of Man insomuch that the Sun shall stand still upon Gibeon and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon As a Miracle thus surpasses the Power of Nature so the Person in favour of whom it is wrought ought to know that this Miracle shall be thus wrought He ought either to know in particular that this Miracle will be wrought and no other or that a Miracle of some kind will be wrought when natural Helps shall fail Thus Moses when Pharaoh prest behind and the Red-Sea rag'd before tho' he seems to have had no special Revelation that the Sea should be made dry Land and the Waters be divided yet he knew in gross that The salvation of the Lord should be seen that day and that the Aegyptians whom they had seen that day should no more be seen again for ever Therefore the dividing the Red-Sea was a Miracle perform'd by Moses tho' he did not particularly foresee it But when the Person in behalf of whom a miraculous Work is brought about is wholly ignorant of it this can be no Miracle nor ought any Consequence to be drawn from it as if that Person was immediately Commission'd from God The sudden Advancement of Men from the lowest Fortunes to the highest Stations by unaccountable and unforeseen means is sometimes assuredly the immediate Hand of God but since this Exaltation may be for the Ruin as well as for the Happiness of Mankind and since the Party exalted could not foresee his Success 't is no Miracle tho' it is wrought by a Divine Power nor ought we to conclude that this Person is a nearer Favourite of Heaven than the rest of Human kind The Creation of a Reasonable Soul is miraculous but because it is usual is not of that kind of Miracles exprest in the Words Thus the Inspiration of Grace is miraculous but because it works now a-days according to the method of Reason and Discourse whatsoever the Enthusiasts may pretend to the contrary assisting us while we use such moral Means as Religion commands and Reason prescribes it is not to be rang'd with the Miracles mention'd here Since Miracles therefore are the Effect of a Power more than Natural it is just to enquire Secondly What Power is capable of working a Miracle Where notwithstanding what the acute Le Clerâ— and others of this Age have Jean â—e Clere de l' Incredulite Lettre 2. p. 355. advanc'd That Miracles may be wrought by good or bad Angels or by a Power less than Infinite yet it may be laid down as a Conclusion That infinite Power alone is capable of working a Miracle For a Miracle proclaims an omnipotent Agent and carries the Hand of God written upon it in bright Characters legible to the most Vulgar Reason For every true Miracle is a forming of something out of nothing and that either in the thing it self or in the manner of forming it In the thing it self when it is of that sort that it cannot be form'd by any second and ordinary Causes As the Resurrection of the Dead the Re-union of the Soul and Body the restoring of the Springs and Mechanism of Motion after a total separation For Death is a Prison which surrenders back its Captives upon no other Summons below those of the Almighty To restore Life being only the Prerogative of him who gave it Or a Miracle may consist in forming something out of nothing as to the manner of doing it when the thing lies within the power of second Causes yet is brought about without the assistance of any of them As to cure Diseases by a Word speaking or by touching the Hem of the Garment Where there is something which answers calling Light out of Darkness and commanding every thing to be from nothing Creation therefore being one of the peculiar Acts of God and which we do not know that He ever communicated to a Creature the Power of working Miracles as to the original of it must be so too For only He who first form'd the Laws of Nature can suspend or alter them 'T is true the Angels far surpass us in the excellency of their Faculties and therefore may perform such things as are apt to raise Admiration in us because of our unacquaintedness with the causes of them or manner of their Production Even the falâ— Angels themselves have not their Forces so much broken by Sin but that by Lying Wonders they may easily impose on the Spectator's Eye tho' 't is wholly impossible for them by any Power of their own to alter the Course of Nature or produce a real Miracle So that if a Miracle has been wrought for the confirmation of any Doctrin 't is a sufficient warrant that this Doctrin is of God But since the evil Angels who have assum'd the Person of God may also counterfeit his wondrous Works it will be necessary Thirdly To enquire into some of those Marks whereby a true Miracle may be distinguish'd from a false one So that a difference may be put betwixt the Works of God and those of his greatest Enemies The first Mark of a true Miracle is That there should be sufficient Evidence that this Miracle has been wrought and the Effect of it ought to be addrest to our Senses For a Miracle it self is not an object of our Belief tho' it is form'd in confirmation of something which we are oblig'd to believe For then a Miracle would be as obscure as the thing which it is produc'd to prove And every Miracle would want another to make it serviceable to its grand design The second Mark of a true Miracle is That it ought not to tend to the overthrowing of any Doctrin before establish'd by God by sufficient Miracles For God cannot be divided against himself But should he overthrow that by Miracle which he had before settled by Miracle Eternal Truth would disagree with himself For Miracles and a Doctrin give mutual support one to another as Miracles declare the Doctrin to be true so the purity and excellence of the Doctrin confirm the Miracles to be Divine But if there is an Inconsistency between the Miracles and the Doctrin the decision must be in favour of the Doctrin in opposition to the Miracles For if a Person acts the most wonderful Works to give Sanction to a Religion which contains low Idea's of God or interferes with the great Duties we owe to one another his Miracles are nothing but artful Frauds and he himself only a more pompous Deceiver So on the other hand when Miracles are produc'd in favour of a Doctrin which is pure and holy whose prospects of Rewards are only laid in a future State which enjoins Modesty Temperance Sobriety and Patience and whatsoever is fitted to advance Human Nature such a Doctrin is highly fitted to perswade Men that the Miracles wrought in behalf of it are true The third Mark of a true Miracle is That the Effects of it ought to be lasting and durable If Diseases are remov'd by a
