away the rational grounds of faith and placing it on self-evidence Of the self-evidence of the Scriptures and the insufficiency of that for resolving the question about the authority of the Scriptures Of the pretended miracles of Impostors and false Christs as Barchochebas David el David and others The rules whereby to judge true miracles from false 1. True Divine miracles are wrought to confirm a Divine testimony No miracles necâ—ssary for the certain conveyance of a Divine testimony proved from the evidences that the Scriptures could not be corrupted 2. No miracles Divine which contradict Divine revelation Of Popish miracles 3. Divine miracles leave Divine effects on those who believe them Of the miracles of Simon Magus 4. Divine miracles tend to the overthrow of the devils power in the world the antipathy of the doctrine of Christ to the devils designs in the world 5. The distinction of true miracles from others from the circumstances and manner of their operation The miracles of Christ compared with those of the Hâ—athen Gods 6. God makes it evident to all impartial judgments that Divine miracles exceed created power This manifested from the unparalleld miracles of Moses and our Saviour From all which the rational evidence of Divine revelation is manifested as to the persons whom God imployes to teach the world pag. 334 BOOK III. CHAP. I. Of the Being of God The Principles of all Religion lie in the Being of God and immortality of the soul from them the necessity of a particular Divine revelation rationally deduced the method laid down for proving the Divine authority of the Scriptures Why Moses doth not prove the Being of God but suppose it The notion of a Deity very consonant to reason Of the nature of Idea's and particularly of the Idea of God How we can form an Idea of an infinite Being How far such an Idea argues existence The great unreasonableness of Atheism demonstrated Of the Hypotheses of the Aristotelian and Epicurean Atheists The Atheists pretences examined and refuted Of the nature of the arguments whereby we prove there is a God Of universal consent and the evidence of that to prove a Deity and immortality of souls Of necessity of existence implyed in the notion of God and how far that proves the Being of God The order of the world and usefulness of the parts of it and especially of mans body an argument of a Deity Some higher principle proved to be in the world then matter and motion The nature of the soul and possibility of its subsisting after death Strange appearances in nature not solvable by the power of imagination pag. 360 CHAP. II. Of the Origine of the Universe The necessity of the belief of the creation of the world in order to the truth of Religion Of the several Hypotheses of the Philosophers who contradict Moses with a particular examination of them The ancïent tradition of the world consonant to Moses proved from the fonick Philosophy of Thales and the Italick of Pythagoras The Pythagorick Cabbala rather Aegyptian then Mosaick Of the fluid matter which was the material principle of the universe Of the Hypothesis of the eternity of the world asserted by Ocellus Lucanus and Aristotle The weakness of the foundations on which that opinion is built Of the manner of forming principles of Philosophy The possibility of creation proved No arguing from the present state of the world against its beginning shewed from Maimonides The Platonists arguments from the goodness of God for the eternity of the world answered Of the Stoical Hypothesis of the eternity of matter whether reconcilable with the text of Moses Of the opinions of Plato and Pythagoras concerning the praeexistence of matter to the formation of the world The contradiction of the eternity of matter to the nature and attributes of God Of the Atomical Hypothesis of the Origine of the Universe The World could not be produced by a casual concourse of Atoms proved from the nature and motion of Epicurus his Atoms and the Phaenomena of the Universe especially the production and nature of Animals Of the Cartesian Hypothesis that it cannot salve the Origine of the Universe without a Deity giving motion to matter pag. 421 CHAP. III. Of the Origine of Evil. Of the Being of Providence Epicurus his arguments against it refuted The necessity of the belief of Providence in order to Religion Providence proved from a consideration of the nature of God and the things of the world Of the Spirit of nature The great objections against Providence propounded The first concerns the Origine of evil God cannot be the author of sin if the Scriptures be true The account which the Scriptures give of the fall of man doth not charge God with mans fault Gods power to govern man by Laws though he gives no particular reason of every Positive precept The reason of Gods creating man with freedom of will largely shewed from Simplicius and the true account of the Origine of evil Gods permitting the fall makes him not the author of it The account which the Scriptures give of the Origine of evil compared with that of heathen Philosophers The antiquity of the opinion of ascribing the Origine of evil to an evil principle Of the judgment of the Persians Aegyptians and others about it Of Manichaism The opinion of the ancient Greek Philosophers of Pythagoras Plato the Stoicks the Origine of evil not from the necessity of matter The remainders of the history of the fall among the Heathens Of the malignity of Daemons Providence vindicated as to the sufferings of the good and impunity of bad men An account of both from natural light manifested by Seneca Plutarch and others pag. 470 CHAP. IV. Of the Origine of Nations All mankind derived from Adam if the Scriptures be true The contrary supposition an introduction to Atheism The truth of the history of the flood The possibility of an universal deluge proved The flood universal as to mankind whether universal as to the earth and animals no necessity of asserting either Yet supposing the possibility of it demonstrated without creation of new waters Of the fountains of the deep The proportion which the height of mountains bears to the Diameter of the earth No mountains much above three mile perpendicular Of the Origine of fountains The opinion of Aristotle and others concerning it discussed The true account of them from the vapours arising from the mass of subterraneous waters Of the capacity of the Ark for receiving the Animals from Buteo and others The truth of the deluge from the Testimony of Heathen Nations Of the propagation of Nations from Noahs posterity Of the beginning of the Assyrian Empire The multiplication of mankind after the flood Of the Chronology of the LXX Of the time between the flood and Abraham and the advantages of it Of the pretence of such Nations who called themselves Aborigines A discourse concerning the first plantation of Greece the common opinion propounded and
there being no prevalency at all in any one particle above another in bigness or motion it is manifest that this universal matter to whom motion is so essential and natural will be ineffectual for the producing of any variety of appearances in nature for nothing could be caused by this thin and subtile matter but what would be wholly imperceptible to any of our senses and what a strange kind of visible world would this be From hence then it appears that there must be an infinitely powerful and wise God who must both put matter into motion and regulate the motion of it in order to the producing all those varieties which appear in the world And this necessity of the motion of matter by a power given it from God is freely acknowledged by Mr. Des Cartes himself in these words Considero materiam sibi libere permissam nullum aliunde impulsum suscipientem ut plane quiescentem illa autem impellitur à Deo tantundem motus five translationis in ea conservante quantum abinitio posuit So that this great improver and discoverer of the Mechanical power of matter doth freely confess the necessity not only of Gods giving motion in order to the Origine of the Universe but of his conserving motion in it for the upholding it So that we need not fear from this Hypothesis the excluding of a Deity from being the prime efficient cause of the world All the question then is concerning the particular manner which was used by God as the â—fficient cause in giving being to the world As to which I shall only in general suggest what Maimonides sayes of it Omnia simul creata â—rant postea successive ab invicem separata although I am somewhat inclinable to that of Gassendus majus â—st mundus opus quam ut assâ—qui mens humana illius molitionem possit To which I think may be well applyed that speech of Solomon Then I beheld all the work of God that a man cannot finde out the work that is done under the Sun because though a man labour to seck it out yea further though a wise man think to know it yet shall he not be able to sinde it CHAP. III. Of the Origine of Evil. Of the Being of Providence Epieurus his arguments against it refuted The necâ—ssity of the belief of Providence in order to Religion Providence proved from a consideration of the nature of God and the things of the world Of the Spirit of nature The great objections against Providence propounded The first concerns the Origine of evil God cannot be the author of sin if the Scriptures be true The account which the Scriptures give of the fall of man doth not charge God with mans fault Gods power to govern man by Laws though he gives no particular reason of every Positive precept The reason of Gods creating man with freedom of will largely shewed from Simplicius and the true account of the Origine of evil Gods permitting the fall makes him not the author of it The account which the Scriptures give of the Origine of evil compared with that of Heathen Philosophers The antiquity of the opinion of ascribing the Origine of evil to an evil principle Of the judgment of the Perâ—â—ans Aegyptians and others about it Of Manichaism The opinion of the ancient Greek Philosophers of Pythagoras Plato the Stoicks the Origine of evil not from the necessity of matter The remainders of the history of the fall among the Heathens Of the malignity of Daemonâ— Providence vindicated as to the sufferings of the good and impunity of bad men An account of both from natural light manifested by Senecâ— Plutarch and others IT being now manifest not only that there is a God but that the world had its Being from him it thence follows by an easie and rational deduction that there is a particular band of Divine providence which upholds the world in its Being and wisely disposeth all events in it For it is a most irrational and absurd opinion to assert a Deity and deny providence and in nothing did Epicurus more discover the weakness and puerility of his judgment then in this Indeed if Epicurus had no other design in asserting a Deity then as many ancient Philosophers imagined to avoid the imputation of direct Atheism and yet to take away all foundations of Religion he must needs be said to serve his Hypothesis well though he did assert the Being of an excellent nature which he called God while yet he made him sit as it were with his â—lbows folded up in the heavens and taking no â—â—gnizâ—nce of humane actions For he well knew that if the belief of Divine providence were once rooted out of mens minds the thoughts of an excellent Being above the Heâ—vens would have no more aw or power upon the hearts and lives of men then the telling men that there are Iâ—wels of inestimable value in the Indies makes them more ready to pay taxes to their Princes For that Philosopher could not be ignorant that it is not worth but power nor speculation but interest that rules the world The poor Tenant more regards his petty Landlord then the greatest Prince in the world that hath nothing to do with him and he thinks he hath great reason for it for he neither fears punishment nor hopes for reward from him whereas his Landlord may dispossess him of all he hath upon displeasure and may advantage him the most if he gains his favour Supposing then that there were such an excellent Being in the world which was compleatly happy in himself and thought it an impairing of his happiness to trouble himself with an inspection of the world Religion might then be indeed derived à relegendo but not à religando there might be some pleasure in contemplating his nature but there could be no obligation to obedience So that Epicurus was the first sounder of a kind of Philosophical Antinomianism placing all Religion in a veneration of the Deity purely for its own exâ—â—llency without any such mercenary eye as those who serve God for their own ends as they say are apt to have to reward and punishment And I much doubt that good woman whom the story goes of who in an Enthusiastick posture ran up and down the strects with emblems in her hands fire in the one as she said to burn up Heaven and water in the other to quench Hell that men might serve God purely for himself would if she had compassed her design soon brought Proselites enough to Epicurus and by burning Heaven would have burnt up the cords of Religion and in quenching Hell would have extinguished the aw and fear of a Deity in the world Indeed the incomparable excellency and perfection which is in the Divine nature to spirits advanced to a noble and generous height in Religion makes them exceedingly value their choice while they disregard what ever rivals with God for it but were it not for
them that believe In my name shall they cast out Devils c. This power then in the Primitive Church had a twofold argument in it both as it was a manifestation of the truth of the predictions of our Saviour and as it was an evidence of the Divine power of Christ when his name so long after his ascension had so great a command over all the infernal spirits and that so evidently that at that time when the Christians did as it were Tyrannize over Satan so in his own territories yet then the greatest of his Magicians had no power to hurt the bodyes of the Christians which is a thing Origen takes much notice of For when Celsus saith from Diogenes Aegyptius that Magick could only hurt ignorant and wicked men and had no power over Philosophers Origen replies first that Philosophy was no such charm against the power of Magick as appears by Maeragenes who writ the story of Apollonius Tyaneus the famous Magician and Philosopher who therein mentions how Euphrates and an Epicurean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no vulgar Philosophers were catched by the Magick of Apollonius and although Philostratus disowns this History of Maeragenes as fabulous yet he that thinks Philostratus for that to be of any greater credit is much deceived of whom Lud. Vives gives this true character that he doth magna Homeri mendacia majoribus mendaciis corrigere mend one hole and make three but saith Origen as to the Christians this is undoubtedly true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This saith he we are most certain of and have found it by experience true that those who according to the principles of Christianity do worship God over all through Iesus and do live according to the Gospel being constant in their solemn prayers night and day are not obnoxious to the power of any Magick or Devils whatsoever Now then if the Devil who had then so much power over others had none upon the true followers of Christ and if in stead of that they had so great a commanding power over the Devil even in things which tended most to his disadvantage not only dislodging him out of bodies â—â—t out of his Idolatrous Temples what can be more evident then that this power which was so efficacious for the overthrowing the Kingdom of Satan must needs be far greater then the power of Satan is For it is an undoubted Maxime in natural reason that whatever is put out of its former place by force and violence is extruded by something stronger then its self for if the force on either side were equal there could be no disposses sing of either if any thing then be cast out of its former possession unwillingly it is an undenyable proof there was some power greater then his who was dispossessed Now we cannot conceive if there be such malignant spirits as by many undeniable proofs it is evident there are that they should willingly quit their possessions to such a doctrine which tends to the unavoydable ruine of their interest in the world if then the power of this doctrine hath overthrown the Devils Kingdom in the world whereever it hath been truly entertained it must necessarily follow that this power is far above the power of any damned spirits Now what folly and madness was it in the Heathens to worship those for Gods which they could not but see if they would open their eyes were under so great slavery to a power above them which could make them confess what was most to their disadvantage in the presence of their great adorers Neither ought the many counterfeits and impostures which have been in the world in this kind since the establishment of Christian Religion among the advancers of particular interests and designs make us suspect the truth of those things which were done in the first Ages of the Church of Christ. For first it stands to the greatest reason that the strongest arguments for the truth of a Religion ought to be fetched from the ages of its first appearance in the world if then the evidence be undoubted as to those first times we ought to embrace our Religion as true whatever the impostures have been among those who have apparently gone aside from that purity and simplicity of the Gospel which had so great power Then secondly if all that hath been done in this kind of ejecting Devils where Christianity is owned be acknowledged for impostures one of these two things must be supposed as the ground of it either that there was no such thing as a real possession by the Devil or else there was no such thing as a dispossessing him If the first then hereby will be seen a confirmation of our former argument that where Christianity is owned by the power of that the Devil is more curbed and restrained then where it is not or else is much over-run with ignorance and superstition Of the latter the ages of the Christian Church from the 10. Century to the beginning of the 16. current are a clear evidence Of the first all those who have been conversant in the places where Paganism or gross Idolatry do yet reign will bring in their creditable testimonies how tyrannical the power of the Devil is yet among them If it be not so then where careful endeavours have been used for retriving the ancient pâ—rity of Christian doctrine and worship we ought to impute it to the power of him who is stronger then Satan who whereever he comes to dwell doth dispossess him of his former habitations If the second then be entertained as the ground of concluding all things as impostures which are accounted dispossessions of Satan viz. that he never is really dispossessed then it must either be said that where he is once seized there is no possibility of ejecting him which is to say that the Devil hath an absolute and infinite power and that there is no power greater then his which is to own him for God or else that God suffers him to tyrannize where and how he will which is contrary to divine providence and the care God takes of the world and of the good of mankind or else lastly that those persons who pretend to do it are not such persons who are armed so much with the power of Christ nor possessed with such a due spirit of the Gospel which hath command over these infernal spirits And this in the cases pretended by the great Iuglers and Impostors of the Christian world the Popish Priests have been so notorious that none of their own party of any great faith or credit would stand to vouch them And we have this impregnable argument against all such Impostures that the matters which they by such actions would give an evidence to being so vastly different from if not in some things diametrically opposite to the first delivery and design of the Christian faith it is inconsistent with the way used for the confirmation of Christian Religion in the first publishing of
convictions should stick so fast in the minds of those who would fain pull out those pierâ—ing arrows but that there is a greater power in them then they are mnsters of and they cannot stand against the force whereby they come upon them nor find any salve to cure the wounds which are made within them but by those weapons which were the causes of them And therefore when wicked persons under conflicts of conscience cannot ease themselves by direct Atheism or finding reasons to cast off such convictions by discerning any invalidity in the Testimony whereon the truth of these things depends it is a certain argument that there is abundant truth in that Testimony when men would fain perswade themselves to believe the contrary and yet cannot 5. The truth of this consent appears from the unanimity of it among those persons who have yet strangely differed from each other in many controversies in Religion We see thereby this unanimity is no forced or designed thing because we see the persons agreeing in this do very much disagree from each other in other things And the same grounds and reasons whereon they disagree as to other things would have held as to these too were there not greater evidence of the certainty of these things then of those they fall out about It hath not yet become a question among those who differ so much about the sense of Scripture whether the Scripture its self be the Word of God although the very accounts on which we are to believe it to be so hath been the subject of no mean Controversies All the divided parts of the Christian world do yet fully agree in the matters of fact viz. that there was such a person as Iesus Christ and that he did many great miracles that he dyed on the Cross at Jerusalem and rose again from the dead now these contain the great foundations of Christian faith and therefore the multitude of other controversies in the world ought to be so far from weakning our faith as to the truth of the doctrine of Christ which men of weak judgements and Atheistical spirits preâ—end that it ought to be a strong confirmation of it when we see persons which so peevishly quarrel with each other about some inferiour and less weighty parts of Religion do yet unanimously consent in the principal foundations of Christian faith and such whereon the necessity of faith and obedience as the way to salvation doth more immediately depend And this may be one great reason why the infinitely wise God may suffer such lamentable contentions and divisions to be in the Christian world that thereby inquisitive persons may see that if Religion had been a meer design of some few politick persons the quarrelsom world where it is not held in by force would never have consented so long in the owning such common principles which all the other controversies are built upon And although it be continually seen that in divided parties one is apt to run from any thing which is received by the other and men generally think they can never run far enough from them whose errours they have discovered that yet this principle hath not carryed any considerable party of the Christian world out of their indignation against those great corruptions which have crept into the world under a pretence of Religion to the disowning the foundation of Christian Faith must be â—artly imputed to the signal hand of divine providence and partly to those strong â—vidences which there are of the truth of that Testimony which conveyes to uâ— the foundations of Christian Faith Thus we see now how great and uncontrouled this consent is as to the matters of fact delivered down from the eye-witnesses of them concerning the actions and miracles of our blessed Saviour which are contained in the Scriptures as authentical records of them and what a sure foundation there is for a firm assent to the truth of the things from so universal and uninterrupted a tradition Thus far we have now manifested the necessity of the miracles of Christ in order to the propagation of Christianity in the world from the consideration of the persons who were to propagate it in the world the next thing we are to considâ—r is the admirable success which the Gospel met with in the world upon its being preached to it Of whâ—ch no rational account can be given unless the actions and miracles of our Saviour were most undoubtedly true That the Gospel of Christ had very strange and wonderful success upon its first preaching hath been partly discovered already and is withall so plain from the long continuance of it in these European parts that none any wayes conversant in the history of former ages can have any ground to question it But that this strange and admirable success of the doctrine of Christ should be an evidence of the Truth of it and the miracles wrought in confirmation of it will appear from these two considerations 1. That the doctrine its self was so directly contrary to the general inclinations of the world 2. That the propagation of it was so much opposed by all worldly power 1. That the doctrine its self was so opposite to the general inclinations of the world The doctrine may be considered either as to its credenda or matters of faith or as to its agenda or matters of life and practice both these were contrary to the inclinations of the world the former seemed hard and incredible the latter harsh and impossible 1. The matters of faith which were to be believed by the world were not such things which we may imagine the vulgar sort of men would be very forward to run after nor very greedy to imbrace 1. Because contrary to the principles of their education and the Religion they were brought up in the generality of mankind is very tenacious of those principles and prejudices which are sucked in in the time of Infancy There are some Religions one would think it were impossible that any rational men should believe them but only on this account because they are bred up under them It is a very great advantage any Religion hath against another that it comes to speak first and thereby insinuates such an apprehension of its self to the mind that it is very hard removing it afterwards The understanding seems to be of the nature of those things which are communis juris and therefore primi sunt possidentis when an opinion hath once got possession of the mind it usually keeps out whatever comes to disturb it Now we cannot otherwise conceive but all those persons who had been bred up under Paganism and the most gross Idolatry must needs have a very potent prejudice against such a doctrine which was wholly irreconcileable with that Religion which they had been devoted to Now the stronger the prejudice is which is conveyed into mens minds by the force of education the greater strength and power must there needs be in
