Gross God was pleased therefore to display his Glory before the Angels and by several steps and degrees to excite their Praise and Love and Adoration which moved them to Songs and Shouts of Joy and by this means his Glory and their own Happiness was advanced much beyond what it would have been if all things had been created and disposed into their Rank and Order at one Moment They look'd into the first Principles and Seeds of Things and every day presented them with a glorious Spectacle of New Wonders the first Seven Days of the World they kept a continual Triumph or Jubile and thus their Voices were tuned and raised as I may say to those Praises which were to be their Employment and their Happiness to all Eternity the more they saw the more they knew and the more they knew of the Works of God the more they for ever loved and adored Him This affords us a Reason why so much more time was spent in the forming of the Earth and the Creatures belonging to it than in the formation of the Heavenly Bodies Because the Heavens are of a Uniform and Similar Nature and a vast Vacuum is now supposed to be in them and therefore the Nature of them might without any successive Production be displayed at once to the Angels but the Earth being of a Compound Nature and containing Creatures of very different kinds it required more time to give a distinct perception of the several Parts and Species of it And the Planets being of the like Nature with the Earth since the Earth the Seat of Man's Habitation was framed by such leisurely degrees as might give a suitable Idea of it the other Planets might be framed at once there being nothing more in them than what was observeable in the Formation of the Earth or they might be framed together with the Earth by the same Measures and Degrees But according to the Mechanical way the Angels would have only the Prospect of a vast Chaos rolling and working for many thousands of years perhaps before any thing considerable could have been framed out of it And those tedious delays must yet according to this Notion have been carried on by such certain Methods that there could have been little wonderful in it to an Angel when the Mechanical Philosophers themselves think they can point out the several Steps and Motions by which all was done The making of Man was the last and finishing Work of the Creation when the World was prepared for the Reception of him and he was made with much solemnity Let us make Man in our Image after our Likeness Gen. i. 26. and the Man and the Woman were made apart For Adam was Created with all the Perfections suitable for him both as a Man and as the first Man out of whom Eve was to be formed As Man he was to have all the Parts and Faculties which Men have now but in greater Perfection as the first Man he was besides to have a Rib or (c) Dicunt etiam Vnam ex eostis ejus idem esse quod unam ex partibus ejus vel unam partem ejus quam explicationem confirmant ex eo quod in Targum vocabulum Tzelah costa redditur per Setar ut Tzelah costa Tabernaculi redditur in Targum per Setar latus Tabernaculi ita hic dicunt Mitzalotar idem esse quod Missitrohi Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 30. Part out of which the Woman was to be made Which being the Principal and as it were the seminal Matter no mention is made of any other but as Animals and Plants are properly said to come from the Seed tho' they are not made of that only so Eve was properly made of Adam's Rib tho' other Matter besides might go to her Composition This way of Formation was to betoken that Love and Duty which ought to be between Husband and Wife And as the Creation and Happiness of Man provoked the Envy of Evil Angels so no doubt it occasioned the Joy and Praise of the Good ones 2. By this successive and Gradual Production and Disposition of things in six days at the Creation the Glory of God is likewise more manifested to Men than it would have been if all had been done at once or by slow and tedious Methods This gives us a more clear and distinct comprehensive Notion of the Works of God than we could otherwise have had It is acknowledged that Moses has given such an Account of the Creation as is more intelligible and better adapted to the Capacities of the generality of Men than that which any one would now obtrude upon us as a true Account of it But whatever Reasons can be assigned why the Creation should be described as it is in the Book of Genesis the same Reasons will prove that it was fitting it should be so performed If it be more suitable to the Capacities and Apprehensions of Men that the Creation of the World should be delivered to us as finished in six days rather than in a less or a longer time it was fit that it should have been really finished in this space of time and should be indeed so performed as might make the History the more useful to us For in respect of God it was alike to Create all things in an instant or to do it successively in a shorter or a longer time and in respect of Mankind no reason can be assigned why the History of the Creation should be delivered so as to represent it to Men as performed in this manner but the same Reason will hold why it should have been in the same manner performed God Blessed the Seventh day and Sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his Work which God Created and Made Gen. ii 3. and so Exod. xx 10 11. the Observation of the Sabbath or of one day in Seven to the Honour of God is established upon the Worlds being Created in six days and therefore if it be reasonable to keep one day in Seven Holy in Remembrance of the Creation it must be reasonable that the Creation of the World should have been performed in six days since the Obligation to observe a Seventh day in remembrance of the Creation implies that God rested on the Seventh day after he had Created the World in Six or in the same space of time which is contained in six days God saw it fitting that a day should be set apart to Commemorate the Creation and to Praise him for all his wonderful Works and that this day should return at such a distance of time and he observed such Order in the Creation that every day between these Periods of time might bring some particular work of it to Remembrance and every Seventh day might conclude in the Commemoration of the whole Creation Our Saviour answers the Pharisees when they proposed the Question to him about Divorces by putting them in Mind of the Order which God used in the Creation Have
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