the Dead dwell in us he that rais'd Christ from the Dead shall also quicken our mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us So that a Resurrection of the Body is not only possible and highly probable but upon the prospects of the Divine Promises and Predictions certain As there shall thus be a Resurrection of the Body so Secondly This Resurrection shall be of the Body only And this Restriction is necessary to the overthrowing of an Opinion That the Souls of Men perish with their Bodies but yet so that both should be rais'd again at the last Day That they should both sleep in Darkness till the last Alarm and should both rise again at the finishing of all Things This Opinion was first started by some Arabian Bishops as we are inform'd by Eusebius St. Austin and Nicephorus and has been more vigorously in later times defended by great Pretenders to Reason Thus * Exam. 157 Err. p. 49. single â—dit Smalcius concludes That the Souls of the Saints are in a state of Sleep and suffer a kind of Annihilation and therefore are to be rais'd with the Body That †Contra Frantzium p. 409. it is doubtful whether the Spirit when it is parted from the Body can perceive any thing and whether it is capable of Pleasure till it is join'd with the glorify'd Body And in another * Contra Smiglec de Err. Arian c. 14. p. 149. place he expresly denies the Soul's resenting any Pleasure or Trouble without the Body Thus Crellius in his * c. 19. p. 134. Treatise concerning God and the Divine Attributes defines Angels in opposition to Men to be Spirits so perfect that they can subsist and act without a Body whereas an human Soul cannot And it may perhaps be enquir'd Whether the ingenious Hypotheses of late which have seem'd to level the distinction between different Species of Substance and so to break down the Boundaries between Spirit and Body have not help'd to abet this Opinion But to reply to this Fancy concerning the Sleep of the Soul In our Saviour's account of the different Fates of Lazarus and the Rich Man we find that the former was immediately convey'd to Bliss and the latter to Misery And granting that this is only a Parable or general Resemblance yet that it was an History of things truly transacted is the Opinion of * Ambros in Luc. Iertull lib. 4. contra Marcion Hilar. Enarrat in Psalm several of extraordinary Note yet the main design of it must be founded upon the Nature of Things and must shew that the distance is extreamly small between the Soul 's quitting the Body and its being transported to its final State Thus the Penitent Thief who was Crucify'd with our Saviour ascends forthwith after his Death from the Pains and Tortures of the Cross to the Joys of Paradise This Sleep or Rest of the Soul is chiefly grounded upon that usual Metaphor in Holy Writ by which Death is resembled to Sleep But the Scripture does not apply it to the Soul but the Body resting in the Grave that it may be awaken'd to a Resurrection For this would be wholly inconsistent with the Apostle's Assertion where he says that While we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord and that so soon as we are departed out of the Body we shall be present with the Lord. For to be with the Lord must imply a state of Felicity which Sleep is not but only of Inactivity and the Apostle's Argument would lose its force and would be no encouragement against the Terrours of Death if so soon as we are dead we should fall asleep sink into a Condition of Insensibility and till the Resurrection Be as if we were not at all The Soul therefore is not rais'd with the Body but is call'd from a state of Bliss or Woe to which it was remov'd immediately upon its separation from it to resume its ancient Mansion As this Resurrection is of the Body only so Thirdly This Resurrection shall be of the same Body from which the Soul was separated Which Conclusion bears a direct opposition to the Socinian Doctrin which affirms either that the Body some time before the Resurrection shall be * Smalc Exam. 100. Err. p. 33. de Divinit Christi c. 13. p. 79. annihilated by a Divine Power or if it is not thus annihilated yet that God will only raise a †Exam. 100. Err. p. 36. certain quantity of Matter sufficient to make up the Bodies of all Mankind and promiscuously infuse the Souls into it after that he has Organiz'd it fit for their reception But that the Bodies of the Dead shall be annihilated some time before the Resurrection is both against Revelation and against what some of our Adversaries seem more to admire Philosophy 'T is against Philosophy for the Divine Plato stiles Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which only supposes a separation of both parts not an Annihilation of either Thus in another place he affirms * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Timaeo tom 3. p 72. â— dit Serrant That when Death arrives the Fibres and Strings by which the Soul acted break and untwist just like the Rudder-bands of a Ship and she that is the Soul is left alone to roam at liberty and at random Against Revelation for the Scripture calls Death a returning to Dust a seeing of Corruption a sleeping Now that which returns to Dust which is corrupted which sleeps in the secret Repositories of Nature cannot be in a State of Non-existence It must have a Being how ignoble soever it is and how much soever changed from what it was in its State of Life Nor secondly is any other Matter rais'd and united to the Soul besides what fell How hard soever it is to settle the bounds of Identity and granting those Instances of Self-consciousness being united to all those different Subjects to make the same Person which one of the greatest Philosophers of our Age in his †◠â—ock's â—ssay Book 2. Chap. 27. Essay concerning Human Vnderstanding hints at yet this does not affect the Identity of the Rising Body For the Enquiry is not Whether the same Self-consciousness join'd to different Matter makes the same Person but Whether it is more suitable to the Doctrin of the Resurrection that God will raise the same or another Matter and unite it to the same self-conscious Principle That God will raise the same Body which fell seems most agreeable to Truth for most of those Arguments which prove that the Body shall rise at all seem to manifest also That the same Body shall rise For in the Identity of the Rising Body is founded all the Right and Justice of Rewards and Punishments Happiness and Misery which regard the Body For why should Man be blest for those Virtues in one Body which he practic'd in another Or why should this Body be tortur'd for Crimes committed in that Why should God
