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
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
Man receives the Knowledge of his Duty by degrees and advances into a Mind prepossest with the prejudices of Sense and therefore may see farther and farther into things so as to correct his Errors and repent of them That his Passions grow strong before his Reason has force to govern them That his Duties are so many that in some cases they are almost inconsistent That even when he sins and provokes his Maker there are secret declarations in his Conscience against what he acts or in the Language of the Apostle The Evil that he would not that he does Such Considerations as these mov'd the merciful God to be willing to receive Man to favour made him inclinable to be reconcil'd and to mitigate that Anger he had justly conceiv'd against him for the breach of his Laws But it is impossible that God should be pacify'd while the Law which Man has broken and which the weakness of his Nature tempts him still to violate remains in its severity There can be no Peace between God and Man while this is to be executed upon every failure while Man is born under almost a necessity of Sinning and yet oblig'd to a necessity of Innocence Something must be done to this Law before God's displeasure can be remov'd and if so This Law must either be wholly taken away or Explain'd in a more easy Sence or some other satisfaction made it But the Law which ought to have been the Rule of Man's Life could not be repeal'd and quite taken away For then Man either must be left Lawless or some other Law made in the room of it The former throws down all the boundaries of Virtue and Vice gives encouragement to every Irregularity excludes God out of the Government of the World and places Man in the wildest State of Nature accountable to none but himself for his Actions If a new Law is to be substituted either this Law must partake something of the former or be oppos'd to it If it has somewhat of the Injunctions of the old Law it must have as much of the Difficulties of it too oppos'd it cannot be for the former Law rises so regularly from the Nature of Things that whatsoever should command any thing contrary to it would enjoin what is unjust and therefore would be null as soon as promulg'd Neither could this Law have a milder and more equitable Sence or Construction put upon it to soften its hardness that Man might in some measure evade the Obligation and therefore the Penalty of it For a mild interpreting of a Law is only a shewing That some Persons or Actions are not comprehended under it As the ancient Heathens were not oblig'd by the Jewish Judicial or Ceremonial Law or the present Chinese by the Evangelical As Works of Religion and Mercy are not included under the Prohibition of working on the Sabbath But neither of these can take any place here For Man could not pretend to be exempted from a Law which was made and design'd for him and could not be sutable to any other Order of Beings Nor could any Actions be excepted out of it for then must all Actions be so for tho' particular Persons might only break the Law in some special parts and therefore only have need of having those Actions Privileg'd which were contrary to it yet Mankind in general would violate every Branch of it so that all Actions in gross must be put out of its reach which is the same with an Abrogation or Repeal But there was a different Method from all these A Method by which the Law might be retain'd in its Majesty as well as Integrity not one jot or tittle of it pass away and yet Man be freed from its Rigour This was if a third Person would interpose and undergo the Punishment due to the Offenders would satisfy the Divine Wrath and propitiate for Mankind For the Dignity or Honour as well as the Force of a Law is sufficiently preserv'd if either its Injunctions are kept or satisfactory Punishment inflicted But Who can stand before God when he is angry Or Who attone for the Sin of Mankind Which of all the Angels or Arch-Angels can sustain the Person of a Mediator and satisfy the Law which we have broke Which in the Language of the Holy Job might like a Daysman betwixt God and us lay his hand on us both For God is not a Man as we are that we should answer him and should come together in Judgment The most perfect of Created Beings would shrink under so vast a Burthen So that the Son of God himself must be deputed for so glorious a purpose He that comes from Edom with dyed Garments from Bozrah Wherefore is he red in his Apparel and his Garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat The reason is because He has trodden the Wine-press alone and of the people there was none with him And in this God commended his Love towards us that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us That the chastisement of our peace was upon him and that with his stripes we were healed For as by his Life he fulfill'd every part of the Law did whatsoever it had enjoin'd and so perform'd our Righteousness so by substituting himself to bear the Punishment of our Transgressions by enduring what the Law had threatned he dissolv'd our Obligation to those Sufferings which were due to us according to the Order of the Divine Justice and pacify'd the Diety's Fury the Law being still retain'd in its original Majesty And both these as well the Innocence of his Life as the Meritoriousness of his Death were necessary for the Person who should attone for the Sins of Mankind For had not his Life been wholly made up of Obedience had there been one flaw one Transgression in it he could not have been that holy and unspotted Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World All that he could have done would have been to have died for his own Offences if perhaps he could