your own reasons and motives of belief for my part I believe it to be there really in the sense I have explicated in my Book and for those reasons which I have there alledged but that we are to adore it upon that account I no way understand If it be Transubstantiated and you are sure of it then you may pray to it and put your trust in it and believe the Holy Bread to be coeternal with the Father and with the Holy Ghost But it is strange that the Bread being consecrated by the power of the Holy Ghost should be turn'd into the substance and nature of God and of the Son of God if so does not the Son at that time proceed from the Holy Ghost and not the Holy Ghost from the Son But I am ashamed of the horrible proposition Sir I pray God keep you from these extremest dangers I love and value you and will pray for you and be Dear Sir Your very affectionate Friend to serve you JER TAYLOR A DISCOURSE PROVING THAT THE Christian Religion IS FROM GOD. Mr. Royston 'T Is reported You are making a new Impression of some small Tracts of Doctor Taylor the late most Reverend Bishop of Down It will be very advisable for You to take the Demonstration of Christian Religion which is inserted in his Cases of Conscience pag. 124. of the first Edition and let that follow the rest For 't is a Discourse which will be as useful for the generality of People in this Age as any You can pick out of the whole Body of his Works and being heretofore inserted in the middle of a large Book is not made so common to them nor so purchaseable as your pursuing this design will render it and hereby you will do a work very acceptable to the Friends of Christian Truth and Vertue as well as to Yours A. B. A DISCOURSE PROVING THAT THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IS FROM GOD. THis Discourse of all the disputables in the World shall require the fewest things to be granted even nothing but what was evident even nothing but the very subject of the Question viz. That there was such a Man as Jesus Christ that he pretended such things and taught such Doctrines for he that will prove these things to be from God must be allowed that they were from something or other But this postulate I do not ask for need but for orders sake and Art for what the Histories of that Age reported as a publick affair as one of the most eminent transactions of the World that which made so much noise which caused so many changes which occasioned so many Wars which divided so many hearts which altered so many families which procured so many deaths which obtained so many Laws in favour and suffered so many Rescripts in the disfavour of its self that which was not done in a corner but was 33. Years and more in acting which caused so many Sects and was opposed by so much Art and so much power that it might not grow which filled the World with noise which effected such great changes in the bodies of Men by curing the diseased and smiting the contumacious or the hypocrites which drew so many eyes and fill'd so many tongues and imployed so many pens and was the care and the question of the whole World at that time and immediately after that which was consigned by publick acts and records of Courts which was in the Books of friends and enemies which came accompanied and remarked with Eclipses and Stars and Prodigies of Heaven and Earth that which the Jews even in spite and against their wills confessed and which the witty adversaries intending to overthrow could never so much as challenge of want of truth in the matter of fact and story that which they who are infinitely concerned that it should not be believed or more that it had never been do yet only labour to make to appear not to have been Divine Certainly this thing is so certain that it was that the defenders of it need not account it a kindness to have it presupposed for never was any story in the world that had so many degrees of credibility as the story of the person life and death of Jesus Christ And if he had not been a true Prophet yet that he was in the world and said and did such things cannot be denied for even concerning Mahomet we make no question but he was in the world and led a great part of Mankind after him and what was less proved we infinitely believe and what all men say and no man denies and was notorious in it self of this we may make further inquiries whether it was all that which it pretended for that it did make pretences and was in the world needs no more probation But now whether Jesus Christ was sent from God and delivered the Will of God we are to take accounts from all the things of the world which were on him or about him or from him Consider first his person he was foretold by all the Prophets He I say for that appears by the event and the correspondencies of their sayings to his person he was described by infallible characterisms which did fit him and did never fit any but him for when he was born then was the fulness of time and the Messias was expected at the time when Jesus did appear which gave occasion to many of the godly then to wait for him and to hope to live till the time of his revelation and they did so and with a spirit of Prophecy which their own Nation did confess and honour glorified God at the revelation and the most excellent and devout persons that were conspicuous