these dry Bones shall live and become the same Man they were before their Dissolution And this must appear very easy for the Soul loses nothing by the separation from the Body as the Body does by being parted from the Soul This piece of Divinity within us owes no homage to the Elements nor is liable to be chang'd as they are As to the Souls of the Blessed they pay a constant attendance before the Throne of Grace and are always expecting the joyful Command by which they are oblig'd to a re-union And as to the Souls of the Unhappy they shall be forced unwillingly to re-inspire their unwelcome Mansions to animate once more those Parts which as in tortur'd Men are only new set and compacted to be tormented a new As there is nothing in the Resurrection of the Body which carries the appearance of an Impossibility so Secondly It is in it self very probable and suitable to the Rules of true Reason The ancient Apologists of Christianity defending it against the Heathens usually shew'd the probability of a Resurrection from some Parallels in the Works of Nature Thus the * Tertull. de Resuâ—t c. Springs rising so gloriously from the Winter and the Day from the Night the most beautiful Offsprings from the most deform'd Parents were by their pious Rhetorick exalted into some kinds of Proofs as well as Types of the Resurrection But these are not so much Evidences of as handsom Allusions to this great Truth in order to take off that Contempt with which the Heathens entertain'd this new and surprizing Doctrin Tho' the order of Effects and Changes in Nature furnish us not with any thing which may make the Resurrection probable yet the just view of the Wisdom and Goodness of God as it is discover'd by the Light of Reason will make it appear very suitable to it For tho' it is not agreeable to the Divine Wisdom to raise up Mankind only to make them capable of acting over again all that scene of Folly Ill-nature Vanity and Vice which they live obnoxious to now yet to command them back to a Life which is truly heavenly glorious and happy in which they are made fit for so glorious a Being as God Himself to take delight in is a design worthy a wise and good Creator who certainly made Man for some nobler Ends than what he can arrive to in this State of Mortality The chief design as seems evident to the Light of Nature it self for God to create Man was to communicate his own Goodness and to presentiate an order of Objects to himself which bearing his own Image and being endued with Reason might still glorify his Name and yield him back some faint Reflexion of Himself If so since God Is to all Eternity why should he not desire a Presentiation of these Objects to all Eternity Why should he not be willing to be glorify'd and to have this sort of Reflexion of Himself made back to all Eternity And since God has laid the Laws of Morality and Religion on the Body as well as on the Soul since that is oblig'd to Purity and an humble Adoration as well as this to Virtues peculiar to its Nature why should God be fancy'd to be so wholly taken up with this as not in the least to be concern'd for that Why should he change the State of the Blessed and divest them of that which properly makes up their Humanity by refining them into a pure Spirit As the Resurrection is thus probable so is it Thirdly Upon the prospects of the Divine Promises and Predictions certain and beyond all question firm It was obscurely predicted ever since the very Fall of Man and darkly imply'd in the Promise of the Messias who was to be a Redeemer of the Body as well as of the Soul As the first Man was made with all the Perfections due to his Body as well as to his Soul so he who should repair what Man lost by his Fall must restore him the Excellencies of that as well as of this And tho' the Revelation of a Resurrection to the Jews was not so clear as to put it beyond all doubt and to make it a strict Article of Faith yet are there several Texts in the Old Testament which are manifest Allusions to it and tacit Proofs of it Thus Moses introduces God speaking See now that I even I am He I kill and I make alive And thus Isaiah with his usual height of Language Thy Dead shall live together with my dead Body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the Dust for thy Dew is as the Dew of Herbs and the Earth shall cast out the Dead To which may be subjoin'd that remarkable place of Job Though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another Tho' the excellent Grotius applies these Words to his Temporal restitution or at most to discover his Expectation of a future State alone yet they seem at least to allude to the Hopes which he had of a Resurrection As to that place which our Saviour quotes from Exodus I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob they appear only in general to prove the Immortality of the Soul and to shew that these Patriarchs were not in a State of Annihilation tho' with particular regard to the Sadducees against whom they were urg'd they are a just and matchless Argument for a Resurrection For they scrupled only the Immortality of the Soul and if they could conceive that the Soul could exist independent of the Body they could grant that it might be re-united to it For they were of the same Opinion in that Age which the followers of Spinosa and Mr. Hobbes maintain in ours That what Is is Material excepting God alone in which fundamental Point of Natural Religion of God's being a Spirit those ancient Scepticks were much more Orthodox than our modern ones But how obscure soever the Doctrin of the Resurrection might be under the Revelation of the Old Testament yet under the New this Article is deliver'd with all the light and demonstrative force imaginable The whole stress of the Gospel is as it were repos'd upon it and because it look'd strange and surprizing to the unbelieving World it is enforc'd with greater Arguments repeated with more frequency To mention only one remarkable place of our Saviour's Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done Good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation As this was a considerable part of our Saviour's Preaching so he confirm'd it by his own Example by rising from the Dead himself and so by virtually raising those which are his For If the Spirit of him which rais'd Christ from
