D r WILLIAMS's FIFTH SERMON AT Mr. BOYLE'S Lecture 1695. IMPRIMATUR Guil. Lancaster May 1. 1695. The Divine Authority of the Scriptures A SERMON Preached at St. Martin's in the Fields May 4. 1695. BEING THE Fifth of the LECTURE For this present YEAR Founded by the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire By JOHN WILLIAMS D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill Sen r Jun r At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and at the Three Legs in the Poultrey MDCXCV HEB. I. 1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son c. IN these words there is contained as I have before shewed 1. A description of Revelation 't is God's speaking 2. The Certainty of it 't is by way of declaration God who at sundry times c. 'T is taken for granted 3. The Order observed in delivering this Revelation it was at sundry times and in divers manners c. 4. The Perfection and Conclusion of all 't is in these last days by his Son Under the Second I have shewed 1. That God has actually revealed his Will at sundry times and in divers manners 2. What are the Characters of true Revelation 3. I am now in order to prove that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament do contain the Matter of Divine Revelation and have upon them the Characters belonging to it In which there are two things to be considered 1. The Matter contained in Scripture 2. The Books containing that Matter Which two will admit of a distinct Consideration For 1. These two the Matter and the Books were originally distinct for the Matter was revealed before it was written and would have been of the same Authority if unwritten as written The writing not being essential to the Authority but only made use of as a fit means for the conveyance and preservation of the Matter 2. These two are capable of a different proof For the matter of Scripture was confirmed by Miracles and had a Divine Attestation given to it But we don't find the like Testimony given to the Books There were Miracles upon Miracles to confirm the truth suppose contained in the Four Evangelists but none to prove those Four Gospels to be wrote by Persons inspired or that these were the Books wrote by them For that has another sort of Evidence to be hereafter inquired into 2. 'T is fit these two should be considered apart For 1. If we were to discourse with a professed Infidel we must begin with the Truth of the Matter and then proceed to the Authority of the Books And we may make Converts as the Apostles and others in those primitive times did from the proof we are able to make of the Truth and Authority of our Religion though at the present we have not the Books 2. It 's of no little advantage For by handling the Matter apart from the Books we need not for the present concern our selves in the Doubts and Objections about the Books such as the supposed Inconsistencies in Scripture the various Readings the uncertainty of the Authors the Subject of Inspiration whether words as well as matter c. These being laid aside for the present by this distinct consideration of the Matter and the Books will shorten our Work and if we prove the matter to be of Divine original we also gain a great point toward the proof of the Books themselves I am to begin with the Matter contained in Scripture Now that is of a diverse nature and therefore according to the nature of it so is its Authority For there is matter of Fact and Historical Relations of things and when we say these are of Divine Authority we thereby mean they were recorded and committed to writing by the Appointment Direction or Command of God Again there are Matters of a moral nature which might be found out by and are the Dictates of pure Reason and when we say these are of Divine Authority we thereby understand that they are authorised by the Divine Command as well as in their own nature obligatory In which cases holy men of God spake and wrote as they were moved incited by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 21. But the more especial way was when the Matter was purely of Divine Revelation and wholly proceeding from it and though this were not to be learned and found out by Reason as has been before shewed yet 't is agreeable to it as I shall now proceed to prove and that I shall do in this order 1. I shall consider The Claim which the Matter of Scripture hath to Revelation and Inspiration 2. The Characters upon which that Claim is grounded 3. The Proof by which that Claim to Revelation is made good 1. I shall consider the Claim c. And that is if the Matter contained in the Scripture be not a Revelation from God and the True Revelation then there neither is nor ever was nor can be such a Revelation 1. If That be not a Divine Revelation there is no Revelation for as That denies and rejects all Revelation besides it self so there is none other that can produce such Evidence for it And consequently if notwithstanding the Evidence producible for Scripture That is not to be admitted for Divine then there is no Revelation existent in