Supplication to God He will not hear will not regard our Prayers They are like unballowed Fire offer'd to Him and are an abomination in his sight for of him who is not resolv'd to part with his Sins the very Prayers are sinful That Duty which draws others nigher to God casts him at a greater distance from him That Ordinance which sanctifies others serves only to aggravate his deplorable Stare and to render his Condition more insufferable But neither on the other hand is he less criminal if he does not Pray at all for he is not excus'd from this Duty by being unqualify'd for it but he becomes guilty not only of those Sins which are the hindrances of his Devotion but of that Inability to Devotion which they have caus'd and so hard are his Circumstances that he is likely to suffer not only for making his Duty impossible by sinning but even for not discharging it while it is thus impossible And this justly enough too because this Impossibility was wilfully superinduc'd an Act of his own choice and free election and for which he has none to blame besides himself and his own wild Passionâ— So that while his Case continues thus he is on all accounts unqualify'd for Prayer and yet is guilty too if he does not Pray till by hearty Repentance he has freed himself from his Sins So indispensibly necessary is Purity from Sin to prepare us for Prayer But as there are different kinds of Sins so is there the greatest necessity that we should be innocent of those Sins which are most oppos'd to the Spirit of Prayer for they are not all of them equally destructive of it But these are Malioe Ill-will or Hatred of our Brother Now as these Vices commence two manner of ways either by Injuring our Brother or by receiving an Injury from him so we may be suppos'd in either Case to be guilty of them and therefore on all regards unqualify'd for Prayer if we do not contribute our utmost towards the suppressing of them As for Instance If I have injur'd my Brother and given him any umbrage to hate me I am in a great measure guiley of the Sin and therefore am unqualify'd for Prayer if I do not endeavour a speedy Reconcilement with him For if my Gift is before the Altar and I there remember that my Brother has ought against me any just cause of complaining that I have injur'd him I am oblig'd to leave my Gift before the Altar and go and first be reconciled to my Brother So on the other hand when we are injur'd by our Brother we are guilty of the Malice and the Sin lies at our door and so our Prayers become ineffectual if we express an eager Desire to revenge our selves if we shew an Aversion and Unwillingness to forgive him if we neglect his Proposals of Peace and Accommodation For how can we expect that God should pardon our Sins of the blackest Character if we will not forgive our Fellow-servant the least Offence And has not our Blessed Lord taught us that we cannot Pray to God to forgive us our Trespasses unless we forgive them that trespass against us And as often as we use this sacred Prayer of our Saviour's if we do not forgive those who have offended us from the bottom of our Hearts we desire that God would not forgive us that He would remember and revenge ouâ— Sinâ— against Him as we 〈◊〉 to revenge those which our Brother hâ—â— commiâ—â—â—â— against us So that in effect we 〈◊〉 the best Prayer that ever was into Sâ—â— and use the Words of ouâ— Saviour who spake as never Man spake to our 〈◊〉 Damnation So that Purity from Siâ— especially from Malice Hatred or 〈…〉 will is 〈◊〉 First Qualification in â—â—â—er â—o prepare us for Prayer The Second preparatory Qualification for Prayer is 〈…〉 the Nature of our 〈…〉 s and 〈◊〉 the Manneâ— by which 〈◊〉 has pro 〈…〉 to supply them that we may 〈…〉 what to pray for and 〈◊〉 Method â—â— take to have our Prayer 〈…〉 do And in taking an Est 〈…〉 Wants we are to consider 〈…〉 aâ— Creatures whose chief Interest 〈◊〉 on a future Stâ—â—â— wh 〈…〉 Necessities aâ—â— those which 〈…〉 Soul As to what concerns this Life we are to resign that over to â—â—â— Heavenly Father 's good Providence with a Father not my Will but thine be done But as to spiritual Wants concerning these we arâ— to sâ—e with the greatest and most unconditionate Importunity and a pious Violence is to be done to Heavâ—â—â—â— till we 〈◊〉 our selâ—es suocessful in what we pâ—â—y for But then Secondly we must reflect on the Terms on which God has undertaken to assist these Wants and to resolve to comply with them are they never soâ—â—â—neasy Thus do we ask for Pardon for Sins we know the terms on which this â—â—ust be granted are provided we repent and forsake them We are therefore to resolve to set our selves abouâ— this Repentance and Amendment before we pray for the Pardon Thâ—s because 〈◊〉 and Virtue can 〈…〉 compast without the use of good and wiâ—e Endeavours we are to resolve oâ— these before we petition for those For the Promises of God thoâ— infallible in regard to any Grace ought nevertheless to encourage us to travel with more