of Abraham or of Lot as well as of Christ because he spake of them too Nay there is no Being so evil which is ever mention'd in Holy Writ but the ever-blessed Spirit might be said to be their Spirit according to this wild and uncouth Hypothesis St. Barnabas styles the Spirit of the Prophets the Spirit of God who should appear in the Flesh Justin Martyr says that the Prophets were not Self-inspir'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. 2. p. 76. Irenaeus against Marcion as expresly that it was Jesus Edit Sylburg lib. 4. c. 21. Advers Haeres p. 337. Edit F. Ardent Christ who spake to Abraham and Moses If it was God therefore who spake by the Prophets and Christ was Co-partner with God the Father in this speaking Christ must be God of the same Nature with the Father Thirdly Christ is God because of his Exercising all power in Heaven and in Earth For the Government of the World is a Branch of the Divine Prerogative He rules over all Kingdoms of the Earth He whose Name is Jehovah is the highest over all the Earth But Volkelius himself as refin'd an Author De Ver. Rel. Book 3. c. 21. as any that Party can boast freely owns that Christ exercises Jurisdiction over all things to use his own words which are contain'd not only in the vast compass of the Earth but also of the Heavens Christ therefore must be God Fourthly Christ is God because He is to raise the Dead from their Graves to Life and a new State For none but He who breath'd a living Soul into us can restore it None but One whose Understanding is infinite who knows every Atome of our Bodies every Dust and Particle which belongs to us He who is conscious what Dust appertains to each Body what Body to each Soul None but One whose Power is as unbounded as his Knowledge in regard of whom all Creatures must suffer and do what he will have them Who can summon and re-assemble our scatter'd Atomes from the Earth and from the Waves and reconcile our long estrang'd Parts to their ancient familiarity Whose Voice can awake the sleepers of Thousands of Years some to Peace and Joy but some to Misery and everlasting Contempt But Christ is the Person who must raise the Dead For the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live All that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done Good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Fifthly Christ is God because He shall Judge the World For it is necessary for him who shall Judge the World that he should be intimately acquainted with the Consciences of all Mankind that all their Thoughts should be laid naked and open to his view and that all the devices of their Hearts should be manifest to him But none besides God can have such a Knowledge as this for Lo he that declareth unto man what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness the Lord the God of Hosts is his Name But Christ is ordain'd by God to be Judge of the Quick and Dead and to this end Christ both died rose and revived that he might be Judge both of the Dead and the Living and so for that reason must be God Lastly He who shall destroy and change the World who in the Prophet's Language shall roll the Heavens together as a Scrowl the Heavens which like a wide stretched Scrowl are written over with beauteous Characters by God's own hand he is God For this is one of the peculiar Actions of God that he shall destroy the Heavens For as a Vesture shall he change them and they shall be changed But Volkelius owns that our Saviour has such a power and that he shall roll them up together like a Scrowl and burn them And therefore on that account must be God which may be farther made out Secondly From the ill Consequences of the contrary Assertion For how open does the Socinian Christ lie to the Exceptions of the Jews or the more rational sort of Deists who own a God a Providence and a future State and to any who maintain the Unity of the Godhead yet deny the Divinity of Christ And is it not very sutable for the Jews to reason against Christianity from the Socinian Principles after this method We are convinc'd from Scripture that there is but one God we know that there is no other besides him or with him for Who is God save the Lord and who is a Rock save our God But now you introduce one Jesus as God who was neither God from Eternity nor by Nature and Essence This new this created God we look upon as a Fiction we can pay him no Homage no Adoration till we have renounc'd Moses and the Prophets and offer'd violence to the Principles of Reason and Natural Religion Farther our God has taught us by his Prophet Isaiah that He even he is the Lord and besides him there is no Saviour and this is spoken Prophetically with regard to the times of the Messias How then can we own this Jesus for our Saviour who is by Nature different from God We are commanded to worship the Lord our God and to serve him only How then may we worship and serve Jesus who is a God different from the God of Israel How can we give him equal Honour with the Lord Jehovah without provoking his Wrath and forcing him to repeat all those Inflictions on us which our Fathers justly suffer'd God has expresly declar'd that He withnot give his glory to another but by worshiping your Jesus is not God's Glory given 〈…〉 Object distinct from God The Scriptures solemnly inform us that God alone â—â—â—â—'s the Heart and the Reins and is conscious to all the Thoughts of Men If we as you do should apply these Actions to the Man Jesus we should be guilty of advancing a false God into the Throne of the Almighty and making a Creature rival the Deity Farther Has not God taught us to address to him alone in the time of our Distress and promis'd his succours to encourage our Prayers Can we then pray to your Jesus whom you your selves deny to be the true God of Israel The Scripture threatens that Gods which have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens Can we then honour him for God who was so far from making the Heavens and the Earth that he himself had no Being when they were form'd Or can God at the last Day be angry at us for not receiving and worshiping him as God who according to Scripture was to perish from the Earth and under the Heavens Lastly The Idea which we have and always had of God represents him to our Minds as present every where Omniscient and Almighty If therefore he who is offer'd to us