the World since no other has the Evidence which That appears to have This we may leave to any indifferent person to judge of by comparing the Alcoran with the Bible and the Chinese Divinity of a Confutius with that of Christianity 2. If this be not a Revelation from God then there never has been such a Revelation and that for the Reason before given viz. That there is no other Revelation extant save this But if there ever had been a Revelation and a Revelation design'd for all Mankind as that of the Gospel apparently is what was once would always and for ever afterwards have been existent since the same reason there was once for a Revelation to Mankind the same would have been for the Continuance of it and the same Divine Goodness that took care there should be a Revelation would certainly have taken the like care for the preserving of it But if there be no Revelation as there is not if the Scripture be not that Revelation then there never was a Revelation and so all that has been before said upon this Argument about the Existence Usefulness and Necessity of a Revelation must go for nothing 3. If the Scripture be not of Divine Revelation then there never can be a Revelation or at least such a Revelation as shall oblige us to receive and believe it Since there can be no stronger Evidence produced for the Proof of it than there is for that of Scripture And therefore he that will pretend not to believe the scripture-Scripture-Revelation for want of
sufficient Evidence can never be convinced of the Truth of any Revelation For what better Evidence can be given as to the Matter the Persons Inspired the Supernatural Proofs of Miracles and Prophecy c. than what we have for the Scripture Admit then that there is or ever was or may be a Divine Revelation we may be certain that the Matter contained in Scripture is of that nature But though this must be allowed to be a good step toward the Proof of the Divine Authority of Scripture yet it remains to consider what that Evidence is which is thus peculiar to scripture-Scripture-Revelation and that none besides ever have or can have And this is the Subject of the Second General Which is to consider 2. The Characters belonging to Revelation upon which that Claim is grounded That Revelation may be distinguished from Imposture and mere Pretence there must be proper Characters that are essential to Revelation without which Marks of distinction we must do by it as few have done and totally reject it or else as the Romans did by the Deities of other Countries that admitted all into their Calendar we must refuse none But since there has been a Revelation as all Mankind have been inclined to believe and several Pretences to it as the experience of all Ages has shewed we must follow the direction of Scripture which not only warns us of false Prophets and exhorts us to try the Spirits but doth also furnish us with such Characters as will enable us to distinguish the true from the false And this direction methinks may pass for one Character according to that of our Saviour Joh. 3. 20 21. Every one that doth evil or speaketh falsly hateth the light lest his deeds should be reproved and his Pretences discovered But he that doeth and speaketh truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God or that what he saith may appear to be a Revelation from him Now when the Revelation so called doth thus offer it self to an impartial trial and exhorts and requires all persons to examine and make enquiry and lays down such Rules Principles and Characters as in the opinion of all men are sufficient to distinguish the true from the false 't is an undoubted sign that it is able to justify it self and to make out its Claim to a Divine Authority by a correspondence to those Characters By this the Scripture is distinguished from all others for though there were several among the Heathen Lawgivers that pretended to derive their Laws from the direction of their gods yet it was rather to prevent Enquiry than encourage it and to oblige the people to an absolute submission For who might dispute that which the gods commanded Or who durst so much as enquire where the Fear of Religion restrained them But to expose it self to a trial and to require that men examine before they receive and believe and to give them such signs as shall serve to describe the Truth and detect Imposture is peculiar to the Scripture From thence therefore it is that I shall produce such Characters as will give that a Title to Divine Authority and oblige us to a belief of it And what are such if these are not viz. That it could come only from God is worthy of him and has a Divine and Supernatural Evidence to attest it Where these are there is a Divine Authority there is a Revelation And these I shall shew do belong to what the Scripture proposes as such 1. It is a Character belonging to Revelation and a sign of the Truth of it when it apparently has God for the Author and can proceed from none but him This is a Character I presume will upon examination be found to belong