for their piety did then rejoyce in him and confess him and the expectation of him at that time was so publick and famous that it gave occasion to divers Impostors to abuse the credulity of the people in pretending to be the Messias but not only the predictions of the time and the perfect Synchronisms did point him out but at his birth a strange Star appeared which guided certain Levantine Princes and Sages to the inquiry after him a strange Star which had an irregular place and an irregular motion that came by design and acted by counsel the counsel of the Almighty Guide it moved from place to place till it stood just over the House where the Babe did sleep a Star of which the Heathen knew much who knew nothing of him a Star which Chalcidius affirmed to have signified the descent of God for the salvation of Man a Star that guided the wise Chaldees to worship him with gifts as the same disciple of Plato does affirm and as the holy Scriptures deliver and this Star could be no secret It troubled all the Country It put Herod upon strange arts of security for his Kingdom it effected a sad tragedy accidentally for it occasioned the death of all the little Babes in the City and voisinage of Bethlehem But
they were accepted by all Churches at the very first notice except some few of the later which were first received by some Churches and then consented to by all they were acknowledged by the same and by the next age for genuine their authority published their words cited appeals made to them in all questions of Religion because it was known and confessed that they wrote nothing but that they knew so that they were not deceived and to say they would lie must be made to appear by something extrinsecal to this inquiry and was never so much as plausibly pretended by any Adversaries and it being a matter of another mans will must be declared by actions or not at all But besides the men that wrote them were to be believed because they did Miracles they wrote Prophecies which are verified by the event persons were cured at their Sepulchres a thing so famous that it was confessed even by the enemies of the Religion and after all that which the World ought to rely upon is the wisdom and the providence and the goodness of God all which it concerned to take care that the Religion which himself so adorned and proved by miracles and mighty signs should not be lost nor any false writings be obtruded in stead of true left without our fault the will of God become impossible to be obeyed But to return to the thing All those excellent things which singly did make famous so many sects of Philosophers and remarked so many Princes of their sects all them united and many more which their eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dark and dim could not see are heaped together in this system of wisdom and holiness Here are plain precepts full of deepest mystery here are the measures of holiness and approaches to God describ'd obedience and conformity mortification of the body and elevations of the spirit abstractions from earth and Arts of society and union with heaven degrees of excellencies and tendences to perfection imitations of God and conversations with him these are the heights and descents upon the plain grounds of natural reason and natural religion for there is nothing commanded but what our reason by nature ought to choose and yet nothing of natural reason taught but what is heightned and made more perfect by the Spirit of God and when there is any thing in the Religion that is against flesh and blood it is only when flesh and blood is against us and against reason when flesh and blood either would hinder us from great felicity or bring us into great misery To conclude it is such a Law that nothing can hinder men to receive and entertain but a pertinacious baseness and love to vice and none can receive it but those who resolve to be good and excellent and if the holy Jesus had come into the World with less splendor of power and mighty demonstrations yet even the excellency of what he taught makes him alone fit to be the Master of the World But then let us consider what this excellent person did effect and with what instruments he brought to great things to pass He was to put a period to the Rites of Moses and the Religion of the Temple of which the Jews were zealous even unto pertinacy to reform the manners of all Mankind to confound the wisdom of the Greeks to break in pieces the power of the Devil to destroy the worship of all false Gods to pull down their Oracles and change their Laws and by principles wise and holy to reform the false discourses of the World But see what was to be taught A Trinity in the Unity of the God-head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Christian Arithmetick Three are one and one are three so Lucian in his Philopatris or some other derides the Christian Doctrine See their Philosophy Ex nihilo nihil fit No Ex nihilo omnia all things are made of nothing and a Man God and a God Man same person finite and infinite born in time and yet from all eternity the Son of God but yet born of a Woman and she a Maid but yet a Mother resurrection of the dead re-union of soul and body this was part of the Christian Physicks or their natural Philosophy But then certainly their moral