c. 7. in Ceylon the Noya will stand with half his Body upright for two or three hours together (q) See Mr. Mede lib. 1. Disâ—â— xli These may be for Monuments of the Truth of the Curse upon the rest as some of the Race of the Giants were left in the Land of Canaan till David's time as a Memorial to the Israelites of the Miraculous Power of God in the Conquest of the Land by their Forefathers The Curse of the Ground was for a Punishment to Adam and his Posterity and can be considered no otherwise nor be made matter of Objection unless it be thought unreasonable to inflict a Curse upon Mankind for this Offence of eating the Forbidden Fruit by making the Earth less fruitful and pleasant to them Tho' the Garden of Eden were the most delightful and happy Part of the Earth yet the whole Earth before the Fall was very different from what it has been since For if it had continued as it was the Curse and Punishment upon Mankind could not have been effected in that manner in which it was determined 2. Our First Parents were turned out of Paradise and not suffered to taste of the Tree of Life They had been charged not to eat of the Fruit in the midst of the Garden and Threatned with Death that is that they should become Mortal and be sure to die if they would presume to eat of it To be subject to Misery both in Body and Mind so that the Body should decay and at last be dissolved and the Soul which could not Perish should be miserable after its separation from the Body was the Original Notion of Death and our First Parents who had never feen what Natural dying was understood Death no otherwise than as a Privation of Happiness and consequently a State of Misery both in this Life and the next The first was unavoidable the latter to be avoided by Repentance and a future Obedience thro' Faith in God's Mercy for Christ's sake They were hindred from tasting of that Tree which was to have been the Means and Instrument of Immortality to them For God who has given a Medicinal Vertue and a Power of Nourishment to other Fruits and Herbs might convey a Power and Influence into this Tree of rendring Men Immortal by preventing the decays of Nature and Nourishing or Strengthning them to an endless Life How this should have been we are now no more able to know than to become immortal here upon Earth But this was God's Decree that Immortality should be annext to the tasting of that Tree and therefore our First Parents when they had incurred the Penalty of Death were not suffered to taste of it but were forced out of Paradise and it was just that they should be hindred from enjoying any longer the Delights of Paradise for the Transgression of a Commandment which wantonness only and a vain and criminal Curiosity could make them disobey We are able to give little more Account how the Food we now eat can nourish and sustain us from time to time for Threescore and Ten or Fourscore Years than how the Fruit of the Tree of Life should have been a preservative to keep Men alive for ever only this we have the Experience of and so fancy we can tell how it comes to pass but that is strange to us and what is strange Men wonder at and will hardly believe it But since God has endued our ordinary Food with a power of Nourishment no man can reasonably doubt but that he might endue this Fruit with such a Vertue that it should have made men immortal to Taste of it and have prevented that decay of Nature which now still creeps upon us in the use of other Food We may well suppose that if they had once tasted of this Fruit they should have suffered no Decay but have lived in constant Vigour here tho' partaking afterwards only of other Nourishment till they had been translated to Heaven Or it might be design'd not as a Physical but a Sacramental Cause of Immortality that is as a Sign and Pledge of Immortality God having decreed that upon the Tasting of this Fruit Adam and his Posterity should have been immortal But the Forbidden Fruit being of a most delicious Taste as well as pleasant to the Eyes and containing a very fermenting Juice might put the Blood and Spirits into great Disorder and thereby divest the Soul of that Power and Dominion which it had before over the Body and by a closer and more intimate Union with Matter might reduce it to that miserable Condition which has been propagated and derived down to Posterity with the Humane Nature from our First Parents as some Poysons now strangely affect the Nerves and Spirits without causing immediate Death but make such Alterations in the Body as are never to be cured And it could not be fitting that Man should become immortal in this Condition or that the Threatning of God however should not take place From what has been hitherto said upon this Subject I hope it is evident that there can be no necessity of running to Allegorical Interpretations to explain the Fall of our First Parents And indeed all the Reason that can be given why it is represented under an Allegory will rather prove the Litteral Sense For if the Simplicity and the Customs and Manner of Life in the Beginning of the World did require that the Fall of our First parents should be describ'd under an Allegory of this Nature for the very same Reasons we may suppose that the Fall was in this manner For what is it which makes it seem improbable but only its being disagreeable as some Men conceit to Reason But if it be absurd to suppose that such a thing should have been in the Beginning of the World why is it not as absurd that such a thing should be represented to those who liv'd at the