an innocent Person underwent a most barbarous poinant as well as shameful Death that One in whose Mouth was found no Guile was opprest was afflicted as well as despis'd and rejected of Men or else because he endur'd all this for our Sins But there is no Injustice in the former because it is plain from Scripture and Socinus himself owns That our Saviour after a Life of the most spotless Innocence had it taken away by the most cruel and ignominious Death a Death of Slaves and Malefactors And this not only by the Permission but even by the Ordinance and immediate Act of God for He was stricken smitten of God and afflicted and Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Far be it from God that he should do Wickedness and that the Almighty should pervert Judgment So that the Enquiry will be this Whether it is consistent with Equity that the Holy JESVS the true and uniform Pattern of all Virtue should be thus severely punish'd as the Propitiator for us Sinners And that he should be so is neither irreconcilable with that positive Justice or Equity which God has reveal'd in his Word nor with that Natural Justice which may be drawn from the Reason of Mankind and the Practice and Usage of Nations and which Socinus so much insists on The derivation of Punishment from the Transgressor to the Innocent is not irreconcilable with the Divine Word For it is not irreconcilable with the Divine Word either that an Innocent should be punish'd for the Sins of the Guilty or that he should be in such manner punish'd that the Guilty may be freed from the Penalty due to Guilt First 'T is not irreconcilable with Scripture that the Innocent should be punish'd for the Sins of the Guilty For is not Canaan sentenc'd to be a Servant of Servants for the Unnaturalness of his Father Ham Are not seven Men of Saul's Sons hanged up to the Lord for his Treachery Are not seventy Thousand cut off for the Sin of David Which forc'd from him that Pathetical Exclamation worthy such a Prince Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done Let thy hand I pray thee be against me and against my Father's house And in general tho' it is the Character of the Lord that He iâ— Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth yet do not the very next words inform us that He visits the Iniquities of the Father 's upon the Children and upon the Childrens Children unto the third and fourth Generation And does not the Prophet in the Lamentation personating Sion complain Our Fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their Iniquities Farther It is not irreconcilable with Scripture Justice that the Guilty may be freed from the Penalty which the Innocent have undergone or which is the same are to undergo To prove this I shall only produce one Instance that of Ahab who for his short and transient Repentance and which past away like the morning dew had the Judgment denounc'd against him executed on his Posterity Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days in his Sons days will I bring the evil on his house As Punishment by deputation is thus reconcilable with the sentiments God's Word gives us of Justice so is it equally so with the Practice or Usage of Nations First it is agreeable to thâ—se That one Man should lay down his Life for another's Crimes and next That the Guilty should gain Impunity by something which has been suffer'd for him First it is consistent with the Usage of Nations that one Man should lay down his Life for another's Crimes In the Affair of Pledges in War receiv'd by all Countries are not these sacrific'd to the Fury of their Enemies for the Perfidiousness of their Fellow-Citizens Do they not die for Violations of Faith which sometimes they could not so much as contrive or design as being Children never eexcute as being Prisoners Did the most human and compassionate of Princes ever think it any reflection on his Justice to take the Forfeiture Or could Justice be preserv'd in the World without such Examples When one Prince is notoriously injur'd by another did the injur'd ever esteem it unjust or barbarous to revenge himself on his Enemy's innocent Subjects to buâ—n ravage and destroy Cottages for the Affronts and Villanies of the Palace to kill or enslave the Peasant for the wicked Counsel of the Statesman When the Law of War iâ— broke between two Generals is not ho without regard to any antecedent Demerit always the most guilty who is first caught In the Decimation of mutinous Souldiers may not the fatal â—â—oâ— fall on the peaceable and harmless as well as on the stubborn and rebelliousâ— Or is there some secret Oracle in the Chances which infallibly guides them to the Offenders Or is it Injustice to punish the unfortunate Condemn'd how guiltless soever As it is thus consistent with the Use of Nations That one should suffer for another's Crimes so is it not less so That the Guilty should gain Impunity by something which has been suffer'd for him Thus in the instance of Sacrifices receiv'd into the Religion of all Nations whatsoever the matter of them was whether it was Thousand of Rams or whether they brought their first-born and offer'd the fruit of their Bodies for the sin of their Souls yet the intention of them both was to procure Impunity to the Sinner by laying the Punishment somewhere else And how useless soever the former might be or how cruel the latter yet both prove That it was the Sentiments of Mankind that freedom from Penalty might be purchas'd by a vicarious Infliction There was nothing therefore in our Saviour's Suffering which is inconsistent with the constant sence of Mankind in regard to the Expiation of Guilt Nor is there any thing in it unjust whether we examine it by the Rules of Justice display'd in the Word of God or by the Usage of Nations Nor farther is there any thing in it unreasonable which is now to be made out For it was reasonable that Christ should die for our Sins because first It is reasonable that God should release the Punishment due to our Sins and next That he should remit it by the method of punishing Christ in our stead That God should release our Punishment is reasonable whether we consider the Nature of God whose Goodness must strongly plead before the Throne of Grace for faln Man's Remission even before there was any other Advocate or whether we consider the Nature of that Service which God exacts from Man For God never obliges to Duty where he has put himself out of a possibility of requiting it But while Man's Sins were unforgiven while his obligation to Punishment remain'd it was not in the power of God to reward his Piety Since undistinguishing Misery was to be his