was easie and delicious It is so indeed but not to flesh and blood whose appetites it pretends to regulate or to destroy to restrain or else to mortifie fasting and penance and humility loving our enemies restitution of injuries and self-denial and taking up the Cross and losing all our goods and giving our life for Jesus As the other was hard to believe so this is as hard to do But for whom and under whose conduct was all this to be believed and all this to be done and all this to be suffered surely for some glorious and mighty Prince whose splendor as far out-shines the Roman Empire as the jewels of Cleopatra out-shined the swadling clothes of the Babe at Bethlehem No it was not so neither For all this was for Jesus whom his followers preached a poor Babe born in a stable the son of a Carpenter cradled in a cratch swadled in poor clouts it was for him whom they indeed call'd a God but yet whom all the World knew and they themselves said was whip'd at a Post nailed to a Cross he fell under the malice of the Jews his Countrymen and the power of his Roman Lords a cheap and a pitiful sacrifice without beauty and without splendor The design is great but does not yet seem possible But therefore let us see what instruments the Holy Jesus chose to effect these so mighty changes to perswade so many propositions to endear so great sufferings to overcome so great enemies to master so many impossibilities which this Doctrine and this Law from this Master were sure to meet withal Here here it is that the Divinity of the power is proclaimed When a Man goes to war he raises as great an Army as he can to out-number his Enemy but when God fights three hundred men that lap like a dogg are sufficient nay one word can dissolve the greatest army He that means to effect any thing must have means of his own proportionable and if they be not he must fail or derive them from the mighty See then with what instruments the holy Jesus sets upon this great reformation of the world Twelve men of obscure and poor birth of contemptible Trades and quality without learning without breeding these men were sent into the midst of a knowing and wise World to dispute with the most famous Philosophers of Greece to out-wit all the learning of Athens to out-preach all the Roman Orators to introduce into a newly setled Empire which would be impatient of novelties and change such a change as must destroy all their Temples or remove thence all their gods against which change all the zeal of the World and all the passions and all the seeming pretences
which they could make must needs be violently opposed a change that introduced new Laws and caused them to reverse the old to change that Religion under which their Fathers long did prosper and under which the Roman Empire obtained so great a grandeur for a Religion which in appearance was silly and humble meek and peaceable not apt indeed to do harm but exposing men to all the harm in the world abateing their courage blunting their swords teaching peace and unactiveness and making the Souldiers arms in a manner useless and untying their military girdle a Religion which contradicted their reasons of State and erected new Judicatories and made the Roman Courts to be silent and without causes a Religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful but in a time when riches were adored and ambition esteemed the greatest nobleness and pleasure thought to be the chiefest good it brought no peculiar blessing to the rich or mighty unless they would become poor and humble in some real sense or other a Religion that would change the face of things and would also pierce into the secrets of the soul and unravel all the intrigues of hearts and reform all evil manners and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel that such a Religion in such a time preached by such mean persons should triumph over the Philosophy of the World and the arguments of the subtle and the Sermons of the eloquent and the power of Princes and the interest of States and the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal and the force of custom and the pleasures of sin and the busie Arts of the Devil that is against wit and power and money and Religion and wilfulness and fame and Empire which are all the things in the World that can make a thing impossible this I say could not be by the proper force of such instruments for no Man can span Heaven with an Infants palm nor govern wise Empires with Diagrams It were impudence to send a footman to command Caesar to lay down his arms to disband his legions and throw himself into Tyber or keep a Tavern next to Pompeys Theatre but if a sober man shall stand alone unarm'd undefended or unprovided and shall tell that he will make the Sun stand still or remove a Mountain or reduce Xerxes his Army to the scantling of a single Troop he that believes he will and can do this must believe he does it by a higher power than he can yet perceive and so it was in the present transaction For that the holy Jesus made invisible powers to do him visible honors that his Apostles hunted the Daemons from their Tripods their Navels their Dens their hollow Pipes their Temples and their Altars that he made the Oracles silent as Lucian Porphyrie Celsus and other Heathens confess that against the