Doom at last and was to be the common Event of all both of those who sacrificed and those who sacrificed not It being therefore thus reasonable That God should release Man's Punishment it is as reasonable That he should lay this Punishment on Christ For either the Punishment must be laid on Christ or on some other or be remitted without any Satisfaction But without Satisfaction whatsoever the Deist may fancy the Penalty could not be sutably remov'd for that God should pardon Sin without receiving any Satisfaction is first against his Nature and Being for He is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and cannot look on Iniquity Against his Justice because as a just and righteous Governour of the World he may not suffer his Laws to be affronted without vindicating their Honour Against his Truth since in his first Covenant with Man he has inseparably combin'd Sin and Punishment In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Nor could the Punishment be laid on any other but Christ because none except one of the Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity could suffer Punishment sufficient to clear the Guilty For it was infinite Majesty which was injur'd and it must be satisfy'd by Majesty as infinite But it was not reasonable that the Father who i 〈…〉 the Oeconomy and Order of the Trinity is superiour to the Son and Holy Ghost should by this Humiliation be debas'd below them both It was not meet that the Holy Ghost should propitiate because he was to be sent by the Mediator in order to the applying of the Salvation which he should purchase So that whatsoever imaginary Models the School-men may raise of other Methods by which God might save the World yet there is none which agrees with Reason in all Points but the Propitiation which Christ wrought through his Sufferings The summ of all is That Christ is become our Propitiation not by Dying to bear witness to any saving or sanctifying Doctrin not by gaining a Right by his Death to forgive Sin not by giving us an Example by which we may have our Sins pardon'd not by any Encouragement his Death might yield us to an holy Life not by any of these single nor by all united but by Dying for our Sins and paying a Price tantamount to our Transgressions By clearing the Mulct which the breach of the Divine Law had contracted by an Act which at once secures Honour to the Law and Impunity to the Offenders Which Substitution of our Saviour to suffer for our Sins was shewn to be Just and Reasonable Just as having nothing in it which disagrees either with other methods of Divine Justice or with Human Proceedings Reasonable as being the only means by which God might shew his high value of his own Commands and yet his compassion for his Creatures and by one well-mixt Action display at the same time both his Justice and his Mercy A DISCOURSE Concerning MIRACLES HEB. Chap. II. ver 4. God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles THE Apostle in the entrance of this Chapter informs us That Christ being a Prophet so much surpassing all before him and now advanc'd above the Angels to his Royal Office in Heaven whereby he is certainly able to perform what he foretold we ought in all reason to heed his Predictions and to make use of them as means to fortifie us when we are tempted to Sin or Apostacy For if the Law were given only by the Ministry of Angels and yet the Threats on the breaking of that did come to pass and all the Sins committed by the Israelites against it were severely chastis'd and the Transgressors not suffer'd to enter into the promis'd Land How shall we avoid equal Punishment if we do not by Constancy and Obedience make our selves capable of that Deliverance which Christ first at his being upon Earth and the Apostles which heard it from him assur'd us of and which God himself has testify'd by so many Prodigies and ominous Presages And by giving them who foretold 'em Power to work Miracles and other Abilities of the Spirit God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles By Wonders in a strict sence are meant any extraordinary surprizing and new Operations whether springing from a divine Power or a natural By Miracles are understood Effects of a divine and infinite Power whether wrought privately or publickly on purpose to confirm any Doctrin or without any such design Thus our Saviour's Fast for fourty Days was a Miracle tho' it was not wrought for the confirmation of any Doctrin nor before any publick Assembly of Spectators A Sign is something more than a Wonder or a Miracle for it is wrought publickly by an infinite Power in confirmation of a Doctrin Thus our Saviour's changing Water into Wine is said to be the first of his Miracles of this kind that is the first of his Signs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as to pure Miracles he had acted several before as his Fast for fourty Days tho Descent of the Holy Ghost in a Bodily shape This is the distinction of the Schools tho' in common vld. Aquln 2. 