the Gospel of Christ which did so easily demolish these strong holds and captivate the understandings of men to the obedience of Christ. To which purpose Arnobius excellently speaks in these words to the Heathens Sed non creditis gesta haec Sed qui ea conspicati sunt fieri sub oculis suis viderunt agi testes optimi certissimique auctores crediderunt haec ipsi credenda posteris nobis haud exilibus cum approbationibus tradiderunt Quinam isti fortasse quaeritis gentes populi nationes incredulum illud genus humanum Quod nisi aperta res esset luce ipsa quemadmodum dicitur clarior nunquam rebus hujusmodi credulitatis suae commodarent assensum An nunquid dicemus illius temporis homines usque adeò fuisse vanos mendaces stolidos brutos ut quae nunquam viderant vidisse se fingerent quae facta omninò non erant falsis proderent testimoniis aut puerili assertione sirmarent Cumque possent vobiscum unanimiter vivere inoffensas ducere conjunctiones gratuita susciperent odia execrabili haberentur in nomine Quod si falsa ut dicit is historia illa rerum est unde tam brevi tempore totus mundus ista religione complet us est Aut in unam coire qui potuërunt mentem gentes regionibus dissiâ—â—ae ventis coelique convexionibus dimotae Asseverationibus illectae sunt nudis inductae in spes cassas in pericula capitis immittere se sponte temeraria desperatione voluërunt cum nihil tale vidissent quod eas in hos cult us novitatis suae possit excitare miraculo Imo quia haec omnia ab ipso cernebant geri ab ejus praeconibus qui per orbem totum missi beneficia patris munera sanandis animis hominibusque portabant veritatis ipsius vi victae dedërunt se Deo nec in magnis posuëre despendiis membra vobis projicere viscera sua lanianda praebere The substance of whose discourse is that it is impossible to suppose so many persons of so many Nations to be so far besotted and infatuated as not only to believe a Religion to be true which was contrary to that they were educated in but to venture their lives as well as estates upon it had it not been discovered to them in a most certain and infallible way by such who had been eye-witnesses of the actions and miracles of Christ and his Apostles And as he elsewhere speaks Vel haec saltem fidem vobis faciant argumenta credendi quod jam peromnes terras in tam brevi tempore parvo immensi nominis hujus sacramenta diffusa sunt quod nulla jam natio est tam barbari moris mansuetudinem nesciens quae non ejus amore versa molliverit asperitatem suam in placidos sensus assumpt â tranquillitate migraverit quod tam magnis ingeniis praediti Oratores Grammatici Rhetores Consulti juris ac Medici Philosophiae etiam secreta rimantes magisteria haec expetunt spretis quibus paulò ante sidebant c. Will not this perswade the world what firm foundations the faith of Christans stands on when in so short a time it is spread over all parts of the world that by it the most inhumane and barbarous Nations are softned into more then civility That men of the greatest wits and parts Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physitians Philosophers who not have for saken then former sentiments and adhered to the doctrine of Christ. Now I say if the power of education be so strong upon the minds of men to perswade them of the truth of the Religion they are bred up under which Atheistically disposed persons make so much advantage of this is so far from weakning the truth of Christianity that it proves a great confirmation of it because it obtained so much upon its first Preaching in the world notwithstanding the highest prejudices from education were against it If then men be so prone to believe that to be most true which they have been educated under it must argue a more then ordinary evidence and power in that religion which unsettles so much the principles of education as to make men not only question the truth of them but to renounce them and embrace a religion contrary to them Especially when we withall consider what strong-holds these principles of education were backed with among the Heathens when the doctrine of Christ was first divulged among them i. e. what plausible pretences they had of continuing in the religion which they were brought up in and why they should not exchange it for Christianity and those were 1. The pretended antiquity of their religion above the Christian the main thing pleaded against the Christians was divortium ab institutis majorum that they thought themselves wiser then their fore-fathers and Symmachus Libanius and others plead this most in behalf of Paganisme servanda est tot seculis fides sequendi sunt nobis parentes qui secuti sunt feliciter suos their religion pleaded prescription against any other and they were resolved to sollow the steps of their ancestors wherein they thought themselves happy and secure Caecilius in Minutius Felix first argues much against dogmatizing in religion but withall sayes it most becomes a lover of truth majorum excipere disciplinam religiones tradit as colere Deos quos à parentibus ante imbutus es timere nec de numinibus ferre sententiam sed prioribus credere So Arnobius tells us the main thing objected against the Christians was novellam esse religionem nostram ante dies natam propemodum paucos nâ—que vos potuisse antiquam patriam linquere in barbaros ritus peregrinosque traduci And Cotta in Tully long before laid this down as the main principle of Pagan religion majoribus nostris etiam nulla ratione reddita credere to believe the tradition of our Fathers although there be no evidence in reason for it And after he hath discovered the vanity of the Stoical arguments about religion concludes with this as the only thing he resolved his religion into mihi unum satis erit majores nostros it a tradidisse It is enough for me that it comes by tradition from our fore-fathers Lactantius fully sets forth the manner of pleading used by the Heathens against the Christians in the point of antiquity Hae sunt religiones quas sibi à majoribus suis traditas pertinacissime tueri ac defendere persiverant nec considerant quales sint sed ex hoc probat as atque veras esse confidunt quod eas veteres tradiderâ—nt tantaque est auctoritas vetustatis ut inquircre in eam scelus esse dicatur The English is they accounted tradition infallible and knew no other way whereby to find the truth of religion but by its conveyance from their fore-fathers How like herein do they speak to those
who contend for the corruptions crept into the Christian Church who make use of the same pretences for them viz. that they were delivered down from the Fathers tantaque est auctoritas vetustatis ut inquirere in eam scelus esse dicatur who are we who will see further then Antiquity But it is no wonder if Antiquity be accompanied with dimness of sight and so it was undoubtedly as to the Pagan world and as to the Christian too when such a mixture of Heathenism came into it And the very same arguments by which the pleaders for Christianity did justifie the truth of their religion notwithstanding this pretended antiquity will with equal force hold for a reformation of such inveterate abuses which under a pretence of antiquity have crept into the Christian Church Nullus pudor est ad meliora transire saith Ambrose in his answer to Symmachus what shame is it to grow better Quid facies saith Lactantius majores ne potius an rationem sequeris Sirationem mavis discedere te necesse est ab institutis auctoritate majorum quoniam id solum rectum est quod ratio praescribit Sin autem â—ietas majores sequi suadet sateris igitur stultos illos esse qui excogitatis contra rationem religionibus servierint te ineptum qui id colas quod falsum esse conviceris Where reason and meer authority of forefathers stand in competition he is more a child then a man that knows not on which side to give his suffrage But with the greatest strength and clearest reason Arnobius speaks in this case Itaque cum nobis intenditis aversionem à religione priorum causam convenit ut inspiciat is non sactum nec quid reliquerimus opponere sed secuti quid simus potissimum contueri When you charge us saith he that we are revolted from the religion of our forefathers you ought not presently to condemn the fact but to examine the reasons of it neither ought you so much to look at what we have left as what it is we have embraced Nam simutare sententiam culpa est ulla vel crimen i veteribus institutis in alias res novas voluntatesque migrare criminatio ista vos spectat qui totics vitam consuetudinem que mutastis qui in mores alios atque alios ritus priorum condemnatione transistis If meer departing from the religion of our ancestors be the great sault all those who own themselves to be Christians were themselves guilty of it when they revolted from Heathenism If it be here said that the case is different because there was sufficient reason for it which there is not as to the corruptions of the Christian Church if so then all the dispute is taken off from the matter of fact or the revolt to the causes inducing to it and if the Protestant be not able as to the causes of our separation from Rome to manifest that they were sufficient let him then be triumphed over by the Romanist and not before I affert then and that with much assurance of mind that the principles of the Reformation are justifiable upon the same grounds of reason which the embracing Christianity was when men of Heathens became Christians and that the arguments made use of by the Romanists against our separation from them are such as would have justified a Pagan Philosopher in not embracing Christianity For if it be unlawful for any party of men to divide from others in a matter of religion which pretends antiquity and universality it had been unlawful for a Philosopher to have deserted Paganism as well as for a Protestâ—nt to depart from Rome For according to the principles of the Romanists the judgement in the cause of the separation and of the truth of religion lies in that party from which we depart if we do now but apply this to the old Roman Senate or Emperors in the case of Christian religion and dividing from Heathen worship we shall quickly see how easie a matter it will be to make Christianity its self a Schism and the doctrine of Christ the greatest here sie But as strong as those pretences were then or have been since the power of the doctrine of Christ hath been so great as to conquer them and thereby to manifest that it was of God when such potent prejudices were not able to withstand it Of which Antiquity is the first 2. The large and universal spread of Pagan religion when Christianity came into the world there was never so great Catholicism as in Heathen worship when the Apostles first appeared in the Gentile world Inde adeo per universa imperia provincias oppida videmus singulos sacrorum ritus gentiles babere Dcos colere municipes saith Caecilius in Minutius Felix The great charge against the Christians was Novellism that they brought in a strange and unheard of religion The common Question was Where was your religion before Iesus of Nazareth as it hath been since Where was your religion before Luther and the same answer which served then will stand unmovable now there where no other religion is in the Word of God For this was the weapon whereby the Primitive Christians defended themselves against the assaults of Paganism and the evidences they brought that the doctrine preached by them and contained in the Scriptures was originally from God were the only means of overthrowing Paganism notwithstanding its pretended universality 3. Settlement by Laws of Heathen worship This was so much pretended and pleaded for that as far as we can finde by the history of the Primitive Church the pretence on which the Christians suffered was sedition and opposing the established Laws The Christians were reckoned inter illicitas factiones as appears by Tertullian among unlawful corporations the Politicians and Statesmen were all for preserving the Laws they troubled not themselves much about any religion but only that which was settled by Law they sought to uphold because the acting contrary to it might bring some disturbance to the civil state There were several Laws which the Christians were then brought under and condemned for the breach of 1. The Law against hetaeriae or conventicles as they were pleased frequently to stile the meeting of Christians together thence the places where the Christians assembled for worship were commonly called Conventicula it a appellabant loca saith Heraldus ubi congregabantur Christiani oraturi verbi divini interpretationem accepturi ac sacras Synaxes habituri but Elmenhorstius more shortly Conventicula loca sunt ubi Christiani Congregati orare consucverunt The places where the Christians did meet and pray together were called Conventicles in Basiâ—ica Siciunini ubi ritus Christiani est conventiculum saith Ammianus Marccllinus cur immaniter conventicula dirui saith Arnobius qui universum populum cum ipso pariter conventiculo concremavit as Lactantius likewise speaks Now the reason of the name was
because the Heathens judged these assemblies of Christians to be Illegal Societies For which we are to understand that in the time of the Roman Emperours when they grew suspicious of their own safety they severely prohibited ail those Sodalitia or Societies and Colledges which were very much in use in the Roman Commonwealth in imitation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Cities of Greece These were such societies of persons which voluntarily confederated together either for some particular design or for preserving Love and Friendship among each other and thence had their frequent meetings in common together Now the more numerous these were and the more â—losely they confederated the more jealous eye the Roman Emperors had upon them because of some clandestine designs which they suspected might be carried on for disturbance of the publike peace in such suspitious meetings Thence came out many particular edicts of the Emperours against all such kinds of societies Now when the Christians began to be somewhat numerous and had according to the principles of their Religion frequent Assemblies for Divine worship and did confederate together by such Symbols of being washed with water and eating and drinking together which was all the Heathâ—ns apprehended by their use of baptism and the Lords Supper the Proconsuls and other Magistrates in their several Provinces bring the Christians under these Edicts and so punished them for the breach of the Laws Which as appears by Pliny his Epistle to Trajan was the only account on which the wiser Heathens did proceed against the Christians for we see he troubled not himself much about the truth and evidence of Christian Religion but such persons were brought before him and after he had interrogated them whether they were Christians or no several times if they persisted he then punished them not so much for their Religion as for their obstinacy and contempt of authority For so much is imâ—lyed in those words of his Neque enim dubitabam qualâ—cunque esset quod faterentur pervicaciam certè inflexibilem obstinâ—tionem debere puniri that whatever their Religion was their obstinacy and disobedience deserved punishment That which the Christians now pleaded for themselves why they should not be reckoned among the factions of the people was that which they gave in answer to Pliny that all their fault was Quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta nelatrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati abnegarent That they were wont upon their solemn days to meet together for divine worship and to Covenant with each other only for the practice of those things which were as much for the good of mankinde as their own viz. that they would not wrong and defraud others as to their bodies or estates And Tertullian approves of the Law against factions as de providentia modestia publica nè civitas in partes seinderetur as wisely intended to prevent Seditions but withall pleads that the society of Christians could not be reckoned inter illicitas factiones for saith he haec coitio Christianorum merito sane illicita si illicitis par merito damnanda si quis de ea queritur eo titulo quo de factionibus querela est In cujus perniciem aliquando convenimus Hoc sumus congregati quod dispersi hoc universi quod singuli neminem laedentes neminem contristantes quum probi quum boni coëunt quum pii quum casti congregantur non est factio dicenda sed curia If saith he the societies of Christians were like others there might be some reason to condemn them under the head of factions but as long as we meet together for no mans injury that whether divided or assembled we are still the same that we grieve and injure no body when such a company of good men meet together it is rather a Council then a faction 2. Another Law the Christians were brought under was that against Innovations in Religion thence it was laid so much to the charge of the Christians that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go contrary to the established Laws as Porphyrie said of Origen because he was a Christian he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when he speaks of Ammonius revolting from Christianity to Paganism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he turned to the way of life which was agreeable to the established Laws Now Christianity was every where looked on as a great Innovation insomuch that the Christians were accused to be legum morum naturae inimici as enemies to mankinde as well as the Laws because they drew men off from that way of Religion which mankinde had generally agreed in Thence Aemilianus the Praefect of Aegypt when he bids the Christians return to Paganism he useth these expressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return to the common sense of mankinde and to forget what was so much against it as he supposed Christianity to be When Paul preached at Athens his first accusation was that he was a preaâ—her of strange Deities because he preached to them Iesus and the resurrection And Demctrius at Ephesus knew no such potent argument against Paul as that his Religion destroyed the worship of Diana whom all Asia and the world worship So that the primitive Christians were then accounted the Antipodes to the whole world on which account they were so severely dealt with most Commonwealths observing the counsell of Mecaenas to Augustus in Dio to be sure to have a watchfull eye upon all Innovations in Religion because they tend so much to the disturbance of the Civil State 3. The Law of Sacriledge Thence Lactantius calls their Laws Constitutiones Sacrilegae Quin etiam sceleratissimi homicidae contra pios jura impia condiderunt nam constitutiones Sacrilegae disputationes Iurisperitorum leguntur injustae and as he tels us Domitius Ulpianus had collected all those Rescripta nefaria together which concerned the Christians from hence it was Christianity by Pliny is called amentia by Tacitus exitiabilis superstitio by Suetâ—nius Superstitio nova exitiabilis so much did these three great men agree in condemning the best Religion in the world for madness and new and detestable Superstition the ground of the great pique was the emnity declared by Christians against the Idolatrous Temples and worship of the Heathens 4. The Law against Treason for sometimes they proceeded so high as to accuse the Christians laesae Majestatis and thence they are commonly called publici hostes enemies to all civil Government Which they infer'd from hence 1. Because they would not sacrifice for the Emperors safety Ideo committimus saith Tertullian in Majestatem Imperatorum quia illos non subjicimus rebus suis Quia non ludimus de officio salutis
is to say he is no God Which was the reason that Tully said Epicurus did only nomine poncre re tollere Deos because such a notion of God is repugnant to natural light So that if this Idea doth wholly abstract from corporeal phantasms it thereby appears that there is a higher faculty in mans soul then meer imagination and it is hardly conceivable whence a faculty which thus extends its self to an infinite object should come but from an infinite Being especially if we consider 2. That the understanding in forming this Idea of God doth not by distinct acts first collect one perfection and then another and at last unite these together but the simplicity and unity of all these perfections is as necessarily conceived as any of them Granting then that the understanding by the observing of several perfections in the world might be able to abstract these severally from each being wherein they were yet whence should the Idea of the unity and inseparability of all these perfections come The mind may it is true knit some things together in fictitious Idea's but then those are so far from unity with each other that in themselves they speak mutual repugnancy to one another which makes them proper entia rationis but these several perfections are so far from speaking repugnancy to each other that the unity and inseparability of them is as necessary to the forming of this Idea as any other perfection whatsoever So that from hence it appears that the consideration of the perfections which are in the creatures is only an occasion given to the mind to help it in its Idea of God and not that the Idea its self depends upon those perfections as the causes of it as in the clearest Mathematical truths the manner of demonstration may be necessary to help the understanding to its clearer assent though the things in themselves be undoubtedly true For all minds are not equally capable of the same truths some are of quicker apprehension then others are now although to slower apprehensions a more particular way of demonstrating things be necessary yet the truths in themselves are equal though they have not equal evidence to several persons 3. It appears that this is no meer fictitious Idea from the uniformity of it in all persons who have freed themselves from the entanglements of corporeal phantasms Those we call entia rationis we find by experienee in our minds that they are formed ad placitum we may imagine them as many wayes as we please but we see it is quite otherwise in this Idea of God for in those attributes or perfections which by the light of nature we attribute to God there is an uniform consent in all those who have devested their minds of corporeal phantasms in their conceptions of God For while men have agreed that the object of their Idea is a being absolutely perfect there hath been no dissent in the perfections which have been attributed to it none have questioned but infinite wisdom goodness and power joyned with necessity of existence have been all implyed in this Idea So that it is scarce pâ—ssible to instance in any one Idea no not of those things which are most obvious to our senses wherein there hath been so great an uniformity of mens conceptions as in this Idea of God And the most gross corporeal Idea of the most sensible matter hath been more lyable to heats and disputes among Philosophers then this Idea of a being Infinite and purely spiritual Which strongly proves my present proposition that this Idea of God is very consonant to natural light for it is hardly conceivable that there should be so universal a consent of minds in this Idea were it not a natural result from the free use of our reason and faculties And that which adds further weight tâ— this argument is that although Infinity be so necessarily implyed in this Idea of God yet men do not attribute all kind of Infinite things to God for there being conceivable Infinite number Infinite longitude as well as infinite power and knowledge our minds readily attribute the latter to God and as readily abstract the other from his nature which is an argument this Idea is not fictitious but argues reality in the thing correspondent to our conception of it So much may suffice to clear the first proposition viz. that the notion of a God is very suitable to the faculties of mens souls and to that light of nature which they proceed by in forming the conceptions of things Those who deny that there is a God do assert other things on far less evidence of reason and must by their own principles deny some things which are apparently true One would expect that such persons who are apt to condemn the whole world of folly in believing the truth of Religion and would fain be admired as men of a deeper reach and greater wit and sagacity then others would when they have exploded a Deity at least give us some more rational and consistent account of things then we can give that there is a God But on the contrary we find the reasons on which they reject a Deity so lamentably weak and so easily retorted upon themselves and the hypotheses they substitute instead of a Deity so precarious obscure and uncertain that we need no other argument to evince the reasonableness of Religion then from the manifest folly as well as impiety of those who oppose it Which we shall make evident by these two things 1. That while they deny a Deity they assert other things on far less reason 2. That by those principles on which they deny a Deity they must deny some things which are apparently true 1. That they assert some things on far less reason then we do that there is a God For if there be not an infinitely powerful God who produced the world out of nothing it must necessarily follow according to the different principles of the Aristotelian and Epicurean Atheists that either the world was as it is from all eternity or else that it was at first made by the fortuitous concourse of Atoms Now I appeal to the reason of any person who hath the free use of it Whether either of these two Hypotheses urged with the same or greater difficulties c. be not far more weakly proved then the existence of a Deity is or the production of the world by him 1. They run themselves into the same difficulties which they would avoid in the belief of a Deity and nothing can be a greater evidence of an intangled mind then this is To deny a thing because of some difficulty in it and instead of it to assert another thing which is chargeable with the very same difficulty in a higher degree Thus when they reject a Deity because they cannot understand what infinity means both these Hypotheses are lyable to the same intricacy in apprehending the nature of something Infinite For according to the Epicureans
our senses more assured of then that the snow is white yet all the Philosophers were not of that opinion Is this then sufficient reason on which to deny an universal consent because some Philosophers opposed it when it is most undoubtedly true which Tully sharply speaks of the antient Philosophers Nihil tam absurdum quod non dixerit aliquis Philosophorum there was no absurdity so great but it found a Philosopher to vouch it But in this case those Philosophers who questioned the existence of a Deity though they were not for number to be compared with those who asserted it yet were not so inexcusable therein as our modern Atheists because they then knew no other way of Religion but that which was joyned with horrible superstition and ridiculous rites of worship they were strangers to any thing of divine revelation or to any real miracles wrought to confirm it and to such a way of serving God which is most agreeable to the Divine nature most suitable to our reason most effectual for advancing true goodness in the world And although this most excellent Religion viz. the Christian be subject to many scandals by reason of the corruptions which have been mixed with it by those who have professed it yet the Religion its self is clear and untainted being with great integrity preserved in the sacred records of it So that now Athcism hath far less to plead for its self then it had in the midst of the ignorance and superstition of the Heathen Idolatries But if we should grant the Athcist more then he can prove that the number of such who denyed a Deity hath been great in all ages of the world is it probable they should speak the sense of nature whose opinion if it were embraced would dissolve all tyes and obligations whatsoever would let the world loose to the highest licentiousness without check or controul and would in time overturn all civil Societies For as Tully hath largely shewn Take away the being and providence of God out of the world and there follows nothing but perturbation and confusion in it not only all sanctity piety and devotion is destroyed but all faith vertue and humane Societies too which are impossible to be upheld without Religion as not only he but Plato Aristotle and Plutarch have fully demonstrated Shall such persons then who hold an opinion so contrary to all other dictates of nature rather speak the sense of nature then they who have asserted the Belief of a Deity which tends so much to advance nature to regulate the world and to reform the lives of men Certainly if it were not a dictate of nature that there was a God it is impossible to conceive the world should be so constant in the belief of him when the thoughts of him breed so many anxicties in mens minds and withall since God is neither obvious to sense nor his nature comprehensible by humane reason Which is a stronger evidence it is a character of himself which God hath imprinted on the minds of men which makes them so unanimously agree that he is when they can neither see him nor yet fully comprehend him For any whole Nation which have consented in the denyal of a Deity we have no evidence at all some suspicions it is true there were at first concerning some very barbarous people in America but it is since evident though they are grosly mistaken as to the nature of God yet they worship something in stead of him such as the Toupinambors Caribes Patagons Tapuiae and others of the last of which Vossius from one Christophorus Arcissewski a Polonian Gentleman who was among them hath given a large account of their Religion and the manner of their worshipping of their gods both good and bad And that which among these Indians much confirms our present argument is that only those who have been the most barbarous and savage Nations have been suspected of irreligion but the more civilized they have been the more evident their sense of Religion The Peruvians worship one chief God whom they call Viracocha and Pachacamak which is as much as the Creator of heaven and earth And of the Religion of the Mexicans Lipsius and others speak So that the nearer any have approached to civility and knowledge the more ready they have been to own a Deity and none have had so little sense of it as they who are almost degenerated to Brutes and whether of these two now comes nearer to reason let any one who hath it judge Another great evidence that God hath imprinted a character or Idea of himself on the minds of men is because such things are contained in this Idea of God which do necessarily imply his existence The main force of this argument lies in this That which we do clearly distinctly perceive to belong to the nature and essence of a thing may be with truth affirmed of the thing not that it may be affirmed with truth to belong to the nature of the thing for that were an empty Tautology but it may be affirmed with truth of the thing its self as if I clearly perceive upon exact enquiry that to be an animal doth belong to the nature of man I may with truth affirm that man is a living creature if I find it demonstrably true that a Triangle hath three angles equal to two right ones then I may truly affirm it of any Triangle but now we assume that upon the most exact search and enquiry I clearly perceive that necessary existence doth immutably belong to the nature of God therefore I may with as much truth affirm that God exists as that man is a living creature or a Triangle hath three angles equal to two right ones But because many are so apt to suspect some kind of Sophism in this argument when it is managed from the Idea in mens minds because that seems to imply only an objective reality in the mind and that nothing can be thence interred as to the existence of the thing whose Idea it is I therefore shall endeavour to manifest more clearly the force of this argument by proving severally the suppositions which it stands upon which are these three 1. That clear and distinct perception of the mind is the greatest evidence we can have of the truth of any thing 2. That we have this clear perception that necessary existence doth belong to the nature of God 3. That if necessary existence doth belong to Gods nature it unavoidably follows that he doth exist Nothing can be desired more plain or full to demonstrate the force of this argument then by proving every one of these 1. That the greatest evidence we can have of the truth of a thing is a clear and distinct perception of it in our minds For otherwise the rational faculties of mans soul would be wholly useless as being not fitted for any end at all if upon a right use of them men were still lyable