order of new things which let them be never so profitable or good do yet suffer reproach and cannot prevail unless they commence in a time of advantage and favour yet that this should flourish like the Palm by pressure grow glorious by opposition thrive by persecution and was demonstrated by objections argues a higher cause than the immediate instrument now how this higher cause did intervene is visible and notorious The Apostles were not learned but the holy Jesus promised that he would send down wisdom from above from the Father of spirits they had no power but they should be invested with power from on high they were ignorant and timorous but he would make them learned and confident and so he did he promised that in a few days he would send the holy Ghost upon them and he did so after ten days they felt and saw a glorious immission from heaven lights of movable fire sitting upon their heads and that light did illuminate their hearts and the mighty rushing wind inspired them with a power of speaking divers languages and brought to their remembrances all that Jesus did and taught and made them wise to conduct souls and bold to venture and prudent to advise and powerful to do miracles and witty to convince gain-sayers and hugely instructed in the Scriptures and gave them the spirit of Government and the spirit of Prophecy This thing was so publick that at the first notice of it three thousand souls were converted on that very day at the very time when it was done for it was certainly a visible demonstration of an invisible power that ignorant persons who were never taught should in an instant speak all the Languages of the Roman Empire and indeed this thing was so necessary to be so and so certain that it was so so publick and so evident and so reasonable and so useful that it is not easie to say whether it was the indication of a greater power or a greater wisdom and now the means was proportionable enough to the biggest end without learning they could not confute the learned World but therefore God became their Teacher without power they could not break the Devils violence but therefore God gave them power without courage they could not contest against all the violence of the Jews and Gentiles but therefore God was their strength and gave them fortitude without great caution and providence they could not avoid the traps of crafty Persecutors but therefore God gave them caution and made them provident and as Besaleel 〈◊〉 Aâ—oliâ—h received the spirit of God the spirit of understanding to enable them to work excellently in the Tabernacle so had the Apostles to make them wise for the work of God and the Ministeries of his Diviner Tabernacle which God pitched not man Immediately upon this the Apostles to make a fulness of demonstration and an undeniable conviction gave the spirit to others also to Jews and Gentiles and to the Men of Samaria and they spake with Tongues and prophesied then they preached to all Nations and endured all persecutions and cured all diseases and raised the dead to life and were brought before Tribunals and confessed the Name of Jesus and convinced the blasphemous Jews out of their own Prophets and not only prevailed upon Women and weak Men but even upon the bravest and wisest All the disciples of John the Baptist the Nazarens and Ebionites Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea Sergius the President Dionysius an Athenian Judge and Polycarpus Justinus and Irenaeus Athenagoras and Origen Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria who could not be such fools as upon a matter not certainly true but probably false to unravel their former principles and to change their liberty for a Prison wealth for poverty honor for disreputation life for death if by such exchange they had not been secured of truth and holiness and the will of God But above all these was Saul a bold and a witty a zealous and learned young man who going with Letters to persecute the Christians of Damascus was by a light from Heaven called from his furious march reproved by God's Angel for persecuting
common People and as it is not to be supposed that all these would joyn their divided interests for and against themselves for the verification of a lye so if they would have done it they could not have done it without reproof of their own parties who would have been glad by the discovery only to disgrace the whole story but if the report of honest and just men so reputed may be questioned for matter of fact or may not be accounted sufficient to make faith when there is no pretence of Men to the contrary besides that we can have no story transmitted to us nor Records kept no acts of Courts no narratives of the days of old no traditions of our Fathers so there could not be left in nature any usual Instrument whereby God could after the manner of Men declare his own will to us but either we should never know the will of Heaven upon earth or it must be that God must not only tell it once but always and not only always to some men but always to all men and then as there would be no use of History or the honesty of Men and their faithfulness in telling any act of God in declaration of his will so there would be perpetual necessity of miracles and we could not serve God directly with our understanding for