erprâ—â—tion 〈…〉 partâ— â—â—om the 〈◊〉 ficulty of sixing the particular and prâ—â—se time of Actâ—â—â— But this 〈…〉 objection against 〈…〉 the Truth of all 〈…〉 well conclude that things 〈…〉 to paâ—s because learned 〈◊〉 diffâ—â—◠〈◊〉 time of their being done as â—hat they 〈◊〉 never prophesied of for the same reason Expâ—siâ—â—rs may differ in the niceties of the Chronological part but in the
be of such a Nature as not to be liable to Frost and Venus's and Mercuries of such as not to be easily evaporated by the Sun He says (xx) Lib. 2. That the Heat of the Sun is nine times greater in Mercury than with us in Venus it is twice as hot as with us the Light and Heat in Mars is twice and sometimes threefold less than ours If there were any Inhabitants in Jupiter they would have but the five and twentieth Part of the Light and Heat that we receive from the Sun and those in Saturn but the hundreth Part. Upon which account he is very hard put to it to furnish out Inhabitants for the rest of the Planets but as for the Moon and the Satellites's moving about Saturn and Jupiter he does as good as give up the Cause by reason that they are neither Seas nor Rivers nor Clouds nor Atmosphere or Vapours nor any kind of Water Besides that the time of Light and Darkness in the Moon being equal to fifteen of our Days if the Bodies of the Inhabitants were such as ours are he observes that those who had the Sun pretty high in their Horizon must be like to be burnt up in such long days and those that liv'd under the Poles of the Moon would be as much pinch'd with Cold as our Whale fishers are about Ice-Land and Nova Zembla in the Summer-time And the Summer and Winter in the Moons or Satellites of Saturn are fifteen Years long and therefore they may well be concluded to be unhabitable But because it may be alledg'd that the same thing was believed of the Frigid and Torrid Zones before Experience convinced Men of their Mistake and that however there may be other Planets or Earths yet undiscovered at convenient Distances from some of the fixt Stars I observe that tho it should be granted that some Planets be habitable it doth not therefore follow that they must be actually inhabited or that ever they have been For they might be design'd if Mankind had continued in Innocency as Places for Colonies to remove Men to as the World should have encreased either in Reward to those that had excell'd in Vertue and Piety to entertain them with the Prospect of New and Better Worlds and so by degrees to advance them in proportion to their Deserts to the Heigth of Bliss and Glory in Heaven Or as a necessary Reception for Men who would then have been immortal after the Earth had been full of Inhabitants And since the Fall and Mortality of Mankind they may be either for Mansions of the Righteous or Places of Punishment for the wicked after the Resurrection according as it shall please God at the End of this World to new modify and transform them And in the mean time being placed at their respective Distances they do by their several Motions contribute to keep the World at a Poise and the several Parts of it at an Aequilibrium in their Gravitation upon each other by Mr. Newton's Principles VII It has been suggested by (x) Campanella Bp. Wilkins c. Huygens c. Learned Men that the Planets may possibly be inhabited by Rational Creatures of a different Nature from Mankind their Souls may be of an inferior or superior Order to ours and their Bodies of a different Form and Composition and there may be different Laws of Union and Communication between the Operations of their Souls and the Motions of their Bodies For there is no necessity to believe that there can be no sort of Rational Animals but Mankind But I offer most of what I have said on this Subject only as Conjectures which have at least so much Probability in them as to silence the Objections brought against the Scriptures on these Accounts For unless a Man can prove these or the like Conjectures false which I am perswaded no man can ever do he must forbear urging Objections that will be insignificant if these Conjectures or such as these should be true It is hard to assign every particular End and Use of many other wonderful Things in Nature but lately discovered by Microscopes as of any thing observable in the Heavens either by the naked Eye or by Telescopes And when the Scriptures mention those Uses of the Heavenly Bodies which more immediately concern our Earth this doth not deny or exclude any other Uses for which they may be design'd CHAP. XI That there is nothing in the Scriptures which contradicts the late Discoveries in Natural Philosophy I. IT has been well observed by divers Writers upon this Subject that the Scriptures were written with no design of Teaching us Natural Philosophy but to instruct us in the Knowledge of God and of our selves to teach us our Duty and shew us the way to live and die well and therefore they might make use of Popular Expressions and Forms of Speech neither affirming nor denying the Philosophical Truth of them but intending them only in that Sense and Meaning which was their sole Design in using them All proverbial Sayings and Metaphorical Expressions by way of Illustration or Ornament must be taken from received Notions but they are not therefore asserted in the Philosophical Sense by him who useth them any more than the Historical Truth of Parables and Similitudes is supposed to be asserted And to have made use only of Philosophical Terms and Notions and have rectified the Vulgar Conceptions of Men concerning all the Phaenomena which upon occasion are made mention of in the Scriptures would have required a large System of Philosophy which had made the Scriptures a Book unfit for Vulgar Capacities and for the use of the greatest part of those for whom they are designed This Theory of Nature would besides have seemed as strange and incredible to most Men even as Miracles can do For there is hardly any thing that Men unacquainted with Philosophy are more startled at than Philosophical Discoveries How incredible doth the Motion of the Earth and the rest of the Sun seem to all Men but Philosophers Who are generally now agreed in it whilst the Rising and Setting of the Sun are Expressions now as much in use with such as hold the Earth's Motion as with others And indeed they must speak so if they will be understood and excepting this one Instance which is and ever will be in use according to the vulgar Conception in all Countries and Languages not withstanding any Philosophical Discoveries I know nothing in the Scriptures which is not consistent with the present Notions of Philosophy II. And yet that place of Scripture which is most objected on this Occasion is so exprest as that no Advantage can be taken aâ—einst it Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajalon Josh x. 12. Stand thou still or as we read in the Margin Be thou silent be still do not interrupt our Victories and take part with the Enemy by withdrawing thy Light and favouring his escape And again