beginning of the World as if it had been If this was then the most fitting and proper Representation of the Fall why was it not the most likely manner for it to happen by God's Dispensations are always fitted to the Capacities and Circumstances of those who are most concern'd in them and the Devil in his Temptations applies himself to the Circumstances of those whom he would seduce And it cannot be conceiv'd that the most remarkable Thing that ever has befaln Mankind except the Redemption of the World by Christ should so come to pass as not to be told to Posterity but in an Allegory For if the Litteral Truth had ever been known it was impossible it should be forgotten in so few Generations and that Moses should put an Allegory in the room of it Did the Children of Israel know the Historical Truth of the Fall or did they not know it If they did why should Moses disguise it under an Allegory rather than the rest of the Book of Genesis If they did not know it how could it be forgotten
this Notion of their legal Worship Abraham to whom Circumcision was appointed saw the day of Christ he sore saw his Descent from himself which was thereby prefigured and was glad Joh. viii 56. And Moses by whom the Ceremonial Service was ordained had so clear a Prospect of the Messias and his Kingdom that he esteemed the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Aegypt Hebr. xi 26. Those places of Scripture which the Apostles apply to Christ out of the Old Testament were at that time by the Jews themselves to whom they Cite them understood of the Messias they always supposed that whatever was great and Excellent among them was but a faint and imperfect Resemblance of that Glory and Excellency which was to be in its full Perfection and Accomplishment under the Messias 4. During this Ceremonial Dispensation there was a sufficient Revelation of the internal and spiritual Part of Religion In the Books of Moses the Love of God with all the Heart and the Love of their Neighbour as of Themselves is expresly commanded the Children of Israel Lev. xix 18. Deut. vi 5. The High Priest's Office was to bless the People Numb vi 23. and the Office of the Priests and Levites besides the Ceremonial Service was to stand every Morning to thank and praise the Lord and likewise at Even 1 Chron. xxiii 30. 2 Chron. xxxi 2. and (x) Vid. Qutr de Sacrific lib. 1. c. 15. S. 9. no Sacrifice was ever offered without Prayers The immortality of the Soul is implied in that Expression which is often used in the Books of Moses that Men when they died were gathered to their People which must be understood of their Souls their Bodies being buried at different places and in divers Countries not where their Ancestors had been buried And tho' this and such like Phrases may sometimes signify no more than their leaving the World as others had done before them as most Words and Expressions are often used improperly and may in some places be applied to ill Men yet there could never have been any Reason or Foundation for such a Phrase but from a Supposition of the Soul's Immortality Balaam wish'd to die the Death of the Righteous and that his last End might be like that of the Righteous Numb xxiii 10. For what Reason but that he might not be miserable but happy after Death A future State was always believ'd by the Jews as revealed to them in the Old Testament and whatever Texts there may be which seem to imply the contrary they are either spoken only by way of Objection as in the Book of Ecclesiastes or else they have no Relation to the State after this Life either to affirm or deny it but are to be understood to proceed from that Desire which pious Men had to honour and glorify God in their several Generations by restoring his Worship where it had been neglected or in propagating his Religion where it had not been yet known Thus that good King Hezekiah says to God in his Thanksgiving The Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The Living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day The Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth Isa xxxviii 18 19. This is spoken with the same Zeal and Spirit by which he was acted in his Reformation And when David said In Death there is no Remembrance of thee in the Grave who shall give thee Thanks Psal vi 5. He cannot be supposed to have any Doubtfulness concerning a future State for in other Psalms he plainly asserts it Psal xvi 11. xvii 15. But his Meaning is explain'd Psal xxx 9. where he says What profit is there in my Blood when I go down into the Pit Shall the Dust praise thee Shall it declare thy Truth In our other Translation it is Shall the Dust give Thanks to thee To give Thanks then to God is in grateful Acknowledgment for his Mercies to praise and magnify his Name and manifest his Truth among Men which is not to be done in the Grave God's Dispensations to the People of Israel being with this Design Pious Men desir'd that their Lives might be prolong'd for this purpose that they might declare his Truth and Vindicate and promote his Honour in this World before they were call'd to the next where there can be no Opportunity for this Service to God and Benefit to Mankind Enoch was taken up alive into Heaven to be an Example of that Happiness which God has prepar'd for those who walk with him and pleaseth him Gen. v. 24. And our Saviour Mark xii 26. proves the Resurrection of the Dead from Exod. iii. 6. Those for whom God has that peculiar Favour as to stile Himself their God and to declare this to be His Name or Title for ever and this to be