to Scripture As I shall now attempt to prove by considering that which is the chief subject of it and that is the Revelation of God's Will to Mankind Here I shall premise and take for granted 1. That God having created Man created him in a state of Innocency and Purity for being infinitely Good it is not to be conceived that he made any thing evil in it self 2. That Man fell from this happy state of innocent he became guilty of a pure he became a depraved creature as the experience of all Ages shews him now to be 3. That Almighty God was disposed to pardon and admit him again to favour Upon this state of things the Scripture proceeds And because it was impossible for Man to find out of himself the way and means by which he might be restored there needed a Revelation to inform him in it I grant there is a Natural Means and what the reason of the thing supposes to be necessary to our Reconciliation and that is Repentance But that this is of it self a Means sufficient and upon which alone God will be reconciled to the Offenders has been always doubted of as is evident from the several ways of Atonement and especially of Sacrifices practised in all parts of the world For since God is the Governor of the world it seems no more reconcilable with his Justice and consistent with that Authority he is to maintain to pardon all Offenders upon Repentance than it is consistent with the ends of Government among men to accept of the Offenders Penitence as a full Satisfaction to the Law and to remit the Penalty threatned We have an Instance to the contrary in this very case when notwithstanding a supposed Repentance in Mankind God inflicted the Penalty threatned In the day thou eatest therof thou shalt dye Now therefore since the natural Means of propitiating Almighty God was not sufficient there is somewhat further in reserve and what that is none could tell but he who had it in his own power what to accept and what to refuse it was for him to reveal that was to institute And if we take a view of the Scheme of what the Scripture sets before us as to this matter it will abundantly confirm what I have proposed as a Character of Revelation and that is That it is from God and only from him The Sum of which is That since Mankind had thus lapsed into a Preternatural State in which through the Infirmity and Corruption of their Nature they themselves neither were nor could do what was acceptable to God in order to a Restitution and Reconciliation it was designed that the Son of God himself should become a Mediator by a present Stipulation and in a prefixed time by an actual Undertaking to dye for us That accordingly in testimony of God's acceptance of the Atonement and of his Reconciliation the Son rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven is there our Intercessor and the Dispenser of all those Gifts and that supervenient Grace which is necessary to the reforming Mankind and the fitting them for that state he is now invested in and has promised to bestow upon such as are qualified for it
give Mankind a right Notion and Representation of his Nature The Being of God is what the whole Creation proclaims and there are some Attributes of his lye open to all and are conspicuous in their effects such are his Wisdom and Power But there are others that we rather know by Inference and need a farther and brighter Light to inform us in and such are his Goodness and his Mercy And since these are as essential Perfections of the Deity as the other and exceed them in the influence they have upon mankind as to our Love and Adoration of him and yet are not so legible in the Frame of Nature nor so observable in the Course of his Providence as the other we cannot conceive but that it is as becoming our Creator to represent himself to be a God Gracious and Merciful in a Revelation to Mankind as to be a God Great Powerful and Wise in the Creation We see how confused the Gentile World was in their Notion of the Supreme Power how inconsistently they thought and how low their Representations were of the Deity And at best they had a very imperfect Notion of those Divine Attributes of Love and Goodness of Pity and Compassion of Indulgence and Condescension of Patience and Forbearance of Mercy and Forgiveness which the Scripture represents with Life and Perspicuity There it is that we find the Almighty Creator stooping to the Creature condescending to their Condition bearing with their Infirmities pitying their Miseries forgiving their Sins There we find him reproving arguing following Sinners with importunity and leaving nothing undone that was consistent with his Nature and Honour to do toward the Salvation of Mankind And above all In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 1 Joh. 4. 