World And this may obviate several of those â—â—oâ—e Notions which have been of late started by Ingenious Persons That 〈…〉 and Vâ—â—â— Good and Evil are laid in the Opinions and Idea's of Men or settled by some positive Injunction of the Magistrate and therefore variable with the Clime Nation Season or â—â—ace rather 〈…〉 arising from the Nature and Relation of Things And this Perfection of the Moral Law receives farther Advantage from the following * See the next Discourse on St. Matthew VI. ver 10. Discourse where is prov'd That the Moral Law obliges in Heaven an Hypothesis which has been little touch'd on and which deserves to be recommended to better Hands to be manag'd up to its due Worth But to return As our Saviour did noâ— thus impose more than what was commanded by the Moral Law so it was very far distant from the Design of the Gospel to exact less than what was written in the Law He did not make void any of the Commands of the Law nor warrant any Action that was not authoriz'd by it in its most strict Circumstances whatsoever the Antinomians and Libertines say For Fourthly There is no Privilege in the Gospel which makes void any of the Commands of God before given Because all Duties notwithstanding the wild Fancies of the Antinomians are equally enjoin'd under the Gospel as they were under the Law and every Conscience oblig'd to a Performance of them By all Duties I mean as in the former part of the Discourse things which the Holy Men of God perform'd in order to the attaining of Eternal Life Was Faith requir'd under the Law and was Abraham Justified by that So must we under the Gospel for without Faith it is impossible to please God Were good Works requir'd under the Law So are they under the Gospel too for our Light must so shine before Men that they 〈…〉 see our good Works and glorify our Father which is in Heaven Were a clean Heart and pure Hands necessary under the Law and are they not also under the Gospel For is there not a Blessing pronounc'd to the pure in Heart and are not they the Persons that shall see God Are not the Impure and Unclean those Acâ—urs'd Ones who without true Repentanceâ— must never see Him never inherit any Blessing with Him And in order to qualify us for this Beatiâ—iâ—â— Vision the Apostle is very urgâ—â—â— â—leaâ—se your Hands ye Sinners and purify your Hearts â—â— Double-minded And so concerning all other Duties and substantial Requisites of the Law which excepting the Ceremonies of iâ— are all still in force under the Gospel And tho' we have no Burnt-Offerings upon our Altars as the Jews had under the Law â— yet have we not Souls and Bodies which must be offer'd up to God as a lively Sacrifice holy and acceptable which is our reasonable Service Instead of Hecaâ—omâ—s are we noâ— to render up the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving the Calves of our Lips not of our Folds and in lieu of a Propitiatory Oblation are we not commanded to do good and distribute for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased And assuredly we have the greatest Encouragement to this Observance of the Divine Commands because Fifthly This Observance shall be rewarded with Eternal Life as it is styl'd by our Saviour This Reward surely surpasses all the Hardships of our Duty in keeping the Commands of God as will fully appear if we briefly reflect on what is meant by Eternal Life This Life shall cause the noblest Change in both the Parts of the Saints Their Bodies shall be transform'd into spiritual and incorruptible Bodies fashioned like to the glorious Body of the Son of God Their Souls shall be highly exalted to the utmost Perfection in all their Parts and Faculties Their Understandings shall be rais'd to the utmost Capacity and that Capacity compleatly fill'd Now we see thro' a Glass darkly but then Fate to Face now we know in part then shall we know even as we are known for when God shall appear we shall be like Him for we shall see him as He is in all his Robes of Glory In this Life the Wills of the Blessed shall be perfected with absolute and indefective Holiness an exact conformity with the Will of God and a perfect liâ—eâ—ty from the Sâ—avery of Sin In this Life their Affections shall be set to an unalterable Regularity and that Regularity shall receive absolute Satisfaction And as their inward Happiness shall be thus great so shall their outward Condition be answerable freed from all Pain Misery Labour and Want blest with an Impossibility of sinning and offending God any more full of Joy and Complaâ—â—ncy in the Vision of God This is that Life Thus shall it be done to the Men whom God delights to honour to those who have honour'd him on Earth by keeping his Holy Laws which are of Eternal Obligation But that which makes up the Perfection of their Happiness is That this their Life shall be Eternal and there shall be no fear nor suspicioâ— that it shall ever end For whosoever liveth and believeth in Christ shall never dye whosoever keeps his sayings shall never see Death A DISCOURSE PROVING That the Celestial Law is the same with the Moral or That the Moral Law is a Rule for the Angels and Saints to act by in Heaven being a Sequel of the former Discourse St. MAT. VI. ver 10. In Earth as it is in Heaven WHich Words as they are a Part of our Saviour's divine and matchless Prayer are a Parallel between the Performance of God's Will in Heaven and the Manner by which it ought to be comply'd with on Earth The Will the doing of which is petition'd for in the Will of God's Commands and not as some imagine of his Decrees or Providential Dispensations only as far as that may be discover'd to be a part of the Will of his Commands For the State of the Blessed who are here recommended as a Pattern to us is too happy to leave place for afflictive Providences which are the only Tryâ—â—â— of any one's Compliance with the Will of God's Decrees The Performers of God's Will in Heaven who are set forth as a Model to us on Earth are not the Persons of the Ever-blessed Trinity for God is not the Doer of that Will the Doing whereof we are to pray that ours may resemble because however a Superior may lay his Injunctions upon another yet he cannot because he is no other than the Person enjoining lay any Injunction upon himself As God cannot be looked upon as the Doeâ— of that Will the Doing whereof we are â—aught to pray that ours may be conform d with so neither can we look upon the Heavenly Bodies the 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 and the Sâ—â—rs as such which * As Lightfoot in his Hor. Hebr. seems to affirm 〈…〉 tho' unwarily enough have fancy'd to be here intended Because tho' these Heavenly Bodies are subject to Hiâ— Controul as all