Son are Thoughts which must create a new Heaven as it were in Heaven it self I mean they will enlarge our Souls to the utmost Capacities of our Natures and fill and actuate them with such Divine Ardors of Love as if we had been kept necessarily from all Sin seem impossible to have been raised in us The Angels themselves rejoyce over one Sinner that repenteth and that Joy must have been wanting to them who are of so much higher and more excellent a Nature than we are of if there had been no Possibility either of Sin or of Repentance And the wonderful Dispensation of the Gospel is an eternal Subject of Praise and Adoration an eternal Fountain of Love and Joy and Happiness to all the Blessed Spirits in Heaven The more the Divine Attributes are displayed the more Adorable the Majesty of God will appear and will become the greater Object of our Praise and Veneration those that are wise and good will be made the wiser and better by it and the happier in the Contemplation of the Divine Perfections Now a Governour in his Laws and in the Method and Order of his Government has regard chiefly to the Good and Obedient and has little Concern for the rest And we must consider God not only as the Father but as the Governour of Mankind and tho' an earthly Father perhaps would by all means possible preserve his â—on from incurring Punishment yet a good Governour when the Ends of his Government can be better obtain'd by leaving him to his Liberty would not restrain him by any Force or Violence Therefore if the Liberty of Choice in Men and the Possibility of their Sin and Damnation be for the Glory of God and for the Benefit of good Men and be no Injury to the Bad this is a sufficient Account why man was not necessarily restrained from Sinning tho' Damnation be the consequence of it CHAP. XIII Of the Fall of the Angels and of our First Parents IN the Beginning God created every thing perfect in its kind and endned the Angels and Man with all intellectual and Moral Perfections suitable to their respective Natures but so as to leave them capable of sinning For it pleased the infinite Wisdom of God for the Reasons already alledg'd and for many more and greater Reasons perhaps than any man is able to imagine to place them in a State of Tryal and to put it to their own Choice whether they would stand in their present Condition of Innocence and Happiness in which they were created or fall into Sin and Misery We have little or no Account in the Scriptures of the Cause or Temptation which occasioned the Fall of Angels because it doth not concern us to be acquainted with it and therefore it little becomes us to be inquisitive about it Indeed it is very difficult to conceive how Beings of so Great Knowledge and Purity as the Fall'n Angels once were of should fall into Sin But it must be considered that nothing is more unaccountable than the Motives and Causes of Action in Free Agents when any Being is at Liberty to do as it will no other Reason besides its own Will need be enquir'd for of its Actings What is liable to Sin may sin whatever the Motive be and to enquire after the Motive is to enquire what Motives may determine a Free Agent that is an Agent which may determine it self upon any Ground or Motive But how perfect and excellent soever any Creature is unless it be so confirmed and established in a State of Purity and Holiness as to be secured from all possibility of Sinning it may be supposed to admire it self and dote upon its own Perfections and Excellencies and by degrees to neglect and not acknowledge God the Author of them but to sin and rebell against Him And it is most agreeable both to Scripture and Reason that Pride was the cause of the Fall of Angels For those Excellencies which might secure them from any other Sin proved a Temptation to this and the greater their Perfections were the greater was the Temptation as in a Man who is guilty of Spiritual and Pharisaical Pride all that is good and commendable in him affords him only matter for his Sin So that where there is a freedom of Will and a possibility of Sinning the very Perfection of Nature in a Creature may be made an Occasion to sin and that which excludes other sins may prove a Motive and Temptation to Pride which therefore we have reason to conclude was the Sin of the Fall'n Angels As to the Fall of Man however the Thing may be disputed the Effects of it are visible in the strange Proneness of Humane Nature to act against Reason and Conscience that is to act in plain contradiction to it self and its own Principles This is a State in which it cannot be supposed that Mankind was at first created by the infinitely Good and Holy God And the most plausible Opinion and that which has most generally obtained among the Heathens is that the Souls of Men had a Being before they came into this World and were sent into Human Bodies in Punishment for what they had done amiss in a precedent State But this is mere suspicion and Conjecture without any possibility of Proof and there is this plain Reason against it that â—o man can be punished for his Amendment who knows nothing of it For it is inconsistent with the Nature and end of Punishment that the Offender should not be made sensible of his Fault especially when the Punishment is designed for his Amendment as it is said to be in the present Case If it can be supposed that Men may possibly retain no Remembrance of what they did in another State yet if their Faults were not kept in Memory they should be brought to their Remembrance if this Life were designed as a State of Punishment in order to Amendment But the State of this Life is so far from being thought a Punishment that Men naturally are of nothing more fond nor dread any thing more than to leave it And tho' Men meet with great Afflictions here yet those do not befall those only or chiefly who by their Proneness to Evil in this Life might be supposed to have been the greatest Offenders in a former State and every Calamity has not the Nature of Punishment The Sufferings and Miseries which we endure by reason of Adam's Transgression are not so properly Punishments as the Effects and Consequences of his sin But Personal Faults such as are supposed to have been committed in a State of pre-existence require a proper Punishment and if the Punishment be for Amendment as it is supposed to be in this present State both the Fault and the Punishment must be known with the Cause and End of its being inflicted and the greatest Offenders must undergo the severest Punishment The Account which the Scripture gives us of the Fall of our First Parents may be considered either 1.