have wash'd out his Personal stains by his Blood But as to our Faults it must cost more to redeem them the Sacrifice which can expiate for them must have nobler Qualifications so that He must let that alone for ever The Innocence of his Life was therefore not only an accomplishing of the Law in our stead and a Rule for us to act by but was in a more peculiar manner a Qualification also to prepare him to suffer duly for our Sins Which Passion was the formal Act which took away our Transgressions On him they were laid and he paid the Price of them By this Act and under this Qualification did he propitiate for our sins Secondly The equitableness of which Propitiation by removing the Penalty from the Sinner to a Stipulator who engages himself to suffer for the Guilty is the next thing to be consider'd If there was any Injustice in this as Socinus pretends there is it must either consist in this 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
an imperfect Holiness which might be dispens'd with in some points but was to be a compleat universal Holiness inconsistent either with the least Sin or the want of the least Virtue was to be like their Sacrifices not only without spot and blemish but also perfect in every part for Be ye holy as I am holy says God The Holiness of the Divine Nature was to be the measure of their Holiness and since no Law could enjoin any thing which tended to a greater Holiness than this it follows That no Law could be superadded to this nor the Law which exacts such Holiness be extended to any other Duties the Law was then incapable of receiving an addition of New Commands or of having the Old ones extended to New Duties Thirdly Our Saviour did not attempt to do what was both thus against the Nature of the Thing and besides his own Character to extend the Old Commands or impose New ones He did not new extend the Old Commands he did not reach them out to New Duties which they did not inforce before And this may be made out from a short view of the divine Commands and the measure of their Obligation as they were given by Moses and explain'd by him and the succeeding Prophets And in the first place the Duties of the first Table which regard God were advanc'd to the highest pitch before our Saviour's coming neither did the first Command of having no other Gods before the true one receive any addition by divine Worship being paid to our Saviour because he is God of the same Nature with the Father God over all God blessed for ever The object of divine Worship was not multiply'd by Worship given to him because He and the Father are One. The second third and fourth Commands were observ'd by the Jews even to the greatest Superstition to the thinking that their exactness in their Duties towards God might atone for the omission of their Duties towards their Neighbour and that the abundance of their Sacrifices join'd with their Zeal for the Worship the Name of God and his Day might excuse for their want of Mercy Charity and Compassion So that our Saviour rather seems to regulate their mistaken Zeal on this Head to try to make their Social Virtues consistent with their Religious than to have added any thing New The Pharisees indeed had perverted the design of the fifth Commandment by teaching the lawfulness of defrauding Parents of what was due to them by a consecrating it to God yet this is not the intent of Moses who seems to be more particularly careful for the keeping of this Command in its utmost eâ—tent than for any of the rest by annexing the promise of long life in the land which the Lord their God should give them But the great difference lies in the five last Commands of the second Table and here our Adversary the Racovian Catechist says That the Command against Murder Racov. Câ—l p. 127. was enlarg'd by our Saviour to the forbiding of all kind of Anger and Revenge That against Adultery to the restraining p. 129. all impure Desires That the Command against p. 130. Theft was extended to the restraining all Avarice That against false Witness p. 133. to Detraction That against Coveting to the Ibid. curbing every Inclination after what was unlawful how unlikely soever to break out Edit Racov. An. 1609. and dedicated to King Yames I. into act which Anger Revenge impure Desires Avarice Detraction and evil Inclinations were under no Prohibition from the Laws which Moses and the Prophets receiv'd from God But the contrary to this will appear if we consider in the first place that our Saviour has laid no new restraint on Anger and Revenge for moderate Anger is no more oppos'd to the mild and gentle Spirit of the Gospel than it is to the more rough Dispensation of the Law Be ye angry and sin not is the Apostle's direction to manage this Passion which shews that it ought to be govern'd not destroy'd and that it is criminal not in its Nature but its Excess But immoderate Anger springing from a desire of Revenge is as much against the Morality of the Law as of the Gospel Or else why should the Psalmist advise to cease from Anger and forsake Wrath or why should Solomon describe Anger as outragious and Wrath as cruel why as only resting in the bosom of Fools if there was no inconformity in it with the divine Law As to Revenge Private was as unlawful before the Gospel as under it Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people was God's Law by Moses and no more is his Law by Christ But as for Publick Revenge by the Sword of the Magistrate it is as much allow'd by the latter as by the former for the Magistrate under the Gospel too is a Ministar of God a Revenger to execute Wrath on him that does evil Secondly All Impure Desires are directly against the last Command Thou shalt not Covet where all evil Desires or Covetings in general are condemn'd But what other measure can there be