2dae q. 178. art 1. ad 3. acceptation Signs and Miracles are taken in the same sence Under which Notion I shall consider them and shew First What a Miracle is Secondly I shall examine what Power is capable of working a Miracle Thirdly I shall enquire into some of those Marks by which we may distinguish a true Miracle from a false one Fourthly I shall prove That the Miracles wrought by Jesus Christ and his Apostles have all these Marks of a true Miracle Lastly I shall close all by briefly shewing That tho' Christianity was at first establish'd by Miracles yet that there is no reason that we should expect a continu'd succession of them to the present times First I shall shew what a Miracle is A Miracle is something that surpasses the Power of Men or of Nature wrought in savour of a Person who knows that this Miracle shall be thus transacted 'T is a Work that surpasses the Power of Men or of Nature for let an Effect be never so surprizing or extraordinary yet while it is within the force of second Causes it is no Miracle It must in strict speaking bear the lively Impression and sovereign Stamp of Divinity upon it so that we may without hazard of being deceiv'd boldly vouch that This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Which we may safely say when Diseases are cur'd by a Touch the tumultuous Seas calm'd by a Rebuke and the Dead rais'd by the Command of One who assum'd no more than the Form of a Man When the Unlearned speak Languages which they never learn'd When the Flames shall lose their destructive Nature and instead of consuming guard When a Hand rais'd up shall determine the Fate of Armies When the Lord shall hearken to the voice
comfort it for the loss of that famous Man Your Learned Predecessor which that You may long adorn with those Virtues and Excellencies which shine in Your Lordship shall always be zealously wish'd for by My LORD Your Lordships Most Humble Most Obliged and Most Obedient Servant JA. BUERDSELL THE CONTENTS DISCOURSE I. Concerning our Saviour's Divinity On 1 Joh. ver 1. The Word was God pag. 1 DISC. II. Concerning our Saviour's Satisfaction On 1 Epist Joh. Chap. 2. V. 2. And he is the Propitiation for our sins p. 25 DISC. III. Concerning Miracles On Heb. 2. 4. God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles p. 57 DISC. IV. Shewing that the Moral Law of Moses is the same with that of Christ against the Racovian Catechism and others On Luk. 10. 25. A certain Lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master What shall I do to inherit eternal life He said unto him What is written in the Law How readest thou p. 83 DISC. V. Proving that the Celestial Law is the same with the Moral or that the Moral Law is a Rule for the Angels and Saints to act by in Heaven being a Sequel of the former Discourse On Mat. 6. 10. In Earth as it is in Heaven p. 110 DISC. VI. Concerning the Qualisications of Prayer or A Method to Pray in the Spirit against the Enthusiasts On Ephes 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit p. 137 ESSAY I. Vpon Melchizedec or A Parallel between the Priesthood of Christ and Melchizedec p. 169 ESSAY II. Vpon the General Resurrection p. 185 ESSAY III. Against Scepticism in Matters of Religion p. 205 ERRATA PAg. 11. in the Margin join Tom. 1. p. 656 with Praesat ad Respons F. David p. 17. in the Margin join Edit Sylburg with Apolog. 2. p. 76. p. 51. l. 3. for eexcute read execute p. 86. l. 14 15. instead of the purport of the Lawyer 's Question a preparation to which Answer is made c. read the purpoâ—â— of the Lawyer 's Question and our Saviour's Answer a preparation to which Answer is made c. p. 92. in the margin for Mor. Nov. read Mor. Nev. p. 156 l. 21. for on read in p. 167. l. 22. dele Yet A DISCOURSE Concerning Our Saviour's DIVINITY 1 JOH ver 1. The Word was God WHERE Christ is not styl'd the Word purely in a Figuratiue Sence as the Door the Way Valentia Smalcius Paraphr in 1. cap. Job p. 107. because he discover'd to us the Will of God as Men by Words reveal their Sentiments one to another For at this rate the Prophets or Apostles or any Person who was ever furnish'd with God's Authority to make known his Will might be term'd the Word of God But since this glorious Character is not given to any but to our Saviour it seems to follow That it must be given to him in such an extraordinary manner as could not sute with any one besides must imply Christ Incarnate God made Man sutable to Plato in Philebo p. 30. c. the manner of speaking us'd by Plato and others who make the Divine Word to be the Former and Contriver of the World Tho's as to their making it a Person distinct by peculiar acts from the Nature and Mind of God seems only a new Fancy started by Modern Divines particularly by two excellent Persons of A. Bp. Tillotson p. 590. our own Nation the one the strongest as well as justest Reasoner the other the Dr. Scott Vol. 2. p. 51. Christ Life and in his Notes at the end most delicate Thinker which perhaps it ever produc'd For Plato makes the Wisdom Power and other Attributes of God to be as much personally distinguish'd as the Nature or Fountain of the Deity the divine Word and the divine Mind and from his Writings we may as well conclude That all the divine Attributes of which he had any Idea were personally distinguish'd as the three before mention'd This Divine Word or Christ Incarnate is by St. John call'd God not as Smalcius imagins because Eomil 1. in Joh. 1. 