His Memorial unto all Generations Vers 15. we may be assured are not so dead as utterly to have perish'd and if their Souls have surviv'd their Bodies their Bodies likewise must be raised again forasmuch as the Soul of Abraham without his Body is not Abraham but only one part of him and his Soul could not be stil'd Abraham but with respect not only to its past but to its future Union with his Body For tho' a part be often put for the whole yet it always supposes either the present or future Existence of the Whole but is never put for the whole when it remains alone and the rest is utterly and finally extinct Abraham consists of Soul and Body and therefore God being the God of Abraham is God both of the Soul and Body of Abraham which is an Argument that the Soul of Abraham now lives and that his Body shall live again for All live to God And he would not have given himself a solemn Title and Denomination from a Man who had no longer any Being nor from that Part of him which had utterly perish'd I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Abraham had his Name in Token that he should be a Father of many Nations Gen. xvii 5. and Isaac and Jacob were Heirs of the same Promise and therefore the God of Abraham is the God of that Father of Nations and has a particular Regard to the Bodies from which those Nations were descended as well as to the Souls of Abraham and his Posterity I am the God of Abraham not I was but I am which supposes Abraham yet to be I am the same God still to him that I was during his Life upon earth he is still the Object of the Divine Care and Goodness and therefore shall be rewarded both in Body and Soul God is not ashamed to be call'd their God for he hath prepared for them a City Heb. xi 16. that is an Habitation in Heaven The Children of Israel before the giving of the Law were
instructed in the Rewards and Punishments of the Life to come and Temporal Rewards and Punishments were appointed by Moses as Pledges and Types to represent and prefigure to them those of a Future State For that Abraham and the Patriarchs before him had a true and full Notion of a Life after this we are certain from Heb. xi 10 13. And we have as great Certainty that Abraham did instruct his Children and his Houshold after him Gen. xviii 19. and Moses wrote of Christ Jo. v. 46. Gen. iii. 15. xii 3. xlix 10. Deut. xviii 15 18. These things were delivered in the Books of Moses and well understood by the Generality of the Jews in all Ages the Sadducees were singular in denying the Resurrection of the Dead and some other Doctrines in which all the rest were agreed But if there were any Obscurity or Difficulty in the Books of Moses they had besides the Priests a constant Succession of Prophets for many Ages to Interpret them and to maintain and inculcate those Fundamental Doctrines of Religionâ— The Rewards of Heaven are declared Psal xvi 11. xvii 15. Prov. xv 24. Eccles xii 14. Dan. xii 2 3. The Torments of Hell are asserted Psal xvi 10. Eccles xi 9. xii 14. Isai xxxiii 14. Dan. xii 2. The Resurrection of the Dead Psal xvii 15. Isai xxvi 19. Ezek. xxxvii 1. Dan. xii 2. Hos xiii 14. And in the Book of Job which is of the greatest Antiquity Job xiv 12. xix 26.27 In that Expression that David and others Slept with their Fathers is implyed not only the Imortality of the Soul but the Resurrection of the Body For it implies that there was not a total end of them but as they Slept so must they awake and rise again Psal xvii 15. And this Expression is taken from the Old Testament and applied to the same Sense in the New Our Saviour speaking of Regeneration says to Nicodemus art thou a Master in Israel and knowest not these things Joh. iii. 10. and he bids the Jâ—ws search the Scriptures of the Old Testament for in them says he ye think ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Joh v. 39. it was in them fore-told that a much clearer Revelation was to be made by the Gospel Jer. xxxi 31. When our Saviour by his Resurrection gave a fuller Manifestation of a future Immortal State than could be given by any other Means and brought Life and Immortality to Light thro' the Gospel 2 Tim. i. 10. Yet this it self was Typifyed in the Old Testament by raising Dead Men to Life again and the Translation of Enoch and Elijah into Heaven was for a Testimony and Assurance of a Future State both of Body and Soul The Doctrin deliverd by Moses and the Prophets was as effectual a Caution and warning to Men to keep them from the place of Torments as a Message from the Dead could have been Luke xvi 31. The Old Testament therefore is not deficient in any necessary Point of Salvation but the Ceremonial Law was enjoyned as a suitable Help and Expedient for the retaining those Truths which had been revealed before Which was so well known (x) Origen contra Cels lib. 2 that Celsus puts this as an Objection into the Mouth of the Jews whom he brings in Arguing against the Christian Religion that it taught them nothing but what they knew before concerning the Resurrection of the Dead and a future Judgment and a State of Rewards and Punishments in another World And it cannot be denied that the Apocryphal as well as the Canonical ' Books teach these things The Honour and Authority of our Religion amongst Men depends very much upon a right Knowledge and a due consideration of this Subject And those who profess never so great Veneration for the New Testament but have little esteem for any part of the Old understand neither the one nor the other as they ought They refer all along to each other