of the Evilnese of any Desire but the Illness of the Action to which it tends And what other Rule can there be given of the Sinfulness of any Imagination than that when it has conceivâ—d 't will most certainly bring farth Sin 〈…〉 Thirdly Avarice was criminal before the Gospel as well as under it and therefore cannot derive its Sinfulness from any subsequent Institution of our Saviour's For the Prophet Amos pronounces a Wo to him that Covetâ— and David prays that God would incline his heart to his Testimonies and not to Covetousness pointing at the irreconcile a bleness of the latter with the former Fourthly Detraction was made equally Vicious by the Mosaick as by the Christian Oeconomy For the Psalmist makes it the finishing stroke in the Character of the Wicked That he sits and speaks against his Brother and slanders his own Mother's Son And lest it might be thought in this Case that the nearness of the Person against whom the Offence was committed was the only Reason which made it a Sin Solomon imposes a general Restraint on all Detraction against whomsoever practic'd Put away far from Thee a froward Mouth and perverse Lips put far from Thee Lastly That all Evil Inclinations not only impure ones but from whatsoever Cause they deriv'd their Malignity were forbidden by the Law was before shewn So that from this short View of the Divine Commands and the Measure of their Obligation both before and under the Gospel we may conclude That our Saviour did not new extend the Old Commands did not reach them out to fresh Duties which they did not enforce before did not make any Novel Prohibition as is imagin'd against Anger or Revenge Impure Desires Avarice Detraction or Evil Inclinations but â—â—fâ— these Vices in the State in which he found them prov'd guilty indeed by the
swerve For Justice and Judgment are the Habitation or as others the Basis or Foundation of his Throne As his own connate original Wisdom or the Rectitude of his own Nature is the Rule and Measure of his own Actions so is the Transcript of it if I may so speak the Rule for all other Agents to move by He has given the Sea his decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments and if the proud tumultuous Waves move by his Divine Rules how much more has he settled a Rule for his Angels that excell in strength for those his blessed Ministers who do his Pleasure The very Title of Angel imports Duty and Obedience to that glorious Power from whence it receiv'd its Commission and Obedience implies some Rule by which it ought to be proportion'd As the Angels so the Saints in doe Subordination are in their several Stations rang'd under Rules and Laws For they are all Parts of the great Celestial Polity and all make up one Church Triumphant therefore must be subject to the same Heavenly Canons Laws and Constitutions For Thirdly This Rule is the same with that by which we ought to regulate our Actions therefore they are very fiâ—ly set out in â—hiâ— Prayer of our Lord's as a Pattern for our Obedience Now the Rule by which 〈…〉 ought to manage our Practice is that which is styl'd the Moral Law or that Law which first being stamp'd on Man's Heart in his Innocence notwithstanding what Mr. Hobbs * Human vnderstanding p. 366. passion Mr. Locke and others have said to the contrary was after his Fall retriev'd by Moses and the Prophets and lastly by Christ and his holy Apostles that Law which prescribes to us to entertain noble Apprehensions of God to worship and serve him which teaches us Moderation towards our selves and Justice towards our Neighbours which is comprehended in that brief Summary Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and thy Neighbour as thy self This is the Rule of our Actions on Earth â—and that it is the Rule of the Saints and Angels in Heaven may be thus prov'd 1st That it is the Rule of the Saints or of the Spirits of Just Men made perfect That Law which recovens in the Saints that Image of God which was defac'd by the Fall is the Rule of their Actions but the acting up to the Moral Law is a Recovery of this Image and so must be that Rule For Heaven is properly nothing else but a Recovery of that State with something more of Perfection from which Man by Transgression fell If therefore acting in conformity with the Moral Law in all its Points is a Recovery of that State and that Image it is probable to suppose that in Heaven this Law shall be the Rule of the Actions of the Blessed Saints but an acting up to the Moral Law in all its Points is a Retrieval of the Divine Image for the being made in the Image of God is nothing else but being made in conformity with the Moral Law and in a State of Legal Innocence For the Apostle speaking of the Image of God in Man says That it was nothing else but Man's being made in Righteousness and true Holiness which are the two great Points of the Moral Law the former denoting the Duties of the second Table and the latter of the first As long therefore as Man liv'd up to the Moral Law maintain'd Rightcousness and true Holiness so long was â—e to bear the Divine Image but Man being in Honour had no Vnderstanding but became like the Beasts that perish For when he once broke the Law of his Maker whatsoever the Nature of his Sin was he lost this Image and Likeness to God and resembled rather that Cursed Spirit who had Betray'd him than that Blessed God who had Created him And under this resemblance with the Apostate Angels had he continued had not God by an Effort of Goodness which excell'd even that by which he made him offer'd to retrieve him to his former Image and Likeness And this was by assisting him with his Grace to live up to the Moral Law which he had before broken to keep the Divine Commands which would so purify his Nature as to renew the Divine Image in some proportion