1. p. 12 13. all things which appear'd in his Prophetick Function were full of Divinity and far surpassing what was discoverable in the former Prophets For every Prophet who at any time produc'd the divine Credentials came into the World after an extraordinary singular and miraculous manner a divine Lustre spread it self through all their Actions and whether we regard the Will of God which they reveal'd or the Power of the Almighty by which they supported their Doctrin there was something Heavenly in both And according to this Standard of Divinity they too might put in their pretensions to it in some measure as well as our Saviour Nor is the Divine Word styl'd God because he was born after a Divine Val. Smalcius ibid. manner above the Laws of Nature of a spotless Virgin For then S. John Baptist who was born after as wonderful a manner in some sence as our Saviour might be said to be God For the Nativities of both being miraculous and Miracles as springing from an equal Power being equal it cannot be lookt on as a greater Miracle that Mary should Conceive than Elizabeth Nor is he God because he was Smalc Ibid. taught by God after a divine way For since God cannot be taught since infinite Knowledge can admit of no enlargement there can never from any communication of this kind between God and something else result a likeness to much less an equality with God Nor lastly is he God because He was endued with Divine Smalc Ibid. Innocence For from whence does this Innocence arise but from an uniform Obedience to the Will of God But now if to obey God makes the Person obeying capable of being call'd God the holy Angels who always preserv'd the most exact conformity to the divine Will may as justly challenge the divine Attributes as our Saviour So that by God is meant God by Nature and Substance God who had a Subsistence and that Subsistence from his Father of whom he was together from all Eternity and was Himself Eternal God So that the sence of the words will be that the Word the divine Word which assum'd Flesh is God not by Office or any other foreign denomination but by Nature Essence and Substance In order to prove which I shall First Shew that the Nature and Essence of Christ is truly Divine Secondly I shall reflect on the ill Consequences of any Assertion different from this The Nature and Essence of Christ is truly Divine 1 st Because he is justly honour'd with Divine Worship and 2 ly Because of his Co-partnership with God the Father in those actions which could only be perform'd by his substantial union with the Divine Nature First The Nature of Christ is truly Divine because he is justly honour'd with Divine Worship For if nothing can be honour'd with Divine Worship but God himself
some transient Remarks both on the Person and the Parallel by First Enquiring who Melchizedec is Secondly Into the Nature of his Priesthood Thirdly I shall parallel Christ with him in this Priesthood First I shall enquire who Melchizedec is No mention is made of this holy Person save in the 14th Chapter of Genesis and in the 110th Psalm except what the Apostle to the Hebrews says of him which is wholly taken from thence Thus little being spoken of him has been the foundation of so many Opinions But all that has been rationally deliver'd about him may be reduc'd to Five Heads The first Notion is that of the Jews who make Melchizedec the same with the Patriarch Sem for they paying the greatest Honour to Abraham of whom they said that he was their Father resented it ill that he should give Tithe to a Priest of an higher Order To wipe off which blemish they first declare Melchizedec to be an Angel and in after-times the Patriarch Sem and that he blessed Abraham as his great Grand-son thus thinking to secure the repute of their Nation But that Melchizedec was not the Patriarch Sem may be made plain First Because the Apostle says that his Descent was not counted being without Descent but the Pedigree of Sem may be traced down from Adam and stands upon eternal Record Secondly Melchizedec is said to be without Father and without Mother but the Scripture gives us a large History of Noah the Father of Sem. Thirdly The Order of Melchizedec was different from the Levitical Order but the Priesthood of Sem must be the same with that of Levi because Levi was descended in aâ— right Line from Sem. More than this Fourthly the Apostle prefers the Order of Melchizedec to the Order of Aaron or the Levitical Order because Levi paid tithes to him in Abraham Which Argument would be null if Melchizedec and Sem were the same for then would Levi who was equally descended from Sem and Abraham pay Tithes in the latter and receive them in the former so no Preference could be hence concluded which I take to be a strong Argument against this Opinion The second Opinion is that of * Cun. de Repub. Hebraeor lib. â— c. 3. Cunâ—us who makes Melchizedec the same with Christ or that it was our Saviour assuming a human Shape who appear'd to Abraham But this is highly improbable for how can he be said to be without Father and without Mother whose Father is the Almighty whose Mother the Blessed above all Women the holy and immaculate Virgin This was far below the sublime and accurate style of the Apostle's Rhetorick Farther If Melchizedec was Christ it would follow that Christ was Priest when he appear'd to Abraham long before the Law But the Apostle says that he was made one after the Law with an Oath Nor can there be any rational Account given of our Saviour's appearing in a human Body before his