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
in so few Generations of Men supposing it had ever been known to Adam's Posterity If it were never known but the Relation of it were always conveyed down in Metaphor and Allegory then this Allegory must pass for Historical Truth in those Ages and the Reason why it was delivered to them in Allegory must be because that manner of delivering it was most suitable to that Age and most credible and every way most proper and if it were most fitting that it should be thought to have happened so this is a good Argument that it did really happen so since there is nothing hinders but it might so have happened and it was most probable at least to the first Ages of the World that it did so come to pass or else it would not have been requisite to relate it in this manner 3. The Fall of our First Parents brought a Curse upon their Posterity And here it must be acknowledg'd that God may bestow his infinite Grace and Mercies upon what Terms he pleaseth and therefore he might ordain that the Happiness or Unhappiness of their Posterity should depend upon the Obedience or Disobedience of our First Parents 1. God might ordain that the Condition of their Posterity in this World should depend upon it so that they should have been immortal upon their Obedience and should become mortal upon their Disobedience that they should be made subject to Cares and Labours to Diseases and Dangers by reason of the Fall of our First Parents from which otherwise they should have been exempt This is esteem'd just in all Governments amongst Men that Children should be reduced to Poverty and Disgrace by the Fault of their Parents from whom Riches and Honour were to have descended upon them And this way of Proceeding is just both in Humane Laws and in the Dispensations of Providence because God and our Country have an antecedent Right and Interest in us superior to any Man 's private Title or Welfare and this they may justly make use of to restrain Men from those Crimes out of Love and Concern for their Posterity from which no consideration of themselves could have with held them The Experience of the World has found this to be the most effectual Remedy with many Men and therefore the wisest and justest Governments have made use of it and the most wise and just God might think fit to deal in this manner with our First Parents by representing to them that the Happiness or Misery of their Posterity depended upon their Good or ill Behaviour in this one Instance of their Duty We daily see that Children commonly inherit the Diseases of their Parents and an extravagant and vicious Father leaves his Son Heir to nothing but the Name and Shadow perhaps of a Great Family with an infirm and sickly Constitution and little or nothing to support and relieve it Now if these Miseries and Calamities had been entail'd upon all the Race of Mankind from Adam the thing would have been the same in the Nature and Justice of it for Numbers cannot alter the Nature of Things as it is now when they descend upon some only from their immediate Parents And therefore it must be much rather just that the Fall of our First Parents should make their whole Race only liable to such Calamities but not involve All necessarily in them 2. The Communications of God's Grace and the Favours and Blessings of his more immediate Presence might depend upon the Behaviour of the First Parents of Mankind He might send them out of Paradise and might withdraw his free and usual Communications of himself from them and their Posterity upon this Forfeiture by their Disobedience 3. The Proneness which we cannot but observe in our selves to Sin might proceed from hence We daily see and feel the corruption of our Nature by whatsoever means we became subject to it So that it is in vain to object that it would be unjust that all Mankind should be involv'd in Adam's Sin For the Condition which we are in is matter of Fact of which no man doth or can doubt The Question is only how we come into this Condition and since we are born in it and it is our Natural and Hereditary evil the Justice and Goodness of God is cleared and vindicated by assigning a Cause for it from the Imputations of such as must acknowledge the same corruption of Nature but will allow no Cause or Reason for it except the arbitrary Will and Pleasure of the Creator The Children of vicious Parents are generally most enclin'd to Vice and if Men may partake of the evil Dispositions and Inclinations of their more immediate Parents why might not the Corruption of the Humane Nature in our First Parents descend upon all their Posterity 4. The Happiness of Men in the next Life might depend upon the Obedience of our First Parents For when God proposed to bestow upon Men Rewards of Glory and Happiness which far surpass any Pretences of Desert or Claim of Right that they in a State of Righteousness and Innocency could have been able to make since the Promises were so great and the Happiness so far exceeding any thing to which Men could pretend a Right we must be very unreasonable unless we will confess that God might bestow his own Gifts upon his own Terms He might therefore debar Men from Heaven upon the Transgression oâ— our First Parents because the Promise of Heaven was â—n act of his free Bounty For no Man can pretend that an Innocent Creature which preserves its Integrity must for that Reason be advanced to the unspeakable Joys of Heaven No Creature can be profitable to his Maker and an unprofitable Servant can merit no such Reward And what God was not obliged to bestow tho' Men continued in the State of Innocency he might with all the Justice and Reason in the World refuse when Men became divested of their Innocency and thereby forfeited all pretences to that Happiness which was promised upon condition that our First Parents had continued in their Primitive and Original State of Righteousness 5. God might ordain that all Men should become liable to Eternal Misery by the Fall of our First Parents and that those who would not accept of Means appointed of Salvation by Faith in Christ to rescue them from it should perish eternally We no sooner read of the Fall of Man but Christ is forthwith promised even before the Curse was denounced upon Adam and Eve for their Offence the Seed of the Woman is immediately promised to bruise the Sepents Head and afterwards the Judgment is denounced first upon Eve and then upon Adam for their Transgression and the Seed of the Womans bruising the Serpent's Head is to be understood of Victory over our Spiritual Enemies and that Conquest which should be obtained over Death and Hell by Christ For the Temporal Punishment which was to befall Adam and Eve and their Posterity is afterwards added and therefore this Promise