ORIGINES SACRAE OR A Rational Account of the Grounds OF Christian Faith AS TO THE TRUTH AND Divine Authority OF THE SCRIPTURES And the matters therein contained By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET Rector of Sutton in Bedfordshire 2 Pet. 1. 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty Neque religio ulla sine sapientia suscipienda est nec ulla sine religione probanda sapientia Lactant. de fals relig cap. 1. LONDON Printed by R. W. for Henry Mortlock at the sign of the Phoenâ—â— in St. Pauls Church-yard near the little North-door 1662. To his most Honoured Friend and Patron Sr. ROGER BURGOINE Knight and Baronet Sir IT was the early felicitie of Moses when exposed in an Ark of Nilotick papyre to be adopted into the favour of so great a personage as the Daughter of Pharaoh Such another Ark is this vindication of the writings of that Divine and excellent Person exposed to the world in and the greatest ambition of the Author of it is to have it received into your Patronage and Protection But although the contexture and frame of this Treatise be far below the excellency and worth of the subject as you know the Ark in which Moses was put was of bulrushes daubed with slime and pitch yet when You please to cast your eye on the matter contained in it you will not think it beneath your Favour and unworthy your Protection For if Truth be the greatest Present which God could bestow or man receive according to that of Plurarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then certainly those Truths deserve our most ready acceptance which are in themselves of greatest importance and have the greatest evidence that they come from God And although I have had the happiness of so near relation to You acquaintance with You as to know how little You need such discourses which tend to settle the Foundations of Religion which you have raised so happy a Superstructure upon yet withal I consider what particular Kindness the souls of all good men bear to such Designs whose end is to assert and vindicate the Truth and Excellency of Religion For those who are enriched themselves with the inestimable Treasure of true Goodness and Piety are far from that envious temper to think nothing valuable but what they are the sole Possessors of but such are the most satisfied themselves when they see others not only admire but enjoy what they have the highest estimation of Were all who make a shew of Religion in the World really such as they pretend to be discourses of this nature vvould be no more seasonable then the commendations of a great Beauty to one vvho is already a passionate admirer of it but on the contrary vve see how common it is for men first to throw dirt in the face of Religion and then perswade themselves it is its natural Complexion they represent it to themselves in a shape least pleasing to them and then bring that as a Plea why they give it no better entertainment It may justly seem strange that true Religion which contains nothing in it but what is truly Noble and Generous most rational and pleasing to the spirits of all good men should yet suffer so much in its esteem in the world through those strange and uncouth vizards it is represented under Some accouting the life and practice of it as it speaks subduing our wills to the will of God which is the substance of all Religion a thing too low and mean for their rank and condition in the World while others pretend a quarrel against the principles of it as unsatisfactory to Humane reason Thus Religion suffers with the Author of it between two Thieves and it is hard to define which is more injurious to it that which questions the Principles or that which despiseth the Practice of it And nothing certainly will more incline men to believe that we live in an Age of Prodigies then that there should be any such in the Christian World who should account it a piece of Gentility to despise Religion and a piece of Reason to be Atheists For if there be any such things in the World as a true height and magnanimity of spirit if there be any solid reason and depth of judgement they are not only consistent with but only attainable by a true generous spirit of Religion But if we look at that which the loose and profane World is apt to account the greatest gallantry we shall find it made up of such pitiful Ingredients which any skilful rational mind will be ashamed to plead for much less to mention them in competition with true goodness and unfeigned piety For how easie is it to observe such who would be accounted the most high and gallant spirits to quarry on such mean preys which only tend to satisfie their brutish appetites or flesh revenge with the blood of such who have stood in the way of that ayery title Honour Or else they are so little apprehensive of the in ward worth and excellency of humane nature that they seem to envy the gallantry of Peacocks and strive to outvy them in the gayety of their Plumes such vvho are as seneca saith ad similitudinem parietum extrinsecùs culti vvho imitate the walls of their houses in the fairness of the outsides but matter not vvhat rubbish there lies within The utmost of their ambition is to attain enervatam felicitatem quâ permadescunt animi such a felicity as evigorates the soul by too long steeping it being the nature of all terrestrial pleasures that they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by degrees consume reason by effeminating and softening the Intellectuals Must we appeal then to the judgement of Sardanapalus concerning the nature of Felicity or enquire of Apicius what temperance is or desire that Sybarite to define Magnanimity who fainted to see a man at hard labour Or doth now the conquest of passions forgiving injuries doing good self-denial humility patience under crosses which are the real expressions of piety speak nothing more noble generous then a luxurious malicious proud and impatient spirit Is there nothing more becoming and agreeable to the soul of man in exemplary Piety and a Holy well-orderd Conversation then in the lightness and vanity not to say rudeness and debaucheries of those whom the world accounts the greatest gallants Is there nothing more graceful and pleasing in the sweetness candour and ingenuity of a truly Christian temper and disposition then in the revengeful implacable spirit of such whose Honour lives and is fed by the Blood of their enemies Is it not more truly honourable and glorious to serve that God who commands the World then to be a slave to those passions and lusts which put men upon continual hard service and torment them for it when they have done it Were there nothing else to commend Religion
to the minds of men besides that tranquillity and calmness of spirit that serene and peaceable temper which follows a good conscience whereever it dwells it were enough to make men welcom that guest which brings such good entertainment with it Whereas the amazements horrours and anxieties of mind which at one time or other haunt such who prostitute their Consciences to a violation of the Lawes of God and the rules of rectified reason may be enough to perswade any rational person that impiety is the greatest folly and irreligion madness It cannot be then but matter of great pity to consider that any persons whose birth and education hath raised them above the common people of the World should be so far their own enemies as to observe the Fashion more then the rules of Religion and to study complements more then themselves and read Romances more then the sacred Scriptures which alone are able to make them wise to salvation But Sir I need not mention these things to You unless it be to let You see the excellency of your choice in preferring true Vertue and Piety above the Ceremony and Grandeur of the World Go on Sir to value and measure true Religion not by the uncertain measures of the World but by the infallible dictates of God himself in his sacred Oracles Were it not for these what certain foundation could there be for our Faith to stand on and who durst venture his soul as to its future condition upon any authority less then the infallible veracity of God himself What certain directions for practice should we have what rule to judge of opinions by had not God out of his infinite goodness provided and preserved this authentick instrument of his Will to the World What a strange Religion would Christianity seem should we frame the Model of it from any other thing then the Word of God Without all controversie the disesteem of the Scriptures upon any pretence whatsoever is the decay of Religion and through many windings and turnings leads men at last into the very depth of Atheism Whereas the frequent and serious conversing with the mind of God in his Word is incomparably useful not only for keeping up in us a true Notion of Religion which is easily mistaken when men look upon the face of it in any other glass then that of the Scriptures but likewise for maintaining a powerful sense of Religion in the souls of men and a due valuation of it whatever its esteem or entertainment be in the World For though the true genuine spirit of Christianity which is known by the purity and peaceableness of it should grow never so much out of credit with the World yet none who heartily believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and that the matters revealed therein are infallibly true will ever have the less estimation of it It must be confessed that the credit of Religion hath much sufferd in the Age we live in through the vain pretences of many to it who have only acted a part in it for the sake of some pâ—ivate interests of their own And it is the usual Logick of Atheists crimine ab uno Disce omnes if there be any hypocrites all who make shew of Religion are such on which account the Hypocrisie of one Age makes way for the Atheism of the next But how unreasonable and unjust that imputation is there needs not much to discover unless it be an argument there are no true men in the World because there are so many Apes which imitate them or that there are no Jewels because there are so many Counterfeits And blessed be God our Age is not barren of Instances of real goodness and unaffected piety there being some such generous spirits as dare love Religion without the dowry of Interest and manifest their affection to it in the plain dress of the Scriptures without the paint and set-offs which are added to it by the several contending parties of the Christian World Were there more such noble spirits of Religion in our Age Atheism would want one of the greatest Pleas which it now makes against the Truth of Religion for nothing enlarges more the Gulf of Atheism then that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wide passage which lies between the Faith and Lives of men pretending to be Christians I must needs say there is nothing seems more strange and unaccountable to me then that the Practice of the unquestionable duties of Christianity should be put out of Countenance or slighted by any who own profess and contend for the Principles of it Can the profession of that be honourable whose practice is not If the principles be true why are they not practised If they be not true why are they professed You see Sir to what an unexpected length my desire to vindicate the Honour as well as Truth of Religion hath drawn out this present address But I may sooner hope for your pardon in it then if I had spent so much paper after the usual manner of Dedications in representing You to your self or the World Sir I know You have too much of that I have been commending to delight in Your own deserved praises much less in flatteries which so benign a subject might easily make ones pen run over in And therein I might not much have digressed from my design since I know few more exemplary for that rare mixture of true piety and the highest civility together in whom that inestimable jewel of religion is placed in a most sweet affable and obliging temper But although none will be more ready on any occasion with all gratitude to acknowledge the great obligations You have laid upon me yet I am so far sensible of the common vanity of Epistles Dedicatory that I cannot so heartily comply with them in any thing as in my hearty prayers to Almighty for your good and welfare and in subscribing my self Sir Your most humble and affectionate servant Iune 5. 1662. ED. STILLINGFLEET THE PREFACE TO THE READER IT is neither to satisfie the importunity of friends nor to prevent false copies which and such like excuses I know are expected in usual Prefaces that I have adventured abroad this following Treatise but it is out of a just resentment of the affronts and indignities which have been cast on Religion by such who account it a matter of judgement to disbelieve the Scriptures and a piece of wit to dispute themselves out of the possibility of being happy in another world When yet the more acute and subtile their arguments are the greater their strength is against themselves it being impossible there should be so much wit and subtilty in the souls of men were they not of a more excellent nature then they imagine them to be And how contradictious is it for such persons to be ambitious of being cryed up for wit and reason whose design is to degrade the rational soul so far below her self as to make her become like the beasts
rejected The Hellens not the first inhabitants of Greece but the Pelasgi The large spread of them over the parts of Greece Of their language different from the Greeks Whence these Pelasgi came that Phaleg was the Pelasgus of Greece and the leader of that Colony proved from Epiphanius the language of the Pelasgi in Greece Oriental thence an account given of the many Hebrew words in the Greek language and the remainders of the Eastern languages in the Islands of Greece both which not from the Phaenicians as Bochartus thinks but from the old Pelasgi Of the ground of the affinity between the Jews and Lacedaemonians Of the peopling of America pag. 533 CHAP. V. Of the Origine of the Heathen Mythology That there were some remainders of the ancient history of the world preserved in the several Nations after the dispersion How it came to be corrupted by decay of knowledge increase of Idolatry confusion of languages An enquiry into the cause of that Difficulties against the common opinion that languages were confounded at Babel Those difficulties cleared Of the fabulousness of Poets The particular ways whereby the Heathen Mythology arose Attributing the general history of the World to their own Nation The corruption of Hebraisms Alteration of names Ambiguity of sense in the Oriental languages Attributing the actions of many to one person as in Jupiter Bacchus c. The remainders of Scripture history among the Heathens The names of God Chaos formation of man among the Phaenicians Of Adam among the Germans Aegyptians Cilicians Adam under Saturn Cain among the Phaenicians Tubalcain and Jubal under Vulcan and Apollo Naamah under Minerva Noah under Saturn Janus Prometheus and Bacchus Noahs three sons under Jupiter Neptune and Pluto Canaan under Mercury Nimrod under Bacchus Magog under Prometheus Of Abraham and Isaac among the Phaenicians Jacobs service under Apollo's The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Bethel Joseph under Apis. Moses under Bacchus Joshua under Hercules Balaam under the old Silenus pag. 577 CHAP. VI. Of the Excellency of the Scriptures Concerning matters of pure divine revelation in Scripture the terms of Salvation only contained therein The ground of the disesteem of the Scriptures is tacite unbelief The Excellency of the Scriptures manifested as to the matters which God hath revealed therein The excellency of the discoveries of Gods nature which are in Scripture Of the goodness and love of God in Christ. The suitableness of those discoveryes of God to our natural notions of a Deity The necessity of Gods making known himself to us in order to the regulating our conceptions of him The Scriptures give the fullest account of the state of mens souls and the corruptions which are in them The only way of pleasing God discovered in Scriptures The Scriptures contain matters of greatest mysteriousness and most universal satisfaction to mens minds The excellency of the manner wherein things are revealed in Scriptures in regard of clearness authority purity uniformity and perswasiveness The excellency of the Scriptures as a rule of life The nature of the duties of Religion and the reasonableness of them The greatness of the encouragements to Religion contained in the Scriptures The great excellency of the Scriptures as containing in them the Covenant of Grace in order to mans Salvation pag. 599 ERRATA PAge 11. l. 15. r. existence p. 17. l. 28. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 21. l. 19. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 22. l. 21. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 27. l. 14. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 31. l. 2. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 35. l. 16. r. 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The obscurity and defect of Ancient History The knowledge of truth proved to be the most natural perfection of the rational soul yet error often mistaken for truth the accounts of it Want of diligence in its search the mixture of truth and falshood Thence comes either rejecting truth for the errors sake or embracing the error for the truths sake the first instanced in Heathen Philosophers the second in vulgar Heathen Of Philosophical Atheism and the grounds of it The History of Antiquity very obscure The question stated where the true History of ancient times to be found in Heathen Histories or only in Scripture The want of credibility in Heathen Histories asserted and proved by
the wonderful providence of God that out of this eater came forth meat and out of that Lion honey that the most considerable testimonies by him produced against our Religion were of the greatest strength to refute his own For he being of too great Learning to be satisfied with the vain pretences of the Graecians he made it his business to search after the most ancient Records to find out somewhat in them to confront with the antiquity of the Scriptures but upon his search could find none of greater veneration then the Phoenician History nor any Author contending for age with this Sanchoniathon Yet when he had made the most of his Testimony he was fain to yield him younger then Moses◠though he supposeth him elder then the Trojan Wars And yet herein was he guilty of a most gross 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not much exceeding the Graecians in his skill in Chronology when he makes Semiramis coexistent with the Siege of Troy as is evident in his testimony produced at large by Eusebius out of his fourth Book against the Christians nay he goes to prove the truth of Sanchoniathons History by the agreement of it with that of Moses concerning the Iews both as to their names and places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby he doth evidently assert the greater Truth and Antiquity of Moses his History when he proves the truth of Sanchoniathons from his consonancy with that Two things more Porphyrie insists on to manifest his credibility the one I suppose relates to what he reports concerning the Iews the other concerning the Phoenicians themselves For the first that he made use of the Records of Ierombaal the Priest of the God Ieuo or rather Iao for the other that he used all the records of the several Cities and the sacred inscriptions in the Temples Who that Ierombaal was is much discussed among learned men the finding out of which hath been thought to be the most certain way to determine the age of Sanchoniathon The learned Bochartus conceives him to be Gideon who in Scripture is called Ierub-baal which is of the same sense in the Phoenician language only after their custome changing one b into m as in Ambubajae Sambuca c. But admitting the conjecture of this learned person concerning Ierub-baal yet I see no necessity of making Sanchoniathon and him co-temporary for I no where find any thing mentioned in Porphyrie implying that but only that he made use of the records of Ierub-baal which he might very probably do at a considerable distance of time from him whether by those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we mean the Annals written by him or the records concerning his actions either of which might give Sanchoniathon considerable light into the history either of the Isralites or Phoenicians And it is so much the more probable because presently after the death of Gideon the Israelites worshipped Baal-berith by which most probably is meant the Idol of Berith or Berytus the place where Sanchoniathen lived by which means the Berytians might come easily acquainted with all the remarkable passages of Ierubbaal But I cannot conceive how Sanchoniathon could be cotemporary with Gideon which yet if he were he falls 182 years short of Moses especially because the building of Tyre which that Author mentions as an ancient thing as hath been observed by Scaliger is by our best Chronologers placed about the time of Gideon and about 65 years before the destruction of Troy I know Bochartus to avoid this argument hath brought some evidence of several places called Tyrus in Phoenicia from Scylax his Periplus but none that there was any more then one Tyrus of any great repute for antiquity Now this Tyrus Iosephus makes but 240 years elder then Solomons Temple and Iustin but one year elder then the destruction of Troy Neither can any account be given why Sidon should be so much celebrated by ancient Poets as Strabo tells us when Tyre is not so much as mentioned by Homer if the famous Tyre were of so great antiquity and repute as is pretended It cannot be denied but that there is mention in Scripture of a Tyre elder then this we speak of which we read of Ioshua 19. 29. which some think to be that wch was called Palaetyrus which Strabo makes to be 30 furlongs distant from the great Tyre but Pliny includes Palaetyrus within the circumference of Tyre and so makes the whole circuit of the City to be 19 miles It is not to me so certain to what place the name of Palaetyrus refers whether to any Tyrus before the first building of the great Tyre or to the ruines of the great Tyre after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar compared with the new Tyre which was built more inward to the Sea and was after besieged by Alexander the great It may seem probable that Palaetyrus may relate to the ruins of the great Tyre in that it was after included in its circuit and chiefly because of the prediction in Ezekiel 26. 4. Thou shalt be built no more for the Tyre erected after was built not on the Continent but almost in the Sea If so then Palaetyrus or the old famous Tyrus might stand upon a rock upon the brink-of the Continent and so the great argument of Bo-chartus is easily answered which is that after it is mentioned in Sanchoniathons history that Hypsouranius dwelt in Tyre upon the falling out between him and his brother Usous Usous first adventured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go to sea which saith he evidently manifests that the Tyre mentioned by Sanchoniathon was not the famous Insular Tyrus but some other Tyre This argument I say is now easily answered if the famous Tyre before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar did stand upon the Continent for then it might be the old famous Tyre still notwithstanding what Sanchoniathon speaks of the first venturing to sea after Tyre was built So then I conceive these several ages agreeable to the same Tyre the first was when it was a high strong rock on the sea-side without many inhabitants so I suppose it was when mentioned by Ioshua as the bound of the tribe of Asher The second Age was when it was built a great City by the Sidonians upon the former place and grew very populous and famous which lasted till Nebuchadnezzars time after this though it were never built up in the Continent again yet a little further into the Sea a new and goodly City was erected which was called new Tyre and the remains on the Continent side Palaetyrus Thus far then we have made good Scaligers opinion against Bochartus that the famous Sanchoniathon is not so old as he is pretended to be Which will be further manifest if that Abibalus to whom Sanchoniathon is supposed to dedicate his History were the Father to Hiram co-temporary with Solomon as Ios. Scaliger supposeth who was 154 years after the destruction of Troy In the Tyrian Dynasties produced