9. So that if to reveal what was not otherwise to be known concerning God's Reconciliation to Mankind and the Terms upon which he is reconciled if to restore Man to the state he is fallen from and to promote him to a state of Purity Perfection and Happiness if for God to reveal and to render himself acceptable to mankind by the most obliging Characters of Love and Favour be worthy of him lastly If to reveal what is most worthy of God be a Character of Revelation Then the Scripture is such and what is therein contained must be from God III. A Character necessarily belonging to Revelation and by which the True is to be distinguished from the False and Pretended is a Divine and Supernatural Evidence which is the same with the Third General Head viz. The Proof by which the Scripture's Claim to Divine Revelation is to be made good and that is next to be considered Now there are Three Instances of this kind viz. Prophecy Miracles and the wonderful Success of the Christian Religion and the Preservation of it under the most Potent Opposition and greatest Discouragements 1. Prophecy That is of it self a Revelation and as it is what all Nations as well Learned as Barbarous have acknowledged so being an Instance of Revelation it is a good Proof of that Revelation which it doth accompany and is interwoven with And this is the case before us for the Scripture being composed of matters of a different kind cannot have the same sort of Evidence But Prophecy being self-evident when the Event has apparently answer'd the Prediction and a Supernatural Evidence is a good Proof to what has no such Evidence and which for the sake of that Proof is as much a Matter of Faith and as credible as the Prophecy it self because such a Testimony being a Testimony from God cannot be applied to the support of a Falshood So that where there is Prophecy truly so we may conclude that to be true and to come from God to which that Testimony is given for if the Testimony be Divine the Doctrine confirmed by it must be Divine also In discoursing upon which I premise 1. That there is such a thing as Prophecy that things future have been predicted Tully saith This all Nations have agreed in as has been aforesaid 2. That Prophecy is a good Testimony to what it is given as I have proved already So that there is nothing remains but to shew that the Revelation in Scripture hath had this Testimony And of this there are two sorts Near or Remote Of both which we have an Instance in the Prophet sent to Jeroboam 1 Kings 13. 2. The Remote was That a Child should be born Josiah by name about 330 years after who should burn mens bones upon that Altar The Proximate which we may otherwise call a Sign was That at that time the altar should be rent and the ashes poured out If the Remote had been alone it would have had little influence upon them who were most nearly concerned and therefore there needed some present Sign to verify it But otherwise the Remote is the stronger especially when at such a vast distance of time as shall render it impossible for Men or Angels to foresee or by any practices of theirs to accomplish when it depends upon Voluntary as Natural Agents and is in the conclusion answered by a Parallel Event it is to After-Ages a certain and indisputable Evidence To which if we add the Concurrence of both when there is a Chain and Series of Prophecies near and remote in a certain and continued order following each other the first looking forward to others that are to succeed and the latter having a retrospect to the former there is no reasonable nor possible exception to be made against the matter thus testified without excepting against the Testimony of Prophecy contrary to the sense of all mankind As for Instance if there be a Prophecy or Prophecies in several Ages from which it plainly appears that at such a precise time in such an Age of the world some Hundreds or Thousands of Years after there should arise a certain Person born at such a place and in an extraordinary way and descended from such and such Progenitors who should come to reform Mankind and in confirmation of his Doctrine should perform many astonishing Acts and do many supernatural Works that at a certain time and in a certain determined year he should be put to death by his own Nation and upon it that Nation should be captivated and destroyed and the Countrey desolate it is a Testimony not to be disproved And yet setting aside the many Prophecies in Scripture relating to particular Persons and Families to the Jews and other Nations I shall only instance in some of those concerning our Saviour and others of our Saviour's himself The former of which will appear to be exactly parallel to the Case proposed The first of these is the Prediction immediately after the Fall of Adam and 4000 years before the actual Completion of it That there should be one born of the seed of the woman