and must stand or fall together for the one is but a Draught as it were or Model of the other all things being though obscurely yet sufficiently taught in the Old Testament which are fully and lively exprest in the New The Sum of all is this The Faith in the Messias to come and the Principles of Religion and Morality had been delivered down from the Beginning by Adam and Noah to their Posterity And when Moses by God's Direction and Appointment gave Laws to the Children of Israel the End and Design of these Laws was the preservation of this Faith and Practice amongst them And this was effected by visible Objects and sensible Remembrances the Jewish Dispensation was ordain'd in condescension to the Circumstances and Capacities of those Ages and that Nation in such a manner as was most suitable to their Condition and most Worthy of God the rest of the World had wholly given up and abandoned themselves to Carnal Ordinances and Superstitions and God who produceth Good out of Evil made use of this Fondness and Dotage of Mankind to the Preservation and Advancement of Truth and Holiness amongst Men. The Ceremonial Worship was no farther acceptable to God and no otherwise design'd by Him than to keep his People from running into Idolatry to which they had so great a Proneness to put them in mind of their own Sinfulness and Unworthiness to preserve a Sense of Moral Duties and of an inward and spiritual Service and to retain a Remembrance and Expectation of that Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction which had been foretold and was in the Fulness of time to be offered upon the Cross for the Sins of the World Thanks be to God that we are instructed to worship him in Spirit and in Truth without so many burthensome Ceremonies but in those Ages of the World nothing would have seem'd more strange and absurd than a Religion without some Pomp and Solemnity of Ceremonies And God appointed for his People those which were innocent to restrain them from all that were wicked and hurtful He appointed the Sacrifices of Beasts to be Types of Christ's Sacrifice and to withhold them from Humane Sacrifices which were practised in other Nations and enjoyn'd by other Religions he commanded them to abstain from certain Meats that they might not eat of Things offer'd to Idols and these innocent Ceremonies he made useful and serviceable to the Great Ends of Faith and Righteousness Nothing impracticable can be supposed to be prescrib'd by God to any People nothing which is above their Abilities and present Attainments and therefore would be of no use and benefit to them But rather the Divine Goodness would condescend to their Infirmities and comply with them in giving them such Laws as may be agreeable and convenient for them in their present State and may fit them for an higher and more excellent Dispensation Whatsoever we may think of it now nothing at the time when the Law was given would have look'd like Religion that had
manner what our inward Faith and Resolutions are This is that sort of security which Men have of one another and when God makes a Covenant with Men he considers them as Men that is he appoints such Solemnities of it as have respect to the Body as well as to the Soul he doth not deal with us as with immaterial Spirits but as with Creatures consisting of Soul and Body and who little regard and are little affected with that which doth not some way concern the one as well as the other And it is strange to see to what Extravagancies those have proceeded who have set up for a purely Spiritual Worship without any thing Sacramental for a visible Sign in it For not to mention the Pretensions of our Enthusiasts who by decrying the use and necessity of Sacraments have made Religion nothing but an empty and uncertain Name amongst them Prophyry who was a Man of Study and Learning after he had Apostatiz'd from the Christian Religion upon a ridiculous Occasion as History relates it was ashamed to return to the Heathen Idolatry which after the appearance of Christianity in the World soon became too notoriously absurd and abominable for any Man pretending so much to Reason and good Sense to own it but he placed all Divine Worship in Mental Prayer and so far rejected all outward and Bodily Worship (g) Porphyr de Abstinent lib. 2. §. 34. that he pretended the Prayers of Men were polluted and defiled by any thing of that Nature and rendred unacceptable to the Deity and that they never were sufficiently pure and perfect if they were express'd by the Voice but were then in their highest degree of Perfection when they were all Contemplation and Rapture and Extasie And the very same Notions were taught by (h) Euseb Praepar Evang. lib. iv c. 13. Apollonius Tyanoeus and have been revived of late by such as undervalue all outward Ordinances which may be a Warning to others and an Evidence of the Divine Wisdom in appointing Sacraments as outward and visible Signs of our Covenant and Communion with God 2. As these outward Signs serve to raise our Attention and fix our Minds and to put us in Remembrance that Heaven and Earth Angels and Men are Witnesses against us if we prove treacherous and unfaithful in this Covenant so they are as Tokens and Pledges to us of God's Love and Favour and of his merciful and gracious Intentions towards us in taking us into Covenant with himself they give us sensible and visible Assurances of that Grace which is invisible and Spiritual And this seems but necessary for Creatures that are led so much by Sense as we all are in this Life that God