Aâ—doâ—â— and Fidelity to merit the Effects of them And if we ask after this manner iâ— shall be given us for every one who asketh in this wise receiveth The Third Qualification preparatory to Prayer is Faith or a Trust in God that He will gran 〈…〉 pray for according to our 〈…〉 All thingâ— whatsoever yâ— shâ—ll â—â—â— iâ— Prayer believing â—e shall receive Now we may be said to be qualify'd 〈◊〉 this Grace when sensible of our own Wantâ— we commend our selves to God by Prayer relying on his Divine Goodness and Power that he will give â—â— what â—â— sue for that is as 〈…〉 hinted if we are careful of performing the Conditionâ— on which â—e stipulated to give if we ask for Pardon for Sins iâ— reforming them for vir 〈…〉 Endowments in industriously seeking after them for the assistance of God's Spirit in concurring with it and making good use of it for Health or 〈…〉 other prosperous Turns of Providence and outward things with a due submission to God's Will join'd with the use of lawful Means to attain them For â—o trust that God will hear us without these is not Faith but â—â— un warrantable Considence not Hope but Presumption The Fourth Qualification preparatory for Prayer is a good Intention to use what God shall bless us with to excellent Ends and Designs to the Glory of God and the Advancement of our own and Brother's Salvation Otherwise if we only ask for God's Blessings to consume them on our Lusts we petition Heaven to contribute to our Undoing and beg of the Almighty Materials for our Sins and for Occasions to provoke Him God is oblig'd to deny us out of Love and Compassion â—i forâ—
to be worship'd under these Ideas is not God by Nature he is to be look'd on as a strange God How can we then ascribe these Attributes to your Jesus whom you deny to be God by Nature without laying out selves under the guilt of worshiping strange Gods If you reply That the Miracles perform'd by your Christ are Motives strong enough to justify his Worship and that the mighty Works which he did prove that he was cloath'd with such a Divinity as might deserve Honours more than human To this not we but our God himself shall answer that If there arise among you a Prophet and give you a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto you saying Let us go after other Gods and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet Such a Prophet as this we look on your Jesus to be his Miracles of this false nature because they tend to bring us off from the Worship of the true God to give part of it to him If a Jew should make such an Apology as this for the not worshiping and owning of our Saviour I cannot see what a Denier of his Essential Divinity could reply to it It seems to be exactly reason'd in every part and each Conclusion drawn from their own Principles Either they must wholly denie his Worship and so make him a Pure Man or if he is to be worship'd they must grant that he is God by Nature and Essence If I am God where is my Worship does not hold with greater force against the irreligious despisers of God's Service than the Reverse of it would do against our Adversaries If I am to be worship'd I am God The summ of all is That Christ or the Word Incarnate is God not because whatsoever appear'd in his Prophetick Function was full of Divinity not because he was born after a divine manner not because he was taught by God not because he was endued with Divine Innocence but on account of his Divine Nature and Subsistence which was prov'd because whatsoever is worship'd is God and that Christ is to be worship'd and secondly by reason of his Co-partnership with God the Father in Divine Actions such as are The Creation of the World the Inspiration of the Prophets the Exercising of Divine Power the Raising the Dead the last Judgment the Destruction of the World And in the Second General were shewn the ill Consequences which may be drawn from the contrary Position So that even the Being and Unity of a God are not clearer Articles of Natural Religion than the Divinity of Jesus Christ of the Reveal'd A DISCOURSE Concerning Our Saviour's SATISFACTION 1 Epist JOH Chap. II. ver 2. And He is the Propitiation for our Sins THE Apostle had in the former Chapter discover'd the inconsistency of a state of Sin with that of Perfection and that the pretences of reconciling fellowship with God with walking in darkness was the greatest aggravation that could heighten any Impiety That it was a making God a Liar and was a positive denial of Actions to be sinful which he had by the most express Laws and Sanctions declar'd and enacted such He then shews that the truest Test of and the securest Method to attain to a perfect State was to walk in the Light as God is in the Light to partake with Christ of his Graces and to resemble him in his Purity That this was the only sign of the real and unfeign'd Gnostick and that we might hence measure our Knowledge of God by our keeping his Commandments But that if we should fall into any Sin