should he hear us it would be the greatest Indication that he is displeas'd with us and that he is about to ruin us by so cruel an Indulgence So that Freedom from Sin either by Innocence or sincere Repentance especially from Malice or Ill-will a Resolution to perform the Terms on which Success is promis'd to our Prayers a Trust that God will grant us 〈…〉 hus ask for and a Good Intention to use what God blesses our Prayers with to 〈…〉 ry are Qualifications antecedent 〈…〉 essary to Prayer and preparatory â—orâ—it Without these an Address to the Throne of Grace is to no purpose The most artful and elaborate Petition can meet with no welcome there but like the Dove when she was at first sent out of the Ark after it has in vain roam'd about the Heavens without finding any admission must return to it s disappointed owner empty And if these Qualifications are needful for us before we apply our selves to God in Prayer while we are yet at a distance from him what will be sufficient for us to do in the time and act of Praying when we are before the very Presence of the Living God and the pure Eyes of the Eternal are fixt upon us How dreadful must that place be which by God's being more immediately resident in it is none other but the House of God and the Gate of Heaven So that we shall enquire Secondly What is required in the very time and act of our Praying while our Devotions are on the Wing and our Lips are touch'd with a Coal from the Altar Now the First Qualification necessary for us in the time of Prayer is Humility because Prayer is a Talking with God And this Humility ought to be form'd in us First by the Consideration of the Majesty of that God with whom we have to do That He is the Highest far above all who has Heaven for his Throne and the Earth for his Footstool Who measures she Sea in the palm of His Hands In whose Hand is the Soul of every living thing and the Breath of all Mankind Hell is naked before Him and Destruction hath no covering He stretcheth out the North over the empty place and hangeth the Earth upon nothing And Secondly this Humility ought to be rais'd by the sence of our own Vileness First as we are Men and the Creatures of God over whom he has an absolute Power and Authority As we are nothing but a little breathing Dust and Ashes which after a short time but very full of trouble must return to that out of which we were form'd If the most glorious of his Creatures are so despicable before Him that He puts no Trust in his Servants and charges even his Angels with Folly how shall they come before Him who dwell in Houses of Clay whose Foâ—â—dation is in the Dust But Secondly much more ought we to be humble in our Prayers as we are Sinners and worthy if God should reward us after our Sins of Eternal Death We have affronted Infinite Majesty and therefore deserve Infinite Punishment And tho' through the Mercies of God and the Merits of our Blessed Saviour our severe Repentance may hinder the execution of this Sentence yet we must remember that Humility is a part even of Repentance it self And the consideration that it is the Goodness of God alone which makes our Misery less ought to make our Sin greater and heighten our Humility for having offonded so gracious a Creator when we pray for Remission for those Offences The Second Qualification in the time of Praying is a due fixedness and attention of Mind For God is an Object so noble that he demands the utmost Intension of our Thoughts They ought all to be collected and fix'd on him directed as the Faâ—es of the Cheruâ—im in the Ark wholly towards the Mercy-seat And in order to this our Minds ought to be disengag'd from whatsoever may occasion their stragling as from an over-violent Love of the World its Pleasures and Interests and to be possest with whatsoever may raise a just Attention as with an awful sence of the Dignity and Excellence of this Duty the inestimable Worth of those Mercies for which we petition the greatness of our Wants and Necessities Nor is it enough as the * v. Aquin. 2da 2dae Qu. 84. ad 13. Non ex necessitate requiritur quod attentio adfit Orationi per totum c. Schoolmen loosely determin in this Matter that this Attention is purposed and intended tho' it is not executed Nor is it sufficient that we come with a Resolution to be attentive if we do not vigorously practice it For is a Resolution a competent Discharge of any other Duty Or was the Son in the Gospel justify'd for resolving to go and work in the Vineyard and yet not doing it A Resolution to Pray in general might as well absolve us from not Praying at all as a Resolution to be attentive from not being so No tho' God will make abatement for the Imperfection of our Attention resulting from the unavoidable weakness of our Natures or our being disus'd to Think or Reflect yet will not he dispense with the total want of it And if we are sorry for this Imperfection of our Attention and endeavour effectively to correct it God will concur with us and by drawing nigher to us and discovering his Perfections with a greater Lustre will make our Attention not only easy and natural but even also pleasant and delightful The Third Qualification of Prayer in the act of Praying is a good measure of Desire and fervency of Affection For a lukewarm Petitioner bespeaks a Denial and he himself contributes to his own Repulse He seems unconcern'd in making his Suit and so may expect God to be less concern'd to grant it He seems to slight the Mercy while he asks it Can it therefore be imagin'd that he should think himself much oblig'd by it or be thankful for it While a fervent Prayer shews how ardently we desire a Mercy and how thankfully we are like to receive it And this is a strong Inducement for God to bestow it on us for He is so tenden and indulgent that He cannot deny us any thing which is fit for us when He sees us wrought up to a due valuation of it and our Hearts earnestly bent upon it For it is the servent Prayer of the righteous man which prevaileth much The Fourth Qualification of Prayer in the act of Praying is a general Love for Mankind and a Concern for their Happiness For the Compass of our Prayers ought to be as large as that of our Charity and with its open Arms embrace all Mankind extended even to those who are perhaps contriving to lay our Honours and Bodies in the dust while we are mounting their Souls in our Devotions up to the Heavens For we are oblig'd by our Holy Religion to bless them which curse us and to pray for them which despitefully use us And
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