together with his Word and Promises should besides appoint something which may be perceiv'd by our Bodily Senses in Token of those Blessings which are bestow'd upon the Soul that what is no Object of Sense may yet be represented and signified by something that is sensible to bring as far as it is possible the most Divine and Heavenly things down to our very Senses which may be a Sign and Token of present Grace and Favour and a Pledge and Earnest of future Glory and Happiness And this is what is found very useful and necessary amongst Men who are better contented with something present and in hand tho' of little value and insignificant in itself as a Token and Pledge of what is promised and made over to them than they are with the greatest Promises and Protestations without any thing as an Earnest to confirm them because this is a Natural Evidence that they are indeed in Earnest as our English word expresses it and really intend what they say and it may be produced against them if they should fail of Performance Now what is inward and invisible is absent as to Sense and what is future has need of something present to represent it to us And God who was pleased to bind himself even by an Oath for our farther Comfort and Trust in him has been pleased likewise that he might be wanting in nothing which might help our Infirmities and assist our Faith he has been pleased in condescention to the Condition and Frailty of Humane Nature to appoint visible Signs and Pledges of that which is Invisible and to give all the Assurance to our very Senses that they are capable of that all the Promises of his Spiritual Blessings and Graces shall as certainly be fulfilled to us as the outward Signs and Pledges are appointed for us and duly received by us 3. Sacraments are not only Signs and Tokens of Spiritual Gifts and Graces but they are ordained as Means and Instruments of Grace and Salvation to us that as the Body partakes in the Moral Actions of Vertue and Vice so it might concur in the Religious Acts ordained for our Sanctification For God who has made us so as to consist of Soul and Body and to have the Vital Union between Soul and Body depend upon a fit Disposition of the Body and to be maintained by the Health and Nourishment of it has been pleas'd to appoint certain Bodily Actions as the Means and Instruments of our Spiritual Life that the Soul might not even in this Case where itself is more immediately concern'd be wholly independent of the Body but that since both must be either happy or miserable together in the next Life both might concurr in the way and means of Salvation in this yet so as that the Soul should be the first and principal Agent and the Body should act only in subordination and subserviency to it in this as it doth in other Cases that as in Moral Actions the Soul acts vertuously or viciously by the Body so in Spiritual Actions the Soul might receive Advantage and Benefit by Bodily Acts and be deprived of it upon the Omission or Neglect of such Acts. The Body without the Soul is not the Man nor the Soul without the Body but both Soul and Body together and the whole Man becomes dedicated and consecrated to God's Worship and Service in the use of Actions performed outwardly in the Body And it is requisite that the Body as well as the Soul should be thus dedicated to God in Token of the Resurrection of the Body and of that Happiness which it must receive in Heaven if the Soul be happy St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to glorifie God in their Body as well as in their Spirit 1 Cor. vi 20. he tells them that the Body is not for Fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the Body know ye not says he that your Bodies are the members of Christ what know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost There have been those in several Ages who have made such high Pretences to Spiritual Worship that they would allow the Body no part or share in it and others from the great irregularity and corruption which they could not but observe in
other Man's Body And besides it must be granted by all that Believe a God and a Providence that a particular Providence may take such effectual care of us as to reserve to every Man his own Body in all the Essential Parts of it the Hairs of our Heads are all Numbred that is they are as well known to God as they could be to us if we had told and numbred them never so exactly and therefore much more the necessary Parts of us are under his Cognizance and Care These necessary constituent Parts then being the same God may supply the rest as he shall see fitting and the Body will be the same after the Resurrection that it was in this Life tho' the Bodies of Men at the Resurrection must arise in all the Perfection of an Humane Body and therefore must have no part wanting For if any part of an Humane Body should be wanting they would not have all the perfection of such a Body tho' they should be never so perfect in all the parts which they be supposed to have For if a Man having but one Eye or one Ear should be able to see or hear with that one better than ever any Man did with two yet it would still be a defect in his Body to want an Eye or an Ear. All the uses of any one part of our Bodies are not perhaps yet fully known and the Dependance which one part has upon another may be such as that it may be requisite that those parts should be raised for their Relative usefulness which may seem to have no proper use of their own after the Resurrection The Sight is a Sense which may be capable of Improvements