Incarnation For the †v. the first Discourse Apostle St. Paul alluding to those places where God is said to appear makes mention only of Angels appearing or that some had hospitably entertain'd them unawares But if these Angels had been Jesus Christ or God Almighty St. Paul might have run his Argument higher or have asserted in the honour of Hospitality that some had not only entertain'd Angels but God Almighty Himself unawares So that Melchizedec could not be Jesus Christ The third Opinion is That this Melchizedec was a Man of mortal Extraction and King of Salem at that time when Abraham came from his Victory And this is honour'd with no lesser Names than those of Irenaus Hippolytus the two Eusebii Caesariensis and Emissenus Apollinarius Eustathius Bâ— of Antioch as they are quoted by * Hieronym Epist ad Evagrium Tom. â—â— 58. Edit Basil 1537. St. Jerom who all conspire in saying that Melchizedec was an Inhabitant of Canaan and King of Jerusalem which was first called Salem then Jebus lastly Jerusalem But notwithstanding these venerable Authors with whom yet St. Jerom himself does not agree there is reason to believe that Melchizedec was noâ— King of Salem in Canaan for the place where Abraham gain'd this celebrated Victory was not in Canâ—an as appears from the whole Progress of his Motions compar'd with the exact Tables of Adricomius as has been demonstrated by one of the greatest * Dr. Wallis in his Disc concerning Melchizedec Persons in our Nation as famous for his incomparable Treatises in Divinity as for those in ancient and modern Mathematicks Farther If Melchizedec was King of Salem in Canaan how could Abraham be unknown to him till this Expedition of his Or how came it that a Correspondence was not settled between them before this being both Worshippers and Priests of the True God and living among Idolatrous Nations at a small distance from each other Nor Fourthly was Melchizedec the Holy Ghost assuming an human Shape then as he did afterwards those of a Dove and fiery Tongues as †v. Hieron â—â— supra some have extravagantly thought since most of those Arguments which prove that he was not the Second Person in the Trinity make it as evident that he was not the Third But Fifthly it seems most probable that he was some Person of extraordinary Piety in these or the Neighbouring Countries where Abraham had been pursuing his Conquest who had preserv'd true Notions of God and Morality and therefore was irradiated by Divine Emanations from above To strengthen which I shall produce these two following Remarks First That Piety and Goodness were never so much banishâ— out of the World but there have flourish'd some Assertors and rigid Maintainers of them The Light of Nature has not been so far extinguish'd but it has had the power to conduct some by its brightness and to teach them to act up to the highest Rules of Justice Candor and Humanity Of this kind among prophane Nations were Toxaris Anacharsis Solon Socrates Aristides and others and l among the Canaanites Abraham and Lot and among other Idolatrous Nations Job and our King of Sâ—lem The second Remark to establish my Assertion is That the Royalty and Priesthood were generally combin'd in most Nations and the Crown and Mitre if I may so call it both adorn'd the same Head Thus the Heroes in Homer Apollonius in his Argonauts and Virgil are brought in Sacrifiding And 1 Hel. Rerum Aethiopic liâ— ulâ— Heliodorus makes the Aethiopian Kings 2 Plutarc Placit Philosophorum Plutarch the Aegyptian 3 Herod in Clio. Herodotus the Spartan Liby the Roman to be Priests 100 and wear the Pontical Dignity as well as the Regal The Emperors for four hundred Years after Julius Caesar had the Title of Pontifex Maximus even under Christianity And the 6th General Council when it drove the Laicks from the Altar resenv'd a place for the Emperor And as to Melchizedec's being without Father and without Mother it may be so understood
would make a sober Heathen blush First because the Christian Religion is only a Law for our Actions which can invite and perswade alone but cannot force an Observance And the ill Actions of Christians ought no more to be imputed to Christianity it self than the Disorders of any Persons who live under Civil or Municipal Laws ought to be charg'd upon those Laws Secondly Tho' these Persons Lives are an open contradiction to Christianity yet it does not follow but that they may be convinc'd of the Truth of it in their Minds and Understandings For we may easily see that Men are not always determin'd by the dictates of their Reason but frequently by the biass and relish of their Senses and Passions Nor can we conclude that because Persons live as if Christianity was an Imposture that therefore they are fully perswaded that it is so Farther we find that they have often Remorses and sad Reflections on their Actions which can only rise in Minds satisfy'd of the Truth of that against which they practise For only the fear of being call'd to Account hereafter can make us sorrowful and amaz'd for having done amiss here under temporal Impunity Thirdly Morality Philosophy and the noblest Institutions which ever were lie under the same blemish with Christianity For the Lives of their Professors have seldom answer'd their refin'd Rules And it is scarce possible that they should do so till Man is