the Oracles themselvs were sometimes forced to confess Him to be the Supreme God though obscurely and under some disguise to amuse those to whom their Answers were returned as here Apollo would have him beleived to be Bacchus The Tetragrammaton or Jehovah is likewise supposed to be meant by the Tetractis of Pythagoras and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word used in Songs and Acclamations has a plain allusion to Alleluia especially with the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From a learned and large Account of Mr. Selden's (p) Seld. de Jur. Nat. Gent. l. 3. c. 15. upon this Subject it appears that there was a general Observation amongst the Heathen of one Day in Seven though length of Time and corruption of Manners had greatly obscured or quite blotted out the remembrance of the Original Institution or Superstition had by degrees assigned other Reasons for it and this is sufficient to reconcile Josephus and other Authors with what he brings which seems to imply the contrary It has been proved by several and is generally agreed by learned Men that many of the Rites among the Aegyptians and other Nations were the same with those appointed by the Law of Moses or very like them But some would have it that Moses took these Rites from those Nations without any Proof or possibility of Proof that I can perceive For how should it be proved when we have no Writings or Memorials of these Nations so ancient as those of Moses by many Ages And we read in the Scriptures that several Laws were enjoyn'd the Jews because they were contrary to the Idolatrous Practices of the Heathen but never find the least intimation that any were given them in imitation of the Gentile Worship and it is unreasonable to imagine that they should have Laws appointed in contradiction to the Idolatrous Worshippers and others at the same time in compliance with them when they were by a miraculous Providence separated and distinguished from the Idolatrous Nations and kept forty Years in the Wilderness to hinder them from all communication with them and to cure them of the proneness which they had to imitate them If it be supposed that the Jews who were hated and despised by other Nations would be very unlikely to be imitated by them it may be observed that they were not always thus despised nor among all Nations but they were better esteemed till the latter Ages of their Government and then the reason of their being ill thought of was because they were singular in the principal Points of Worship and resolute and zealous in the observation of it and would make no compliances with the Heathen World for they preserved themselves free from all Idolatry after their Captivity in Babylon But however hated and contemned they might be yet the same Authors who acquaint us with it express their own sence rather than the sence of the rest of Mankind for at the same time they tell us that they gained every where Proselytes The Greeks were likewise ever despised by the Romans but ever imitated and we have now an Example of a neighbour Nation which is generally both imitated and spoken against And there can be no other reasonable account given of the Agreement of so many other Nations with the Jews in their Rites and Customs but that these Nations in the times of Solomon or some time after during the flourishing estate of the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel or perhaps after the Captivity and since the Dispersion of the Hebrews had conformed themselves to them A Tradition of the manner of the Passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea was retained among the People of Heliopolis related by (q) Apud Euseb Praepar l. 9. c. 27. Artapanus Miracles were sometimes wrought among the Heathen by the Invocation of the God (r) Orig. â—mtra Cels l. 1 4. Vid. Gret ad Matth. xii 27. of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and these and other Hebrew Names as Zebaoth and Adonai were commonly used by the Gentiles in their Incantations and Exorcisms which they retained by Tradition though they knew not the meaning nor original of them Those who first travell'd into China (s) Trigaut de Christ Exped apud Sinas l. 1. c. 11. found Hebrews there who called themselves Israelites but knew not the Name of Jews they were dispersed in divers Provinces and read the Pentateuch in the Hebrew Tongue in their Synagogues without Points The observation of New Moons Years of Jubilee and Circumcision was found among the Americans and an infinite number of Ceremonies and Customs says (t) Jos Acosta Hist l. 5. c. 27. l. 6. c. 2. Acosta which resembled the ancient Law of Moses They had likewise (u) Ler. Hist Navig in Bras c. 16. Pet. Mart. Dec. 6. c. 4. a Tradition of Noah's Flood Hornius acknowledgeth (w) Horn. de Orig. Americ Praef. l. 2. c. 10. l. 4. c. 15. that the Name of Joseph was in use among the Americans and that they frequently mention'd the word Alleluia in their Songs and us'd Circumcision and he shews that in their several Languages they have many Words from the Phoenician or Hebrew Tongue The People of Bengala retain'd the Name of Adam and in Madagascar they (x) Voyage de Jean Struys Tom. 1. had the Names of Adam Eve and Noah So that there is no Nation but has still had some Memorials of Reveal'd Religion And it has been shewn by Clem. Alexandrinus by Eusebius and Theodoret and by Modern Authors that the Philosophers had generally some knowledge of the Religion of the Hebrews as it was particularly affirm'd by Numenius the Pythagorean that the Brachmans also of India were not unacquainted with it and that the Laws of the Wisest Heathen Nations were taken from the Laws of Moses III. The Oracles ascrib'd to the Sybils are so plain and so particular that if they should be admitted for genuine not only the Revelations made to the Jews but all the Mysteries of the Christian Religion must be fully discover'd to the Heathen but their Plainness has been the Cause why their Authority has been much question'd which yet ought not wholly to be rejected since the Sibylline Oracles were preserv'd in the Capitol till the Reign of Honorius when they were burnt by Stilico And it is not to be imagin'd that Justin Martyr and other Christians would cite Oracles which were in the Possession of those against whom they cited them unless they had been able to make good their Authority This is a Subject which has exercis'd the Pens of many Learned Men. I shall here set down what appears to me most probable upon the Question as briefly as I can 1. It is evident from Virgil that in the Verses of the Sibyl of Cuma the Birth of some Great Person was foretold and from Tully that this Person was to be a King Though both in Tully and Virgil the