and Aids of Grace to avoid the Punishments and are as earnestly invited and as sufficiently enabled to obtain the Rewards God hath no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live as he solemnly and with an Oath declares by his Prophet Ezekiel xxxiii 11. It is His principal Intention and Desire that all Men should be saved He has proclaimed Himself to be the Lord The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin but then it is added that he will by no means clear the guilty that is the obstinate and impenitent Sinner Exod. xxxiv 6 7. He exhorts he invites he promises he threatens he promises eternal Happiness and threatens eternal Misery to give all the Discouragement to Vice and all the Enducement to Religion and Vertue which is possible Last of all he has sent his Son to instruct us in our Duty and to confirm all this to us and to purchase our Redemption with his own Blood God deals with Men in the plainest and most condescending manner He lays their Duty before them with the Rewards and Punishments annex'd and both eternal the better to secure them in their Obedience and force them to be happy and then he takes Men at no Advantage but makes all reasonable Allowances in consideration of the frailty of Humane Nature and in condescension to their Infirmities He exacts not absolute Perfection nor any impossible Obedience but requires that tho' we cannot live without Sin yet we should not sin wilfully and obstinately that we should not allow and indulge our selves in Sin and should repent if we have done so He requires a faithful and sincere Diligence in all the Parts of our Duty which is no more than what every Father and Master expects from his Children and Servants When Men have sinned God admits of their Repentance and if after Repentance they sin again yet still they shall be accepted upon a renew'd Repentance nay after a long course of Sin a sincere Repentance may reconcile them to God and no Repentance can be too late that is sincere It is extreamly dangerous indeed to defer our Repentance for one Moment because our Lives are so uncertain and we may provoke God to that degree that he will no longer afford us an Opportunity to repent nor bestow that Grace upon us which is necessary to Repentance But this is after repeated Provocations and an obstinate rejecting of the Goodness of God which leads Men to repentance And these are the Terms of the Gospel that when the wicked Man turneth away from his Wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his Soul alive There is Great Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth and the returning Prodigal is received with the greatest Favour and Tenderness If we will be obedient we have the Assistance of God's Grace and if we have done amiss yet His grace is offered us to bring us to Repentance and we may be pardoned upon sincere Resolutions of Obedience for the future But if Men either disbelieve or disregard all these things if they neither care for God's Promises nor fear his Threatnings if they trample under foot the Blood of his Son and grieve his blessed Spirit if all the Methods of his Mercy and Goodness be lost upon them there remains no other Remedy but Justice must have its course If when they are told so long beforehand what danger they are in Men will continue obstinate in their Disobedience after so many Invitations and Encouragements to Repentance and after so great Importunity and Forbearance they can have no reason to complain of the Severity of that Sentence which they have been so often threatned with and have as often despised Since the Rewards are eternal on the one hand and the Punishments on the other the Rewards being proportionable to the Punishments the Terms are on both sides equal and since it is in our Power by the Help of the Divine Grace to avoid the Punishments and obtain the Rewards the Condition is such as that any wise Man would be thankful for it and would be glad that such a Prizee is put into his hands so far would he be from complaining that the Terrors of Punishments are join'd to the Encouragement of Rewards that all Motives concur to make him happy and that God has used all means both inward by his Grace and outward by his Promises and Threatnings to bring us to Salvation I repeat it again for God himself often repeats it in the Holy Scriptures God hath no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but hath used all means to prevent it he hath provided Heaven for us and threatned Hell if we will not be perswaded to go to Heaven If Men will neglect the Means of their Salvation and will not repent and turn to him notwithstanding all his most loving and compassionate Exhortations and the Death of his own Son for them if neither Heaven can invite nor Hell frighten them from their Sins they must thank themselves only for that Destruction which they bring upon themselves The Appeal which God so long ago made to the House of Israel may at the last Day be alledg'd to Sinners Ye have said that the way of the Lord is not equal Hear now O ye Sinners Is not my way equal have not your ways been unequal And the ways of God shall then appear so equal and the ways of wicked Men so unreasonable and perverse that their own Consciences shall bear Witness against them and He that died to save them will pronounce the Sentence of eternal Damnation upon them CHAP. XV. Of the Jewish Law THere is nothing which vulgar Minds are more surprised and offended at nor at which Men of Understanding and Experience are less enclin'd to wonder or take Offence than the several Laws and Customs of divers Nations in the different Ages and Climates of the World The Habit the Language the Letters and manner of Writing the Food the Complexion the Features of the Body and Disposition of the Mind are various in different Countries and Ages And theresore it is no wonder that the Political and Ceremonial Part of the Jewish Law which was given so many Ages ago and in a Country which is at this Day very different in its Customs from ours should be as different from the Customs in use amongst us as the Age and Climate For when God doth appoint Laws for Men he must be supposed to appoint such as are suitable to the Necessities and Occasions of those for whom they are made And some who have travelled into the Eastern Countries which are not so variable in their Fashions and Way of Living as the Western Nations are have found great advantages both from the Nature of the Inhabitants and of the Climates and from the Customs and Manners of