the way to remove it was not by saying that we have not sinn'd that either our Natures are so pure that they change every thing we do into acts of Piety or at least that God is willing out of his favour to us to overlook our Transgressions but that it was our Duty to confess our Offences to acknowledge our Danger and to flie to God for Pardon upon Repentance And then he comes to state the nature of Remission that it was nothing else but the applying of our Saviour's Satisfaction or Propitiation for Sin to the Penitent which Propiriation was sufficient in its nature and force to artone for Sin and in its extent and compass to reach to all the Crimes of Mankind For He is the Propitiation for our sins Propitiation is the reconciling of an offended Party to him who has injur'd him by performing some Act by which his displeasure may be remov'd And as it is spoken of our Saviour it intimates That he has done something so grateful to God that on consideration of this God is willing to take Man again into his favour to forgive him his Sins and to bestow those Blessings on him which were doe only to his Innocence By Sins are understood first Our inclinations and tendencies to Sin and then Our voluntary breaches of God's Laws in their utmost extent with all those Circumstances which may either heighten or lessen their guilt For Offences in this latitude and for Crimes in this compass is our Saviour a Propitiation From the words I shall shew That Christ is a true and complete Propitiation for Sin Where I shall enquire First How Christ is a Propitiation and then Secondly Into the Equity and Reasonableness of his being so First As to the manner of our Saviour's Propiriation That it was wrought by procuring our Sins to be forgiven is granted on all sides but after what manner our Sins were remov'd is variously disputed Which Contest being manag'd by the Followers of Socinus on one hand and by those who justly style themselves Orthodox on the other I shall in order to a due determining of this Matter prove first That Christ did not propitiate for nor remove Sin after any of those methods or ways which Socinus contends for nor that any of them can amount to a Propitiation and next I shall state the true Means by which he did really take our Sins away and propitiate for them First then Christ did not propitiate for Sin after any of those ways which Socinus contends for nor can any of them amount to a Propitiation He did not propitiate for Sin by barely laying down his Life to Socin p 165. passim confirm or bear witness to that Doctrin or Rule of Life by the observance of which Crellius against Grotius p. 4. c. Remission might be purchas'd nor by gaining or acquiring a Right and Power to forgive Sin with which he was not invested before nor by meerly leading a Life of Patience Obedience and Submission to the Will of God which should be a Pattern to all his Followers and by the imitation of which they should certainly procure Remission nor lastly was it the Death of Christ consider'd only as a strong and active perswasive to perform those Terms which are necessary to the taking away of Sin which
wrought this Propitiation Not any of these separately nor all of them united how far soever conducing to apply this Propitiation were the thing it self Christ did not propitiate for Sin by barely laying down his Life to confirm or bear witness to that Doctrin in which Remission of Sin was contain'd For this makes the Death of Christ rather a Consequent or an Effect of this Remission than the efficient Cause on Producer of it For the Existence or the Being of any thing is the Cause as well as the Measure of the Testimony and not the Testimony the Cause of the Existence Therefore if Christ's Death was only a Testimony to that in which Remission of Sins is included it has no share in it A Testimony in proportion to the Character and Worth of the Testator may give Light to those who are ignorant or Conviction to those who doubt of any Matter but can contribute nothing of reality to the thing it self But it is plain from Scripture that Christ's Death did really effectively and antecedently work to the Remission of Sins And that we have Redemption in his Blood the forgiveness of Sins That the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin and that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission Therefore this shedding of Blood must be something more than a bare Testimony to the Doctrin in which Redemption Forgiveness Cleansing from Sin and Remission are imply'd must be the very Conveyer of these Blessings to us without which we had been still in our Sins and under an indispensible obligation to Punishment for them For at this rate the Blood of the Martyrs might purify us from Guilt as well as that of our Saviour seeing that that too was spilt as a Testimony to the same Doctrin Nay their Blood was on this account a more full and extensive Testimony to Christianity even than his because when our Saviour died