were kept of every Family made them have a more separate and distinct Interest in every Tribe and a more exact Account of Times and perfect Knowledge of things in every Family and therefore they were not so capable of being imposed upon in things of this nature as the People of other Nations might be where Marriages and Inheritances are promiscuous and no occasion is given for the like emulation and watchfulness over one another and where no such Remembrances and Notices of the Transactions of Affairs are to be consulted by any one of every private Family In the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the second month in the second year after they were come out of the land of Aegypt Moses and Aaron assembled all the congregations together and they declared their pedigrees after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of their names from twenty years old and upward by their poll Num. i. 1 18. and this was done again in the Plains of Moab at the end of Forty Years chap. xxvi And these Genealogies we preserved not only during the Captivity Ezra vii and down to the Reign of Herod but even to the time of Josephus who in his First Book against Apion says That they had the Genealogies of their Priests then still extant for two thousand Years By which means it came to pass that every Tribe had a kind of separate Interest which was the occasion of Korah's Sedition against Moses And every Man amongst their Tribes might certainly hereby know how many Generations he was removed from those who first took possession of the Land of Promise and might find the Names of his Ancestors registred who were in the Wilderness with Moses or came with Joshua over Jordan And this must make the memory of their Ancestors more dear and familiar to them and it must make them have a greater regard for any thing they had left behind them especially for a Book upon which their Rights of Inheritance and the Title they had to all they enjoyed depended This was the Deed by which they held their Estates and the Last Will and Testament as it were of their Ancestors amongst whom the Land was divided But it is certain Men are more careful of nothing than of the Writings by which they enjoy their Estates and there is no great dauger when a will is once come to the hands of the right Heir that it will be lost or salsified to his prejudice but if the Books of Moses were altered it must be upon the account of some advantage to such as must be supposed to make the Alterations and consequently to the disadvantage of others who therefore would have found themselves concerned to oppose such Alterations But as the Books of Moses were in the nature of a Deed of Settlement to every Tribe and Family so they were a Law too which all were obliged to know and observe under the severest Penalties And being so generally known and universally practised it could no more be falsified at any time since its first Promulgation than it could be now at this day For 2. Another thing which made the People of Israel less capable of being imposed upon in this matter was That they were by their Laws themselves obliged to the constant study of them they were to teach them their Children and to be continually discoursing and meditating on them to bind them for a sign upon their hand that they might be as frontlets between their eyes to teach them their children speaking of them when they sate in their houses and when they walked by the way when they lay down and when they rose up to write them upon the door-posts of their houses and upon their gates Deut. xi 18 19 20. Nothing was to be more notorious and familiar to them and accordingly they were perfectly acquainted with them and as Josephus says knew them as well as they did their own Names they had them constantly in their mouths and thousands have died in defence of them and could by no Menaces or Torments be brought to forsake or renounce them And to this end One Day in Seven was by Moses's his Law set apart for the learning and understanding of it The Jews have a Tradition That Moses appointed the Law to be read therice every Year in their publick Assemblies And Grotius (q) Grot. ad Matth. xv 2. is of this opinion However the Scripture informs us that Moses of old time had in every city them that preached him being read in the synagogues every sabbath-sabbath-day Act. xv 21. It is indeed the common opinion That there were no Synagogues before the Captivity But then by Synagogues must be understood Places of Judicature rather than of Divine Worship for there is no reason to question but the Jews had their Proseuchas or Places of Prayer from the Beginning since it is incredible that those who lived at a great distance and could not come to Jerusalem on the Sabbath-days and other time of Divine Worship besides the three great Festivals when all their Males were bound to be at Jerusalem should not assemble for the Worship of God in the places where they dwelt nay they were by an express Law obliged to it on the Sabbaths The seventh day is the sabbath of rest an holy convocation ye shall do no work therein it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings Lev. xxiii 3. They must therefore have places in all their Dwellings to resort to where they held their Convocations or Assemblies and these they went to on the New Moons as well as on the sabbaths 2 King iv 23. which made the Psalmist lament that the Enemy had burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land Psal lxxiv. 8. And being met together there is as little doubt to be made but that they read the Law which was to be read by them in their Families and much more in their Publick Assemblies on their solemn Days of Divine Worship The Books of Moses therefore were â—ead in their Synagogues in every City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from ancient Generations or from the first settlement of the Children of Israel in the Land of Canaan And then at the end of every Seven Years the Law was read in the most publick and solemn manner in the Solemnity of the Year of Release in the Feast of Tabernacles Moses wrote a Book of the Law and commanded it to be put in the side of the Ark Deut. xxxi 29. as the Two Tables of Stone were put into the Ark it self chap. x. 5. and this he delivered to the Priests and to all the Elders of Israel and commanded them saying At the end of every seven years in the solemnity of the year of release in the feast of tabernacles when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their