and supernaturally made of her alone as Adam was out of the Earth without a Woman that should bruise the serpent's head who had beguiled Eve through his subtilty About 2000 years after which Prophecy and so 2000 years before our Saviour it was revealed to Abraham That in his Seed and by one who should descend from him all the families of the earth should be blessed and which was afterward renewed to Isaac and Jacob. Again about 1700 years before Christ it was prophesied by Jacob That Shiloh or the Messiah should descend from his Son Judah About 1000 years before our Saviour's Birth David was exalted to the Throne of whose Family the Messiah was to be a Branch whence it was that he was commonly known among the Jews by the Character of David's Son In the same Royal Prophet have we the Prediction of our Saviour's Death Resurrection and Glorification and in very minute Circumstances as to the first of these Vid. Psal. 16. 10. 22. 1 7 8 14 16 18. 110 c. This is also the great Theme of Isaiah's Prophecy 700 years before the Accomplishment That there should be a root out of Jesse the Messiah who should dye for the Sins of the People be rejected by his own Nation but be believed in by the Gentiles Isa. 11. 10. 42. 10 c. 53. In the same Age lived Micah who foretells the very Place he should be born in viz. Bethlehem-Ephrata Lastly About 500 years before our Lord's Incarnation Daniel directly points to the Time and the Year the Messiah should suffer in which was to be in the midst of the Seventieth Prophetical Week each of which consists of Seven Years that is the 490th Year from the Decree of Artaxerxes for the Rebuilding of Jerusalem As may easily be computed by Ptolomy's Canon and reckoning the Years backward from the Death of our Saviour which was in the Reign of Tiberius to some fixed year of Artaxerxes In consequence of which the City and Sanctuary were to be destroyed and the whole Countrey laid desolate as with a Flood This Conclusion leads us on to the Second Branch of Prophetical Observations viz. our Saviour's own Predictions which are very many but a most remarkable one is his Prophecy of the Destruction of that People City and Countrey foretold by Daniel as to the very time and which our Saviour describes so particularly as if he had it at that instant before his eyes when he discoursed of it to his Disciples There he foretells * The preceding Signs as Famines and fearful Sights c. * that many False Prophets should arise * That there should be barbarous Slaughters one of another * That Jerusalem should be closely besieged but withal that at that time there should be an opportunity for escaping which he advises them to take and to fly to the Mountains for present security * That the Enemy should at last cast a Trench about it and keep them that remained in on every side * That he should finally take the City and lay it even with the ground and that not one stone of the stately Structure the Temple which they then were admiring should be left upon another * That the surviving Jews should be led Captive into all Nations and never return again to that Land as Proprietors * And that all this was because they knew not the time of their visitation * And that this should happen in that very Age. Never was any Prophecy more express never any Sentence more terrible nor more punctually fulfilled as to all the Particulars before-recited and for which we may appeal to Josephus the Jew who was an Eye-witness of all and as exactly describes it as to those Instances as if he was writing a Comment upon our Saviour's Prophecy Joseph de Bell. l. 4 5 6 7. And accordingly as the Temple though attempted by Julian the Apostate's Order never could be built as the Heathen Historian Ammianus Marcellinus relates Hist. l. 23. so that People to this day remain Vagabonds without any certain place dispersed over the world Having traced this Subject thus far we may proceed 2. Another way by which we prove the Claim that the Matter of Scripture hath to a Divine Authority is Miracles of which kind there is nothing wanting that can reasonably be desired and that either as to the Judaical or Christian Dispensation As for Instance If a Person should pretend that he comes from God with a Revelation and which he requires us to hearken to on peril of Damnation What Satisfaction should we desire Surely if the Doctrine he teaches be in it self credible and worthy of God and what in the nature and tendency of it proves to be useful and beneficial to Mankind we have as much Evidence as the nature of the thing will bear And farther if the Person upon whom we are to rely doth openly and in the sight of all even of Enemies that watch him as well as Friends and in the most Publick Assemblies cure all manner of Diseases though naturally incurable by a Word or a Touch and even at a distance If he commands the Winds and the Seas the Good and the Evil Angels feeds Thousands in a Desart with no more than what would satisfy a few and raises the Dead If he tells the most secret Thoughts Inclinations and Practices of his Enemies as well as Followers Lastly If when himself is put to a violent Death he in a few days according to his own Prediction rises again appears to and converses with those that knew him when alive and saw him dead And afterwards in the view of many ascends bodily into Heaven and within a few days as a farther Testimony of his former Mission and present Glorification confers the same or like Power upon his Disciples Who can reasonably doubt of the Truth of what he has taught I need not here draw the Parallel And if the Question should be put as it was by those whom John the Baptist sent Art thou he that should come Our Saviour's Answer will serve for one here Tell John what things ye have heard and seen how that the blind see c. Luke 7. 