to consider then that the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh did more powerfully and effectually take away Sin than any other way or means of Salvation could have done I. The Doctrine and Preaching of the Son of God had more Power and Authority with it than the Preaching and Doctrine of a Man or Angel could have had God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Hebr. i. 1 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him Heb. ii 1 2 3. This being the last Message which God had resolv'd to send to Mankind a Person of the greatest Dignity and Authority was to bring it But last of all he sent unto them his Son saying they will reverence my Son Matt. xxi 37. It is the last expedient and the very utmost that could be done to reduce Sinners to Obedience and if this will have no effect upon them they must be lest without all excuse This is the heaviest aggravation of Sin and that which renders Men utterly inexcusable he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. i. 10 11. If the only begotten Son of God had not come and manifested himself in so wonderful a manner to the World something of a Plea might have been pretended but to reject the Son of God was an evident despight done to the Father and even hating of the Father who had sent him as our Saviour declares Joh. xv 22 23 24. And the Blaspheming of the Holy Ghost in those who vilified the Miracles of Christ and ascribed them to Beelzebub was therefore without forgiveness because it was a rejecting of Christ not as the Son of Man but as God blessed for-ever and a despising and vilifying that which is the last means that can be used to reclaim the World and that means whereby he manifested himself to be the Son of God To reject Christ was to reject the whole Trinity which was jointly concern'd in this wonderful dispensation The Dignity of Christ's Person adds all the force and efficacy to his Doctrine that is possible and therefore it was requisite that the Son of God should become incarnate God had before spoken from Heaven but that was too terrible and full of Majesty to be born by Mortals and they that heard the voice entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more for they could not endure that which was Commanded and so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. xii 19 20 21. But now God was pleas'd to converse with Man in a more familiar and humble manner and our Blessed Saviour came to live amongst Men with all the gentleness and meekness of the Humane Nature and all the Authority of the Divine For in him dwelleth all the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily Colos ii 9. The Godhead dwelt here in him under our Humane Nature laying aside that awful Majesty which no Man can approach unto II. We have a greater Example of all perfection and Holiness set before us by the Son of God Incarnate than we could otherwise have had It has been the general complaint made of other Teachers and Lawgivers that they seldom observe their own Rules or live themselves according to what they require of others But our Saviour has given us an Example if it be possible even beyond his own Doctrine For tho' he be no rigorous Lawgiver but a most indulgent and gracious Master to us yet he was pleas'd to excuse himself from no Duty or Instance of Obedience but fulfilled both the Moral and the Ceremonial Law there is nothing so mean nor so difficult and painful but he perform'd it to set us an absolute Pattern of Obedience to the Whole Duty of Man in all that ever God requir'd of Mankind It became him to fulfill all Righteousness this was the end and intention of his coming into the World and he fulfilled it in the most absolute and perfect manner in all particulars And to give such an Example is of unspeakable use and benefit for Men are more easily led by Example than by Precept and it is commonly observ'd that it is Example for the most part which governs the World Men will follow the Vices of those whose Vertues they never imitate and the Faults of Wise and Great Men have too sure and too fatal an effect upon such as their Excellencies never reach It was necessary that an Example of absolute perfection should be given to the World and this Example must be given by one of the same nature with our selves or else it might have been an Example for Angels and Spirits but not for Men and therefore such an Example the Son of God Incarnate only could give because it was impossible for any created Being under all the Infirmities and Temptations incident to Humane Nature to live up to such a Divine Height and Excellency of all perfection as our Saviour did and to leave such an Example to the World He came not to teach us the wisdom of this World how to get Riches and Honours in this Mankind was well enough instructed before and it could not but be unworthy of the Son of God to be Born into the World with a design to enjoy the pleasures and the profits and the honours of it this was beneath the Majesty of Heaven and the Insinite Perfection and Essential Bliss and Happiness of the Divine Nature But to manifest himself to shew the mean and worthless Vanity of those things of which Men are so fond to give an Example of Contentment in a low Condition of Victory under Temptations and of Patience and Meekness under the severest Afflictions and Torments to discover to Men the way to Happiness in the worst Circumstances of this World to teach those who enjoy this World's goods not to be proud of them nor despise others and those who want them to be contented and happy without them to lead Men in the way to happiness thro' all Conditions thro' all the Miseries and Calamities which must befall many of us in this Mortal State this is a Glorious and Godlike Design it is such as none but the Son of God could perform and such as we may in reason believe he would undertake and for which he might vouchsafe to live a Humane Life upon Earth III. The