the end of the world He foretold the denial of St. Peter and the manner of his Martyrdom and both were foretold to St. Peter himself and his denial but a very little while before it came to pass when St. Peter looked upon it as a thing impossible who alone could have it in his power to hinder it He prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem which came to pass about forty years after his own Death within the compass of that Generation as he had foretold the very foundations of the Temple and City were destroyed and the ground plowed up so that one stone was not left upon another of all the magnificent Buildings of the Temple which the Disciples so much admired when our Saviour told them that this should be the Fate of that glorious Pile Matt. xxii 2. And as I have already observed upon another occasion when Julian with a design (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. lib. 5. c. 21. to defeat this Prophecy endeavoured to have it rebuilt both the Works and the Workmen were miraculously destroyed by a fire bursting out of the ground The Inhabitants fell by the edge of the Sword and were led away captive into all Nations Luke xxi 24. the chiefest place of security was the mountainous part of Judea which our Saviour foresaw when he advised his Disciples to flee to the Mountains Matt. xxiv 16. And Cestius Gallus compassed Jerusalem with his Army which was a warning to the Christians to depart and then by raising the Siege gave them an opportunity to escape to Pella in the Mountains of Perea exactly according to Luke xxi 20 21. And what Dion Cassius relates in the Reigns of Claudius Nero Vitellius and Titus may serve as a comment upon our Saviour's Prophecy for there were famines and pestilences fearful sights and great signs from Heaven and great Earthquakes the Sea and the Waves Roaring xxi 11 25. The Sun was darkned and the Moon did not give her light Matt. xxiv 29. Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which were coming on the Earth Luke xxi 26. and there was so terrible an eruption of Vesuvius that the Ashes were carried by the winds into Africk and into Egypt and Syria with so great smoak and darkness that it was thought the world had been at an end Our Saviour's Miracles verified the Prophecies which had been concerning the Messias for the Jews expected that the Messias should manifest himself by Miracles to the world as they concluded from the ancient Prophets and therefore St. John Baptist did no Miracles that he might not be mistaken for the Messias of whom Miracles were a principal Token to know him by His Miracles were wrought in the midst of his Enemies and extorted a confession from the Devils themselves of his Divine Power they were of that nature that it was impossible for them before whom they were wrought to be imposed upon by them and as impossible for them to be performed but by the immediate Power of God The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes was twice done and the Persons who were Witnesses to it were at one time five thousand men besides Women and Children Matt. xiv 21. and the other time four thousand men besides Women and Children Matt. xv 38. a Miracle wrought at two several times and obvious to all the sences of so many thousand Men besides Women and Children who being hungry found themselves filled and satisfied with this miraculous food in the barren Wilderness where it was impossible for them to be supplied by natural means was impossible to be mistaken The Miracles of our Saviour were so many and so publick and undeniable that St. Peter appeals to the Jews themselves declaring that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among them by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of them as they themselves also knew Acts ii 22. The Nobleman's Son was cured at a distance and the multitude were Witnesses to the request he made to our Saviour and to our Saviour's answer upon it and the Nobleman's Family were Witnesses that the cure was effected at that very time He cast Devils out of one known to have been a long time possess'd and then suffered them to go into the Swine to make it appear that they were indeed evil Spirits which had possess'd the Man contrary to the Doctrine of the Sadduces who believed no such thing as Spirits He cured the Leprosy and sent the cured to the Priest as the Law required that he by inspection might examine whether it were a perfect cure or no. He gave sight to one born Blind and this was upon examination attested to the Pharisees themselves Lazarus was raised to life again after he had been dead four days before so many Witnesses that the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to contradict the Truth of it but were mightily enraged against him for it and consulted to put Lazarus to death because many were induced to believe on Christ by reason of so great and manifest a Miracle Some who had been cured and others who had been raised from the Dead by our Saviour were living for many years after (b) Enseb Hist lib. iv c. 13. Hieron Catalog as Quadratus testified of his own time in his Apology to Adrian the Emperor The circumstances of these and the rest of our Saviours Miracles shewed that they were really performed and they were wrought with this intent and design to prove him to be the Christ The nature therefore and end of them shews that nothing less than a Divine Power could have effected them For God would never have suffered them to be wrought to vouch an Imposture to the World under his own Name and Authority (c) Guil. Ader me dici enarrationes de a grotis morbis in Evangelio A â—earned Physician has Written a Treatise to shew that according to the Principles and Axioms of the best Physicians all the Diseases which our Saviour cured were incurable by natural means and it is evident to every man that many of them were so But I shall insist more particularly upon the Resurrection of our Saviour this being the most wonderful and a confirmation of all his other Miracles and of the whole Gospel to us CHAP. XIV Of the Resurrection of our B. Saviour THE Resurrection of our B. Saviour was Prophesied of by David Psal xvi 8. Act. ii 27. And it was prefigured by the Type of Isaac's deliverance when he had been offered up by Abraham who both believed that God was able to raise him up even from the Dead and received him also from thence in a Figure Heb. xi 19. and it was also prefigured by the Type of Jonas his being three days and three nights in the Whale's Belly Matt. xii 40. Our Saviour was three days and three nights in the Grave that is three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or three natural days according