beyond what we now are able to conceive as we may conclude from the Improvements which have been made by the help of Microscopes and Telescopes And who knows but that in the Glorified State our Eyes shall have that perfection as to be able to discern the Contexture and Motions and the whole Frame of those pure Spiritual and Coelestial Bodies and then those parts which now to the naked view and much more when discerned thro' Microscopes cause so much Admiration will be still much more admirable to behold when they are thoroughly seen and fully understood by us and to want those parts which may seem to be then no longer of any use would be to want one great Argument of our praise of God in the contemplation of his Wonderful Works But this is mentioned only to shew that an ordinary Fancy if it be allowed to take the Liberty which some have done upon this Subject might easily propose as probable Reasons in Defence of the Received Doctrines as can be framed against them (o) Quaest 53. The Author of the Answers to the Orthodox amongst the Works of Justin Martyr says that some parts of our Bodies tho' they will then have no direct usefulness yet will be raised at the last Day to be Memorials to us of the Wisdom of God in that use which we had of them in this Life And (p) Aug. Civit. Dei lib. xxii c. 17. St. Austin says that the Glory of God will be magnified in that he will have freed those Members from the Corruption to which they were subject here However it ought to suffice Christians that our Bodies shall be like to Christ's Body and therefore shall have the full perfection and proportion of all the parts constituting an Humane Body as his Body had after his Resurrection We know that we shall be like him 1 Joh. iii. 2. and as for any thing further it will be time enough to know it at the Resurrection II. It is not only Credible and Reasonable to believe that God can but likewise that he will Raise the Dead The Revelation of his Will in his Holy Word ought to put this beyond Dispute among Christians But besides it appears to be requisite from the Nature of Man consisting of Soul and Body that there should be a Resurrection of the Body it is fit that the Man should be punished that Sinned and that the Man who lived well here and suffered for Righteousness sake should be rewarded for it But if the Soul only be Punished or the Soul only be Rewarded the Man is not rewarded or Punished for the Soul is but part of the Man but Soul and Body together make up the whole Man and therefore it is requisite that the Soul and Body should be re-united For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. v. 10. For this Reason it is requisite that the Soul should be again united to the same Body otherwise the Soul and Body would constitute a Man but not the same Man that was before the Body not being the same for it must be the same Soul and the same Body that make the same Man As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. xv 22. the same Body therefore that died in Adam is to be made alive in Christ who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Philip. iii. 21. Christ himself rose with the same Body that was Crucified and we are to be like him at the Resurrection and to have our Bodies Changed into the likeness of his Glorious Body And indeed if a New Body were assumed how could it be a Resurrection Which implies the Rising again of that Body which after the Separation of the Soul was Buried in the Grave and otherwise as it is usually argued one Body may be punished for the Sins committed in another If it be said that the Body is only the Instrument of Sensation to the Soul but is it self capable of none and therefore must be uncapable of Rewards or Punishments It may perhaps be Answered that this is more than can be absolutely concluded from the Notions of Modern Philosophy against the General Sense of Mankind and the Philosophy of all former Ages However the Body being unable to determine it self in its Sensations if it have any of its own I confess I cannot think this Argument fit to be insisted upon in as much as no Actions can be capable of Rewards or Punishments but such as proceed from choice But it must be acknowledged that the the Soul may be capable of more Happiness or Misery when re-united to the Body than in its Separate State For besides the Anguish or the Peace and Joy of Mind besides its own Reflections and its proper Operations which the Soul is capable of 〈◊〉 State of Separation from the Body it is capable of being affected with Sensations which arise from its Union with the Body And that these may be answerable to what a Man's Actions in this
Life have been the Soul must be United to the self same Body so disposed and qualified to affect the Soul as it was in this Life only with Infinitely greater more exquisite and more lasting Degree of Pain or of Joy and Satisfaction yet without any mixture of gross and sensual Pleasures in the Righteous but only such as are suitable to Spiritual Bodies And this Disposition of Body depends upon the Vertuous or Vicious Actions and Habits of Men here for a Body by Vicious Practices and Customs prone to raging and furious Passions insatiable Appetites and tormenting Inclinations and Desires without any thing to gratifie or asswage them must have quite another effect upon a Soul than a Body subdued to the mild and calm and obedient Temper of Religion and Vertue And tho' God could by his Almighty power form another Body to that Frame and Disposition which the Body of any particular Man was in