Mediation and Intercession of Christ for us is of greater power and efficacy than any could have been if the Son of God had not become Man to die for our sakes There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. ii 5. he was to be Man as well as God that coming with Divine Power and Authority and yet with the Affability and Accessibleness of a Man he might in all respects be fully qualified to perform the Office of a Mediator between God and Man If he had not been God he could not have come with absolute Authority to offer us Terms of Reconciliation and unless he had been Men he could not have treated with Men in so familiar and condescending a way upon these terms And the Right and Authority of Christ's Mediation and Intercession in behalf of Sinners is founded upon his merits and satisfaction for the Sins of Men and this supposes him to be both God and Man Man that he might Suffer and Die for us and God that his Divine Nature might give an infinite value to his Death and Sufferings and render them satisfactory for the Sins of the World Tho' it should be supposed which can never be proved that God in his Mercy might have pardoned Sinners without the satisfaction of Christ yet if in mercy he might have forgiven he might in justice have punish'd them unless satisfaction had been made and nothing could have made satisfaction to his Justice but the Sufferings of his Son The Obedience and Sufferings of no Created Being could have been of that value as to make satisfaction for the Sins of Mankind and therefore no Creature could have Redeemed Man or have become Mediator for him upon the terms of his own merits in Man's behalf so as to plead the price of Redemption laid down for him God may grant the Requests of Angels and Men out of his free Mercy and Bounty but there can be no necessary force and efficacy in Intercessions where there is no precedent merit and satisfaction on the part of the Intercessor But Christ pleads his merits on our account and mediates our Cause with his Father upon the terms of strict Justice and by vertue of the Ransom of his own Blood and is so powerful an Intercessor for us that not only the Mercy and Goodness but even the Justice of God cannot deny his Intercession It was the free grace of God to send his Son to Suffer in our stead but since he was pleas'd to admit of this Commutation of the Punishment which we had deserv'd and to tranferr it upon his own Son his Death was a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World which the death of no Creature could have been and therefore no Created Being could have become our Mediator by vertue of his own Merit and have satisfy'd the utmost Justice of God much less could any Creature have merited the assistance of Grace and the Rewards of Glory for us IV. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the most effectual means to excite in us Faith and Hope and Charity and unfeigned Love of God and of our Neighbour the love of Vertue and the hatred of Sin and to dispose and engage us to all Vertue and Piety The Son of God assuming our Nature gives us the greatest assurance of his compassion for our Infirmities and his desire of our Happiness God is infinitely merciful in his own Divine Nature but he never could give such an instance of his mercy and love towards ours as by taking it upon himself God is essential Truth and Holiness and yet willing more abundantly to shew to the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel he confirm'd it with an Oath and in like manner in the present Case God being willing to give us all the grounds for Faith and Confidence in him that can be imagined took our Nature upon him that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to deceive we might have a strong Consolation both from the goodness of the Divine Nature and from the tenderness and compassions of our own For we have not an High-Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities and therefore are exhorted in this confidence to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace Heb. iv 15 16. vi 17 18. We are assured that he has the greatest concern for that Nature which he has taken into a personal Union with himself and continually presents before his Father in Heaven for us And we are likewise assured of the Father's love towards us For now we know that he loves us seeing he has not withheld his Son his only Son from us but sent him into the World to die for our Salvation He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us Rom. viii 32 33 34. And as the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh is peculiarly adapted and design'd to raise our Faith and Hope and Trust and Confidence and Dependance upon God so it is above all the most prevailing motive to engage our Love The infinite Love of Christ in dying for us must needs require and even extort from us all possible returns of Love and Praise and Adoration (y) Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 7. St. Chrysostome gives this as one Reason why the Son of God was Incarnate to become the Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind because if it had been possible for a Creature to undertake and effect our Redemption Men would never have thought they could have had esteem enough for him or have made due expressions of their gratitude unless they had Deified him and committed Idolatry in Worshipping him and paying him all Divine Honours and to prevent this in Moses who was but a Temporal Deliverer and but a Type of Christ his Sepulchre was conceal'd from the Israelites So dear is the memory of great and generous Benefactors wont to be that Men are apt to think they never can be sufficiently grateful to them unless they even adore and worship them which was one chief occasion of Idolatry among the Heathens therefore the Redemption of the whole World was a thing that could belong only to the Son of God to whom all Love and Reverence all Worship and Adoration is due And this being the great Aim and Design of the Christian Religion to bring us to obey God upon Principles of Love the Foundation of it is laid in the Love of God towards us Nothing can be conceiv'd which could have so powerfully prevail'd upon Men to love God as the Incarnation of his Son