tho' the Morals of the Christian religion were brought to their perfection yet there was something farther to be added as Objects of Faith and Belief which were not yet accomplish'd as our Saviour's Resurrection from the Dead and Ascension into Heaven Now to these our Saviour's Death could bear no Testimony as being results from it and transacted after it but the Death of the Martyrs still ratify'd and settl'd this fundamental Truth of Christ's being risen again which by being establish'd it self confirm'd all the rest Now Socinus himself freely owns that the Resurrection of our Saviour is a necessary Article of our Belief and an essential Principle of our Religion Nay this is almost the only one of the Socianian Creed which regards our Saviour And Socinus applies Remission of Sins to this rather than to our Saviour's Death because that the Hopes of that glorious State of which our Saviour took possession upon his Resurrection have the strongest Influences to reform our Lives which Reformation is immediately attended with the Remission of Sins So that the force of the Argument will be this That if all that our Saviour did towards Remission of Sin was only giving Testimony by his Death to that Doctrin in which Remission was preached then the Primitive Martyrs who bore witness to this Doctrin by laying down their Lives for it when it was advanc'd to a fuller extent did more abundantly at least equally co-operate to this Forgiveness But since this Remission is never attributed to any Testimony of theirs it follows That our Saviour made his Propitiation by some other act than this of Testifying Moreover as the reason why our Saviour was put to Death was not his preaching Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins but his declaring himself the Son of God so that which he attested by his Death was rather his own Divinity than the Truth of what he had before taught But granting that it might be one of the less principal Designs of our Saviour's Death to give Sanction to his Doctrin by his Blood yet this could not perform it so sutably and so completely as his Miracles did which were fully adapted to this purpose and to which he addresses as to the exact standard by which his Doctrin might be examin'd 'T is true that to die for a Man 's own Sentiments is a bold and a gallant appeal and a sufficient warrant that he himself believes what he says but this is not security enough for me to assent to his Tenents because he may be mistaken in the Truth of that which he himself is very conscientiously perswaded of For as Falshood may be maintain'd with equal warmth and zeal as Truth so may it be suffer'd for with resembling Patience But when Miracles are once brought to second a Doctrin these silence any farther doubts I yield I am convinc'd for these are either contrary to the Laws of Nature or above them and so are immediately acted by God himself who will neither exercise his own Power nor delegate it to any other to ratify a Lie or grace an Impostor So that since our Saviour's Miracles were more proper more clear and visible Tests of his Doctrin than his Death if his Propitiation or what he did towards the abolishing of Sin consisted only in bearing witness to his Doctrin it might rather be deriv'd from these than from his Blood which is a Paradox which hitherto has never been advanc'd To proceed This Propitiation cannot consist in Christ's meerly gaining or purchasing by his Death a Right or Title to forgive Sin For our Saviour did not purchase any such Right by his Death because he was invested with it long before he suffer'd and when a Person is once legally possest of any Right he needs no subsequent act to appropriate it more closely to him But that our Saviour had such a Right before his Crucifixion is plain as from several other places of Scripture so from that instance of his Healing the sick of the Palsy where he Prefaces his miraculous Cure with that comfortable Declaration of Son thy sins are forgiven thee And lest it might be urg'd That this was only a removing of his temporal Punishment it is very apparent that our Saviour distinguishes between these two Acts by subjoyning the other Command of Son take up thy bed and walk which had been utterly needless if the former words had implied a Cure of his Disease Nor can it be shewn That Propitiation for Sin can coincide with a Right of forgiving Sin for the former pre-supposes an offended Party which must be satisfy'd an offending one which is of it self unable to attone its Anger and lastly a Mediator or Sequester to finish the Reconcilement So that three Terms are necessary to make up an entire Propitiation but a Donation and a gratuitous Remission is nothing else is only between two where there are no insuperable Hindrances or Lets why the Donor should not suffer his Bounty to stream freely out towards the Indigent without any third Person to interpose for him or to bear his Punishment Farther