when his Soul departed out of it yet it doth not seem agreeable to the Divine Goodness and purity by his immediate power to frame a New Body to the depraved Temper and Inclinations of a Vicious Man And we are so little acquainted with the Union of the Soul and Body that for ought we know a Soul can be United only to its proper Body The Truth is we know nothing of these Matters but from the Scriptures all besides is only Conjecture But the Doctrine of the Scriptures is probable even to our Reason tho' indeed it ought to over-rule Reason especially in things which are so obscure and so little understood by us God has declared that he will raise these Bodies to Life again at the Day of Judgment and whatever we may think of it to him all things are alike easie it is as easie for him to do as to say it CHAP. XXVI Of the Reasons why Christ did not shew himself to all the People of the Jews after his Resurrection ST Peter speaking of Christ's Resurrection says him God raised up the third Day and shewed him openly not to all the People but unto Witnesses chosen before of God even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the Dead Acts x. 40 41. After his Resurrection he was shewn openly but not to all the People he was seen in a plain and open manner yet not so publickly as to make all the People Witnesses of his Resurrection The Will and good Pleasure of God is a sufficient Reason to us of all his Actions especially in Acts of Mercy For it would be a strange Return made but to a Man for any Favour received to be captious and quarrelsome about the manner of his bestowing it instead of being grateful to him for it But besides this General Reason which ought to be of Force with us in all Cases there are Reasons peculiar to the present Case whereby we may be able to give an Account of it even according to our own Apprehensions of things I. There are Reasons peculiar to this Dispensation of Christ's Resurrection why Christ should not shew himself to all the People after he was risen from the dead II. It had not been suitable to the other Dispensations of God towards Mankind for him to do it III. Great Numbers of the Jews were given over to hardness of heart and would not have believed tho' they had seen Christ after his Resurrection IV. If they had Believed their Conversion had not been a greater proof of the Truth of his Resurrection than their Unbelief has been V. The Power of his Resurrection manifested in the Miraculous Gifts bestowed upon the Apostles was as great a Proof of his Resurrection as the Personal Appearance of our Saviour himself could have been 1. There are Reasons peculiar to this Dispensation of his Resurrection why Christ should not shew himself to all the People after he was risen from the Dead Christ after his Resurrection was to act according to the Majesty of the Divine Nature not according to the Infirmities and Condescension of the Humane the time of his Conversing with Men was at an end at his Death and then another method and manner of Dispensation was to begin he was then to Converse only with his particular Friends and Favourites to satisfie them of his Resurrection and to instruct and enable them both by their Doctrine and Miracles to satisfie others It could not be suitable to the Dignity of his Majesty which he had assumed after his Resurrection to submit himself to the Censures of his Enemies he had suffered enough from them already in the State of his Humiliation and must he never be above the Suspicion and Scrutiny of their Malice Shall not his Resurrection free him from it When they saw him hanging upon the Cross they cried out with upbraiding and insolent Scorn that they would believe in him if he would come down from thence but neither did they deserve such a Miracle to be wrought at their Pleasure who thus called for it nor was it suitable to the Divine Dispensation that it should be wrought It was neither fitting that he should save himself from Death nor that he should appear to them after he was risen from the Dead He was to Die for our Redemption and as we had wanted the Argument from his Resurrection for the Truth of our Religion if he had come down from the Cross so if he had appeared to all the Jews we had wanted other Evidence which as I shall shew at least amounts to all the Proof which that could have given In the State of his Humiliation our Saviour was pleased to suffer himself to be exposed to the contradiction of Sinners and to all their Affronts and Injuries but when this their Hour and the Power of Darkness was once past they were to see him no more but with confusion of Face and terrour of Mind yet his Mercy was still the same towards them one of the greatest Persecutors was converted by a Voice from Heaven the Son of Man speaking to him from thence that he might be the happy Instrument in the Conversion of others and a Pattern to them of the long suffering of Christ 1 Tim. i. 16. But his manifestation of himself to St. Paul at his Conversion was with dreadful Awe and Majesty not in that mild and gracious Glory in which he was seen by St. Stephen and it is reserved for those who persecuted and pierced him to look upon him with Consternation and Anguish at the Last Day Rev. i. 7. 2. It had not been suitable to the other Dispensations of God towards Mankind for Christ to be shown openly to all the People God might work such astonishing Miracles and strike such Terrors into the Minds of Men as to make it impossible for any one to doubt of his Existence or of the Truth of his Word but he doth not all which he can do but what he in his Wisdom sees fit to be done he doth not use all the