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
last Days of the Jewish Dispensation p. 388. The Times of the Gospel meant by the last Days p. 389. St. Paul did not suppose that the Day of Judgment was approaching in his time p. 391. There is no reason to suppose that the last Judgment must be confined to one Day p. 393. CHAP. XXIII Of Sacraments THE Nature and design of Sacraments p. 396. 1. They are outward and Visible Signs of our Entrance into Covenant with God or of our Renewing our Covenant with him ib. 2. They are Tokens and Pledges to us of God's Love and Favour p. 402. 3. They are means and Instruments of Grace and Salvation p. 404. 4. They are Federal Rites of our Admission into the Church as a Visible Society and of our Union with it as such p. 406. The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper fully Answer the end and Design of the Institution of Sacraments p. 407. CHAP. XXIV Of the Blessed Trinity THere is no Contradiction in this Mistery of our Religion p. 412 The Distinction of the Three Persons in the Deity p. 413. The Unity of the Divine Nature p. 414. The Difference between the Divine Persons and Humane Persons 417. Other things are and must be believed by us which are as little understood as this Doctrine p. 421. The necessity of the Belief of this Doctrine explained and Defended p. 423. This Doctrine exceedingly tends to the Advancement of Vertue and Holiness and has a great Influence upon the Lives and Conversations of Men p. 427. CHAP. XXV Of the Resurrection of the Dead GOD is certainly able to raise the Dead p. 431. Bodies after their Corruption and the Dissolution of the Parts which Compose them may be restored to Life by the Reunion of these Parts again p. 436. We may rise again with the same Bodies which we have here notwithstanding any change or Flux of the Parts of our Bodies while we Live or any Accidents after Death p. 437. It is not only credible and Reasonable to believe that God can but likewise that he will raise the Dead p. 443. CHAP. XXVI Of the Reasons why Christ did not shew himself to all the People of the Jews after his Resurrection THere are Reasons peculiar to this Dispensation of his Resurrection why Christ should not shew himself to all the People after he was risen from the Dead p. 449. It had not been suitable to the other Dispensations of God towards mankind for him to have done it p. 451 Great Numbers of the Jews being given over to hardness of Heart would not have believed tho' they had seen Christ after his Resurrection p. 452. 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 p. 453. 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 p. 454. CHAP. XXVII Of the Forty Days in which Christ remained upon the Earth after his â—â—â—surrection and of the manner of his Ascension MAny things in the Life of Christ before his Passion omitted by the Evangelists p. 459. And likewise after his Resurrection p. 461. What may be concluded from that which we Read of his conversing with his Disciples after it p. 463. The manner of his Ascension p. 465. CHAP. XXVIII Why some Works of Nature are more especially ascribed to God why means was sometimes used in the Working of Miracles and why Faith was sometimes required of those upon whom or before whom Miracles were wrought ALL Creatures act with a constant dependance upon the Divine Power and Influence but things may be said more especially to be done by God himself whereby upon some extraordinary Occasion his Power and his Will are more particularly manifested or his Promise fulfilled p. 469. Miracles are more peculiarly the Works of God because they are wrought without the concurrence or subserviency of Natural Means ib Means used as Circumstances to render Miracles more observable not as concurring to the Production of the effect 470. Christ had given undeniable Proof of his Miraculous Power before he required Faith as a condition in such as came to see his Miracles and to receive the benefit of them p. 471. Whether he required Faith of any before his working of a Miracle who had not already seen him work Miracles p. 481. Great Reason that no Miracle should be purposely wrought for the captious and Malicious p. 482. The case of his own Country-men was particular ib. The case of those who came to desire his Help p. 487. Our Saviour hereby signified that he requires the same Faith of those who have not seen his Miracles as he did of those who had seen them p. 489. CHAP. XXIX Of the ceasing of Prophâ—â—â—es and Miracles THe Antiquity of Prophecies adds to their force and Evidence p. 491. The Cessation of Miracles We read of no Miraculous Power bestowed upon any Man before Moses p. 492. Neither Prophecies nor Miracles in the Jewish Church for more than four hundred years before Christ p. 495. Miracles if common would lose the design and nature of Miracles p. 498. Men would pretend to frame Hypotheses to solve them p. 499. A constant Power of Miracles would occasion Impostures ib. They would occasion Pride in those that wrought them p. 501. No more Reason for Miracles to prove the Christian Religion among Christians than there is need of them to prove a God ib. A Divine Power is notwithstanding evident among Christians living in Heathen Countries p. 502. CHAP. XXX Of the Causes why the Jews and Gentiles rejected Christ notwithstanding all the Miracles wrought by him and his Apostles ASupernatural Grace necessary to True Faith p. 504. Jews and Proselytes were converted in great Numbers p. 508. Many durst not own Christ Others had their hearts hardned p. 511. They had violent prejudidices against the Gospel p. 512. The Signs and Wonders of false Prophets a cause of the Infidelity of the Jews p. 514. The unbelief of the Jews being foretold by the Prophets is a confirmation of the Gospel p. 515. Great Numbers of the Heathens converted p. 516. The cause of unbelief in the Philosophers ib. Of Epictetus and Seneca p. 518. The prejudices of the Gentiles p. 521. They would not be at the Pains rightly to understand the Christian Religion p. 522. Oracles had foretold that it should not last above 365 Years p. ib. Heresies and Schisms gave great Scandal p. 523. Many Heathens however had more favourable and just Thoughts of the Christian Religion p. 524. Of the Writings of the Heathens against it p. 528. The Writings of the ancient Jews confirm it p. 530. CHAP. XXXI That the Confidence of Men of false Religions and their Willingness to suffer for them is no prejudice to the Authority of the True Religion THe Martyrs for the Christian Religion more