till he should be receiv'd into Heaven which his Saviour had purchas'd for him where the Image of God should be renew'd with a Lustre surpassing that in which Man was at first created But the reason why the Image of God should shine with a peculiar Splendour in Heaven seems to be because Man is there put out of a possibility of sinning any more and of defacing this Divine Image And this Heavenly State being only a renewing of that Image of God which Man had shortly after his Creation lost if that Image did as was before shewn at first consist in Man's living up to the Rules of the Moral Law of Righteousness and true Holiness if this Image was forfeited by Transgressing these Laws if it is in some degree renew'd in this Life by acting up to them it seems to follow that it shall be totally renew'd and eternally preserv'd in Heaven by an everlasting Obedience of the Saints to these Laws of Morality of Righteousness and true Holiness This Law therefore is the Rule for the Saints to act by in Heaven And Secondly It is the Rule for the Angels to act by also which may be shewn from an Argument drawn from the Fall and Revolt of the Evil Angels and accuss'd Spirits The Argument is this If those Spirits which fell from before the Throne of God fell by their Disobeying that Law of God which is styl'd the Moral Law it follows that they were oblig'd to the Observance of this Moral Law For every criminal Disobedience supposes an antecedent Obligation But if these accurs'd Spirits were ty'd to the keeping of this Law we must conclude that all the rest of the Angelick Hierarchy wâ—â— under the same Allegiance For 〈…〉 ly there was not one Rule of Obedience given to one part of the Celestial Host and another to the Remainders So that the Point to be prov'd is That the Angels fell by Transgressing the Moral Law The Transgressing of the Moral Law was the Crime which banish'd them Heaven Whether their unpardonable Fault was Ingratitude towards God as some suppose or Infidelity as others or Pride and a Reflection on their own Perfections without considering God as the Author as most or Envy as * Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 19. St. Chrysostom and †Civit. Dei lib. 14. c. 11. St. Austin or whether it was as is most likely a Combination of all these some â—oul and dismal Sin form'd out of the Malignity and Venom of each one of them mixt together yet was it a Violation of the Moral Law It was an Injury offer'd to that Light which God had put within them as well as within Mankind They therefore who sinn'd against the Moral Law who
in pursuit of this universal Charity our Saviour according to * De Orat. St. Cyprian's pious Observation has taught us to say Our and not My Father only which art in Heaven that mindful of our divine and common Original and of that glorious dependance on which we stand related to God we might unite our Prayers for all those who bear the same illustrious Character of the Sons of God The Fifth Qualification of Prayer is That our Prayers ought to be short not abounding with an excess of Words For Prayer is the Language of the Heart rather than of the Tongue of the Affections more than of the Lips and great and rais'd Passions such as make up the most perfect Devotion are seldom attended with a copious fluency of Words For the Soul is too much employ'd within to love leisure to exercise it self about Flourish or tedious Harangue Of this concise Nature are most of the sacred Hymns and Prayers which are extant suitable to the Majesty of God for the most short is also the most solemn and stately Method of Address and agreeable to Mankind's Infirmities which hinder us from enlivening with a due Spirit a long and tedious Prayer Of this Nature are our Saviour's own Prayers one of the last of which in his Agony is so short and yet so pathetical that it seems according to the History to be accompany'd with more dropâ— of Blood than Words The Last Qualification in the act of Praying is Perseverance Persevereance not as the Messallians from the Apostle's Command in the Words of Praying always thought by an unbroken continuation of the acts of Prayer but by a constant Preparation for and Exercise of them as opportunities and freedom from other Duties demand For this is the Perfection not only of Prayer but of all Virtues Without this they are only faint efforts and attempts to please God which shall never be accepted of nor rewarded by Him But it has a most especial force in Prayer â— for if the Unjust Judge in the Gospel who neither fear'd God nor regarded Man yet granted the Widow's Petition mov'd purely by her resolute Perseverance how much more shall God who is the Just Judge of all Mankind and whose Goodness inclines Him to be kind and beneficent to His Creatures grant our Requests if we cry day and night to Him I tell you as the Gospel has it He will grant them speedily Humility therefore Attention Fervour Charity Brevity and Perseverance are Qualifications necessary in the time of Prayer But there are Thirdly Qualifications necessary after we have pray'd to make our antecedent Prayers duly effectual As First an observation of God's returns to our Prayers an eyeing the tendency of his Providence whether he does grant our Petitions or not especially as to spititual Concerns And there is an infallible Marâ—â— to measure our Success by for we may assuredly conclude That God has heard our Prayers as to Pardon of Sins for Instance if we find our solves free from voluntary Transgressions But if after our Prayers we are as much Sinners as over this is a sign that God has not heard our Petitions and that our Sins are not pardon'd and the fault must be our own because we did not truly repent of them before we pray'd for their Remission So that we must renew our Repentance as well as our