19. There needs no greater Evidence to convince Mankind 3. Another Proof of the Divine Authority of the Matter of Scripture is the Event and Success correspondent to former Predictions Such was that of the Israelites in Canaan And much more the wonderful and astonishing Progress of the Gospel without any of that Assistance and Force which that People had and when it had the Force of Emperors and Kings to oppose it Could it be thought possible that a few simple and timerous Persons who had been bred up to a mean Employment and had never been out of their own Countrey should each by himself undertake perilous and remote Journeys among People they had no knowledge of and to whose Tempers Customs and Language they were altogether strangers and should prevail with them to change their gods and their Religion their Customs and their Lives Could it be thought that Men of no Authority nor Interest of no Learning Depth of Judgment nor Subtilty in Arguing should be able to maintain and propagate a Doctrine that seemed to be foolish and absurd a Doctrine of a Crucified Saviour a Doctrine opposite to the sensual Inclinations and Interests of Mankind as the state of the world then was a Doctrine that obliged them that believed it to profess it with the Hazard of all that was dear to them in this world and upon no other Encouragement than a Reward in another And yet even this Doctrine so meanly attended became so successful that according to our Saviour's Prediction Matth. 24. 14. before the Destruction of Jerusalem and within Forty years after his Death the sound of it went out into all the earth Rom. 10. 18. Not to proceed further in this Argument than Scripture in those early times we find Converts if not Churches in the most frequented Cities for Trade Learning and Dominion in Corinth and Ephesus Athens and Rome in the Courts of Princes even of a Herod and a Nero Acts 13. 3. Phil. 4. 22. And where not Now if there had not been Truth in the Doctrine If it had not been a Doctrine worthy of God suitable to the Desires and Expectations of Mankind If it had not had a Supernatural Evidence and Testimony and an Assistance as great as its Evidence it could not in those Circumstances have made its own way nor have proved in the Event so powerful and successful No it was God that chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things which were mighty And it must be a Revelation from him alone that had all these Testimonies on its side to confirm it So that we may conclude as we began That if ever there was a Revelation the Revelation contained in Scripture is a Revelation and the only True Revelation now in the World And if so it be then what an Obligation is there upon us to observe it When 't is God speaking to us we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard from him lest at any time we should let them slip Heb. 2. 1. FINIS ERRATA In the License to this Sermon for May 1. read May 4. P. 10. l. 5. r. Good-will P. 12. l. 3. after God put a 2 Pet. 2. 21. 1 Joh. 4. 1 c. Justin. Hist. l. 3. Contr. Cels. l. 1 2. Cic. de Divin l. 1. Gen. 2. 14. Gal. 4. 4. Gal. 3. 16. Gen. 12 3 c. Gen 49. 8. Matth. 22. 42. Mic. 5. 2. Dan. 9. 24 c. Lev. 25. 8.
Now who is there that upon a Review of these several Particulars that do constitute the Christian Religion and make up the chief Subject of Scriptural Revelation can pretend that this was to be found out by Human Consideration and Enquiry or rather that must not grant it proceeded from God Especially if it be observed what a wonderful Intermixture there is in this Scheme of the Divine Mercy and Justice of his Mercy in pardoning the Sinner and of his Justice in requiring an Atonement What a representation of his Hatred to Sin on one hand when God established so valuable an Atonement as the Blood of his own Son and of his Favour and Love to Mankind when he spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all What a foundation for our Hope on one hand when he accepted of the Propitiation and what a dread of offending is there on the other when he that knew no sin was made a sin offering for us All which laid together do confirm the Truth of this Character and the Title that the Scripture-Revelation hath to it But there is somewhat further to be added in Proof of this Point That it was a Revelation from God and that is The many Prophecies that are interwoven with it in Scripture which could proceed from none but Him who alone has all Causes and Events in his Power and so alone could foretell how those Causes would operate and what should be the Events of such Operation These being the chief part of the Revelation concerning the whole Scheme of Man's Salvation confirm what I have before said