manner what our inward Faith and Resolutions are This is that sort of security which Men have of one another and when God makes a Covenant with Men he considers them as Men that is he appoints such Solemnities of it as have respect to the Body as well as to the Soul he doth not deal with us as with immaterial Spirits but as with Creatures consisting of Soul and Body and who little regard and are little affected with that which doth not some way concern the one as well as the other And it is strange to see to what Extravagancies those have proceeded who have set up for a purely Spiritual Worship without any thing Sacramental for a visible Sign in it For not to mention the Pretensions of our Enthusiasts who by decrying the use and necessity of Sacraments have made Religion nothing but an empty and uncertain Name amongst them Prophyry who was a Man of Study and Learning after he had Apostatiz'd from the Christian Religion upon a ridiculous Occasion as History relates it was ashamed to return to the Heathen Idolatry which after the appearance of Christianity in the World soon became too notoriously absurd and abominable for any Man pretending so much to Reason and good Sense to own it but he placed all Divine Worship in Mental Prayer and so far rejected all outward and Bodily Worship (g) Porphyr de Abstinent lib. 2. §. 34. that he pretended the Prayers of Men were polluted and defiled by any thing of that Nature and rendred unacceptable to the Deity and that they never were sufficiently pure and perfect if they were express'd by the Voice but were then in their highest degree of Perfection when they were all Contemplation and Rapture and Extasie And the very same Notions were taught by (h) Euseb Praepar Evang. lib. iv c. 13. Apollonius Tyanoeus and have been revived of late by such as undervalue all outward Ordinances which may be a Warning to others and an Evidence of the Divine Wisdom in appointing Sacraments as outward and visible Signs of our Covenant and Communion with God 2. As these outward Signs serve to raise our Attention and fix our Minds and to put us in Remembrance that Heaven and Earth Angels and Men are Witnesses against us if we prove treacherous and unfaithful in this Covenant so they are as Tokens and Pledges to us of God's Love and Favour and of his merciful and gracious Intentions towards us in taking us into Covenant with himself they give us sensible and visible Assurances of that Grace which is invisible and Spiritual And this seems but necessary for Creatures that are led so much by Sense as we all are in this Life that God together with his Word and Promises should besides appoint something which may be perceiv'd by our Bodily Senses in Token of those Blessings which are bestow'd upon the Soul that what is no Object of Sense may yet be represented and signified by something that is sensible to bring as far as it is possible the most Divine and Heavenly things down to our very Senses which may be a Sign and Token of present Grace and Favour and a Pledge and Earnest of future Glory and Happiness And this is what is found very useful and necessary amongst Men who are better contented with something present and in hand tho' of little value and insignificant in itself as a Token and Pledge of what is promised and made over to them than they are with the greatest Promises and Protestations without any thing as an Earnest to confirm them because this is a Natural Evidence that they are indeed in Earnest as our English word expresses it and really intend what they say and it may be produced against them if they should fail of Performance Now what is inward and invisible is absent as to Sense and what is future has need of something present to represent it to us And God who was pleased to bind himself even by an Oath for our farther Comfort and Trust in him has been pleased likewise that he might be wanting in nothing which might help our Infirmities and assist our Faith he has been pleased in condescention to the Condition and Frailty of Humane Nature to appoint visible Signs and Pledges of that which is Invisible and to give all the Assurance to our very Senses that they are capable of that all the Promises of his Spiritual Blessings and Graces shall as certainly be fulfilled to us as the outward Signs and Pledges are appointed for us and duly received by us 3. Sacraments are not only Signs and Tokens of Spiritual Gifts and Graces but they are ordained as Means and Instruments of Grace and Salvation to us that as the Body partakes in the Moral Actions of Vertue and Vice so it might concur in the Religious Acts ordained for our Sanctification For God who has made us so as to consist of Soul and Body and to have the Vital Union between Soul and Body depend upon a fit Disposition of the Body and to be maintained by the Health and Nourishment of it has been pleas'd to appoint certain Bodily Actions as the Means and Instruments of our Spiritual Life that the Soul might not even in this Case where itself is more immediately concern'd be wholly independent of the Body but that since both must be either happy or miserable together in the next Life both might concurr in the way and means of Salvation in this yet so as that the Soul should be the first and principal Agent and the Body should act only in subordination and subserviency to it in this as it doth in other Cases that as in Moral Actions the Soul acts vertuously or viciously by the Body so in Spiritual Actions the Soul might receive Advantage and Benefit by Bodily Acts and be deprived of it upon the Omission or Neglect of such Acts. The Body without the Soul is not the Man nor the Soul without the Body but both Soul and Body together and the whole Man becomes dedicated and consecrated to God's Worship and Service in the use of Actions performed outwardly in the Body And it is requisite that the Body as well as the Soul should be thus dedicated to God in Token of the Resurrection of the Body and of that Happiness which it must receive in Heaven if the Soul be happy St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to glorifie God in their Body as well as in their Spirit 1 Cor. vi 20. he tells them that the Body is not for Fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the Body know ye not says he that your Bodies are the members of Christ what know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost There have been those in several Ages who have made such high Pretences to Spiritual Worship that they would allow the Body no part or share in it and others from the great irregularity and corruption which they could not but observe in