Diodorus relates set 30 Stars under the Planets these they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others they had as Princes over these which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former were as the privy Counsellors and these the Princes over them by whom in their courses they supposed the course of the year to be regulated We see then what a near affinity there was between Astrology and the Divinity of the Stars which makes Ptolomy call them Atheists who condemned Astrology because thereby they destroyed the main of their Religion which was the worshipping the Stars for Gods But it seems by Strabo that one of the Sects of the Chaldaeans did so hold to Astronomy still that they wholly rejected Genethlialogy which caused a great division among the Orchoëni and the Borsippeni two Sects among them so called from the places of their habitations And if we reckon the Zabii among the Chaldeans as Maimonides seems to do we have a further evidence of the Planetary Deities so much in request among the Chaldeans for the description he gives of them is to this purpose that they had no other gods but the Stars to whom they made statues and images to the Sun golden to the Moon silver and so to the rest of the Planets of the mettals dedicated to them Those images derived an influence from the Stars to which they were erected which had thence a faculty of foretelling future things which is an exact description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Talismans so much in request among the heathens such as the Palladium of Troy is supposed by learned men to have been These Talismans are by the Iews called Davids bucklers and are much of the same nature with the antient Teraphiâ— both being accurately made according to the positions of the heavens only the one were to foretell future things the other for the driving away some calamity Concerning these Zabii Maimonides tells us that the understanding their rites would give a great deal of light to several passages of Scripture which now lye in obscurity but little is supposed to be yet further known of them then what Scaliger hath said that they were the more Eastern Chaldeans which he fetcheth from the signification of the word several of their books are extant saith Scaliger among the Arabians but none of them are yet discovered to the European world Salmasius thinks these Zabii were the Chaldeans inhabiting Mesopotamia to which it is very consonant which Maimonides saith that Abraham had his education among them Said Batricides cited by Mr. Selden attributes the original of their religion to the time of Nahor and to Zaradchath the Persian as the Author of it who is conceived to be the same with Zoroaster who in all probability is the same with the Zertoost of the Persecs a Sect of the antient Persians living now among the Banyans in the Indyes These give a more full and exact account concerning the original birth education and Enthusiasmes or Revelations of their Zertoost then any we meet with in any Greek historians three books they tell us of which Zertoost received by Revelation or rather one book consisting of three several tracts whereof the first was concerning judicial Astrology which they call Astoodeger the second concerning Physick or the knowledge of natural things the third was called Zertoost from the bringer of it containing their religious rites the first was committed to the Iesopps or Magies the second to Physicians the third to the Darooes or Church-men wherein are contained the several precepts of their Law we have likewise the rites and customs of these Persees in their worship of fire with many other particular rites of theirs published sometime since by one Mr. Lord who was a long time resident among them at Surrat by which we may not only understand much of the religion of the antient Persians but if I mistake not somewhat of the Zabii too My reasons are because the antient Zaradcha or Zoroaster is by Said Batricides made the Author of the Zabii as we have seen already who was undoubtedly the founder of the Persian worship or rather a promoter of it among the Persians For Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that he was instructed in the rites of the Chaldeans which he added to the Persian rites besides their agreement in the chief point of Idolatry the worship of the Sun and consequently the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Symbol of the Sun the eternal fire is evident which as far as we can learn was the great and most early Idolatry of the Eastern Countries and further we finde God in Leviticus 26. 30. threatning to destroy their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Images of the Sun some render it but most probably by that word is meant the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearths where they kept their perpetual fire for those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used both for the Sun and Fire Now hence it appears that this Idolatry was in use among the Nations about Palaestine else there had been no need of so severe a threatning against it and therefore most probably the rites of the Zabii which must help us to explain the reasons of some particular positive precepts in the Levitical Law relating to Idolatry are the same with the rites of the Chaldeans and Persians who all agreed in this worship of the Sun and Fire which may be yet more probable from what Maimonides saith of them that Gens Zabaea erat gens quae implevit totum orbem it could not be then any obscure Nation but such as had the largest spread in the Eastern Countries which could be no other then the antient Chaldeans from whom the Persians derived their worship It may not seen altogether improbable that Balaam the famous Southsayer was one of these Zabii especially if according to Salmasius his judgement they inhabited Mesopotamia for Balaams Country seems to be there for it is said Numb 22. 5. that he dwelt in Pethor by the river i. e. saith the Chalâ—ee Paraphrast in Peor of Syria by Euphrates which in Scripture is called the river Esay 8. 7. But from this great obscurity as to the history of so ancient and so large a people as these Zabii are supposed to be we have a further evidence to our purpose of the defectiveness and insufficiency of the Eastern histories as to the giving any full account of themselves and their own original We are toâ—d indeed by some that Nabonasser did burn and destroy all the antient records of the Chaldeans which they had diligently preserved amongst them before on purpose to raise the greater reputation to himself and blot out the memory of his usurpation by burning the records of all their own antient Kings Which is a conceit I suppose hath no other ground then that the famous Aera so much celebrated by Astronomers and others did bear the name
which account we may justly reject all those pretended successions of Kings hâ—re in Britain from Gomer to Brute as fabulous And it will be the less wonder it should be so in those then accounted barbarous Nations when even among those who were the Planters of knowledge and civility among others the account of their ancient times is so dark confused and uncertain As it would sufficiently appear to any that would take the pains to examine the succession of the two first Dynastyes among the Latins the first before Aeneas his coming into Italy and the second of the Aeneadae after and certainly it will be sufficient ground to question the account of times before if in the third Dynasty when the succession seems so clear and so certain an Epocha as the building of Rome to deduce their accounts from their Chronology be uncertain which I shall briefly speak to For although Porcius Cato have in Dionysius the honour of finding out the first Palilia of the City of Rome which was the Feast observed to the honour of the God Pales in the time of which the foundations of Rome were laid yet there appears no great certainty in his undertaking for therein he was after contradicted by the learned Roman Varro Dionysius tells us that Cato found by the Censors tables the exact time from the expulsion of the Kings to the time of the Cities being taken by the Gauls from which time to his own he could not miss of it from the Fasti Consulares so that it cannot be denied but that Cato might have a certain account of times from the Regifugium to the time he writ his Origines But what certainty Cato could have from the first Palilia of the City to the expulsion of Tarquin we cannot understand For the succession of Kings must needs be very uncertain unless it be demonstrated from some publick monuments or certain records or some publick actions certainly known to have fallen out precisely in such a year of their several Reigns Now none of these do occur in the Roman history in all that Interval from the Palilia to the Regifugium so that not only the whole interval but the time of every particular Kings Reign are very uncertain And therefore Varro being destitute of any demonstration of that time had recourse to L. Tarrutius Firmanus to see if by his skill in Astronomy he could certainly find out the first Palilia of Rome His answer was that he found that the City was built in the time of an Eclipse of the Sun which was in the third year of the sixth Olympiad according to which account Varro proceeded and thence arose the difference between the Palilia Catoniana and Varroniana the latter falling out in the 23 of Iphitus the other in the 24. But if we believe Ioseph Scaliger there could not be an Eclipse of the Sun at the time affirmed by Tarrutius But yet granting an Eclipse of the Sun then what certainty can we have of the succession of the several Kings afterwards without which there can be no certain computation ab Urbe Condita If then the Romans who had so great advantage of knowing times and were withall so inquisitive concerning the building of their City which was a thing of no very remote distacne could attain to no absolute certainty without it what certainty can we expect as to an account of far ancienter times either from them or others when they had no Censors tables nor Fasti Consulares to be guided by And thus much may serve to shew the great uncertainty of Heathen Chronology as to the giving an account of ancient times And yet were it only an uncertainty as to Chronology we might better bear with it for the mistake meerly in computation of times were not so dangerous any further then the credibility of the history depends on the computation as in point of antiquity if we were but certain that the persons and actions related of them were such as they are reported to be But that which adds much to the confusion and uncertainty of Heathen history is the frequency of Impostures which are more hard to be discovered in that there are no authentick histories of those times extant which hath both given occasion to variety of imposture and much hindered their discovery For the curiosity of men leading them back into a search after ancient times it makes them exceeding credulous in embracing whatever pretends to give them any conduct through those dark and obscure paths of ancient history And the world hath never been wanting of such as would be ready to abuse the simple credulity of well-meaning but less wary men but those ages have been most feracious in the production of such persons which have pretended to more Learning then they had The pretence of learning made such persons appear and the want of it made them not be discovered Thus it was not only of old among the Chaldean and Aegyptian Priests and the Graecian Poets and Historians of whom we have spoken already but even among those who might have learned more truth from the Religion they professed then to think it stood in need of their lyes For there can be no greater disparagement offered to truth then to defend it with any thing but it self nothing laying truth so open to suspicion as when falshood comes to be its advocate And a false testimony discovered doth more prejudice to a good cause then it could any wayes advantage it were it not discovered and therefore their labours have been as serviceable to the world who have discovered Impostors as those who have directly maintained truth against its open opposers those being so much more dangerous in that they appear in the disguise of truth and therefore are with more difficulty discovered Such a one was that ignis fatuus that appeared in a kind of twilight in the Christian world between the former darkness of Barbarism and the approaching light of knowledge I mean Annius Viterbiensis who like Hannibal in passing the Alps not finding a way ready to his mind sets himself to burning the woods and firing the rocks and dissolving them with vinegar to make a passage through them So Annius being beset in those snowy and gray-headed Alps of ancient history and finding no way clear for him according to his fancy he labours to burn down all certain Records to eat through the credit of undoubted Authors to make a more free passage for his own history which he deduceth suitably to Scripture from the concurrent testimony of the eldest Historians To which purpose a New Berosus Manetho Philo Metasthenes as he mistook for Megasthenes and Xenophon must put on a grave disguise and walk abroad the world with a mantle of Antiquity about their shoulders although they were nothing else but aery Phantasms covered over with the Cowl of the Monk of Viterbo For being himself somewhat more versed in the history of those elder times then generally persons were
though with all imaginable evidence that it was undoubtedly his especially when they were engaged to the observation of some Laws or customs already by which their Commonwealth had been established And with all these Laws of Moses seeming so much against the interest and good husbandry of a Nation as all the neighbour Nations thought who for that accused them to be an iâ—le and slothful people as they judged by their resting wholly one day in seven the great and many solemn feasts they had the repairing of all the males to Jerusalem thrice a year the Sabbatical years years of Iubilee c. These things were apparently against the interest of such a Nation whose great subsistence was upon pasturage and agriculture So that it is evident these Laws respected not the outward interest of the Nation and so could not be the contrivance of any Politicians among them but did immediately aim at the honour of the God whom they served for whom they were to part even with their civil interests The doing of which by a people generally taken notice of for a particular Love of their own concernments is an impregnable argument these Laws could not take place among them had they not been given by Moses at the time of their unsettlement and that their future settlement did depend upon their present observation of them which is an evidence too that they could be of no less then divine original Which was more then I was to prove at present 4. Were not these writings undoubtedly Moses's whence should the neighbour Nations about the Iews notwithstanding the hatred of the Iewish religion retain so venerable an opinion of the Wisdom of Moses The Aegyptians accounted him one of their Priests which notes the esteem they had of his learning as appears by the testimonies produced out of Chaeremon and Manâ—tho by Iosephus Diodorus Siculus speaks of him with great respect among the famous Legislatours and so doth Strabo who speaks in commendation of the Religion established by him The testimony of Longinus is sufficiently known that Moses was no man of any vulgar wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chalcidius calls him sapientissimus Moses although I must not dissemble that Chalcidius hath been I think undeservedly reckoned among heathen writers though he comments on Plato's Timaeus it being most probable that he was a Christian Platonist which might more probably make Vaninus call him circumforaneum blateronem but though we exempt Chalcidius out of the number of those Heathens who have born testimony to the wisdom of Moses yet there are number enough besides him produced by Iustin Martyr Cyrill and others whose evidence is clear and full to make us undoubtedly believe that there could never have been so universal and uninterrupted a tradition concerning the writings and Laws of Moses had they not been certainly his and conveyed down in a continual succession from his time to our present age Which will be yet more clear if we consider in the second place that the national Constitution and setlement of the Iews did depend on the truth of the Laws and writings of Moses Can we have more undoubted evidence that there were such persons as Solon Lyâ—urgus and Numa and that the Laws bearing their names were theirs then the History of the several Commonwealths of Athâ—ns Sparta and Rome who were governed by those Laws When writings are not of general concernment they may be more easily counterfeited but when they concern the rights priviledges and government of a Nation there will be enough whose interest will lead them to prevent impostures It is no easie matter to forge a Magna Charta and to invent Laws mens caution and prudence is never so quick sighted as in matters which concern their estates and freeholds The general interest lyes contrary to such impostures and therefore they will prevent their obtaining among them Now the Laws of Moses are incorporated into the very Republick of the Iews and their subsistence and Government depends upon them their Religion and Laws are so interwoven one with the other that one cannot be broken off from the other Their right to their temporal possessions in the land of Canaan depends on their owning the Soveraignty of God who gave them to them and on the truth of the History recorded by Moses concerning the promises made to the Patriarchs So that on that account it was impossible those Laws should be counterfeit on which the welfare of a Nation depended and according to which they were governed ever since they were a Nation So that I shall now take it to be sufficiently proved that the writings under the name of Moses were undoubtedly his for none who acknowledge the Laws to have been his can have the face to deny the History there being so necessary a connexion between them and the book of Genesis being nothing else but a general and very necessary introduction to that which sollows CHAP. II. Moses his certain knowledge of what he writ The third Hypothesis concerns the certainty of the matter of Moses his History that gradually proved First Moses his knowledge cleared by his education and experience and certain information His education in the wisdom of Aegypt what that was The old Egyptian learning enquired into the conveniences for it of the Egyptian Priests Moses reckoned among them for his knowledge The Mathematical Natural Divine and Moral learning of Egypt their Political wisdom most considerable The advantage of Moses above the Greek Philosophers as to wisdom and reason Moses himself an eye-witness of most of his history the certain uninterrupted tradition of the other part among the Iews manifested by rational evidence HAving thus far cleared our way we come to the third Hypothesis which is There are as manifest proofs of the undoubted truth and certainty of the History recorded by Moses as any can be given concerning any thing which we yeild the firmest assent unto Here it must be considered that we proceed in a way of rational evidence to prove the truth of the thing in hand as to which if in the judgement of impartial persons the arguments produced be strong enough to convince an unbiassed mind It is not material whether every rangling Atheist will sit down contented with them For usually persons of that inclination rather then judgement are more resolved against light then inquisitive after it and rather seek to stop the chinks at which any light might come in then open the windows for the free and chearfull entertainment of it It will certainly be sufficient to make it appear that no man can deny the truth of that part of Scripture which we are now speaking of without offering manifest violence to his own faculties and making it appear to the world that he is one wholly forsaken of his own reason which will be satisfactorily done if we can clear these things First that it was morally impossible Moses should be ignorant of the things he
is in the work of Grace So that according to this opinion there must be immediate inspiration as to that act of faith whereby we believe any one to have been divinely inspired and consequently to that whereby we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God Secondly Doth not this make the fairest plea for mens unbelief For I demand Is it the duty of those who want that immediate illumination to believe or no If it be not their duty unbelief can be no sin to them if it be a duty it must be made known to be a duty and how can that be made known to them to be a duty when they want the only and necessary means of instruction in order to it Will God condemn them for that which it was impossible they should have unless God gave it them And how can they be left inexcuseable who want so much as rational inducements to faith for of these I now speak and not of efficacious perswasions of the mind when there are rational arguments for faith propounded But lastly I suppose the case will be cleared when we take notice what course God hath alwayes taken to give all rational satisfaction to the minds of men concerning the persons whom he hath imployed in either of the fore-mentioned cases First for those who have been imployed upon some special message and service for God he hath sent them forth sufficiently provided with manifestations of the Divine power whereby they acted As is most clear and evident in the present case of Moses Exodus 4. 1 2 3 4 5. where Moses puts the case to God which we are now debating of Supposing saith he that I should go to the Israelites and tell them God had appeared to me and sent me to deliver them and they should say God had not appeared unto me how should I satisfie them God doth not reject this objection of Moses as favouring of unbelief but presently shews him how he should satisfie them by causing a miracle before his face turning his rod into a Serpent and God gives this as the reason of it vers 5. That they may believe that the Lord God of their Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee It seems God himself thought this would be the most pregnant evidence of Gods appearing to him if he wrought miracles before their faces Nay lest they should think one single miracle was not sufficient God in the immediate following verses adjoyns two more which he should do in order to their satisfaction and further verse 21. God gave him a charge to do all those wonders before Pharoah which he had put into his hand And accordingly we find Pharoah presently demanding a miracle of Moses Exodus 7. 9. which accordingly Moses did in his presence though he might suppose Pharoahs demand not to proceed from desire of satisfaction but from some hopes that for want of it he might have rendred his credit suspected among the Israelites Indeed after God had delivered his people and had setled them in a way of serving him according to the Laws delivered by Moses which he had confirmed by unquestionable miracles among them we find a caution laid in by Moses himself against those which should pretend signs and wonders to draw them off from the Religion established by the Law of Moses And so likewise under the Gospel after that was established by the unparallel'd miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles we find frequent cautions against being deceived by those who came with pretences of doing great miracles But this is so far from infringing the credibility of such a Testimony which is confirmed by miracles that it yields a strong confirmation to the truth of what I now assert For the doctrine is supposed to be already established by miracles according to which we are to judge of the spirits of such pretenders Now it stands to the greatest reason that when a Religion is once established by uncontrouled miracles we should not hearken to every whiffling Conjurer that will pretend to do great feats to draw us off from the truth established In which case the surest way to discover the imposture is to compare his pretended miracles with those true and real ones which were done by Moses and Christ and the ground of it is because every person is no competent judge of the truth of a miracle for the Devil by his power and subtilty may easily deceive all such as will be led by the nose by him in expectation of some wonders to be done by him And therefore as long as we have no ground to question the oertainty of those miracles which were wrought by Christ or Moses I am bound to adhere to the doctrine established by those miracles and to make them my rule of judging all persons who shall pretend to work miracles Because 1. I do not know how far God may give men over to be deceived by lying wonders who will not receive the truth in the love of it i. e. those that think not the Christian Religion sufficiently confirmed by the miracles wrought at the first promulgation of it God in justice may permit the Devil to go further then otherwise he could and leave such persons to their own credulity to believe every imposture and illusion of their senses for true miracles 2. That doctrine which was confirmed by undoubted miracles hath assured us of the coming of lying wonders whereby many should be deceived Now this part of the doctrine of the Gospel is as certainly true as any of the rest for it was confirmed by the same miracles that the other was and besides that the very coming of such miracles is an evidence of the truth of it it falling out so exactly according to what was foretold so many hundred years since Now if this doctrine be true then am I certain the intent of these miracles is to deceive and that those are deceived who hearken to them and what reason then have I to believe them 3. To what end do these miracles serve Are they to confirm the truths contained in Scripture But what need they any confirmation now when we are assured by the miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles that the doctrine by them preached came from God and so hath been received upon the credit of those miracles ever since Were these truths sufficiently proved to be from God before or no If not then all former ages have believed without sufficient ground for faith if they were then what ground can there be to confirm us in them now certainly God who never doth anything but for very great purposes will never alter the course of nature meerly for satisfaction of mens vain curiosities But it may be it will be said It was something not fully revealed in Scripture which is thus confirmed by miracles but where hath the Scripture told us that anything not fully revealed
convince them of that which they believed already For we never read among all the revolts of the people of the Iews that they were lapsed so far as totally to reject the Law of Moses which had been to alter the constitution of their Commonwealth although they did enormously offend against the Precepts of it and that in those things wherein the honour of God was mainly concernd as is most plain in their frequent and gross Idolatry Which we are not so to understand as though they wholly cast off the worship of the true God but they superinduced as the Samaritans did the worship of Heathen Idols with that of the God of Israel But when the revolt grew so great and dangerous that it was ready to swallow up the true worship of God unless some apparent evidence were given of the falsity of those Heathen mixtures and further confirmation of the truth of the established religion it pleased God sometimes to send his Prophets on this peculiar message to the main instruments of this revolt As is most conspicuous in that dangerous design of Ieroboam when he out of a Politick end set up his two calves in opposition to the Temple at Ierusalem and therein it was the more dangerous in that in all probability he designed not the alteration of the worship it self but the establishment of it in Dan and Bethel For his interest lay not in drawing of the people from the worship of God but from his worship at Ierusalem which was contrary to his design of Cantonizing the Kingdom and taking the greatest share to himself Now that God might confirm his peoples faith in this dangerous juncture of time he sends a Prophet to Bethel who by the working of present miracles there viz. the renting the Altar and withering of Jeroboams hand did manifest to them that these Altars were displeasing to God and that the true place of worship was at Ierusalem So in that famous fire-Ordeal for trying the truth of religion between God and Baal upon mount Carmel by Elijah God was pleased in a miraculous way to give the most prâ—gnant testimony to the truth of his own worship by causing a fire to come down from heaven and consume the sacrifice by which the Priests of Baal were confounded and the people confirmed in the belief of the only true God for presently upon the sight of this miracle the people fall on their faces and say the Lord he is God the Lord he is God Whereby we plainly see what clear evidence is given to the truth of that religion which is attested with a power of miracles Thus the widdow of Sarepta which was in the Country of Zidon was brought to believe Elijah to be a true Prophet by his raising up her son to life And the woman said to Elijah Now by this I know that thou art a man of God and that the Word of the Lord by thy mouth is truth So we see how Naaman was convinced of the true God by his miraculous cure in Iordan by the appointment of Elisha Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel by which instances it is demonstrable that either the faith of all these persons was built upon weak and insufficient grounds or that a power of miracles is an evident confirmation of the truth of that religion which is established by them For this we see was the great end for which God did improve any of his Prophets to work miracles viz. to be as an evident demonstration of the truth of what was revealed by him So that this power of miracles is not meerly a motive of credibility or a probable inducement to remove prejudice from the person as many of our Divines speak but it doth contain an evident demonstration to common sense of the truth of that religion which is confirmed by them And thus we assert it to have been in the case of Moses the truth of whose message was attested both among the Aegyptians and the Israelites by that power of miracles which he had But herein we have the great Patrons of Moses our greatest enemies viz the present Iews who by reason of their emnity to the doctrine of Christ which was attested by unparalleld miracles are grown very shy of the argument drawn from thence In so much that their great Dr. Maimonides layes down this for a confident maxime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Israelites did not believe in Moses our Master for the sake of the miracles which he wrought Did they not the more shame for them and if they did the more shame for this great Rabbi thus to bely them But the reason he gives for it is because there may remain some suspition in ones mind that all miracles may be wrought by a power of Magick or Incantation Say you so what when Moses confounded all the Magicians in Aegypt and made themselves who were the most cunning in these things confess it was the finger of God and at last give out as not able to stand before Moses might one still suspect all this to be done by a Magical power Credat Iudaeus Apella non ego This is much like what another of their Doctors sayes whom they call the Divine Philosopher that Elisha his raising the child to life and curing Naamans leprosie and Daniels escaping the Lions and Ionas out of the Whales belly might all come to pass by the influence of the stars or by Pythonisme Very probable but it is most true which Vortius there observes of the Iews nibil non nugacissimi mortalium fingunt ne cogantur agnoscere virtute ac digito quasi ipsius Dei Iesum nostrum effecisse miracula sua All their design in this is only to elevate the miracles of our blessed Saviour and to derogate all they can from the belief of them Hence they tell us that nothing is so easie to be done as miracles the meer recital of the tetragrammaton will work wonders that by this Ieremiah and our Saviour did all their miracles It is well yet that he did more then one of their own Prophets had done before him but where I wonder do we read that ever the pronouncing of four letters raised one from the dead who had lain four dayes in the grave or by what power did Christ raise himself from the dead which was the greatest miracle of all could his dead body pronounce the tetragrammaton to awaken its self with But Maimonides further tells us that the miracles which Moses wrought among the Israelites were meerly for necessity and not to prove the truth of his Divine commission for which he instanceth in dividing the red sea the raining of Manna and the destruction of Corah and his complices But setting aside that these two latter were the immediate hand of God and not miracles done by Moses yet it is evidence that the intent of them was to manifest a Divine