Neither did Christ propitiate by meerly giving us an Example of Obedience which if we transcribe we shall assuredly have our Sins pardon'd For how much soever our Saviour's Example may be serviceable to our Sanctification it can have no regard to our Pardon For if we can work out our own Pardons by an exact and unerring Imitation of our Saviour's Obedience the exactness of which must consist in gaining the same Ends by the same Means then did our Saviour at this rate by his own Obedience work out a Pardon for himself or else he could be no Precedent for us But he did not purchase any Pardon for himself because he never stood in need of any never transgress'd the Law at any time nor had any occasion of having it dispenc'd with on his account Tho' He was number'd with Transgressors yet it was only in their Punishment not in their Crimes Tho' His Soul was made an Offering for Sin yet was it for our Transgressions that he was wounded and bruised for our Iniquities So that tho' by keeping close to our Saviour's Example we may be Holy as he is Holy yet cannot we by this procure our own Pardons for former Sins To close all The Death of Christ consider'd only as a Motive to an Holy Life and as inspiring into us the Hopes of a future State of Glory and so perswading us to perform what is necessary to Remission cannot be the Propitiation express'd in the Words For what force could the disgraceful and bloody Death of an innocent Person and of one who had made it his Business to go about doing good have to convince Men That God was a Rewarder of Virtue and Integrity Would it not rather discourage Men from the practice of Perfections which were crown'd indeed but with Thorns and whose only Exaltation was on the Cross to make them more conspicuous Instances of Woe and Infamy Socinus himself foresaw the power of this Objection and to evade it he has recourse to the little Sophistry of saying that Indeed there was no great Efficacy in the Death of Christ to be an Incentive to a good Life and so to make way for Remission but that there was in his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven which were Consequents of his Death and that the Glories of that Kingdom he then took possession of carry the strongest Rhetorick in them to move us to abandon our Sins and lead Lives of Righteousness This is a miserable way of reasoning For would the Scripture apply the Propitiation so often and so expresly to the Death the Blood the Sufferings of Christ if it was all this while his Resurrection which effected the Remission of Sins Nay Does it not oppose the Benefits flowing from the Resurrection to those resulting from the Death of our Lord informing us that Christ died for our Sins but that he rose again for our Justification How then can these Acts in all regards be coincident be the same His Resurrection indeed was a Confirmation a Justifying to the World That he had by his Death purchas'd Remission of Sins to the Penitent but it neither was the Remission it self nor any way concurr'd to it more than by begetting in us a Faith in his Death and Merits The summ of what has been said is That Christ did not propitiate for Sin By dying to bear witness to his Doctrin because then his Death would only have been a Testimony of his Propitiation and not the Thing it self Nor By gaining a power to forgive Sin because he had This before he died Nor By setting his Life out to be an Example to his Followers because this Example has no force to purifie and absolve from Sins at least from past Sins Nor lastly did his Death consider'd as a Motive to an holy Life free from Sin because Christ's Death simply and abstractedly consider'd as the Death of a Just Man without its effect of actually removing Sin is not such a Motive As to the Enthusiast's method of Satisfaction which W. Penn's Christian Quaker p. 102. they resolve only into a spiritual shedding of the blood in their Hearts 't is a changing this comfortable Doctrin wholly into an Allegory and a substituting an imaginary phantastick Saviour instead of a true one And as none of these ways singly takes away Sin so neither do they all of them combin'd For the result of them all is this That God sent Christ into the World to live a Life of Righteousness and to die an ignomimous Death only to be a more successful Instrument to reform the Sinner and to prevent Sin for the future But if Christ did nothing but this How could his Merits reach to Sins committed before this Repentance or Reformation These would still lie open to the Divine Vengeance to the Wrath of that God who has too high a respect for his own Laws to suffer any breach of them to go unpunish'd but will certainly revenge them either on the Sinner himself or at least on his Proxy And tho' the Sinner should at length correct his ways yet what compensation would this be for his former Violations of the Commands of God Would this be any thing else but beginning to do that at last which he was always oblig'd to do So I shall proceed to state the true