those who enquire why the World was created in six days rather than in one day or in an instant or in a long compass of Years as the Laws of Matter and Motion they say require It might be sufficient to ask why if it was God's Will the World might not be created in six Days as well as in any other number of Days or space of Time If the Creation had been in an Instant or in a longer or shorter space of Time the Question might with as much Reason have been put why it was not created in six days Shall Men presume to prescribe to God the Time and Manner of his Actions Is not his own Pleasure a sufficient Reason of them The Manner of the Creation and of the Flood which have of late been the Subject of so many Disputes depends solely upon the Will and Pleasure of God and therefore we can know only by Revelation how they were effected and it is in vain to pretend that they must have come to pass in this or that Manner unless it could be prov'd that God could not bring them to pass any other way than that which the Inventor of some Hypothesis thinks fit to propose Most Actions may be performed very different ways and if for instance we had only a general account of the Passage of the Israelites out of Aegypt into the Land of Canaan that Pharaoh pursuing them was drowned with his whole Army that they travell'd in the Wilderness forty Years and had a sufficient Provision of Food and Cloathing and Water for so great a Multitude in so barren a place and for so long a time tho' never so many Conjectures should be made how all this might be and never so many Schemes were drawn of their Journeyings and Encampments if it could be supposed possible that one of all these might prove true yet it would be utterly impossible to know which were it But when we are only told that God created the World in six days and that such and such things were created on each of these Days that he brought a Deluge of VVaters upon the whole Earth for the Sins of Mankind which continued for such a time upon the face of the Earth some Men will needs assign the particular Means and Manner by which both the Creation and the Flood must necessarily have been brought to pass as if the wisdom and power of God and the nature of things could admit of no other way but what they can explain VVe may esteem the Learning and admire the Sagacity and allow the good Intentions of these Authors but when any one advanceth an Hypothesis in contradiction to all others and proposes it not as probable but as the only true Explication of Scripture and positively maintains not only that things might be so if God pleased but that they were so and could not be otherwise this to me seems more unaccountable than any thing I ever met with besides in the very worst Hypothesis We can know nothing of the way and manner how God has been pleased to do any thing but by his own Revelation If each Frypothesis were possible yet no man could be certain which were the right or that any of them were so because God might make use of some other Means than what Men can imagine But when the several Hypotheses destroy one another and every one pretends to set up his own in contradiction to all the rest and none can maintain its Ground any longer than till another has been brought to confute it it were strange if Men should satisfy themselves with such Uncertainties rather than with the plain word of God According to any Mechanical Hypothesis tho' there were no Vacuum so many Accidents must continually intervene in a Chaos of Matter confusedly rolling and knocking one part of it against another that it seems next to an Impossibility that it should ever settle into any Order at least if Matter had been left to its own workings and jumblings according to any Mechanical Laws of Motion the world for ought any Man can prove might not have been made to this Moment So far is it from being possible to understand how upon Mechanical Principles the world should have been made in six Years rather than in six Days consisting of four and twenty Hours It is therefore the boldest Attempt that can be conceived for Men to pretend to assign the several steps and degrees in the process of this wonderful Operation with as much ease and certainty as if they had all the Materials by them in their Laboratory and could perform it as readily as an ordinary course of Chymistry Next to attempt the making of a world what undertaking can be more daring than to pretend to discover how it was made To mâ—ke a World must undoubtedly be the work of God and he alone can declare how he made it But Reasons may be given for the Creation of the world in six Days 1. With Respect to Angels 2. With Respect to Men. 1. With Respect to the Angels It is (a) Aug. super Gen aâ— Literan lib. 4. c. 22. c. De â—ivit Dei lib. 11. c. 7. St. Austin's Opinion that the six Days of the Creation of the World in the Book of Genesis are distinguished according to the Perception which the Angels had of the Creation from whence was framed that Distinction of the (b) Tho. Aquin. Sum. Part 1. Qu. 58 Art 6. Schoolmen between Cognitio Matutina and Cognitio Vespertina And tho' what I am about to say is not exactly agreeable to St. Austin's Notion yet I hope his Authority will warrant my arguing from this Topick to such as may think it new and singular The Angels were the beginning of the Creation and were created probably in the Morning of the first Day For in the Book of Job God says that when the Foundations of the Earth were laid the Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy Job xxxviii 7. from whence we learn that the Angels were created before this visible World and glorified God for his creating it Now the Angels tho' blessed and glorious Spirits yet are finite and are unable to comprehend and fathom the wonderful works of God there are things which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 and the more they know of God and his Works the more they adore and praise Him The whole Scene of the Creation seems to have been laid open in Order before them according to the several Degrees and the various Natures of things whereby they must have had a fuller View and a clearer Understanding of the Divine Power and Wisdom than they could have had if the World had started forth in an Instant and jump'd as it were into this beautiful Frame and Order As he who sees the whole Method and Contrivance of any Curious piece of Art values and admires the Artist more than one does that beholds it in