That it was from God and from Him alone But this must be reserved to its proper place under the Third General Head To go on II. A Character necessarily belonging to Divine Revelation is That it be worthy of God and what becomes the Majesty of Heaven to make known to Mankind When we say it is to be worthy of him thereby is meant that it is suitable to the Perfections of his Nature to his Holiness and Justice his Goodness and Mercy his Wisdom and Power c. To which and all of which a Revelation truly so can no more be repugnant than God himself can be other than he is and destitute of those Perfections which are essential to him In discoursing upon which we may observe 1. That it cannot be denied but the Revelation of himself to Mankind is worthy of God though it be an Infinite Condescension It was an Infinite Condescension in the Deity that had all in himself to make such a Creature as Man and it is no more unworthy of God to reveal himself to him than it was to make him For what other reason was there for the making such a Creature and the enduing him with the Light of Reason but that he might own honour and serve the Author of his Being And since to know and acknowledge God is the chief end for which Man was made it is as much becoming Almighty God to reveal himself to him as it was to make him for the knowledge of himself 2. That is a thing worthy of God to reveal which is a thing worthy of God to do And such is the Recovery and Restoration of Man to the like condition he was created in and unhappily fell from for that is a kind of Re-making him and giving him a New Being And since a New Being is to a Depraved Being what Being was to No Being it is as much becoming Almighty God from a depraved state to raise him to a state of Purity and Holiness as it was at the first to give Him a Being that before had none And this is the great Subject of what we call Divine Revelation which as it respects Man may come under a Twofold Consideration and that is the Perfection of Human Nature and the Happiness of Mankind It will be a needless undertaking to prove that these Ends are worthy of God but that which rather becomes us is to shew That as it is the great design of the Scriptural Revelation to represent this and to acquaint us with the Method that the Almighty Wisdom and Goodness thought fit to observe so the Method as there laid down is worthy of such Wisdom and Goodness as I shall now proceed to shew in the two Instances given 1st The Method Almighty God is in Scripture said to take for the purifying and the perfecting Human Nature is highly worthy of so glorious a Being and that is Threefold Cautionary Moral and Supernatural 1. That which I call Cautionary is the way Almighty God was pleased to take for the representing his Displeasure against Sin and to make Mankind cautious of offending The Means made use of before the Fall was a Penalty threatned In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye But because that had proved of so little force to restrain mankind and for fear lest when God had received them into Favour after such a Threatning his Mercy and Indulgence might be abused and become an Encouragement to Sin God added thereunto an Expiation as has been before said and that to be made by his own Son who from the Dignity of his Person and the voluntary Oblation of himself should be reputed as a Representative of the whole and the whole be esteemed to suffer with him By which means as God's Mercy would be abundantly testified in a design for redeeming them so his Justice would be exemplified when he that had no sin of his own should yet be made a Sin-offering and suffer for them For how could they presume after this to offend the Almighty Father when rather than suffer his Laws to be violated his Authority slighted his Holiness and Justice disparaged or leave Mankind under a temptation so to do he would express his hatred against sin and his resolution to punish it by requiring and substituting such a Sacrifice as that of his Son in their stead This is the apparent Reason of such an Institution and both the Institution and Reason of it are worthy of the Divine Counsel since there is no way in which these things can be represented to greater advantage than by the Scripture-Scheme of Man's Redemption 2. There is the Moral Means that serves the same end viz. the purifying and perfecting Human Nature to which Revelation gave the last and finishing hand It is true these Moral Principles are no other than Natural Maxims and which were Nature unassisted sufficient for might have been extracted out of it But Mankind were no more able to attain to that skill of themselves than an unexperienced person and unacquainted with the Art of Chymistry can extract such Exalted and Generous Spirits out of the Bodies of Plants and Animals as upon trial we find they are endued with It is another Light we view Nature by since the communicating of the Evangelical Revelation to the world Nature and Reason now are not the Nature and the Reason they were before or are