Means by which Christ did really take away our Sins and propitiate for them And to clear this Case from its original it is to be observ'd That God as the Governour of Mankind gave them a Law which was to be the general Rule of all their Actions This Law he secures on each hand as all other wise Magistrates with Penalties sutable to the power of the Lawgiver which being Omnipotent they too must of consequence be Infinite and Eternal The keeping of the Commands of God blest with ever lasting Life the breach of them punish'd with equal Misery This was the original Covenant or Contract between God and Man which was very just to be impos'd on Man in his Integrity for then he was endued with strength to perform the Condition and was as equitable to be exacted from him after his Fall because he had contracted his weakness and insufficiency by his own fault and had willingly disabled himself But God was more merciful than to deal with him according to the rigour of Justice he had a compassionate sence of that helpless State into which he was sunk and was willing to accept of a Propitiation He knew that the Sins he should commit in his faln Condition would be of a different Character from those of the Angels and therefore were more mercifully to be proceeded against That the Angels were irreclaimably lost because God had done for them all that could be done had created them so perfect that they had a whole prospect of their Duty at one view knew when they fell as much as they could know and therefore admitted of no room for Repentance or alteration of their choice But that
Doom at last and was to be the common Event of all both of those who sacrificed and those who sacrificed not It being therefore thus reasonable That God should release Man's Punishment it is as reasonable That he should lay this Punishment on Christ For either the Punishment must be laid on Christ or on some other or be remitted without any Satisfaction But without Satisfaction whatsoever the Deist may fancy the Penalty could not be sutably remov'd for that God should pardon Sin without receiving any Satisfaction is first against his Nature and Being for He is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and cannot look on Iniquity Against his Justice because as a just and righteous Governour of the World he may not suffer his Laws to be affronted without vindicating their Honour Against his Truth since in his first Covenant with Man he has inseparably combin'd Sin and Punishment In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Nor could the Punishment be laid on any other but Christ because none except one of the Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity could suffer Punishment sufficient to clear the Guilty For it was infinite Majesty which was injur'd and it must be satisfy'd by Majesty as infinite But it was not reasonable that the Father who i 〈…〉 the Oeconomy and Order of the Trinity is superiour to the Son and Holy Ghost should by this Humiliation be debas'd below them both It was not meet that the Holy Ghost should propitiate because he was to be sent by the Mediator in order to the applying of the Salvation which he should purchase So that whatsoever imaginary Models the School-men may raise of other Methods by which God might save the World yet there is none which agrees with Reason in all Points but the Propitiation which Christ wrought through his Sufferings The summ of all is That Christ is become our Propitiation not by Dying to bear witness to any saving or sanctifying Doctrin not by gaining a Right by his Death to forgive Sin not by giving us an Example by which we may have our Sins pardon'd not by any Encouragement his Death might yield us to an holy Life not by any of these single nor by all united but by Dying for our Sins and paying a Price tantamount to our Transgressions By clearing the Mulct which the breach of the Divine Law had contracted by an Act which at once secures Honour to the Law and Impunity to the Offenders Which Substitution of our Saviour to suffer for our Sins was shewn to be Just and Reasonable Just as having nothing in it which disagrees either with other methods of Divine Justice or with Human Proceedings Reasonable as being the only means by which God might shew his high value of his own Commands and yet his compassion for his Creatures and by one well-mixt Action display at the same time both his Justice and his Mercy A DISCOURSE Concerning MIRACLES HEB. Chap. II. ver 4. God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles THE Apostle in the entrance of this Chapter informs us That Christ being a Prophet so much surpassing all before him and now advanc'd above the Angels to his Royal Office in Heaven whereby he is certainly able to perform what he foretold we ought in all reason to heed his Predictions and to make use of them as means to fortifie us when we are tempted to Sin or Apostacy For if the Law were given only by the Ministry of Angels and yet the