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
17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we the living the remaining that is the faithful which shall then be alive and remain upon the Earth St. Paul speaks of the Faithful here under a twofold denomination viz. of the Dead and the Living and speaking of the Living he uses the first Person Plural as being himself yet in the number of the Living not that he should be of that number at the Day of Judgment Thus frequent (c) Tollit animos Tullus Hostilius quasi ipse mandâ—sset spes inde nostris metus hostibus Flor. lib. 1. c. 3. Stipendiariam nobis Provinciam fecit Scipio Africanus Hispaniam lib. ii c. 17. Creticum Bellum si vera volumus noscere nos secimus lib. iii. c. 7. Examples are to be found where Historians Relating matters of Fact which happened long before their own Times use the expressions of we and our we Fought our Army Conquer'd that is the People of which I am now a Member or the Army of this People We the English Conquer'd France in the Reign of King Henry V. and if this had been Prophesy'd of it might have been said we shall Conquer c. Our Saviour speaking to the Jews says Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven when they had told him before our Fathers did eat Maâ—na in the Desart Joh. vi 31 32. And it might as well have been said to the Patriarchs you shall eat manna in the Wilderness as to the Jews of our Saviour's time you did eat it A Prophet foretelling things to come to pass after his own death might say We shall do so and so that is those of this Nation and People shall do it to which I belong and therefore reckon my self in the Number tho' I can have no share in the Action nor live to see it In the same manner St. Paul says we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Cor. xv 51. that is we who are not yet in the number of the Dead but are to â—e reckoned amongst the present and future Living As when he writes to the Ephesians among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by Nature the Children of wrath even as others Eph. ii 3. it is Paraphras'd by Dr. Hammond thus among who we of the Gentile Church of Rome from whence I write formerly lived c. It is certain St. Paul expected his own death 2 Tim. iv 6. but it is usual with him to speak in his own person by a Figure and sometimes even when he mentions himself by Name 1 Cor. iv 6. and he expresly declares that he did neither by word nor letter signifie that the Day of Christ was at hand 2 Thes ii 2. V. The Day of Judgment is describ'd with so much Solemnity and so many Particulars that it may seem impossible for them all to be dispatched in the compass not only of one but of many Days But (d) Mede Epist xx the Jews from whom our Saviour and his Apostles took the expression of the Day of Judgment understood by it a Time of many years continuance and sometimes the term even of a thousand years And by Day in the Language of the Scriptures is to be understood Season or any period and distinction of time with respect to some particular thing or occasion as these are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were Created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heavens Gen. ii 4. that is in the Time consisting of six days the day of temptation in the Wilderness was forty years Heb. iii. 8 9. Nay St. Peter uses it to express Eternal Duration to him be Glory says he both now and for ever which in the Original is both now and to the day of Eternity 2 Pet. iii. 18. Day is us'd for Judgment itself 1 Cor. iv 3. and (e) Grot. ad 1 Cor. iv 3. so the Jews understood Days to be meant Job xxiv 1. In our Language Days-man signifies Judge or Umpire Job ix 33. and Diem dicere was the Law-term amongst the Romans for the Summons to a Tryal but it doth not follow from thence that the Cause must needs have been decided upon the same Day which was appointed for the hearing it (f) Itaque cum ego diem in Siciliam inquirendi perexiguam postulâssem invenit â—ste qui sibi in Achaiam biduo breviorem diem postularet non ut is idem conficeret diligemiâ industriâ suâ quod ego meo labore vigiliis consecutus sum Etenim ille Achaicus inquisitor ne Brundisium quidem pervenit Ego Siciliam totam quinquaginta diebus sic obij ut omnium populorum privatorùmque litter as injuriasque cognoscerem Cic. in Ver. Act. i. Tully by Day in his first Oration against Verres means the space of at least Fifty Days There is no Reason then to suppose that the Last Judgment must be confined to one or more Days but it will take up as much time as the Solemnity of the Proceedings require Hunc diem Judicii ultimum diem dicimus id est novissimum Tempus Nam per quot dies hoc judicium tendatur incertum est sed scripturarum more sanctarum diem poni solere pro tempore nemo qui literas illas quamlibet negligenter legerit nescit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. xx c. 1. CHAP. XXIII Of Sacraments THO' the Jewish Law was very requisite at that time and for that People when it was in force and the wisest and best Institution that could have been yet it was indeed a yoke and such a yoke as was burthensome and not to have been born but in sure hopes and expectation of better things to come And at the approach of the Son of Righteousness these shadows vanished and the Types having attained their end and accomplishment were laid aside and in their room Christ has Instituted as few Rites as it was possible only the two Sacraments one for our Initiation and first Reception and the other for our Re-establishment and Confirmation in that Covenant which he has been pleas'd to make with us And yet even these are thought too many by some who as if they were all Soul and Spirit without Body are only for a Mental and Spiritual Worship To vindicate therefore the Institution and use of Sacraments I shall First Consider the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Secondly I shall shew how fully the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper answer the End and Design of the Institution of Sacraments I. I will enquire into the Nature and Design of Sacraments in General Sacraments may be consider'd either 1. as outward and visible Signs of our entrance into Covenant with God or of our renewing our Covenant with him Or 2. As Pledges of God's Grace and Favour towards us Or. 3. As the Means