Prayers and if the former is sincere and the latter duly qualify'd we shall certainly be successful Thus we may know that God has granted our Prayers as to spiritual Graces if we find our selves improv'd in Virtue after our Prayers otherwise the fault is our own we have not endeavour'd vigourously after Grace So that we must reinforce ouâ— Endeavours as well as our Prayers and if there is no deficiency on our part it is certain there will be none on God's for He is always more ready to Give than we to Pray He is prepar'd to prevent with his Blessings even our first Wishes for them and to reward our pious Desires even before they have time to cloath themselves with Words The Second Qualification after Prayer is a returning God Thanks for His Grants and Denials that is His Denials of temporal Advantages For this is often as great a Proof of His Fatherly Goodness and Concern for us as any of His most Merciful Indulgences 'T is a mysterious Method of Kindness which obliges us against our Wills and makes us happy in contradiction to our most passionate Desires depriving us of what would prove to us only a more agreeable Ruine a more pleasant and beautiful Destruction And how severe soever Disappointments may appear to us at first yet the event and close of Things will shew that we had good reason to be thankful to God for His crossing us in our Wishes and for visibly frustrating us in the success of our Prayers and we shall at last find the satisfaction of consigning our choice over to Omniscience and that God to use our Sauiour's familiar but expressive Words with some alteration when we pray'd for a 〈…〉 has given us a Fish and when we petition'd for Stone has blest us with Bread The Third Qualification after Prayer is a due Value of our great Privilege That we may pray to God For hole great is the Prerogative of a Christian that he â— may discourse and converse and prevail with God That there iâ— no difficulty of Access no doubt of Acceptation That there is no hinderance of his Entercourse with the Almighty but his own â—ins which are no longes Impediments but as far as they are persisted in and not broken off by true Repentance The Fourth Qualification is a learning by God's Denials to make fitter Addresses for the future For if my Prayer's are not granted there must be some fault in me Till that is amended Heaven will be 〈…〉 to my Petitions and neglect my most solomn Addresses Either I do not pray for what I ought or not after that manner which I ought therefore in the Language of the Psalmist my Words are only like the Chaff before the Wind and the Angel of the Lord will certainly scatter them The Fifth Qualification is Alms-giving For it is â—wet that we should express our Gratitude for God's Mercies by our Bounty to our Brethren which ask of us and need our relief This is all the Return we can make to Providence for the innumerable Bounties which it shatters upon us with open hands This is a kind of relieving our Saviour in his suffering Members and he tells us that he will look on it as if done to himself And there can be no greater Inducement for God to bestow temporal good things on us than if we consecrate a part of them to him by our Alms. We render him if I may so speak our Debtor and pardon the boldness of the Expression we may in some measure according to the Promises made to this Duty appeal to his Justice as well as to his
or absolutely needful to the gaining of Eternal Life but what was so under the Old Testament before his coming otherwise he had been oblig'd to have inform'd the Lawyer of thâ—se new Terms of Salvation and not to have refer'd him to the Law and what was to be read in it He did not therefore new extend the old Commands or impose new ones he introduc'd no new Religion into the World nor even material Circumstances of it the Will of God as it was reveal'd to Man being of that kind that it is as unchangeable as his own glorious Nature and the way to Heaven as much one as that ever-blessed and holy GOD whose enjoyment makes up the Bliss of that happy State This Conclusion drawn from the design of the Words I shall endeavour to prove by shewing First That it was inconsistent with the Character which our Saviour should bear to exercise such Legislative Power as to give New Commands or new extension to the Old ones Secondly That the Moral Law in its own nature was incapable of receiving an addition of New Commands or of having the Old ones extended to New Duties Thirdly That as it was inconsistent with our Saviour under that Character which he bore and as there was this incapacity in the Law so That he never attempted to do what was both thus against the Nature of the Thing and besides his own Character to extend the Old Commands or impose New ones Fourthly That as our Saviour has not added any thing to the Law so neither has he taken any thing from it nor is there any Priviledge in the Gospel which makes void any of the Commands of God before given Lastly I shall briefly reflect on the Encouragement that there is to observe the divine Commands because their observance shall be rewarded with Eternal Life as it is styl'd by our Saviour The three first of these Positions are quite contrary to the Doctrin taught by Smaloius or whosoever else was the Author of the Racovian Catechism and Racov. Cat. â— â—â—â— c. to the generality of the Vnitarian Divines nay and even to some of great Name amongst our selves who in some Bâ— Taylor 's Ductor Dubitant pag. â—42 c. Rule 4. Edit 1696. Forbes and others things seem too favourable to their Opinions who affirm That it was agreeable to our Saviour's Character to make additions to the Law and that the Law was qualify'd to receive 'em and that he did not only extend the Mosaick Commands to new Duties but also made the Appendage of