Threats on the breaking of that did come to pass and all the Sins committed by the Israelites against it were severely chastis'd and the Transgressors not suffer'd to enter into the promis'd Land How shall we avoid equal Punishment if we do not by Constancy and Obedience make our selves capable of that Deliverance which Christ first at his being upon Earth and the Apostles which heard it from him assur'd us of and which God himself has testify'd by so many Prodigies and ominous Presages And by giving them who foretold 'em Power to work Miracles and other Abilities of the Spirit God also bearing them witness both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles By Wonders in a strict sence are meant any extraordinary surprizing and new Operations whether springing from a divine Power or a natural By Miracles are understood Effects of a divine and infinite Power whether wrought privately or publickly on purpose to confirm any Doctrin or without any such design Thus our Saviour's Fast for fourty Days was a Miracle tho' it was not wrought for the confirmation of any Doctrin nor before any publick Assembly of Spectators A Sign is something more than a Wonder or a Miracle for it is wrought publickly by an infinite Power in confirmation of a Doctrin Thus our Saviour's changing Water into Wine is said to be the first of his Miracles of this kind that is the first of his Signs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as to pure Miracles he had acted several before as his Fast for fourty Days tho Descent of the Holy Ghost in a Bodily shape This is the distinction of the Schools tho' in common vld. Aquln 2. 2dae q. 178. art 1. ad 3. acceptation Signs and Miracles are taken in the same sence Under which Notion I shall consider them and shew First What a Miracle is Secondly I shall examine what Power is capable of working a Miracle Thirdly I shall enquire into some of those Marks by which we may distinguish a true Miracle from a false one Fourthly I shall prove That the Miracles wrought by Jesus Christ and his Apostles have all these Marks of a true Miracle Lastly I shall close all by briefly shewing That tho' Christianity was at first establish'd by Miracles yet that there is no reason that we should expect a continu'd succession of them to the present times First I shall shew what a Miracle is A Miracle is something that surpasses the Power of Men or of Nature wrought in savour of a Person who knows that this Miracle shall be thus transacted 'T is a Work that surpasses the Power of Men or of Nature for let an Effect be never so surprizing or extraordinary yet while it is within the force of second Causes it is no Miracle It must in strict speaking bear the lively Impression and sovereign Stamp of Divinity upon it so that we may without hazard of being deceiv'd boldly vouch that This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Which we may safely say when Diseases are cur'd by a Touch the tumultuous Seas calm'd by a Rebuke and the Dead rais'd by the Command of One who assum'd no more than the Form of a Man When the Unlearned speak Languages which they never learn'd When the Flames shall lose their destructive Nature and instead of consuming guard When a Hand rais'd up shall determine the Fate of Armies When the Lord shall hearken to the voice
Verdict of Reason and Natural Conscience but fully condemn'd by the Sentence of God pronounc'd by Moses and his Holy Prophets As our Saviour did not new extend the Old Commands so neither farther did He impose any New ones oâ— his own But here our Catechist affirms that our Saviour did enjoin several New Commands of his own as the Command of Denying our selves or pluâ—king out our right Eye and cutting off our right Hand of taking up the â—â—oâ—â— and of following Christ But these were Duties before the Gospel before the Day spring from on high had visited us in the Substance tho' not in every Circumstance Branch and Punctilio of them For tho' 't is improper to say That the following of our Saviour was a Duty before this Saviour appear'd on the Earth â—â—o should thus be follow'd before He had led a Life of compleat Virtue and Innocence which should be an Example to all his Followers yet that Resignation to the Will of God that perfect Charity towards Mankind that Humility and Perseverance in Fasting and Prayer which our Adversaries make so peculiarly imitable in our Saviour were obligatory before they were thus practic'd and enforc'd by Him And this will appear by a brief yet particular Examination of each one of them And in the first place Self-Denial which is nothing else but that Virtue by which we renounce our own Will and all its carnal Desires and conform them to the Will of God equally oblig'd under the Old Testament as under the New For did not the former as well as the latter exact a perfect Love of God A Love exerted with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Might A Love in some proportion worthy that Divine