there would be no such thing as faith that is of assent without conviction of understanding and we could not please God with believing because there would be in it nothing of the will nothing of love and choice and that faith which is would be like that of Thomas to believe what we see or hear and God should not at all govern upon Earth unless he did continually come himself for thus all Government all Teachers all Apostles all Messengers would be needless because they could not shew to the eye what they told to the ears of Men And it might as well be disbelieved in all Courts and by all Princes that this was not the letter of a Prince or the act of a Man or the writing of his hand and so all humane entercourse must cease and all senses but the eye be useless as to this affair or else to the ear all voices must be strangers but the principal if I say no reports shall make faith But it is certain that when these voices were sent from Heaven and heard upon Earth they prevailed amongst many that heard them not and Disciples were multiplied upon such accounts or else it must be that none that did hear them could be believed by any of their friends and neighbours for if they were the voice was as effective at the reflex and rebound as in the direct emission could prevail with them that believed their brother or their friend as certainly as with them that believed their own ears and eyes I need not speak of the vast numbers of miracles which he wrought miracles which were not more demonstrations of his power than of his mercy for they had nothing of pompousness and ostentation but infinitely of charity and mercy and that permanent and lasting and often he opened the eyes of the blind he made the crooked straight he made the weak strong he cured fevers with the touch of his hand and an issue of blood with the hem of his garment and sore eyes with the spittle of his mouth and the clay of the earth he multiplied the loaves and fishes he raised the dead to life a young maiden the widows son of Naim and Lazarus and cast out Devils by the word of his mouth which he could never do but by the power of God For Satan does not cast out Satan nor a house fight against it self if it means to stand long and the Devil could not help Jesus because the holy Jesus taught Men virtue called them from the worshipping Devils taught them to resist the Devil to lay aside all those abominable idolatries by which the Devil doth rule in the hearts of men he taught men to love God to fly from temptations to sin to hate and avoid all those things of which the Devil is guilty for Christianity forbids pride envy malice lying and yet affirms that the Devil is proud envious malicious and the Father of lies and therefore where ever Christianity prevails the Devil is not worshipped and therefore he that can think that a man without the power of God could over-turn the Devils principles cross his designs weaken his strengths baffle him in his policies befool him and turn him out of possession and make him open his own mouth against himself as he did often and confess himself conquered by Jesus and tormented as the Oracle did to Augustus Caesar and the Devil to Jesus himself he I say that thinks a meer man can do this knows not the weaknesses of a man nor the power of an Angel but he that thinks this could be done by compact and by consent of the Devil must think him to be an Intelligence without understanding a power without force a fool and a sot to assist a power against himself and to persecute the power he did assist to stir up the World to destroy the Christians whose Master and Lord he did assist to destroy himself and when we read that Porphyrius an Heathen a professed enemy to Christianity did say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that since Jesus was worshipped the gods could help no man that is the gods which they worshipped the poor baffled enervated Daemons He must either think that the Devils are as foolish as they are weak or else that they did nothing towards this declination of their power and therefore that they suffer it by a power higher than themselves that is by the power of God in the hand of Jesus But besides that God gave testimony from heaven concerning him he also gave this testimony of himself to have come from God because that he did Gods will for he that is a good man and lives by the Laws of God and of his Nation a life innocent and simple prudent and wise holy and spotless unreproved and unsuspected he is certainly by all wise men said in a good sense to be the son of God but he who does well and speaks well and calls all men to glorifie and serve God and serves no ends but of holiness and charity of wisdom of hearts and reformation of manners this man carries great authority in his sayings and ought to prevail with good men in good things for good ends which is all that is here required But his nature was so sweet his manners so humble his words so wise and composed his comportment so grave and winning his answers so seasonable his questions so deep his reproof so severe and charitable his pity so great and merciful his preachings so full of reason and holiness of weight and authority his conversation so useful and beneficent his poverty great but his alms frequent his family so holy and religious