by reason of the large diffusion of a Spirit of Holiness in the days of the Gospel be set upon the bells of Horses and that the pots in the Lords house should be as bowls before the altar i. e. that when the Levitical service should be laid aside and that Holiness which was that appropriated to the Priests and Instruments of the Temple should be discerned in those things which seemed most remote from it That a Priesthood after another order then that of Aaron should be established viz. after the order of Melchisedek and that he that was the Priest after this order should judge among the Heathen and wound the heads over many Countries that in the day of his power the people should not be frighted to obedience with thunderclaps and earthquakes as at Mount Sinai but should come and yield themselves as a free-will offering unto him and yet their number be as great as the drops of the dew which distill in the morning That God out of other nations would take unto himself for Priests and for Levites that the desire of all Nations should speedily come that the Messenger of the Covenant should come into his Temple nay that seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy City that then the vision and prophecie should be sealed up that the Sacrifice and oblation should be caused to cease that the City and the sanctuary should be destroyed and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the War desolations are determined that after three score and two weeks Messias should be cut off but not for himself that by him transgression should be finished and reconciliation for iniquity should be made and everlasting righteousness should be brought in And least all these things should be apprehended to be only a higher advancing of the Levitical worship and the way of external Ceremonies God expresly saith that he would make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband to them saith the Lord But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people Can any one that now considers seriously the state of things thus described as it should come to pass ever imagine that the Levitical service was ever calculated for this State Was Gods Worship to be confined to his Temple at Ierusalem when all the Nations of the earth should come to serve him Was the High Priest to make an attonement there when an order of Priesthood different from the Aaronical should be set up Must the Tribe of Levi only attend at the Temple when God would take Priests and Levites out of all Nations that serve him What would become of the Magnificence and glory of the Temple when both City and Sanctuary shall be destroyed and that must be within few prophetical weeks after the Messias is cut off And must the Covenant God made with the Israelites continue for ever when God expresly saith he would make a New one and that not according to the Covenant which he made with them then It is so evident then as nothing can well be more that under the Old Testament such a state of Religion was described and promised with which the Levitical worship would be inconsistent and so that the Ceremonial Law was not at first established upon an immutable reason which was the thing to be proved CHAP. VIII General Hypotheses concerning the Truth of the Doctrine of Christ. The great prejudice against our Saviour among Iews and Heathens was the means of his appearance The difference of the miracles at the delivery of the Law and Gospel Some general Hypotheses to clear the subserviency of miracles to the Doctrine of Christ. 1. That where the truth of a doctrine depends not on evidence but authority the only way to prove the truth of the Doctrine is to prove the Testimony of the revealer to be infallible Things may be true which depend not on evidence of the things What that is and on what it depends The uncertainty of natural knowledge The existence of God the foundation of all certainty The certainty of matters of faith proved from the same principle Our knowladge of any thing supposeth something incomprehensible The certainty of faith as great as that of knowledge the grounds of it stronger The consistency of rational evidence with faith Yet objects of faith exceed reason the absurdities following the contrary opinion The uncertainty of that which is called reason Philosophical dictates no standard of reason Of transubstantiation and ubiquity c. why rejected as contrary to reason The foundation of faith in matters above reason Which is infallible Testimony that there are ways to know which is infallible proved 2. Hypoth A Divine Testimony the most infallible The resolution of faith into Gods veracity as its formal object 3. Hypoth A Divine Testimony may be known though God speak not immediatly Of Inspiration among the Iews and Divination among the Heathens 4. Hyp. The evidences of a Divine Testimony must be clear and certain Of the common motives of faith and the obligation to faith arising from them The original of Infidelity HAving now cleared that the Law of Moses was capable of a repeal I come to the second enquiry whether the miracles of our Saviour did give a sufficient evidence of his power and authority to repeal it I shall not to prevent too large an excursion insist on any other evidences of our Saviours being the promised Mâ—ssias but keep close to the matter of our present debate concerning the evidence which ariseth from such a power of Miracles as our Saviour had in order to his establishing that doctrine which he came to publish to the world The great stumbling-block in reference to our blessed Saviour among both the Iews and learned Heathens was the meanness of his appearance in the world not coming attended with that state and magnificence which they thought to be inseparable from so great a person The Iews had their senses so possâ—ssed with the thundrings and lightnings on mount Sinai that they could not imagine the structure of their Ceremonial worship could be taken down with less noise and terror then it was erâ—cted with And withall collecting all those passages of the Old Testament which seemed to foretell such glorious things of the dayes of the Messias which â—ither refer to his second coming or must be understood in a spiritual sense they having their minds oppressed with the sense of their present calamities applyed them wholly to an external greatness whereby
as a certain Truth and therefore they hope the danger is not so great in neglecting the salvation promised by the Gospel I cannot conceive that men otherwise learned and sober should with so much confidence assert that the rational evidences of a Divine Testimony are insufficient to prove a doctrine true unless it be from hence that they find that notwithstanding the strongest evidences many persons continue in unbelief For say they if these arguments were scientifical and demonstrative as they speak of the truth of the doctrine attested by them then all persons to whom they are propounded must certainly believe But this is very easily answered for we speak not of internal but outward evidence not of that in the subject but of the object or more fully of the reason of the thing and not the event in us for doubtless there may be undoubted truth and evidence in many things which some persons either cannot or will not understand If Epicurus should contend still that the Sun and stars are no bigger then they seem to be will it hence follow that there can be no rational demonstration of the contrary Nay if the way of demonstration be offered him and Telescopes put into his hands yet if he be resolved to maintain his credit and therefore his opinion and will not use the Telescopes or suspect still they are intended only to deceive his sight what possible way will there be of convincing such a person though the thing be in its self demonstrable Now if the strength of prejudice or maintaining of credit can prevail so much in matters of Mathematical evidence to withhold assent what power may we think a corrupt interest may have upon the understanding as to the arguments which tend to prove the truth of that doctrine which is so repugnant to that carnal interest which the heart is already devoted to Our Blessed Saviour hath himself given us so full an account of the original and causes of unbelief in the persons he conversed with that that may yield us a sufficient answer to this objection He tels us the ground of it was not want of light nay there was light sufficient to convince any but that those to whom the light came loved darkness rather then it because their deeds were evil That they could not believe while they received honour one of another and sought not the honour which was of God only i. e. That they were so greedy of applause from each other that they would not impartially search into the truth of that doctrine which did touch their sores so to the quick that they had rather have them fester upon them then go to the trouble of so sharp a cure That the reason so few followed him was because the way was narrow and the gate straight which men must go in at and therefore no wonder so few of the rich and proud pharisees could get in at it they were partly so sweld with a high opinion of themselves and partly so loaden with their riches that they thought it was to no purpose for them to think of going in at so straight a gate while they were resolved to part with neither That the final ground of the rejection of any was not want of evidence to bring them to believe nor want of readiness in Christ to receive them if they did but it was a peevish wilful obstinate malicious spirit that they would not come to Christ nor believe his Doctrine for those import the same but when the most convincing miracles were used they would rather attribute them to the Prince of Devils then to the power of God And though our Saviour presently by rational and demonstrative arguments did prove the contrary to their faces yet we see thereby it was a resolution not to be convinced or yield to the Truth which was the cause why they did not believe Now from this very instance of our Saviours proceedings with the Pharisees by rational arguments I demand whether these arguments of our Saviour were sufficient foundations for a divine assent to that truth that our Saviour did not his miracles by any Diabolical but by Divine power or no If they were then it is evident that rational evidence may be a foundation for Divine faith or that some motives to believe may be so strong as to be sufficient evidence of the truth and certainty of the Doctrine If these arguments were not sufficient proofs of what our Saviour spake then well fare the Pharisees it seems they said nothing but what might be thus far justified that the contrary to it could not be demonstrated And if the evidence of our Sâ—viours miracles were so great as some suppose that the Pharisees could not but be convinced that they were divine but out of their malice and envy they uttered this blasphemy against the Holy Ghost to keep the people from following Christ then we hence infer two things First how strong an evidence there was in the miracles of Christ when it convinced his most resolute enemies that they were divine Secondly what power a corrupt will may have over a convinced understanding For although the will may not hinder conviction yet it may soon stifle it by suggesting those things to the mind which may divert it from those convictions of Truth and seek to find out any ways to disgrace it It would be no difficult task to discover in all those instances wherein the unbelief of men is discovered in the New Tâ—stament that the persons guilty of it did not proceed like rational men or such as desired Truth but were wholly carried away through passion interest prejudice disaffection or some other cause of that nature which may give us a sufficient account why those persons did not believe although there might be clear and undoubted evidence to perswâ—de them to it But although I assert that these rational evidences are sufficient arguments of the truth of the doctrine they come to manifest yet I would not be so understood that I thereby resolve all Religion into a meer act of reason and knowledge and that no more power is required in the understanding to believe the Gospel then to believe a Mathematical demonstration which is another objection some lay in the way of this opinion but it isâ— ot difficult getting over it For the sufficiency which I attribute to rational evidence is not absolute and simple but in suo genere as an objective evidence Notwithstanding this the whole work of the Spirit of God in its peculiar energy and way of operation upon the soul is left entire to its self But then when the spirit works as to the planting of a truly divine faith I do not think that it only perswades the soul of the Truth of a Divine Testimony but withall represents the Truths revealed by that Testimony with all that excellency and suitableness that there is in them that by the most agreeable yet effectual influence
it to attest the truth of such things by any real miracles For so it would invalidate the great force of the evidences of the truth of Christianity if the same argument should be used for the proving of that which in the judgement of any impartial person was not delivered when the truth of the doctriâ—e of Christ was confirmed by so many and uncontrouled miracles But hereby we see what unconceivable prejudice hath been done to the true primitive doctrine of the Gospel and what stumbling-blocks have been laid in the way of considerative persons to keep them from embracing the truly Christian faith by those who would be thought the infallible directors of men in it by making use of the broad-seal of Heaven set only to the truth of the Scriptures to confirm their unwritten and superstitious ways of worship For if I once see that which I looked on as an undoubted evidence of divine power brought to attest any thing directly contrary to divine revelation I must either conclude that God may contradict himself by sealing both parts of a contradiction which is both blasphemous and impossible or that that society of men which own such things is not at all tender of the honour of Christain doctrine but seeks to set up an interest contrary to it and matters not what disadvantage is done to the grounds of Râ—ligion by such unworthy pretences and which of these two is more rational and true let every ones conscience judge And therefore it is much the interest of the Christian world to have all such frauds and impostures discovered which do so much disservice to the Christian faith and are such secret fomenters of Atheism and Infidelity But how far that promise of our Saviour that they which believe in his name shall cast out Devils and do many miracles may extend even in these last ages of the world to such generous and primitive-spirited Christians who out of a great and deep sense of the truth of Christianity and tenderness to the souls of men should go among Heathens and Infidels to convert them only to Christ and not to a secular interest under pretence of an infallible head is not here a place fully to enquire I confess I cannot see any reason why God may not yet for the conviction of Infidels employ such a power of miracles although there be not such necessity of it as there was in the first propagation of the Gospel there being some evidences of the power of Christianity now which were not so clear then as the overthrowing the Kingdom of Satan in the world the prevailing of Christianity notwithstanding force used against it the recovâ—ry of it from amidst all the corruptions which were mixed with it the consent of those parties in the common foundations of Christianity which yet disagreâ— froâ— each other with great bitternâ—ss of spirit though I say it be not of that necessity now when the Scriptures are convâ—yed to us in a certain uninterrupted manner yet God may please out of his abundant provision for the satisfaction of the minds of men concerning the truth of Christian doctrine to employ good men to do something which may manifest the power of Christ to be above the Dâ—vils whom they worship And therefore I should far sooner believe the relation of the miracles of Xaverius and his Brethren employed in the conversion of Infidels then Lipsius his Virgo Hallensis and Asprecollis could it but be made evident to me that the design of those persons had more of Christianity then Popery in it that is that they went more upon a design to bring the souls of the Infidels to heaven then to enlarge the authority and jurisdiction of the Roman Church But whatever the truth of those miracles or the design of those persons were we have certain and undoubted evidence of the truth of those miracles whereby Christianity was first propagated and the Kingdom of Satan overthrown in the world Christ thereby making it appear that his power was greater then the Devils who had possession because he overcame him took from him all his armour wherein he trusted and divided his spoils i. e. dispossâ—ssed him of mens bodies and his Idolatrous Temples silenced his Oracles nonplust his Magicians and at last when Christianity had overcome by suffering wrested the worldly power and Empire out of the Devils hands and employed it against himself Neither may we think because since that time the Devil hath got some ground in the world again by the large spread of Mahometism the general corruptions in the Christian world that therefore the other was no argument of divine power because the truth of Christianity is not tyed to any particular places because such a falling away hath been foretold in Scripture and therefore the truth of them is proved by it and because God himself hath threatned that those who will not receive the truth in the love of it shall be given up to strong de'usions Doth not this then in stead of abating the strength of the argument confirm it more and that nothing is fallen out in the Christian world but what was foretold by those whom God employed in the converting of it But we are neither without some fair hopes even from that divine revelation which was sealed by uncontrouled evidence that there may be yet a time to come when Christ will recover his Churches to their pristine purity and simplicity but withall I think we are not to measure the future felicity of the Church by outward splendor and greatness which too many so strongly fancy but by a recovery of that true spirit of Christianity which breathed in the first ages of the Church whatever the outward condition of the Church may be For if worldly greatness and ease and riches were the first impairers of the purity of Christian Religion it is hard to conceive how the restoring of the Church of Christ to its true glory can be by the advancing of that which gives so great an occasion to pride and sensuality which are so contrary to the design of Christian Religion unless we suppose men free from those corruptions which continual experience still tells the world the Rulers as well as members of the Christian society are subject to Neither may that be wonderd at when such uneveness of parts is now discovered in the great Luminaries of the world and the Sun himself is found to have his maculae as though the Sun had a purple feaver or as Kiroher expresseth it Ipse Phoebus qui rerum omnium in universo naturae Theatro aspectabilium longè pulcherrimus omnium opinione est habitus hoc seculo tandem fumosa facie ac infecto vultu maculis prodiit diceres eum variolis laborare senescentem I speak not this as though an outward flourishing condition of the Church were inconsistent with its purity for then the way to refine it were to throw it into the flames of persecution but that
their genuine followers they instead of the common and rude name of impostors gave them a more civil title of Philosophers and looked upon their doctrine as a sublimer kind of Philosophy non utique divinum negotium existimant sed mag is Philosophiae genus as Tertullian tells us because the Philosophers pretended so much to moral vertues which they saw the Christians so excellent in but as Tertullian there replies nomen hoc Philosophorum Daemonia non fugat The Devil was never afraid of a Philosophers beard nor were diseases cured by the touch of a Philosophick pallium There was something more Divine in Christians then in the grave Philosophers and that not only in reference to their lives and the Divine power which was seen in them but in reference to the truth and certainty of their doctrine it being a true character given of both by that same excellent writer in behalf of the Christians of his time Veritatem Philosophi quidem affâ—ctant possident autem Christiani what the Philosophers desired only the Christians enjoy which was Truth and as he elsewhere more fully speaks mimicè Philosophi affectant veritatem affectando corrum punt ut qui gloriam captant Christianieam necessariò appetunt integri praestant ut qui saluti suae curant Truth is the Philosophers mistress which by courting he vitiates and corrupts looking at nothing but his own glory but truth is the Christians Matron whose directions he observes and follows because he regards no glory but that to come And to let them further see what a difference there was between a Christian and a Philosopher he concludes that discourse with these words Quid adeo simile Philosophus Christianus Graeciae Discipulus et coeli famae negotiator et vitae verborum et factorum operator rerum aedificator et destructor amicus et inimicus erroris veritatis interpolator et integrator furator ejus et custos As much distance saith he as there is between Greece and Heaven between applause and eternal glory between words and things between building and destroying between truth and error between a plagiary and corrupter of truth and a preserver and advancer of it so much is there between a Philosopher and a Christian. The Heathens might suspect indeed some kind of affinity between the first Preachers of the Gospel and the antient Sophists of Greece because of their frequent going from place to place and pretending a kind of Enthusiasm as they did but as much difference as there is between a Knight Errant and Hercules between a Mountebank and Hippocrates that and much greater there is between a Greek Sophist and an Apostle Socrates in Plato's Euthydemus hath excellently discovered the vanity and futility of those persons under the persons of Euthydemus and Dionysodorus and so likewise in his Protagoras their intent was only like the retiaries in the Roman Spectacles to catch their adversaries in a net to intangle them with some captious question or other but how vastly different from this was the design of the Apostles who abhord those endless contentions which then were in the Heathen world and came to shew them that Truth which was revealed with an intent of making them better men We see the Apostles were not carried forth by any mean and vulgar motives neither did they drive on any private ends of their own all that they minded was the promoting of the doctrine which they preached Nay they accounted no hazards comparable with the advantage which the world enjoyed through the propagation of the Christian Religion This shewed a truly noble and generous spirit in them which would not be hindred from doing the world good though they found so bad entertainment from it yea they rejoyced in their greatest sufferings which they underwent in so good a cause wherein those Primitive Christians who were the genuine followers of the Apostles did so far imitate them that etiam damnati gratias agunt they gave the Iudges thanks that they thought them worthy to lose their lives in a cause which they had reason to triumph in though they died for it And when any of them were apprehended they discovered so little fear of punishment ut unum solummodo quod non ante suerint paeniteret that nothing troubled them so much as that they had been Christians no sooner as one of their number speaks And when the Heathens usually scoffed at them and called them Sarmentitii and Semaxii because they were burned upon the Cross one of them in the name of the rest answers hic est habitus victoriae nostrae haec palmata vestis tali curru triumphamus the Cross was only their triumphant chariot which carried them sooner to Heaven Now this courage and resolution of spirit which was seen in the first planters of Christianity in the world made all serious and inquisitive persons look more narrowly into those things which made men slight so much the common bug-bears of humane nature sufferings and death Quis enim non contemplatione ejus concutitur adrequirendum quid intus in re sit quis non ubi requisivit accedit ubi accessit patiexoptat These sufferings made men enquire this enquiry made them believe that belief made them as willing to suffer themselves as they had seen others do it before them Thus it appeared to be true in them 〈◊〉 qâ—â—que crudelitas illecebra magis est sectae plures â—fficimur quâ—â—ties metimur a vobis semen est sanguis Christianorum The cruelty of their â—nemies did but increase their number the harvest of their pretended justice was but the seed-time of Christianity and no seed was so fruitful as that which was steeped in the blood of Martyrs Thence Iustin Martyr ingenuously saith of himself that while he was a Platonick Philosopher he derided and scoffed at the Christians but when he considered their great courage and constancy in dying for their profession he could not think those could possibly be men wicked and voluptuous who when offers of life were made them would rather choose death then deny Christ. By which he found plainly that there was a higher spirit in Christianity then could be obtained by the sublime notions and speculations of Plato and that a poor ignorant Christian would do and suffer more for the sake of Christ then any of the Academy in defence of their master Plato Now since all men naturally abhor sufferings what is it which should so powerfully alter the nature and disposition of Christians above all other persons that they alone should seem in that to have forgot humanity that not only with patience but with joy they endured torments and abode the flames What! were they all pâ—ssessed with a far more then Stoical Apathy that no sense oâ— pain could work at all upon them or were they all besotted and infatuated persons that did not know what it was they underwent â—t is true some of the