Means which some Men may conceit he might use but leaves Men without excuse and then requires their Faith and Obedience at their peril To imagine that Christ should have appeared promiscuously unto all is as unreasonable as to suppose that God should communicate himself to all alike or that he should have spoken from Heaven to Men without the Message and Ministry of his Prophets For when Christ was risen from the Dead he was no longer to act like a Mortal Man but as in his Glorified State as our Lord and King and as God in our Humane Nature now no longer subject to any of its Imperfections and therefore he was no more to come himself to the People as he had done in the State of his Humiliation but to send his Apostles and Disciples among them as he had before his Incarnation sent the Prophets 3. Great Numbers of the Jews were given up to hardness of heart and would not have believed tho' they had seen Christ after his Resurrection Those who when they had seen our Saviour's Miracles had vilified them and blasphemed the Holy Ghost by whom they were wrought had their hearts hardned that seeing they might see and not perceive and be converted And of this Number the Chief Priests and Elders must be supposed to be who hired the Soliders to Contradict and Stifle the Belief of his Resurrection with a false Story of their own Invention The Chief Priests before had Consulted to put Lazarus to Death when he was undeniably known to have been raised from the Grave John xii 10. So far were they from being brought to a Belief in Christ by the sight of Lazarus that they fully verified that Saying that there are some who will not believe tho one rose from the Dead Lazarus was shewn openly to all the People and lived among them for many years after he had been restored to Life again when he had been Dead four Days and they would not believe tho' they saw and conversed with him but were the more enraged at it Christ himself therefore after his Resurrection did not vouchsafe them his presence but used other means which were more proper 4. If the Jews had believed in Christ their Conversion had not been a greater Proof of the Truth of his Resurrection than their Unbelief has been Their stubbornness and hardness of heart was foretold by the Prophets with their Dispersion and the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Propagation of the Gospel according to the Prediction likewise of the Prophets in so Miraculous a manner not only at a distance but in Judea and in Jerusalem itself notwithstanding all the Opposition which the Jews could make gave as great a Testimony to it as their Favour and Protection could have done And therefore it was just with God rather to leave them to the hardness of their own hearts than to use such further Methods with them as were unsuitable to the Divine Dispensation in the Mystery of our Redemption and would either have only hardned them to a greater Degree or at least would not have proved more effectual towards the Manifestation of the Truth of the Gospel 5. The Power of Christ's Resurrection manifested in the Miraculous Gifts bestowed upon the Apostles was as great a proof of his Resurrection as the Personal Appearance of our Saviour himself could have been Our Saviour shewed himself to Witnesses chosen before of God to be Witnesses of all things which he did both in the Land of the Jews and in Jerusalem Acts x. 39 41. these Men knew his Life and Doctrine they had been Instructed by him and had forsaken all for him and according to his Promise were endued with Power from on high to enable them to testifie to the whole World that they had not only seen him but had often Conversed with him after he rose from the Dead And one of their Chief Qualifications was that they were but a few poor and ignorant Men without Force or Policy without any Art or Contrivance they could tell a plain Truth but could neither feign nor dissemble if they had been more in Number the Conversion of the World had been so much the less Miraculous and they were not chosen out of the Scribes and Elders who had been used to Artifices and Falshood but had them all along their Enemies and opposed to their Craft and Power an honest simplicity of Mind that neither knew what belonged to Deceit nor feared any in so good a Cause nor were they in the least discouraged to see their own and all other Nations against them God had chosen the Foolish things of the World to confound the Wise and God had chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things which are mighty 1 Cor. i. 27. These Men under all Necessities and Persecutions and Dangers and Torments both Living and Dying Witnessed that they had seen Christ alive after he had been Crucified and tho' they were but very few in Comparison of their Enemies yet considered as Witnesses they were many for he was seen by above five hundred at once which is a vast number in any matter of Evidence and if so many Men be not a sufficient Testimony no number of Men could have been That which is demonstrated but in one way is as certain as if it were demonstrable in never so many Methods and he who sees a thing plainly with his two Eyes may be as sure of it as if he had never so many Eyes to see it withal It is written in the Law of Moses that the Testimony of two Men is true or Credible and to be relied upon for Truth John viii 17. and it is the Law and Practice of all Nations to content themselves with a small number of sufficient Witnesses in proof of the most important Affairs And if these Witnesses chosen before of God spoke and acted and suffered as no Men would or could have done if they had not been well assured of what they testified and assisted from above in preaching the Gospel the Truth of the Resurrection of Christ is as infallibly delivered to us by their Testimony as it could have been by the Testimony of never so many more for all that never so many others could have done would have been but the same thing over again which these Men certified by many infallible Proofs and what is once infallibly proved is as certain as if all the World should agree in declaring it It is not the number of Witnesses but the Character and Qualifications of the Persons and the Evidence it self in its full force and circumstances which are chiefly to be regarded in Matters of this Nature If but a few Men can make it sufficiently appear as the Apostles did by undeniable Miracles that what they say is true and that God himself confirms the Truth of it they then appeal to every Man 's own Senses before whom they work their Miracles and make every one that sees them a