several Commands of his own Such are the Commands of Self-denial taking up the Cross or Patience under Misery and Death the following of Christ to which Duties they say there was no obligation before Christianity In opposition to whom I shall endeavour to prove First That it was inconsistent with that Character which our Saviour should bear to exercise any such Legislative Power as to give new Commands or newextension to the old ones By the Virtue of his Character our Saviour does not so much as assume Authority to displace the Scribes and Pharisees from Moses's Chair or to weaken that power which they had gain'd over the People tho' he well knew how unjust their Pretensions were both to the one and the other so far is he from publishing any thing but what might reasonably be spoken from the Chair of Moses and suitably to his Sence The Scribes and Pharisees says he sit in Moses's seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe and do that observe and do 'T is true he divests the Law as was fit of those artificial Traditions which instead of strengthning did in his unerring Judgment make it void He drew off that Veil from its Face which their Doctor 's Interpretations had put on it and shew'd the beauty of its Holiness in its full lustre But he does not that we find add any thing to it and as He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets so neither came he to make any New Law of his own For the Character which he sustain'd was indeed unqualify'd for such an Office because he did not appear in the Person of a Law-giver to give New Laws but in that of a Mediator being at once the Priest and the Sacrifice to atone for our breaches of the old to free us from the Curse which we had contracted by them and to be made a Curse for us that he might redeem us from the Curse of the Law For this is one of the great differences between Moses and Christ That the former was to make Laws and by the force of them to accuse and condemn the Disobedient whereas Jesus Christ came only to pardon absolve and reconcile Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father says he to the opposing Jews there is one that â—coâ—soth you even Moses in whom you trust The reason is because God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World or indeed to execute any other branch of Judicial or Legislative Jurisdiction but that thro' him the World might be saved For the Law the Rule of Practice and Obedience was given by Moses but Grace the Dispensation of Pardon and Reconcilement to the Benitent and Truth the Fulfilling of the Types of the Law came by Jesus Christ The appearance of a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief was too inglorious for a divine Law-giver to assume and Laws would but receive small force from him who was despis'd and rejected of men So that he was only to live suffer and die suitably to the Law a Pattern of unmateh'd Innocence and Virtue to fulfil it not to add to it And indeed it was absolutely unnecessary that our Saviour should be invested with the Power of adding any thing to the Law For Secondly The Moral Law in its own nature was incapable of receiving an addition of New Commands or of having the Old ones extended to New Duties The Psalmist tells us The Law of God is perfect and there is reason that it should be so if we consider that the fources of Good and Evil are not chiefly laid in any positive Injunction of God with a design to try Man's Obedience as * Sunt qui nullam praeceptorum causamquaerunt sed dicunt omnia solam Dei Voluntatem sequi Maimonides Mor. Nov. â— 3. c. 26. some have fancy'd but in the order and dependance of things themselves which are always in the principal the same We must therefore conclude that this Law which is the Rule of this Good or Evil must be always the same too and therefore when it began to be a Law or a measure of this Good or Evil it must be as perfect as it is at present because what is now Good or Evil was always Good or Evil. Farther If we survey the compass and latitude of that Holiness Sanctity and Perfection which were commanded by the Law we may find that it was not
That he had no Father and Mother which stood in the Records as the Patriarchs had or perhaps That his Father and Mother were not of the Royal Race so that he was the first King of his Family as Jeconias is said to be without Children by the Prophet Jeremiah because he had none who succeeded him in his Throne tho' he had a Son Salathiel whether a natural Son or adopted tho' there are some Assertors of the first as well as of the second And indeed not withstanding what the matchless * Grot. in v. Luc. 23. 3 p. 6â—1 Grotius has said on the other side it seems probable that Salathiel was his Son by Nature Because first this Curse of being Childless might only be Conditional in case that he did not repent But there was a Tradition among the Jews which * v. R. D. Kimchi Râ—d in vâ—c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi Kimchi mentions that Jeconiah repented in Prison Secondly The Hebrew word Childless is render'd by Aquild not prospering or encreasing by the seventy-two Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Symmachus empty Thirdly The very next words of the Prophet Jeremy seem Jer. 22. 