then these were Had there been any ground of suspicion concerning the design of Christ why could not the Iews prevail with Iudas to discover it as well as to betray his person Iudas had done but a good work if Christ had been such an impostor as the Iews blasphemously said he was what made Iudas then so little satisfied with his work that he grew weary of his life upon it and threw himself away in the most horrid despair No person certainly had been so fit to have been produced as a witness against Christ as Iudas who had been so long with him and had heard his speeches and observed his miracles but he had not patience enough to stay after that horrid fact to be a witness against him nay he was the greatest witness at that time for him when he who had betrayed him came to the Sanhedrim when consulting about his death and told them that he had sinned in betraying innocent blood What possible evidence could have been given more in behalf of our Saviour then that was when a person so covetous as to betray his Master for thirty pieces of silver was so weary of his bargain that he comes and throws back the money and declares the person innocent whom he had betrayed And this person too was such a one as knew our Saviour far better then any of the witnesses whom afterwards they suborned against him who yet contradicted each other and at last could produce nothing which in the judgement of the Heathen Governour could make him judge Christ worthy of death 3. The Apostles were freer from design then any counter-witness at that time could be we have already proved the Apostles could not possibly have any other motive to affirm what they did but full conviction of the truth of what they spake but now if any among the Iews at that time had asserted any thing contrary to the Apostles we have a clear account of it and what motive might induce them to it viz. the preserving of their honour and reputation with the people the upholding their traditions besides their open and declared enmity against Christ without any sufficient reason at all for it now who would believe the testimony of the Scribes and Pharisees who had so great authority among the people which they were like to lose if Christs doctrine were true before that of the Apostles who parted with all for the sake of Christ and ventured themselves wholly upon the truth of our Saviours doctrine 4. None ever did so much to attest the negative as the Apostles did to prove their fidelity as to the affirmative Had sufficient counter-witness been timely produced we cannot think the Apostles would have run so many continual hazards in Preaching the things which related to the person and actions of Christ. Did ever any lay down their lives to undeceive the world if the Apostles were guilty of abusing it 5. The number of such persons had been inconsiderable in comparison of those who were so fully perswaded of the truth of those things which concern our Saviour who were all ready as most of them did to seal the truth of them with their lives Whence should so many men grow so suddenly confident of the truth of such things which were contrary to their former perswasions interest education had they not been delivered in such a way that they were assured of the undoubted truth of them which brings me to the last proposition which is Matters of fact being first believed on the account of eye-witnesses and received with an universal and uncontrouled assent by all such persons who have thought themselves concerned in knowing the truth of them do yeild a sufficient foundation for a firm assent to be built upon I take it for granted that there is sufficient foundation for a firm assent where there can be no reason given to question the evidence which that there is not in this present case will appear from these following considerations 1. That the multitudes of those persons who did believe these things had liberty and opportunity to be satisfied of the truth of them before they believed them Therefore no reason or motive can be assigned on which they should be induced to believe these things but the undoubted evidence of truth which went along with them I confess in Mahumetisme a very great number of persons have for some centuries of years continued in the belief of the doctrine of Mahomet but then withall there is a sufficient account to be given of that viz. the power of the sword which keeps them in aw and strictly forbids all the followers of Mahomet to dispute their religion at all or compare it with any other Therefore I can no more wonder at this then I do to see so great a part of the world under the Tyranny of the greâ—t Turk Neither on the other side do I wonder that such a multitude of those professing Christianity should together with it believe a great number of erroneous doctrines and live in the practice of many gross superstitions because I consider what a strange prevalency education hath upon softer spirits and more easie intellectuals and what an aw an Inquisition bears upon timerous and irresolved persons But now when a great multitude of persons sober and inquisitive shall contrary to the principles of their education and without fear of any humane force which they beforehand see will persecute them and after diligent enquiry made into the grounds on which they believe for sake all their former perswasions and resolvedly adhere to the truth of the doctrine propounded to them though it cost them their lives if this give us not reason to think this doctrine true we must believe mankind to be the most miserable unhappy creatures in the world that will with so much resolution part with all advantages of this life for the sake of one to come if that be not undoubtedly certain and the doctrine proposing it infallibly true It is an observable circumstance in the propagation of Christian Religion that though God made choice at first of persons generally of mean rank and condition in the world to be Preachers of the Gospel God thereby making it appear that our faith did not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God and therefore chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong yet soon afâ—er the Gospel was preached abroad in the world we finde persons of great place and reputation of great parts and abilities engaged in the profession of the Christian faith In the History of the Acts we read of Sergius a Proconsul of Dionysius the Areopagite converted to the faith and in the following ages of the Church many persons of great esteem for their excellent learning and abilities such was Iustin Martyr one who before he became a Christian was conversant with all sects of Philosophers Stoicks Peripateticks Pythagoreans and at last was a professed Platonist till he
have believed the doctrine of Christ to be the only way to salvation have been deceived either we must deny altogether a Divine Providence or say the Devil hath more power to deceive men then God to direct them which is worse then the former or else assert that there are no such things at all as either God or Devils but that all things come to pass by chance and fortune and if so it is still more inexplicable why such multitudes of rational and serious men and the most inquisitive part of the world as to such things should all be so possessed with the truth and certainty of these things and the more profane wicked and ignorant any persons are the more prone they are to mock and deride them If such men then see more into truth and reason then the sober and judicious part of mankind let us bid adieu to humanity and adore the brutes since we admire their judgement most who come the nearest to them 3. The multitude of these persons thus consenting in this Testimony could have no other engagement to this consent but only their firm perswasion of the truth of the doctrine conveyed by it because those who unanimously agree in this thing are such persons whose other designs and interests in this world differ as much as any mens do If it had been only a consent of Iews there might have been some probable pretence to have suspected a matter of interest in it but as to this thing we find the Iews divided among themselves about it and the stiffest denyers of the truth of it do yet inviolably preserve those sacred records among them from which the truth of the doctrine of Christ may be undoubtedly proved Had the Christian Religion been enforced upon the world by the Roman Emperours at the time of its first promulgation there would have been some suspicion of particular design in it but it came with no other strength but the evidence of its own truth yet it found sudden and strange entertainment among persons of all Nations and degrees of men In a short time it had eaten into the heart of the Roman Empire and made so large a spread therein that it made Tertullian say Hesterni sumus vestra omnia implevimus urbes insulas castella municipia conciliabula castraipsa tribus decurias palatium senatum forum sola vobis relinquimus Templa We have but newly appeared saith he yet we have filled all places with our company but only your Temples and before speaking of the Heathens Obsessam vociferantur civitatem in agris in castellis in insulis Christianos omnem sexum aetatem conditionem etiam dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen quasi detrimento moerent All sorts and conditions of men in all places were suddenly become Christians What common tye could there be now to unite all these persons together if we set aside the undoubted truth and certainty of the doctrine of Christ which was first preached to them by such who were eye-witnesses of Christs actions and had left sacred records behind them containing the substance of the doctrine of Christ and those admirable instructions which were their only certain guides in the way to heaven 4. Because many persons do joyn in this consent with true Christians who yet could heartily with that the doctrine of Christianity were not true Such are all those persons who are sensual in their lives and walk not according to the rules of the Gospel yet dare not question or deny the truth of it Such who could heartily wish there were no future state nor judgement to come that they might indulge themselves in this world without fear of another yet their consciences are so far convinced of and awed by the truth of these things that they raise many perplexities and anxieties in their minds which they would most willingly be rid of which they can never throughly be till instead of having the name of Christians they come to live the life of Christians and become experimentally acquainted with the truth and power of Religion And withall we find that the more men have been acquainted with the practice of Christianity the greater evidence they have had of the truth of it and been more fully and rationally perswaded of it To such I grant there are such powerful evidences of the truth of the doctrine of Christ by the effectual workings of the Spirit of God upon their souls that all other arguments as to their own satisfaction may fall short of these As to which those verses of the Poet Dante 's rendred into Latine by F. S. are very pertinent and significant for when he had introduced the Apostle Peter asking him what it was which his faith was founded on he answers Deinde exivit ex luce profundâ Quae illic splendebat pretiosa gemma Super quam omnis virtus fundatur i. e. That God was pleased by immediate revelation of himself to discover that divine truth to the world whereon our faith doth stand as on its sure foundation but when the Apostle goes on to enquire how he knew this came at first from God his answer to that is larga pluvia Spiritûs Sancti quae est diffusa Super veteres super novas membranas Est syllogismus ille qui eam mihi conclusit Adâ—ò acutè ut prae illâ demonstratione Omnis demonstratio alia mihi videatur obtusa i. e. That the Spirit of God doth so fully discover its self both in the Old and New Testament that all other arguments are but dull and heavy if compared with this It is true they are so to a truly inlightened conscience which discovers so much beauty and glory in the Scriptures that they ravish the soul although it be unable to give so full an account of this unto others who want the eyes to see that beauty with which a heart truly gracious hath We see ordinarily in the world that the attraction of beauty is an unaccountable thing and one may discern that which ravisheth him which another looks on as mean and ordinary and why may it not be much more thus in divine objects which want spiritual eyes to discover them Therefore I grant that good men enjoy that satisfaction to their own Consciences as to the truth of the Doctrine of Christ which others cannot attain to but yet I say that such do likewise see the most strong rational and convincing evidence which doth induce them to believe which evidence is then most convincing when it is seconded by the peculiar energy of the Spirit of God upon the souls of true Believers But yet we see that the power and force of the truth of these things may be so great even upon such minds which are not yet moulded into the fashion of true goodness that it may awe with its light and clearness where it doth not soften and alter by its heat and influence Now whence can it be that such
so much to be wondered at that the eloquence and reason of the Philosophers should prevail on some very few persons but that the mean and contemptible language of the Apostles should convert such multitudes from intemperance to sobriety from injustice to fair dealing from cowardise to the highest constancy yea so great as to lay down their lives for the sake of vertue how can we but admire so divine a power as was seen in it And therefore saith he we conclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is so far from being impossible that it is not at all difficult for corrupt nature to be changed by the Word of God Lactantius excellently manifests that Philosophy could never do so much good in the world as Christianity did because that was not suited at all to common capacities and did require so much skill in the Arts to prepare men for it which it is impossible all should be well skilled in which yet are as capable of being happy as any others are And how inefficacious the precepts of Philosophy were appears by the Philosophers themselves who were far from having command by them over their masterless passions and were fain sometimes to confess that nature was too head-strong to be kept in by such weak reins as the Precepts of Philosophy were But saith he what great command divine precepts have upon the souls of men daily experience shews Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus maledicus effrenatus paucissimis Dei verbis tam placidum quam ovem reddam Da cupidum avarum tenacem jam tibi eum liberalem dabo pecuniam suam plenis manibus largientem Da timidum doloris ac mortis jam cruces ignes taurum contemnet Da libidinosum adulterum ganeonem jam sobrium castum â—ontinentem videbis Da crudelem sanguinis appetentem jam in veram clementiam furor ille mutabitur Da injustum insipientem peccatorem continuo aequus prudens innocens crit In which words that elegant writer doth by a Rhetorical Scheme set out the remarkable alteration which was in any who became true Christians that although they were passionate covetous fearful lustful cruel unjust vitious yet upon their being Christians they became mild liberal couragious temperate merciful just and unblameable which never any were brought to by meer Philosophy which rather teacheth the art of concealing vices then of healing them But now when Christianity was so effectual in the cure of those distempers which Philosophy gave over as beyond its skill and power when it cured them with so great success and that not in a Paracelsian way for them to relapse afterwards with greater violence but it did so throughly unsettle the fomes morbi that it should never gather to so great a head again doth not this argue a power more then Philosophical and that could be no less then divine power which tended so much to reform the world and to promote true goodness in it Thus we have considered the contrariety of the doctrine of Christ to mens natural inclinations and yet the strange success it had in the world which in the last place will appear yet more strange when we add the almost continual opposition it met with from worldly power and policy Had it been possible for a cunningly devised fable or any meer contrivance of impostors to have prevailed in the world when the most potent and subtile persons bent their whole wits and designs for suppressing it Whatever it were in others we are sure of some of the Roman Emperours as Iulian and Dioclesian that it was their master-design to root out and abolish Christianity and was it only the subtilty of the Christians which made these persons give over their work in despair of accomplishing it If the Christians were such subtile men whence came all their enemies to agree in one common calumny that they were a company of poor weak ignorant inconsiderable men and if they were so how came it to pass that by all their power and wisdom they could never exterminate these persons but as they cut them down they grew up the faster and multiplyed by their substraction of them There was something then certainly peculiar in Christianity from all other doctrines that it not only was not advanced by any civil power but it got ground by the opposition it met with in the world And therefore it is an observable circumstance that the first Christian Emperour who acted as Emperour for Christianity viz. Constantine for otherwise I know what may be said for Philippus did not appear in the world till Christianity had spread its self over most parts of the habitable world God thereby letting us see that though the civil power when become Christian might be very useful for protecting Christianity yet that he stood in no need at all of it as to the propagation of it abroad in the world But we see it was quite otherwise in that Religion which had Mars its ascendant viz. Mahometism For like Paracelsus his Daemon it alwayes sat upon the pummel of the sword and made its way in the world meerly by force and violence and as its first constitution had much of blood in it so by it hath it been fed and nourished ever since But it was quite otherwise with the Christian Religion it never thrived better then in the most barren places nor triumphed more then when it suffered most nor spread its self further then when it encountered the greatest opposition Because therein was seen the great force and efficacy of the doctrine of Christ that it bore up mens spirits under the greatest miseries of life and made them with chearfulness to undergo the most exquisite torments which the cruelty of Tyrants could invent The Stoicks and Epicureans boasts that their wise man would be happy in the Bull of Phalaris were but empty and Thrasonical words which none would venture the truth of by an experiment upon themselves It was the Christian alone and not the Epicurean that could truly say in the midst of torments Suave est nihil curo and might justly alter a little of that common saying of the Christians and say Non magna lâ—quimur sed patimur as well as vivimus the Christians did not speak great things but do and suffer them And this gained not only great râ—putation of integrity to themselves but much advanced the honour of their Religion in the world when it was so apparently seen that no force or power was able to withstand it Will not this at least perswade you that our Religion is true and srom God saith Arâ—â—bius Quod cum genera poenarum tanta sint à vobis proposita Religionis hujus sequentibus leges augeatur res magis contra omnes minas atque interdicta formidinum animosius populus obnitatur ad credendi studium prohibitionis ipsius stimulis â—xcitetur Itane istud non divinum sacrum est
such an impress of Gods authority on the Scriptures that any who consider them as they ought cannot but discern I still further enquire whether this impress lies in the positive assertions in Scripture that they are from God and that cannot be unless it be made appear to be impossible that any writing should pretend to be from God when it is not or else in the written books of Scripture and then let it be made appear that any one meerly by the evidence of the writings themselves without any further arguments can pronounce the Proverbs to be the Word of God and not the book of Wisdom and Ecclesiastes to be Divinely inspired and not Ecclesiasticus or else the self-evidence must be in the excellency of the matters which are revealed in Scripture but this still falls very short of resolving wholly the question whether the Scripture be the Word of God for the utmost that this can reach to is that the things contained in Scripture are of so high and excellent a nature that we cannot conceive that any other should be the author of them but God himself all which being granted I am as far to seek as ever what grounds I have to believe that those particular writings which we call the Scripture are the Word of God or that God did immediately imploy such and such persons to write such and such books for I may believe the substance of the doctrine to be of God and yet not believe the books wherein it is contained to be a Divine and infallible testimony as is evident in the many excellent devotional books which are in the world But yet further if the only ground on which we are to believe a doctrine Divine be the self-evidencing light and power of it then I suppose there was the same ground of beliâ—ving a Divine testimony when the doctrine was declared without writing by the first Preachers of it So that by this method of proceeding the ground of believing Christ to be sent as the Mâ—ssias sent from God must be wholly and solely resolved into this that there was so much self-evidence in this proposition uttered by Christ I am the light of the world that all the Iews had been bound to have believed him sent from God for light manifests its self although our Saviour had never done any one miracle to make it appear that he came from God And we cannot but charge our Saviour on this account with being at a very unnecessary expence upon the world in doing so many miracles when the bare naked affirmation that he was the Messias had been sufficient to have convinced the whole world But is it conceivable then upon what account our Saviour should lay so much force on the miracles done by himself in order to the proving his testimony to be Divine that he saith himself that he had a greater witness then that of John who yet doubtless had self-evidencing light going along with his doctrine too for the works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me Can any thing be more plain or have greater self-evidence in it then that our Saviour in these words doth lay the evidence of his Divine testimony upon the miracles which he wrought which on that account he so often appeals to on this very reason because they bear witness of him and if they would not believe him on his own testimony yet they ought to believe him for his works sake Doth all this now amount only to a removing of prejudices from the person of Christ which yet according to the tenour of the objection we are considering of it is impossible the power of miracles should do if these miracles may be so far done or counterfeited by false Christs that we can have no certain evidence to distinguish the one from the other Which the objection pretends and was the great thing wherein Celsus the Epicurean triumphed so much that Christ should foretell that others should come and do miracles which they must not hearken to and thence would infer as from Christs own confession that miracles have in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing divine but what may be done by wicked men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is it not a wretched thing saith he that from the same works one should be accounted a God and others deceivers Whereby those who would invalidate the argument from miracles may take notice how finely they fall in with one of the most bitter enemies of Christian religion and make use of the same arguments which he did and therefore Origens reply to him will reach them too For saith he our Saviour in those words of his doth not bid men beware in general of such as did miracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but bids them beware of that when men gave themselves out to be the true Christ the Son of God and endeavour to draw Christs Disciples from him by some meer appearances in stead of miracles Therefore Christ being evidently made appear to be the Son of God by the powerful and uncontrouled miracles which he wrought what pretence of reason could there be to hearken to any who gave themselves out to be Christs meerly from some strange wonders which they wrought And from hence as he further observes may be justly inferd contrary to what Celsus imagined that there was certainly an evidence of Divine power in miracles when these false Christs gave themselves out to be Christs meerly from the supposal that they had this power of doing miracles And so it is evident in all the false Christs which have appeared they have made this their great pretence that they did many signs and wonders which God might justly permit them to do to punish the great infidelity of the Iews who would not believe in Christ notwithstanding those frequent and apparent miracles which he did which did infinitely transcend those of any such pretenders Such among the Iews were Ionathas who after the dâ—struction of Jerusalem as Iosephus tells us drew many of the people into the Wilderness of Cyrene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 promising to shew them many prodigies and strange appearances Not long after in the times of Adrian appeared that famous blazing-star Barchochebas who not only portended but brought so much mischief upon the Iews his pretence was that he vomited flames and so he did such as consumed himself and his followers after him many other Impostors arose in Aegypt Cyprus and Crete who all went upon the same pretence of doing Miracles In latter times the famous impostor was David el-David whose story is thus briefly reported by David Ganz David el-David pretended to be the true Messias and rebelled against the King of Persia and did many signs and prodigies before the Iews and the King of Persia at last his head was cut off and the Iews fined an hundred talents of Gold in the Epistle