Life have been the Soul must be United to the self same Body so disposed and qualified to affect the Soul as it was in this Life only with Infinitely greater more exquisite and more lasting Degree of Pain or of Joy and Satisfaction yet without any mixture of gross and sensual Pleasures in the Righteous but only such as are suitable to Spiritual Bodies And this Disposition of Body depends upon the Vertuous or Vicious Actions and Habits of Men here for a Body by Vicious Practices and Customs prone to raging and furious Passions insatiable Appetites and tormenting Inclinations and Desires without any thing to gratifie or asswage them must have quite another effect upon a Soul than a Body subdued to the mild and calm and obedient Temper of Religion and Vertue And tho' God could by his Almighty power form another Body to that Frame and Disposition which the Body of any particular Man was in when his Soul departed out of it yet it doth not seem agreeable to the Divine Goodness and purity by his immediate power to frame a New Body to the depraved Temper and Inclinations of a Vicious Man And we are so little acquainted with the Union of the Soul and Body that for ought we know a Soul can be United only to its proper Body The Truth is we know nothing of these Matters but from the Scriptures all besides is only Conjecture But the Doctrine of the Scriptures is probable even to our Reason tho' indeed it ought to over-rule Reason especially in things which are so obscure and so little understood by us God has declared that he will raise these Bodies to Life again at the Day of Judgment and whatever we may think of it to him all things are alike easie it is as easie for him to do as to say it CHAP. XXVI Of the Reasons why Christ did not shew himself to all the People of the Jews after his Resurrection ST Peter speaking of Christ's Resurrection says him God raised up the third Day and shewed him openly not to all the People but unto Witnesses chosen before of God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the Dead Acts x. 40 41. After his Resurrection he was shewn openly but not to all the People he was seen in a plain and open manner yet not so publickly as to make all the People Witnesses of his Resurrection The Will and good Pleasure of God is a sufficient Reason to us of all his Actions especially in Acts of Mercy For it would be a strange Return made but to a Man for any Favour received to be captious and quarrelsome about the manner of his bestowing it instead of being grateful to him for it But besides this General Reason which ought to be of Force with us in all Cases there are Reasons peculiar to the present Case whereby we may be able to give an Account of it even according to our own Apprehensions of things I. There are Reasons peculiar to this Dispensation of Christ's Resurrection why Christ should not shew himself to all the People after he was risen from the dead II. It had not been suitable to the other Dispensations of God towards Mankind for him to do it III. Great Numbers of the Jews were given over to hardness of heart and would not have believed tho' they had seen Christ after his Resurrection IV. If they had Believed their Conversion had not been a greater proof of the Truth of his Resurrection than their Unbelief has been V. The Power of his 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 1. There are Reasons peculiar to this Dispensation of his Resurrection why Christ should not shew himself to all the People after he was risen from the Dead Christ after his Resurrection was to act according to the Majesty of the Divine Nature not according to the Infirmities and Condescension of the Humane the time of his Conversing with Men was at an end at his Death and then another method and manner of Dispensation was to begin he was then to Converse only with his particular Friends and Favourites to satisfie them of his Resurrection and to instruct and enable them both by their Doctrine and Miracles to satisfie others It could not be suitable to the Dignity of his Majesty which he had assumed after his Resurrection to submit himself to the Censures of his Enemies he had suffered enough from them already in the State of his Humiliation and must he never be above the Suspicion and Scrutiny of their Malice Shall not his Resurrection free him from it When they saw him hanging upon the Cross they cried out with upbraiding and insolent Scorn that they would believe in him if he would come down from thence but neither did they deserve such a Miracle to be wrought at their Pleasure who thus called for it nor was it suitable to the Divine Dispensation that it should be wrought It was neither fitting that he should save himself from Death nor that he should appear to them after he was risen from the Dead He was to Die for our Redemption and as we had wanted the Argument from his Resurrection for the Truth of our Religion if he had come down from the Cross so if he had appeared to all the Jews we had wanted other Evidence which as I shall shew at least amounts to all the Proof which that could have given In the State of his Humiliation our Saviour was pleased to suffer himself to be exposed to the contradiction of Sinners and to all their Affronts and Injuries but when this their Hour and the Power of Darkness was once past they were to see him no more but with confusion of Face and terrour of Mind yet his Mercy was still the same towards them one of the greatest Persecutors was converted by a Voice from Heaven the Son of Man speaking to him from thence that he might be the happy Instrument in the Conversion of others and a Pattern to them of the long suffering of Christ 1 Tim. i. 16. But his manifestation of himself to St. Paul at his Conversion was with dreadful Awe and Majesty not in that mild and gracious Glory in which he was seen by St. Stephen and it is reserved for those who persecuted and pierced him to look upon him with Consternation and Anguish at the Last Day Rev. i. 7. 2. It had not been suitable to the other Dispensations of God towards Mankind for Christ to be shown openly to all the People God might work such astonishing Miracles and strike such Terrors into the Minds of Men as to make it impossible for any one to doubt of his Existence or of the Truth of his Word but he doth not all which he can do but what he in his Wisdom sees fit to be done he doth not use all the