Object to which it was addrest and that oblig'd Creature who paid it But could so pure a Love as this be offer'd unless the Offerer renounc'd his own Will and all its carnal Desires and wholly submitted them to the Will of God since all Love of the World and whatsoever belongs to the carnal Mind is Enmity to God every sinful Dâ—â—â—â—e entertain'd in an Heart consecrated to the Almighty making the whole Sacrifice an Abomination in his sight So that since a perfect Love of God was commanded by the Old Testament and this could not be given without a complear Self-denial every Religious Votary under that Dispensation as well as under the Gospel was oblig'd to deny himself to renounce all his carnal Desires that he might love God with a more inâ—â—am'd Affection a more passionate Devotion So that the Command of Self-denial was â—o New Command of our Saviour's but one of those which were deliver'd to the Israelites and upon the Observation of which the God oâ— them Fathers promis'd to Increase them mightily in the Land which flowed with Milk and Honey Secondly The taking up the Cross that is a Preparedness to endure any Misery for the Name of God and Constancy in his Holy Religionâ— â—ay which is the greatest Tryal of an unshaken Courage a Readiness to suffer even Death it self which tho' it is the finisher yet is the most dismal of all Miseries A Disposition to undergo these which is meant by taking up the Cross was a Duty which oblig'd under the Ritual Law as well as since its Abrogation 'T is true indeed Christianity at its first rise seems to be a Religion purely made up of Sufferings The Prospect was wholly dark and melancholy Its Professors as well as its Founder pour'd out their Souls to Death and were number'd with Transgressors shar'd with him in the Agonies of a violent and the Shame of a disgraceful Dissolution Tho' the Duty if taking up the Cross was thus vigorously put in practice by the first Christians yet did it not then begin to oblige but was a Duty in foâ—â—e under the Law and strictly kept by I its Religious Observers Some of which as the Apostlâ— to the Hebrewâ— tells us were Tortur'd not accepting Deliverance others had Tryals of cruel Mâ—â—kings and Sâ—â—â—â—â—ings of Bonds and Imprisonments were Ston'd were Sawn asunder were Tempted or as others read it with perhaps an apter connexion with the Context 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Burâ—â— were slain with the Sword Thirdly The following of Christ that is a conforming our Lives to the Life of Christ or a resembling him in those Virtues which are properly his not known as our Opposâ—â—â— say before He taught and practic'd them Such are a Resignation to the Will of God perfect Charity Humility and Peâ—sevenance in Fasting and Prayer But these were Duties before they were thus practic'd oâ— enforc'd by our Saviour For what greater Obligation could there be to a Resignation to the Will of God than that Command of the Prophets Trust in the Lord for euer for in the Lord Jehovah â—â— everlasting strength What greater Instance could be given of perfect Charity than that passionate Expostulation of Moses upon God's being angry with the Israelites for â—he Molten Calf Yâ—â— nâ—w says he if thou wilt forgive their Sin if not blot me I pray thes out of the Book that thou hast written It seems to rise up to St. Paul's pathetical Wish under the Gospel I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the Flesh As for Humility it was a Duty before the Gospel for the Prophet Micah commands us to walk Humbly with our God as well as to do Justly and love Mercy Fasting and Prayer and Perseverance in them were Duties antecedent to the Gospel for we find that our Saviour does not so much settle any New Commands about them as remove those Mistakes which were risen concerning them He supposes that to Pray was a Duty but his Direction is Not to pray as the Hypocrites do He supposes Fasting to be a Duty but his Injunction is Not to disfigure the Face that we may appear to Men to Fast So that He does not enjoin the Duties which were commanded before only corrects the Errors which are frequent in the Practice of them So that we may hence conclude That our Saviour has appointed no. Now Commands of his own only explain'd the Old ones of the Law and press'd Mankind to the practice of them as of Truths in which through his Merits Eternal Life is contain'd But before I proceed to the next Subject of our Enquiry I shall make this remark on what has been already offen'd That it is far from the Design of this Discourse to depreciate the Moral Law of Christ The whole aim of it is to set it in a just Light to shew that it is a necessary and eternal Law such a Law as when God ever impos'd any Law on his Cre 〈…〉 res was the most suitable for him to enact and for them to obey Such a Law as I had almost said the Rectitude of his own Nature laid him under a necessity of establishing according to the Order in which He had form'd the Reasonable