destruction of souls 2. The Devils great design was to draw men to the practice of the greatest wickedness under a pretence of religion as is very observable in all the Heathen mysteries which the more recondite and hidden they were the greater wickedness lay at the bottom of them and so were to purpose mysteries of iniquity but now the design of the Gospel was to promote the greatest purity both of heart and life There being in no other religion in the world either such incomparable Precepts of holiness or such incouraging Promises to the practice of it from eternal life hereafter as the reward and the assistance of Gods spirit to help men here or such prevailing motives to perswade men to it from the love of God in Christ to the world the undertakings of Christ for us in his death and sufferings the excellent pattern we have to follow in our Saviours own example now these things make it plain that the design of Christ and the Devil are diametrically opposite to each other 3. The design of the Devil is to set God and mankind at the greatest distance from each other the design of Christ in the Gospel is to bring them nearer together The Devil first tempts to sin and then for sin he makes men presume to sin and to despair because they have sinned Christ first keeps men from sin by his Precepts and threatnings and then supposing sin encourageth them to repent with hopes of pardon procured by himself for all truly penitent and believing sinners Thus in every thing the design of Christ and the Devil are contrary which makes it evident that the miracles wrought in confirmation of the doctrine of Christ could be from no evil spirit and therefore must be from a truly Divine power True and Divine miracles may be known and distinguished from false and diabolical from the circumstances or the manner of their operation There were some peculiar signatures on the miracles of Christ which are not to be found in any wrought by a power less then Divine Which Arnobius well expresseth in these words to the Heathens Potestis aliquem nobis designare monstrare ex omnibus illis Magis qui unquam fuere per secula consimile aliquid Christo millesima ex parte qui fecerit qui sine ulla vi carâ—â—inum sine herbarum aut graminum succis sine ulla aliqua observatione sollicita sacrorum libaminum temporum Atqui constitit Christum sine ullis adminiculis rerum sine ullius ritus observatione vel lege omnia illa quae fecit nominis sui possibilitate fecisse quod proprium consentaneum Deo dignum fuerat vero nihil nocens aut noxium sed opiferum sed salutare sed auxiliaribus plenum bonis potestatis munificae liberalitate donasse He challengeth the Heathens to produce any one of all their Magicians who did the thousand part of what our Saviour did who made use of none of their Magical rites and observations in what ever he did and what ever he did was meerly by his own power and was withall most becoming God and most beneficial to the world And thence he proceeds to answer the Heathens about the miracles wrought by their Gods which fell short of those of Christ in three main particulars the manner of their working and the number of them and the quality of the things done 1. The manner of their working what they did was with a great deal of pomp and ceremony what Christ did was with a word speaking and sometimes without it by the touch of his garment non inquiro non exigo saith he quis Deus aut quo tempore cui fuerit auxiliatus aut quem fractum restituerit sanitati illud solum audire desidero an sine ullius adjunctione materiae i. e. medicaminis alicujus ad tactum morbos jusserit abhominibus evolare imperaverit fecerit emori valetudinum causam debilium corpora ad suas remeare naturas Omitting all other circumstances name me saith he but which of your Gods ever cured a disease without any adjoyned matter some prescriptions or other or which of them ever commanded diseases out of bodies by their meer touch and quite removed the cause of the distempers Aesculapius he sayes cured diseases but in the way that ordinary Physitians do by prescribing something or other to be done by the patients Nulla autem virtus est medicaminibus amovere quae noceant beneficia ista rerum non sunt curantium potestates To cure diseases by prescriptions argues no power at all in the prescriber but vertue in the Medicine 2. In the number of the persons cured they were very few which were cured in the Heathen Temples Christ cured whole multitudes and that not in the revestryes of the Temples where fraud and imposture might be easily suspected but in the presence of the people who brought to him all manner of persons sick of all sorts of diseases which were cured by him and these so numerous that the Evangelist who records many of Christs miracles which had been omitted by the others yet tells us at last the miracles of Christ were so many that the whole world would not contain them But now Arnobius tells the Heathens Quid prodest ostendere tinum aut alterum fortasse curatos cum tot millibus subvenerit nemo plena sint omnia miserorum infeliciumque delubra what matter is it to shew one or two cured when thousands lie continually in the Temples perishing for want of cure yea such as did Aesculapium ipsum precibus fatigare invitare miserrimis votis that could not beg a cure of Aesculapius with all their earnestness and importunity 3. In the quality of the diseases cured the cures among the Heathens were some slight things in comparison of those performed by Christ the most acute the most Chronical the most malignant of diseases cured by a touch a word a thought A learned Physition hath undertaken to make it evident from the circumstances of the story and from the received principles among the most authentick Physitians that the diseases cured by our Saviour were all incurable by the rules of Physick if so the greater the power of our Saviour who cured them with so much facility as he did And he not only cured all diseases himself but gave a power to others who were not at all versed in matters of art and subtilty that they should do miracles likewise sine fucis adminiculis without any fraud or assistance quid dicitis ô mentes incredulae difficiles durae alicuine mortalium Iupiter ille Capitolinus hujusmodi potestatem dedit when did ever the great Iupiter Capitolinus ever give a power of working miracles to any I do not say saith he of raising the dead or curing the blind or healing the lame sed ut pustulam reduviam pupulam aut vocis imperio aut manus contrectatione comprimeret but to cure a wart a
religion lie in two things that there is a God who rules the world and that the souls of men are capable of subsisting after death for he that comes unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him so that if these things be not supposed as most agreeable to humane reason we cannot imagine upon what grounds mankind should embrace any way of religion at all For if there be not a God whom I am to serve and obey and if I have not a soul of an immortal nature there can be no sufficient obligation to religion nor motive inducing to it For all obligation to obedience must suppose the existence of such a Being which hath power to command me and by reason of the promisâ—uous scatterings of good and evil in this life the motives engaging men to the practice of religion must suppose the certainty of a future State If these things be sure and the foundations of religion in general thereby firmly established it will presently follow as a matter most agreeable to reason that the God whom we are to serve should himself prescribe the way of his own worship and if the right of donation of that happiness which mens souls are capabâ—e of be alone in himself that he alone should declare the termes on which it may be expected For man being a creature endued with a free principle of acting which he is conscious to himself of and therefore not being carried to his end by necessity of nature or external violence without the concurrence of his own reason and choice we must suppose this happiness to depend upon the performance of some conditions on mans part whereby he may demonstrate that it is the matter of his free choice and that he freely quits all other interests that he might obtain the enjoyment of it Which conditions to be performed being expressions of mans obedience towards God as his Creator and Governour and of his gratitude for the tenders of so great a happiness which is the free gift of his Maker we cannot suppose any one to have power to prescribe these conditions but he that hath power likewise to deprive the soul of her happiness upon non-performance and that must be God himself But in order to mans understanding his duty and his obligation to obedience it is necessary that these conditions must not be locked up in the Cabinet Council of Heaven but muâ—â— be so far declared and revealed that he may be fully acquaâ—ted with those terms which his happiness depends upon else his neglect of them would be excusable and his misery unavoidable Had man indeed remained without offending his Maker he might still have stood in his favour upon the general terms of obedience due from the creature to his Creator and to all such particular precepts which should bear the impress of his Makers will upon them beside which the whole volume of the Creation without and his own reason within would have been sufficient directors to him in the performance of his duty But he abusing his liberty and being thereby guilty of Aâ—ostacy from God as is evident by a continued propensity to sin and the strangeness between God and the souls of men a particular revelation is now become necessary that mankind may thereby understand on what terms God will be pleased again and by what means they may be restored into his favour And lastly it not agreeing with the free and communicative nature of Divine goodness which was the first original of the worlds Creation to suffer all mankind to perish in their own folly we must suppose this way for mans recovery to be somewhere prescribed and the revelation of it to be somewhere extant in the world So that from the general principles of the existence of God and immortality of the soul we have deduced by clear and evident reason the necessity of some particular Divine revelation as the Standard and measure of religion And according to these principles we must examine what ever pretends to be of Dâ—vine revelation for it must be suitable to that Divine nature from whom it is supposed to come and it must be agreeable to the conditions of the souls of men and therefore that which carries with it the greatest evidence of Divine revelation is a faithful representation of the State of the case between God and the souls of men and a Divine discovery of those wayes whereby mens souls may be fitted for eternal happiness A Divine revelation then must be faithful and true in all its narrations it must be excellent and becoming God in all its discoveries And therefore all that can with any reason be desired for proof of the Divine authority of the Scriptures will lie in these three things First That the foundations of religion are of undoubted certainty or that there ie a God and that mens souls are immortal Secondly That the Scriptures do most faithfully relate the matters of greatest antiquity therein contained which do most concern the history of the breach between God and man Thirdly That the Scriptures are the only authentick records of those Terms on which happiness may be expected in another world I begin with the first of them which concerns the existence of God and immortality of the soul both which seem to be supposed as general Prolepses in the writings of Moses and as things so consonant to humane nature that none to whom his writings should come could be supposed to question them And therefore he spends no time in the operose proving of either of these knowing to how little purpose his writings would be to such who denyed these first principles of all religion But beside this there may be these accounts given why these main foundations of all religion are no more insisted on in the first books of the Scripture which contain the originals of the world First Because these were in the time of the writing of them believed with an universal consent of mankind In those more early dayes of the world when the tradition of the first ages of it was more fresh and entire it is scarce imaginable that men should question the Being of a God when the history of the flood and the propagation of the world after it by the Sons of Noah and the burning of Sodom and Gomorrab were so fresh in their memories as having been done so few Generations before them And by what remains of any history of other Nations in those elder times men were so far from Atheism that Polytheism and Idolatry were the common practice of the world as is most evident in all relations of the antient Chaldeans Aegyptians Phaenicians and other Nations who all supposed these two principles as well as those who served the true God And in all probability as men are apt to run from one extream to another Polytheism was the first occasion of Atheism and Idolatry of irreligion And thence we finde the
Atoms Or is it because we find in natural beings how much these particles of matter serve to solve the Phoenomena of nature But doth it at all follow because now under Divine providence which wisely orders the world and things in it that these particles with their several affections and motion may give us a tolerable account of many appearances as to bodies that therefore the Universe had its original meerly by a concretion of these without any Divine hand to order and direct their motion But of this more when we come to the creation of the world our design now is only to compare the notion of a Deity and of the Atheists Hypothesis in point of perspicuity and evidence of reason of which let any one who hath reason judge Thus we see how the Atheist in denying a Deity must assert something else instead of it which is pressed with the same if not greater difficulties and proved by far less reason The Atheist by the same principles on which he denyes a God must deny some things which are apparently true Which will be evident by our running over the most plausible pretences which he insists upon 1. Because the Being of God cannot be demonstrated But how doth the Atheist mean it is it because God cannot be demonstrated to sense that we cannot digito monstrari dieier hic est point at him with our fingers It is a sign there is little of reason left where sense is made the only Umpire of all kinds of Beings Must all Intellectual Beings be proscribed out of the order of Nature because they cannot pass the scrutiny of sense And by the same reason all colours shall be dashed out because they cannot be heard all noises silenced because they cannot be seen for why may not one sense be set to judge of all objects of sense with far more reason then sense its self be set as judge over intellectual Beings But yet it is wisely done of the Atheist to make sense his judge for if we once appeal to this he knows our cause is lost for as he said of a Physician when one asked him whether he had any experience of him no said he Si periculum fecissem non viverem If I had tryed him I had been dead ere now so here If God were to be tryed by the judgement of sense he must cease to be God for how can an infinite and spiritual Being be discerned by the judgement of sense and if he be not an infinite and spiritual Being he is not God But it may be the Atheists meaning is not so gross but he intends such a demonstration to reason as that two and two make four or that the whole is greater then the parts with such a demonstration he would sit down contented But will no less then this serve him what becomes then of the worlds being made by a sortuitous concourse of Atoms is this as evident as that two and two make four And will the Philosophical Atheist really believe nothing in nature but what is as evident to him in material Beings as that the whole is greater then the parts By any means let Atheists then write Philosophy that at last the clocks in London may strike together and the Philosophers agree for I suppose none of them question that But yet it is possible the Atheist may in a good humour abate some thing of this and mean by demonstration such a proof as takes away all difficulties If he means as to the ground of assent we undertake it if as to the object apâ—rehended we reject it as unreasonable because it is impossible a Being infinite should be comprehended by us for if it could it were no longer infinite But let us try this principle by other things and how evident is it that on this account some things must be denyed which himself will confess to be true for instance that osprobrium Philosophorum the divisibility of quantity or extended matter into finite and infinite parts let him take which side he please and see whether by the force of the arguments on either side if he hold to this principle he must not be forced to deny that there is any such thing as matter in the world and then we may well have an infinite empty space when by the force of this one Principle both God and matter are banished quite out of the world But if the Atheist will but come one step lower and by his demonstration intend nothing else but such a sufficient proof of it as the nature of the thing is capable of he will not only speak most consonantly to reason but may be in some hopes of gaining satisfaction For it is most evident that all things are not capable of the like way of proof and that in some cases the possibility of the contrary must be no hindrance to an undoubted assent What these proofs are will appear afterwards I come to the next ground of the Atheists opinion which is 2. The weakness of some arguments brought to prove a Deity But let us grant that some arguments will not do it doth it therefore follow that none can do it What if some have proved the Sun to be the center of the world and the motion of the earth by very weak arguments will the Atheist therefore question it what if Epicurus hath proved his Atomical hypothesis by some silly Sophismes will the Atheist therefore rather believe the creation of the world then it What if the Atheist may make himself sport at some stories of apparitions insisted on to prove a Dâ—ity doth it therefore follow there is no God because some persons have been over-credulous What if some having more zeal then knowledge may attribute such things to Gods immediate hand which may be produced by natural causes doth it thence follow that God hath no hand in governing the world at all What if fears and hopes and perswasiâ—ns may depend much on principles of education must conscience then be resolved wholly into these What if some devont melancholist may embrace the issues of his own imagination for the impressions of the Divine Spirit doth it therefore follow that religion is nothing but strength of fancy improved by principles of education what if some of the numerous proofs of a Deity were cut off and only those made use of which are of greatest force would the truth suffer at all by that I grant advantage is often taken against a thing more by one weak argument brought for it then for it by the strongest proofs but I say it is unreasonable it should be so and were men rational and ingenuous it would not be so Many times arguments may be good in their order but they are misplaced some may prove the thing rational which may not prove it true some may shew the absurdity of the adversaries rejecting the thing which may be not sufficient to prove it now when men number and not weigh their arguments
but give them in the lump to the main question without fitting them to their several places they do more disservice to the main of the battel by the disorder of their forces then they can advantage it by the number of them 3. Another great pretence the Atheist hath is that religion is only an invention of Politicians which they aw people with as they please and therefore tell them of a God and another world as Mothers send young children to school to keep them in better order that they may govern them with the greater ease To this I answer 1. Religion I grant hath a great influence upon the well-governing the world nay so great that were the Atheists opinion true and the world perswaded of it it were impossible the world could be well governed For the Government of the world in civil societies depends not so much on force as the sacred bonds of duty and allegiance which hold a Nation that owns religion as true in far surer obligations to endeavour the peace and welfare of a Nation then ever violence can do For in this case only an opportunity is watched for to shake off that which they account a yoke upon their necks whereas when mens minds are possessed with a sense of duty and obligation to obedience out of conscience the rains may be held with greater ease and yet the people be better managed by them then by such as only gall and inrage them So that I grant true religion to be the most serviceable principle for the governing of civil societies but withal I say 2. It were impossible religion should be so much made use of for the governing of people were there not a real propensity and inclination to religion imprinted on the minds of men For as did not men love themselves and their children their estates and interests it were impossible to keep them in obedience to Laws but doth it follow because Magistrates perswade people to obedience by suiting Laws to the general interest of men that therefore the Magistrates first made them love themselves and their own concerns So it is in religion the Magistrate may make use of this propensity to religion in men for civil ends but his making use of it doth suppose it and not instill it For were religion nothing else in the world but a design only of Politicians it would be impossible to keep that design from being discovered at one time or other and when once it came to be known it would hurry the whole world into confusion and the people would make no scruple of all oaths and obligations but every one would seek to do others what mischief he could if he had opportunity and obey no further then fear and force constrained him Therefore no principle can be so dangerous to a state as Atheism nor any thing more promote its peace then true religion and the more men are perswaded of the truth of religion they will be the better subjects and the more useful in civil societies As well then may an Atheist say there is no such thing as good nature in the world because that is apt to be abused nor any such thing as love because that may be cheated as that religion is nothing but a design because men may make it stalke to their private ends Thus we see how the Atheist by the force of those principles on which he denyes a God must be forced to deny other things which yet by his own confession are apparently true So I come to the third Proposition which is That we have as certain evidence that there is a God as we can have considering his nature When we demand the proof of a thing our first eye must be to the nature of the thing which we desire may be proved For things equally true are not capable of equal evidence nor have like manners of probation There is no demonstration in Euclide will serve to prove that there are such places as the Indies we cannot prove the earth is round by the judgement of sense nor that the soul is immortal by corporeal phantasmes Every distinct kind of Being hath its peculiar way of probation and therefore it ought not to be at all wondered at if the Supreme and infinite Being have his peculiar way of demonstrating himself to the minds of men If then we have as evident proofs of the existence of God as we can have considering the infinity of his nature it is all which in reason we can desire and of that kind of proofs we have these following For 1. If God hath stamped an universal character of himself upon the minds of men 2. If the things in the world are the manifest effects of infinite wisdome goodness and power 3. If there be such things in the world which are unaccountable without a Deity then we may with safety and assurance conclude that there is a God 1. That God hath imprinted an universal character of himself on the minds of men and that may be known by two things 1. If it be such as bears the same importance among all persons 2. If it be such as cannot be mistaken for the character of any thing else 1. I begin with the first whereby I shall prove this character to be universal because the whole world hath consented in it This argument we may rely on with the greater security because it was the only argument which retained the Deity in the ancient School of Epicurus which could he have thought of as easie way of evading it as he thought he had found out as to the Origine of the universe he was no such great friend to the very name of a God as to have retained it as an Anticipation or Prolepsis of humane nature And this argument from the universal consent of the world was that which bore the greatest sway among the Philosophers who went by nothing but dictates of natural light which they could not so clearly discover in any things as in those which all mankind did unanimously consent in Two things I shall make out this by 1. That no sufficient account can be given of so universal a consent unless it be supposed to be the voyce of nature 2. That the dissent of any particular persons is not sufficient to controul so universal an agreement 1. That no sufficient account of it can be given but only by asserting it to be a dictate of nature In so strange a dissent as there hath been in the world concerning most of those things which relate to mankinde in common as the models of government the Laws they are ruled by the particular rites and customs of worship we have the greatest reason to judge that those common principles which were the foundations on which all these several different customs were built were not the effect of any positive Laws nor the meer force of principles of education but something which had a deeper root and foundation in the principles of nature
diversities among themselves in the meaning of them and many nations that never heard of them But all things are quite otherwise in this tradition we have none to fix on as the first Authors of it if the world were eternal and the belief of a Deity fabulous we cannot understand by what artifice a fabulous tradition could come to be so universally received in the world that no Nation of old could be instanced in by the inquisitive Philosophers but however rude and barbarous it was yet it owned a Deity How could such a tradition be spread so far but either by force or fraud it could not be by force because embraced by an unanimous consent where no force at all hath been used and hath been so rooted in the very natures of those people who have been most tender of their liberties that they have resented no indignity so highly as any affronts they conceived to be offered to their gods Nay and where any persons would seem to quit the belief of a Deity we find what force and violence they have used to their own reason and conscience to bring themselves to Atheisme which they could not subdue their minds to any longer then the will could command the understanding which when it gained but a little liberty to examine it self or view the world or was alarumed with thunder earth-quakes or violent sickness did bring back again the sense of a Deity with greater force and power then they had endeavoured to shake it off with Now had this tradition come by force into the world there would have been a secret exultation of mind to be freed from it as we see nature rejoyceth to shake off every thing which is violent and to settle every thing according to its due order It is only fraud then which can be with any reason imagined in this case and how unreasonable it is to imagine it here will appear to any one who doth consider how extreamly jealous the world is of being imposed upon by the subtilty of such who are thought to be the greatest Polititians For the very opinion of their subtilty makes men apt to suspect a design in every thing they speak or do so that nothing doth more generally hinder the entertaining of any motion so much among vulgar people as that it comes from a person reputed very politick So that the most politick way of gaining upon the apprehensions of the vulgar is by taking upon one the greatest appearance of simplicity and integrity and this now could not be done by such Polititians which we now speak of but by accommodating themselves to such things in the people which were so consonant to their natures that they could suspect no design at all in the matters propounded to them And thus I assert it to have been in the present case in all those Politick Governours who at first brought the world into both civil and Religious Societies after they were grown rude and barbarous for as it had been impossible to have brought them into civil Societies unless there had been supposed an inclination to Society in them so it had been equally impossible to have brought them to embrace any particular way of Religion unless there had been a natural propensity to Religion implanted in them and founded in the general belief of the existence of a Deity And therefore we never find any of the antient founders of Common-wealths go about to perswade the people that there was a God but this they supposed and made their advantage of it the better to draw the people on to embrace that way of worship which they delivered to them as most suitable to their own design And this is plainly evident in the vast difference of designs and interests which were carried on in the Heathen world upon this general apprehension of a Deity How came the world to be so easily abused into Religions of all shapes and fashions had not there been a natural inclination in mens souls to Religion and an Indeleble Idea of a Deity on the minds of men Were then this propensity groundless and this Idea fictitious it were the greatest slurr imaginable which could be cast upon nature that when the instincts of irrational agents argue something real in them only man the most noble being of the visible world must be fatally carryed to the belief of that which never was Which yet hath so great a force and awe upon man that nothing creates so great anxieties in his life as this doth nothing layes him more open to the designs of any who have an intent to abuse him But yet further these Politicians who first abused the world in telling them there was a God did they themselves believe there was a God or no If they did then they had no such end as abusing the world into such a belief If they did not upon what accounts did they believe there was none when the people were so ready to believe there was one Was that as certain a tradition before that there was no God as afterwards they made it to be that there was If so then all those people whom they perswaded to believe there was a God did before all believe there was none and how can it possibly enter into the reason of any man to think that people who had been brought up in the belief that there was no God at all nor any state after this life should all unanimously quit the principles of education which tended so much to their ease and pleasure here to believe there was a God and another life and thereby to fill themselves full of fears and disquietments meerly because their Rulers told them so Again if these Rulers themselves were so wise as not to believe a Deity can we imagine there ever was such an age of the world vvherein it fell out so happily that only the Rulers vvere wise and all the subjects fools But it may be it vvill be said that all who were wise themselves did not believe a Deity but yet consented to the practice of Religion because it was so useful for the Government of mankind but can it be thought that all these wise men vvhich vve must suppose of several ranks and degrees for Philosophers are not alvvayes States-men nor States-men Philosophers should so readily concurr in such a thing which tended most to the Interest of the Prince and to the abuse of the world Would none of them be ready to assert the truth though it were but to make a party of their own and discover to the people that it was only the ambition and design of their Governours which sought to bring the people to slavery by the belief of such things which were contrary to the tradition of their fore-fathers and would make their lives if they believed them continually troublesom and unquiet Or if we could suppose things should hit thus in one Nation what is this to the whole world which the Atheist here supposeth eternal