31. to imply that he had Seed for no man of his seed shall prosper But to return From what has been discours'd we may gather that it was common from the first Ages of the World that the same Person should be both King and Priest I shall proceed to enquire Secondly Into the Nature of Melchizedec's Priesthood And to understand this we must examine the Nature of that Law which he presided over by his Sacerdotal Function and according to which he was a Priest Now this Law was the Law of Nature improv'd by some Traditions which might be handed down from Adam to Noah and from him to the Age of Abraham For this is all the Law that was given to Adam in Paradise unless we make the Law of restraining the eating of the forbidden Fruit a positive Law If he had observ'd this he should have still maintain'd his Innocence and thereby his Happiness Happy State of Innocence which had not much more to distinguish it from Heaven it self but only that it wanted Continuance At fuit ingens gloria for Adam forseiting his Integrity had his clear Notions of this pure Law in a great measure defac'd What he had left or what was farther reveal'd to him was in some proportion brought down to the times of Melchizedec and according to this Law was he a Priest By this Law he and those under his Jurisdiction were instructed to worship one God to swear by his holy Name to give him due Honour to make Vows by him to gather religious Assemblies to raise Altars to build Temples to do to others as they would desire others should do to them By this Rule lived Enoch and so pleased God that he was translated into Heaven By this acted Abraham after he had forsaken his Idolatry after he had burnt his Father's Gods and made them a pleasing Sacrifice to the True One. And we cannot but receive high Idea's of this august Priest to whom the Son of God himself was made like No question but the innocence of his Life and the fervour of his Devotion far outvied the best and most pious of his Age. There is indeed a seeming difficulty in those Expressions which affirm that he had neither beginning of days nor end of life and that he abideth a Priest continually but if by a Metaschematism natural enough we translate what is here said of the Person or Priest to the Priesthood or Law themselves all will appear very easy For these Rules of Natural Religion are eternal had no beginning of Sanction nor end of Obligation but being the everlasting dictates of Right Reason are immortal and never to be abrogated as the Jewish Law and Priesthood were but shall remain even in Heaven it self as was shewn in a former Discourse This Law is ingeniously styl'd by Philo the Law stampt on the immortal Mind of God And some of the Schoolmen are so extravagant as to assert that it was before the Will of God it self before Eternity Such was Melchizedec such the Nature of his Priesthood But Thirdly Christ was a Priest after his Order For Christ as a divine Restorer of the eternal Law recover'd it to its original Splendor after it had been a long time obscur'd by Prejudice and Vice He form'd a Religion which was nothing else but a digest of the Rules of Right Reason For what is the Gospel consider'd without the Commands of Believing and of the Sacraments but the Law of Nature Every thing practical is enjoin'd by that Law Those hard and severe Precepts of returning good for evil of dying for what we think to be our Duty have not only been commended but also practic'd by noble Heathens who only mov'd by the Law of Nature What is our Saviour's excellent Sermon on the Mount but a Scheme of natural Principles The whole design of it is to recover Right Reason from those foolish Traditions by which the Pharisees had darken'd it The Virtues which are there enjoin'd Meekness Humility Justice Purity of Spirit Charity so extensive as even to love our Enemies are all branches of the natural Law Moses and the Prophets of old among the Jews and the Philosophers among the Heathens were propagators of this Law but what was taught by the former was not so clear tho' as perfect as was before shewn what by the latter neither was so clear nor perfect as what was perform'd by our Saviour The Philosophers if I may so speak design'd the first Sketches and Out-lines but he drew the Lineaments and true Symmetry of this majestical Piece To evince that our Saviour's aim was to retrieve the Law of Nature you may observe that when Christ endeavour'd to correct the Mistakes of the Jews about Divorce he refers them to the original Institution of Marriage by the Law of Nature which Rule may also hold in the case of Polygamy tho dispenc'd with in regard to the Patriarchs So that we may conclude that our Saviour's intention as he was a Melchizedecian Priest was to reduce the Law of Nature to its original purity that it might nearly resemble what was enjoin'd Adam in his Innocence The whole World being divided into Jew and Gentile tho' very unequally both of them had miserably tortur'd the Law of Nature so that our Saviour's charitable Hand was necessary to assert it to its native Liberty For the Ritual Law of Moses was an heavy Yoke and there could be no true Liberty but under the Law of Nature which is also the Law of God which only restrains us from what is truly ill or really hurtful This therefore is a common foundation of the Priesthood of Christ and that of Melchizedec That they both of them eminently adorn'd the Law of Nature tho' the former did it with a distinguishing Glory Christ indeed is a Priest for ever