raise the Body from the same Grave in which it was at first repos'd unless it was the same Body which was there at first repos'd Tho' the Body shall be glorify'd and spiritualiz'd yet it shall be the same For if the Bodies of our first Parents could pass from Immortality to Mortality and yet continue the same obnoxious to Punishment in this for Sins committed in that why may not the Reverse of this be true and Men from Mortal become Immortal from Corruptible become Incorruptible and yet abide the same I shall close this Essay with making a short Reflection on a Passage in a late Treatise written on this Subject by the Learned Dr. Hody to whose Merit I pay an extraordinary Deference tho' I cannot in all things in this Point pay an Assent to his way of Reasoning He seems without sufficient Motive to endeavour to overthrow the Arguments of the Fathers by which they prove the Identity of the Rising Body The Fathers reason in short That since there is a relative combination between Soul and Body since the Merit or Demerit of any Action is shar'd between them that therefore they shall both appear the same to receive Rewards or Punishments for their good or ill Actions This method of Discourse seems just and true notwithstanding that the Learned Doctor says that Dr. Hody concerning the Resurrection of the same Body p. 210 The Arm that stabs sins no more than the Sword and 't is the Soul only that is the Murderer This is a fine abstracted Cartesian way of talking but would scarce be accepted in any Court of Justice if a Murderer should plead it to his Judge to exempt his Body from satisfying the Law And this Notion seems to tend to confirm that which some Enthusiasts not long since advanc'd that So long as we keep the Soul pure we may do what we please with the Body To strengthen this the Doctor Ibid. says That the Body is not capable of any Rewards or Punishments Why then from this Argument should the same Body rise But certainly tho' the Body can resent no Pleasure or Pain without the Soul yet they in conjunction receive several Impressions of both which the Soul could not perceive alone therefore to make both perfectly happy or miserable both must be rais'd and both the same The Doctor 's last Argument is That if all the bulk of the same Matter should rise we should be Monsters of Men at the Resurrection But the Effluvia to answer this Objection which make up this vast Mass flow from the Carneous Parts and from the Blood which are not particularly concern'd in Human Actions the former of which Plato so much admir'd by the Doctor calls only * Wool or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Timaeo Down to wrap the Body easily and softly round the latter the Forrage and Pasturage of the Flesh But from the Vessels Parts and Organs peculiarly serviceable to Life Motion Sense Imagination Understanding and Will the Effluvia are inconsiderable nor would they much surpass their due Dimensions if all the Matter which ever belong'd to them were rais'd AN ESSAY Against SCEPTICISM In Matters of Religion IN order to endeavour to give some Check to the prevailing Humour of Scepticism which is become so extreamly Modish that no Person can be that self-admir'd thing a Wit without it I shall First as is most natural propose a short view of some of those pretended Reasons which the Scepticks and Deists and others of the same Order usually give for their Scepticism and Doubts about the Truths of Religion To every one of which I shall return a transient Reply Secondly I shall take a short survey of the true Reasons and Motives which make Men Scepticks First The pretended Reasons are such as these First They believe Religion to be false because many who make great shews of being Christians are only such out of Interest and in all likelyhood would change the Christian Profession for another which would be more serviceable for their Designs Secondly They have an ill Opinion of Religion because many who are zealous for its Truths are yet negligent of the Morals of it and live after such a manner as would make a sober Heathen blush Thirdly They despise Religion because several Professors of it embrace it not out of Reason or Conviction but out of a supine Credulity and walk blindly on in the Christian Religion only because it is the Worship of their Country Fourthly They entertain a low Idea of Christianity because tho' said to be reveal'd for the good of all Mankind yet God has only propagated it in a small part of the World and even where it has been promulg'd it is found but an indifferent Expedient to work any such extraordinary Effects on Mens Minds as might be expected from a Religion which God Himself came down from Heaven to preach and to seal with his Blood Fifthly That the Divisions amongst single Christians and the Wars and Discords between Christian Princes and Commonwealths often heightned by Religious Controversies and inflam'd by the violent Harangues of Ecclesiastick Persons are great Prejudices against the Christian Religion and give a Moral Deist great Advantage over a Zealot for Christianity These have been and still are some of the leading Forces in the Van of Scepticism There are indeed many particular Objections laid against peculiar parts of Christianity which cannot fall within the compass of this short ESSAY But to return a cursory Reply to each one of these Objections First 'T is no just Reflection upon the Religion That many who make great shews of being Christians are only such out of Interest and in all probability would change the Christian Profession for another which would be more serviceable for their designs Tho' some may be Christians at present out of Interest yet if we enquire into the first Institution of our Religion we shall find that it was its intrinsick Worth which first recommended it to the World when there was no outward Motive or Interest to make it taking For did the Apostles and first Disciples of our Saviour turn Christians upon any temporal Prospect Or what Advantage could those who succeeded them for the two first Centuries propose What could they gain by this new Profession but Disgrace Imprisonment and Death And can any one be a Platonick lover of Shame and Pain and court Misery for its own sake alone Now these purer Times nighest to the origin of our Religion are those which our Adversaries ought to have enquir'd into and level'd their Objections against otherwise their Arguments only wound the present Professors of Religion many of which we own to live below the dignity of it but fall far short of doing any injury to Religion it self Secondly The Sceptick ought not to have an ill Opinion of Religion because many who are zealous for its Truths are yet negligent of the Morals of it and live after such a manner as