an opinion doth and is sufficiently derided and refuted by Pomponatius himself Now then it being an acknowledged principle in nature that every thing continues in the course it is in till something more powerful put it out if then such things have been in the world which have been real alterations of the course of nature as the Suns standing still in the time of Joshua then there must be something above matter and motion and consequently that there is a God CHAP. II. Of the Origine of the Universe The necessity of the belief of the creation of the world in order to the truth of Religion Of the several Hypotheses of the Philosophers who contradict Moses with a particular examination of them The ancient tradition of the world consonant to Moses proved from the Ionick Philosophy of Thales and the Italick of Pythagoras The Pythagorick Cabbala rather Aegyptian then Mosaick Of the fluid matter which was the material principle of the universe Of the Hypothesis of the eternity of the world asserted by Ocellus Lucanus and Aristotle The weakness of the foundations on which that opinion is built Of the manner of forming principles of Philosophy The possibility of creation proved No arguing from the present state of the world against its beginning shewed from Maimonides The Platonists arguments from the goodness of God for the eternity of the world answered Of the Stoical Hypothesis of the eternity of matter whether reconcilable with the text of Moses Of the opinions of Plato and Pythagoras concerning the praeexistence of matter to the formation of the world The contradiction of the eternity of matter to the nature and attributes of God Of the Atomical Hypothesis of the Origine of the Universe The World could not be produced by a casual concourse of Atoms proved from the nature and motion of Epicurus his Atoms and the Phaenomena of the Universe especially the production and nature of Animals Of the Cartesian Hypothesis that it cannot salve the Origine of the Universe without a Deity giving motion to matter THE foundations of religion being thus established in the Being of God and the immortality of the soul we now come to erect our super structure upon them by asserting the undoubted truth and certainty of that account of the world which is given us in the writings of Moses Which beginning with the world its self leads us to a particular consideration of the Origine of the Universe the right understanding of which hath very great influence upon our belief of all that follows in the Word of God For although we should assert with Epicurus the Being of a Deity if yet with him we add that the world was made by a casual concourse of Atoms all that part of Religion which lies in obedience to the Will of God is unavoidably destroyed All that is left is only a kind of Veneration of a Bâ—ing more excellent then our own which reacheth not to the government of mens lives and so will have no force at all upon the generality of the world who are only allured by hopes or awed by fears to that which of their choice they would be glad to be freed from Besides what expressions of gratitude can be left to God for his goodness if he interpose not in the affairs of the world what dependence can there be on divine goodness if it be not at all manifested in the world what apprehensions can we have of Gods infinite Wisdom and Power if neither of them are discernable in the Being of the world And as the opinion of Epicurus destroys Religion so doth that of Aristotle which attributes eternity to the Universe and a necessary emanation of it from the first cause as light comes from the Sun for if so as Maimonides well observes the whole Religion of Moses is overthrown all his miracles are but impostures all the hopes which are grounded on the Promises of God are vain and fruitless For if the world did of necessity exist then God is no free agent and if so then all instituted Religion is to no purpose nor can there be any expectation of reward or fear of punishment from him who hath nothing else to do in the world but to set the great wheele of the Heavens going So much is it our concernment to enquire into the true Original of the world and on what evidence of reason those opinions are built which are so contrary to that account given of it in the very entrance of the Bâ—oks of Moses Wherein we read the true Origine of the world to have been by a production of it by the omnipotent Will and Word of God This being then the plain assertion of Moses we come to compare it in point of reason with all those several Hypotheses which are repugnant to it which have been embraced in several ages by the Philosophers of greatest esteem in the world Which may be reduced to these four 1. Such as suppose the world to have existed as it is from all eternity 2. Such as attribute the formation of the world as it is to God but withall assert the praeexistence and eternity of matter 3. Such as deny any eternity to the world but assert the Origine of it to have been by a casual concourse of Atoms 4. Such as endeavâ—ur to explain the Origine of the Universe and all appearances of nature meerly by the Mechanical Laws of the motion of matter I begin with those who asserted the eternity of the world as it is among whom Aristotle hath born the greatest name who seems to have arrogated this opinion to himself for when he enquires into the judgment of the Philosophers who had writ-before him he sayes of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Philosophers asserted that the world was made though some one way some another And were this true which Aristotle-saith it would be the strongest prejudice against his opinion for if the world had been eternal how should it come to pass that the eldest Philosophers should so readily and unanimously embrace that opinion which asserted the production of the world Was it not a strong presumption of the Novity of the Universe that all Nations to whom the Philosophers resorted had memorials left among them of the first Origine of things And from hence it is observable that when the humour of Philosophizing began to take the Greeks about the XL. Olympiad when we may suppose Thales to flourish the beginning of the world was no matter of dispute but taking that for granted the enquiry was out of what material principle the Universe was formed of which Thales thus delivers his opinion in Tully aquam dixit esse initium rerum Deum autem eam mentem quae ex aqua cuncta fingeret wherein he plainly distinguisheth the efficient from the material cause of the world The prime efficient was God the material principle water It is a matter of some enquiry whether the first
the Indians were in darkness while the Bacchae enjoyed light which circumstances considered will make every one that hath judgement say as Bochartus doth ex mirabili illâ— concentu vel coecis apparebit priscos fabularum architectos e scriptoribus sacris multa â—sse mutuatos From this wonderful agreement of Heathen Mythology with the Scriptures it cannot but appear that one is a corruption of the other That the memory of Iâ—shua and Sampson was preserved under Hercules Tyrius is made likewise very probable from several circumstances of the stories Others have deduced the many rites of Heathen worship from those used in the Tabernacle among the Iews Several others might be insisted on as the Parallel between Og and Typho and between the old Silenus and Balaam both noted for their skill in divination both taken by the water Num. 22. 5. both noted for riding on an ass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Lucian of the old Silenus and that which makes it yet more probable is that of Pausanias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some learned men have been much puzled to find out the truth of and this conjecture which I here propound may pass at least for a probable account of it but I shall no longer insist on these things having I suppose done what is sufficient to our purpose which is to make it appear what footsteps there are of the truth of Scripture-history amidst all the corruptions of Heathen Mythology CHAP. VI. Of the Excellency of the Scriptures Concerning matters of pure divine revelation in Scripture the terms of Salvation only contained therein The ground of the disesteem of the Scriptures is tacite unbelief The Excellency of the Scriptures manifested as to the matters which God hath revealed therein The excellency of the discoveryes of Gods nature which are in Scripture Of the goodness and love of God in Christ. The suitableness of those discoveries of God to our natural notions of a Deity The necessity of Gods making known himself to us in order to the regulating our conceptions of him The Scriptures give the fullest account of the state of mens souls and the corruptions which are in them The only way of pleasing God discovered in Scriptures The Scriptures contain matters of greatest mysteriousness and mest universal satisfaction to mens minds The excellency of the manner wherein things are revealed in Scriptures in regard of clearness authority purity uniformity and perswasiveness The excellency of the Scriptures as a rule of life The nature of the duties of Religion and the reasonableness of them The greatness of the encouragements to Religion contained in the Scriptures The great excellency of the Scriptures as containing in them the Coveâ—ant of Grace in order to mans Salvation HAving thus largely proved the Truth of all those passages of sacred Scripture which concern the history of the first ages of the world by all those arguments which a subject of that nature is capable of the only thing leâ—t in order to our full proving the Divinity of the Scriptures is the consideration of â—hose matters contained in it which are in an especâ—al maâ—neâ— said to be of Divine Revelation For those historical pâ—ssages though we believe them as contained in the Scripture to have been Divinely inspired as well as others yet they are such things as supposing no Divine Revelatiâ—n might have been known sufficiently to the world had not men bâ—en wanting to themselves as to the care and means of preserving them but those matters which I now come to discourse of are of a more sublime and transcendent nature such as it had been impâ—ssible for the minds of men to reach had they not been immediately discovered by God himself And those are the terms and conditions on which the soul of man may upon good grounds expect an eternal happiness which we assert the book of Scriptures to be the only authentick and infallible records of Men might by the improvements of reason and the sagacity of their minds discover much not only of the lapsed condition of their souls and the necessity of a purgation of them in order to their felicity but might in the general know what things are pleasing and acceptable to the Divine nature from those differences of good and evil which are unalterably fixed in the things themselves but which way to obtain any certainty of the remission of sins to recover the Grace and Favour of God to enjoy perfect tranquillity and peace of conscience to be able to please God in things agreeable to his will and by these to be assured of eternal bliss had been impossible for men to have ever found had not God himself been graciously pleased to reveal them to us Men might still have bewildred themselvs in following the ignes fatui of their own imaginations and hunting up and down the world for a path which leads to heaven but could have found none unless God himself taking pitty of the wandrings of men had been pleased to hang out a light from heaven to direct them in their way thither and by this Pharos of Divine Revelation to direct them so to stear their course as to escape splitting themselves on the rocks of open impieties or being swallowed up in the quicksands of terrene delights Neither doth he shew them only what shâ—lves and rocks they must escape but what particular course they must steâ—re what star they must have in their eye what compass they must observe what winds and gales they must expect and pray for if they would at last arrive at eternal bliss Eternal bliss What more could a God of infinite goodness promise or the soul of man ever wish â—or A Reward to such who are so â—ar from deserving that they are still provâ—king Glory to such who are more apt to be ashamed of their duties then of their offences but that it should not only be a glorious reward but eternal too is that which though it infinitely transcend the deserts of the receivers yet it highly discovers the infinite goodness of the Giver But when we not only know that there is so rich a mine of inestimable treasures but if the owner of it undertakes to shew us the way to it and gives us certain and infallible directions how to come to the full pâ—ssession of it how much are we in love with misery and do we court our own ruine if we neglect to hearken to his directions and observe his commands This is that we are now undertaking to make good concerning the Scriptures that these alone contain those sacred discoveries by which the souls of men may come at last to enjoy a compleat and eternal happiness One would think there could be nothing more needless in the world then to bid men regard their own welfare and to seek to be happy yet whoever casts his eye into the world will find no counsel so little hearkned to as this nor any thing which is more generally looked on
of that God who reveals it whose authority extends over the soul and conscience of man in its most secret and hidden recesses 3. In a pure and unmixed manner in all other writings how good soever we have a great mixture of dross and gold together here is nothing but pure gold Diamonds without flaws Suns without spots The most current coynes of the world have their alloyes of baser mettals there is no such mixture in divine Truths as they all come from the same Author so they all have the same purity There is a Urim and Thumim upon the whole Scripture light and perfection in every part of it In the Philosophers we may meet it may be with some scattered fragments of purer mettal amidst abundance of dross and impure oare here we have whole wedges of gold the same vein of purity and holiness running through the whole book of Scriptures Hence it is called the form of sound words here have been no hucksters to corrupt and mix their own inventions with Divine Truths 4 In an uniform and agreeable manner This I grant is not sufficient of its self to prove the Scriptures to be Divine because all men do not contradict themselves in their writings but yet here are some peculiar circumstances to be considered in the agreeableness of the parts of Scripture to each other which are not to be found in meer humane writings 1. That this doctrine was delivered by persons who lived in different ages and times from each other Usually one age corrects anothers faults and we are apt to pitty the ignorance of our predecessors when it may be our posterity may think us as ignorant as we do them But in the sacred Scripture we read not one age condemning another we find light still increasing in the series of times in Scripture but no reflections in any time upon the ignorance or weakness of the precedent the dimmest light was sufficient for its age and was a step to further discovery Quintilian gives it as the reason of the great uncertainty of Grammar rules quia non analogia demissa coelo formam loquendi dedit that which he wanted as to Grammar we have as to Divine Truths they are delivered from heaven and therefore are alwayes uniform and agreeable to each other 2. By persons of different interests in the world God made choice of men of all ranks to be enditers of his oracles to make it appear it was no matter of State policy or particular interest which was contained in his word which persons of such different interests could not have agreed in as they do We have Moses David Solomon persons of royal rank and quality and can it be any mean thing which these think it their glory to be penners of We have Isaiah Daniel and other persons of the highest education and accomplishments and can it be any trivial thing which these imploy themselves in We have Amos other Prophets in the old Testament and the Apostles in the New of the meaner sort of men in the world yet all these joyn in consort together when God tunes their spirits all agree in the same strain of divine truths and give light and harmony to each other 3. By persons in different places and conditions some in prosperity in their own country some under banishment and adversity yet all agreeing in the same substance of doctrine of which no alteration we see was made either for the flattery of those in power or for avoiding miseries and calamities And under all the different dispensations before under and after the Law though the management of things was different yet the doctrine and design was for substance the same in all All the different dispensations agree in the same common principles of religion the same ground of acceptance with God and obligation to duty was common to all though the peculiar instances wherein God was served might be different according to the ages of growth in the Church of God So that this great uniformity considered in these circumstances is an argument that these things came originally from the same Spirit though conveyed through different instruments to the knowledge of the world 5. In a perswasive and convincing manner and that these wayes 1. Bringing divine truths down to our capacity cloathing spiritual matter in familiar expressions and similitudes that so they might have the easier admission into our minds 2. Propounding things as our interest which are our duty thence God so frequently in Scripture recommends our dutyes to us under all those motives which are wont to have the greatest force on the minds of men and annexeth gracious promises to our performance of them and those of the most weighty and concerning things Of grace favour protection deliverance audience of prayers and eternal happiness and is these will not prevail with men what motives will 3. Courting us to obedience when he might not only command us to obey but punish presently for disobedience Hence are all those most pathetical and affectionate strains we read in Scripture O that there were such a heart within them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments alwayes that it might go well with them and with their children after them Wo unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye dye O hâ—use of Israel How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zâ—boim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings and ye would not What Majesty and yet what sweetness and condescension is there in these expressions What obstinacy and rebellion is it in men for them to stand out against God when he thus comes down from his throne of Majesty and wooes rebellious sinners to return unto him that they may be pardoned Such a matchless and unparalleld strain of Rhâ—torick is there in the Scripture far above the art and insinuations of the most admired Orators Thus we see the peculiar excellency of the manner wherein the matters contained in Scripture are revealed to us thus we have considered the excellency of the Scripture as it is a discovery of Gods mind to the world The Scriptures may be considered as a rule of life or as a Law of God which is given for the Government of the lives of men and therein the excellency of it lies in the nature of the dutyes and the encouragements to the practice of them 1. In the nature of the dutyes required which are most becoming God to require most reasonable for us to perform 1. Most becoming God to require as they are most suitable and agreeable to the Divine nature the imitation of which in our actions is the
substance of our Religion Imitation of him in his goodness and holiness by our constant endeavours of mortifying sin and growing in grace and piety In his grace and mercy by our kindness to all men forgiving the injuries men do unto us doing good to our greatest enemies In his justice and equity by doing as we would be done by and keeping a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men The first takes in the dutyes of the first the other the duties of the second Table All acts of piety towards God are a part of Iustice for as Tully saith Quid aliud â—st piet as nisi justitia adversus Deos and so our loving God with our whole bearts our entire and sincere obedience to his will is a part of natural justice for thereby we do but render unto God that which is his due from us as we are his creatures We see then the whole duty of man the fearing God and keeâ—ing his Commandements is as necessary a part of Iustice as the rendring to every man his own is 2. They are most reasonable for us to perform in that 1. Religion is not only a service of the reasonable faculties which are employed the most in it the commands of the Scripture reaching the heart most and the service required being a spiritual service not lying in meats and drinks or any outward observations but in a sanctified temper of heart and mind whâ—ch discovers its self in the course of a Christians life but 2. The service its self of Religion is reasonable the commands of the Gospel are such as no mans reason which considers them can doubt of the excellency of them All natural worship is founded on the dictates of nature all instituted worship on Gods revealed will and it is one of the prime dictates of nature that God must be uniuersally obeyed Besides God requires nothing but what is apparently mans interest to do God prohibits nothing but what will destroy him if he doth it so that the commands of the Scriptures are very just and reasonable 2. The encouragements are more then proportionable to the difficulty of obedience Gods commands are in themselves easie and most suitable to our natures What more rational for a creature then to obey his Maker all the aâ—fficulty of religion ariseth from the corruption of nature Now God to encourage men to conquer the difficulties arising thence hath propounded the strongest motives and most prevailing arguments to obedience Such are the considerations of Gods love and goodness manifested to the world by sending his Son into it to die for sinners and to give them an example which they are to follow and by his readiness through him to pardon the sins and accept the persons of such who so receive him as to walk in him and by his promises of grace to assist them in the wrestling with the enemies of their salvation And to all these add that glorious and unconceivable reward which God hath promised to all those who sincerely obey him and by these things we see how much the encouragements over-weigh the difficulties and that none can make the least pretence that there is not motive sufficient to down-weigh the troubles which attend the exercise of obedience to the will of God So that we see what a peculiar excellency there is in the Scriptures as a rule of life above all the precepts of meer Moralists the foundation of obedience being laid deeper in mans obligation to serve his Maker the practice of obedience being carried higher in those most holy precepts which are in Scripture the reward of obedience being incomparably greater then what men are able to conceive much less to promise or bestow The Excellency of the Scriptures appears as they contain in them a Covenant of grace or the transactions between God and Man in order to his eternal happiness The more memorable any transactions are the more valuable are any authentick records of them The Scriptures contain in them the Magna Charta of Heaven an Act of pardon with the Royal assent of Heaven a Proclamation of good-will from God towards men and can we then set too great a value on that which contains all the remarkable passages between God and the souls of men in order to their felicity from the beginning of the world Can we think since there is a God in the world of infinite goodness that he should suffer all mankind to perish inevitably without his propounding any means for escaping of eternal misery Is God so good to men as to this present life and can we think if mans soul be immortal as we have proved it is that he should wholly neglect any offer of good to men as to their eternal welfare Or is it possible to imagine that man should be happy in another world without Gods promising it and prescribing conditions in order to it If so then this happiness is no free gift of God unless he hath the bestowing and promising of it and man is no rational agent unless a reward suppose conditions to be performed in order to the obtaining it or man may be bound to conditions which were never required him or if they must be required then there must be a revelation of Gods will whereby he doth require them And if so then there are some Records extant of the transactions between God and man in order to his eternal happiness For what reason can we have to imagine that such Records if once extant should not continue still especially since the same goodness of God is engaged to preserve such Records which at first did cause them to be indicted Supposing then such Records extant somewhere in the world of these grand transactions between God and mens souls our business is brought to a period for what other Records are there in the world that can in the least vye with the Scriptures as to the giving so just an account of all the transactions between God and men from the foundation of the world Which gives us all the steps methods and wayes whereby God hath made known his mind and will to the world in order to mans eternal Salvation It remains only then that we adore and magnifie the goodness of God in making known his Will to us and that we set a value and esteem on the Scriptures as on the only authentick Instruments of that Grand Charter of Peace which God hath revealed in order to mans Eternal Happiness FINIS De Isid. Oâ—â—â— Sect. 1. Gen. 1. 31 Sect. 2. Protrept p. 63. Gen. 1. 26. Sect. 3. In Cratylo In Gen. 2. 19. Oedip. Egyp Tom. 2. Class 2. cap. 1. Sect. 4. Sect. 5. Object Answ. Sect. 6. Sect. 7. Sect. 8. Act. 17. 23. Sect 9. Sect. 10. Sect. 11. De 〈◊〉 c. 1. Sect. 12. De nat Deor. l. 1 c. 63. Sect. 13. Apad Orig. c. Cels. l. 4. p. 174 179 Sect. 14. Sect. 15. Sect. 16. Sect. 17. Lib. 1. bâ—st p. 10. Ed.