after a way which cannot be apply'd to Melchizedec that is by entering into Heaven and offering himself a Sacrifice devoted for our Sins and by the Virtue of this Sacrifice presenting himself before God as our high Priest he still pleads in our behalf Melchizedec did Sacrifice and that not only with Bread and Wine as * Mariana on Gen 14. and Maldonatuâ— some suppose but also with bloody Victims suitable to the practice of that Age. But Christ only made one Sacrifice that of himself by which he put a period to all Sacrifices except the offering up our Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable which is our reasonable service alluding perhaps to what the Jews said of Adam that He was before sin all over a Sacrifice To this Parallel between the two Priesthoods it ought to be refer'd That the Christians like Melchizedec who was both King and Priest are styl'd a Royal Priesthood And the Author to the Revelations tells us that Christ has made us Kings and Priests an holy Priesthood to offer a spiritual Sacrifice Several of the Fathers deny that Abraham Isaac and Jacob and others of the Patriarchs ever kept any Sabbath and there is an ancient Maxim of the Jews that All the days of the Messiah shall be one Sabbath to shew the Piety of that happy Age that should consecrate every Day to the Almighty But to finish this Comparison Melchizedec was Priest of the most high God for the Name Jehovah was not yet known He banish'd all superstitious Worship from his Kingdom and instituted a pure Religion agreeable to the Laws of Nature The Religion of Jesus Christ in like manner triumph'd over Idolatry and wheresoever it appear'd gave a total stroke to Polytheism So groundless was that Calumny of the Jews which makes Jesus descended not from Abraham the true worshipper of God but from the idolatrous Thera whose Practice they make him to transcribe Thus just is the Parallel between the two Priesthoods AN ESSAY Upon the General Resurrection TO make my Thoughts more regular on this noble tho' common Subject I shall offer to prove First That there shall be a Resurrection of the Body Secondly That it shall be of the Body only Thirdly That it shall be of the same Body from which the Soul was separated First then There shall be a Resurrection of the Body Where I shall prove First That such a Resurrection has not any thing in it which carries the appearance of an Impossibility Secondly That it is in it self very probable and suitable to the Rules of true Reason And Thirdly That upon the prospects of the divine Promises and Predictions it is certain and beyond all question firm First The Resurrection of the Body has not any thing in it which carries the appearance of an Impossibility For if the Resurrection is impossible it is because that either the Power which is to perform this miraculous Act has not force enough to accomplish it or because the Subject about which it is employ'd is not capable to be rais'd after this wonderful manner But neither of these are true for tho' neither Man nor Angel could raise a dead Body yet it is within the compass of the Divine Power For First The Deity knows where the Particles and Atoms of the Bodies of the Dead are repos'd in what secret Cells they are lodg'd and what Changes they have run through since their separation from the Soul Secondly He can assemble these scatter'd Parts and unite them in their former harmony and beauty Thirdly He can command the Soul back to its ancient abode call it from Bliss or Woe to resume its former Partner so that these dry Bones shall live and become the same Man they were before their Dissolution And First the Deity knows where the Particles and Atoms of the Bodies of the Dead are repos'd in what secret Cells they are lodg'd and what Changes they have run through since their separation from the Soul For God understands all the invisible Passages of Nature and every small part of a Body and can trace it thro' all its turns and shapes whatsoever outward Frame it may assume He knows where the remains of the first righteous Sacrificer the first Example of Mortality which all Mortals must transcribe are dispos'd of as well as those of the last Man who shall be obnoxious to the Curse and shall be the last of those who shall return to Dust For whatsoever visible Figure our mortal Body may be invested with to Him it is undisguis'd and confesses it self The sinest Glasses can only help us to the sight of the Surface and external Contexture of some Bodies while several others may be of so nice and accurate a Frame as no more to be discover'd by them than by the Eye without their assistance But nothing can be so minute as to lie hid from the Understanding of God no more than any thing can be so glorious as to surpass it As in his Book all our Members were written which in continuance were fashion'd when as yet there was none of them so every Atom which belongs to us is known to Him who made us Tho' in the Prophet's Language we go down to the bottoms of the Mountains and the Earth with her Bars is about us or tho' we are cast into the deep in the midst of the Seas and the Floods compass us about and his Billows and Waves pass over us even this Darkness hides us not from Him but every Particle lies open to his view As God knows where the Atoms of the Bodies of the Dead are repos'd so Secondly He can assemble these scatter'd Parts and unite them in their former harmony and beauty He who could make Man out of the Dust and employ'd such a Profusion of Wisdom and Goodness on the liveless Clay as to advance it into the Image of God can surely restore the dissolv'd Fabrick and in the noble Expression of Scripture make our Bones flourish like an Herb. He can summon and re-call Man's divided Atoms from the Earth and from the Waves and reconcile their long estrang'd Parts to their ancient familiarity where they shall fall into their primitive Order and Situation after the separation in some for thousands of Years Tho' some among several Nations either out of a wild and salvage Barbarity or out of the most pressing necessity of which we have a mournful Instance in the Siege of Samaria 2 King 6. v. 26. in Scripture seem if it is possible to disappoint a Resurrection of other Mens Bodies by making them the Nourishment of their own yet God who knows where all those Particles abide which ever did belong to any Man's Body can call them from their secret Repositories to compleat the Body made imperfect by this unnatural Cruelty in order to be enliven'd by the Soul Thirdly God can command the Soul back to its ancient abode call it from Bliss or Woe to resume its former Partner so that