subtiliz'd into a pure Spirit and rescued from those Passions and Inclinations which at present checquer and discolour our Natures As to the Zeal of these Persons it is false and counterfeited if their Actions are not conformed to their great Pretensions Thirdly 'T is no just Objection against Christianity That several Professors of it embrace it not out of Reason or Conviction but out of a supine Credulity and walk blindly on in the Christian Religion only because it is the Worship of their Country For the Christian Religion does not demand any such credulous Temper of Mind from its Professors All that it requires is an Understanding free from Prejudice and which is ready to pay attention to Reason Our Saviour at the Establishment of this Religion did not desire to be believ'd on his own Testimony If I bear witness of my self says he my witness is not true He appeals to his Miracles as the most glorious Credentials of his Celestial Mission for the Works which the Father had given him to finish the same Works that he did bore witness of him that the Father had sent him These Miracles he proposes to the Examination of the Spectators and if they could discover any Imposture in them that they were perform'd by the power of Nature or of Magick as was * Celsus apud Origen p 340. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz Christum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. ab Aegypto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards urg'd then he refus'd to be believ'd He does not fix the guilt of Unbelief purely in the Jews rejecting his Religion but in refusing to pay an Assent to it after that it was made suitable to Reason prov'd out of the Prophecies of the Old Testament supported by Miracles greater than every thing but their Infidelity If I had not done among them Works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated me and my Father As our Saviour so his Apostles addrest to the Reasons of their Followers in order to excite their Faiths Thus St. Paul Prove all things hold fast that which is good And that Apostle which our Saviour lov'd after a most passionate manner advises the Church Not to believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God So that the Christian Faith does not consist in an implicit Credulity and blind Assent but in a well-founded and rational Belief arising from just Information and exact Reasoning on Things The saving Principles of Religion indeed are few and lie in a small Compass though not within so little Bounds as the Author of The Reasonableness of Christianity and * Hobbes de Civ Relig p. 386. c. par 6. c. Dico autem alium Arti culum Fidei praeter hunc JESUM HSSH CHRISTUM hommi Christiano ut necessarium ad salutem requiri nullum c. Mr. Hobbes contend for And tho' every one ought to give the true Reasons for his Belief yet the Saving Truths of Religion in many illiterate Persons if attended with a Moral Life Humility of Spirit and Fervency of Devotion may be as acceptable to God as in the most eminent Critick in Theological Matters who can give the nicest Resolution for every thing relating to them Yet notwithstanding this every one is oblig'd as far as lies in his power to examin and try the Articles of his Religion and to be a Christian not by Education Custom or Example but by Reason and Conviction So far is Religion that is the Reform'd Religion such as was taught by our Saviour and his Apostles from encouraging a supine Credulity or blind Belief Nor is the Sceptick's Fourth Objection valid That Christianity has been propagated by God only in a small part of the World and even where it has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any such extraordinary Effects on Men's Minds as might be expected from a Religion which God himself came down from Heaven to preach and to seal with his Blood As to the first part That Christianity is only known to a small part of the World it may be reply'd First That tho' God has been graciously pleas'd to promise that he will by his good Providence so order things that the sound of the Gospel shall be heard in the uttermost parts of the Earth yet has he not limited the Time when it shall thus be universally promulg'd Secondly That it is the fault in some measure of Christians themselves why their Religion is not diffus'd among the unconverted Nations because Voyages to these barbarous Climes are only undertaken upon Motives of Interest or Prospects of Commerce without any design to promote the Truths of Religion Thirdly The Christian Religion has been communicated to almost all the Civiliz'd World Most of the Territories of the four famous Empires have had the Gospel preach'd amongst them besides other Parts more lately discover'd While good Morals and Humanity while Humility Chastity Honour and Probity flourish'd so long the Christian Religion continued but when these were deâ—ac'd by Violence Ambition Pride Lust and Ill-nature it was time for Religion to take her flight up to Heaven or to some more hospitable Regions upon Earth For how could she subsist when her foundation Morality was remov'd Fourthly As to those places where the Christian Religion has not been heard of God will deal with them as a God of Mercy He who lives up to the Light of his own Reason up to a true Sence of the Dignity of his own Nature