in Sport Prov. xxvi 18 19. But what Description or Comparison can be found equal to his Madness who deceiveth and destroyeth himself and that Eternally and yet says Am not I in Sport Is not this the very perfection of Wit and Raillery Wo unto him that Striveth with his Maker Isai xlv 9. Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord do they not provoke themseves to the Confusion of their own Faces Jer. vii 19. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord and that I have heard all thy Blasphemies Thus with your Mouth ye have boasted against me and have Multiplied your Words against me I have heard them Ezek. xxxv 12 13. Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousy are we stronger than he 1 Cor. x. 22. There shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own Lusts 2 Pet. iii. 3. But Beloved remember ye the Words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how that they told you there should be Mockers in the last time who should Walk after their own ungodly Lusts Jude 17.18 If all that I have discoursed be insufficient to convince these Men yet let their own Arguments and even their own Blasphemies convince them for the very worst that they can say or do serves to fulfil the Prophecies and confirm the Authority of the Holy Scriptures FINIS ADDENDA The BOOK having been long ago fitted for the Press and out of the Author's Custody he could not insert the following Additions in their proper places CHAP. IV. p. 112. l. 3. after St. Mark and St. Luke add If either in the Epistle of St. Barnabas or St. Clement it be supposed that the Reasoning is not always just but is sometimes too Allegorical and sometimes founded upon Mistakes in Natural Philosophy yet it is certainly agreeable to the ways of Reasoning and the Philosophy of that Age so that nothing of this kind could then be any hindrance or prejudice to the Reception of these Epistles CHAP. X. p. 222. l. ult after Principles add And besides other Uses which may be found out hereafter one very considerable has been already made of the Satellites for the benefit of the World in rectifying Geography and determining the Longitude of Places Philos Burgund Tom. 5. c. 8. Disseâ—t 3 M. Cassini has drawn up Tables for this Purpose and Written a Treatise on the Subject And the Le Compte's Memoire p. 15. and 505. Missionaries by their Observations have discovered that the Empire of China is Five Hundred Leagues nearer Europe than Geographers have placed it CHAP. XI p. 226. l. 27. * after Opinion add The same Words which Joshua used is Translated to wait upon and wait for Ps LXII 1. LXV 1. So that all which can be Concluded from the Word is that the Sun attended he lengthned the Day and waited for the Victory or waited upon the Army of Israel CHAP. XIII p. 256. l. 24. after Christ's sake add A State of Damnation is a State of Death and the Soul which lies under the Divine Wrath is in that State tho' it be not irreversible during this Life So that the Death Threatned being Twofold viz. of the Soul and of the Body it was accordingly inflicted on both But it was not Threatned that this Death should be to the final Destruction either of Soul or Body but thro' the Redemption of Christ the Body might be recovered from the Death to which it became Subject to a Blessed and Glorious Resurrection and the Soul be restored from the Death into which it had faln to a State of Reconciliation and Favour with God CHAP. XV p. 325. l. 15. after in the New add Of the Assistance of Divine Grace we are Taught Deutr. XXX 6. Psalm XXV 4. XXVII 11. LI. 10 11 12. LXXXVI 11. CXIX 12 26 33 64 66 68. 108. 124. 135. CXLIII 10. Prov. 1.23 Isa XLIV 3. LIX 21 Jer. XXXI 8. XXXII 40. Ezek. XI 19. XXXVI 26 27. CHAP. XVI p. 338. l. 10. after Religion add The Soveraignty was in due time to be placed in the Tribe of Judah which was fulfilled in David's being advanced to the Kingdom and from that time the Scepter and the Lawgiver c. CHAP. XXII p. 391. l. 5. after expected add The Duration of the World is considered in the Scriptures with relation to Christ's coming and all the Time after his coming is stiled the last Days as in the Description of the Different States of Job's Life the space of an Hundred and Forty Years of it after his Sufferings is Stiled the latter end of his Life and all the precedent part is Termed the Beginning of it Job XLII 12 16. CHAP. XXVIII p. 486. l. after Prophet Jonas add Dr. Lightfoot in his Remains lately published has observed as the Reason why the Jews were so importunate for a Sign notwithstanding the many Miracles which our Saviour Wrought before them That their Traditions Taught them to expect these two Signs of the Messias when he came viz. that he should raise the Old Prophets and other Holy and famous Men from the Dead and that he should bring down Manna for them from Heaven In their Old Writings and Records he says they speak much of these Two things of their Expectation I am inclined to believe that these Traditions if they had been rightly understood were not so blind and foolish as that Learned Author Stiles them but had respect to the very Time and Occasion to which our Saviour refers the Jews when they required these Signs of him For at his Resurrection many Bodies of Saints which Slept arose Matt. xxvii 52. And speaking to them of the Manna or Bread which came down from Heaven he puts them in Mind of his Ascension What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before Joh. vi 62. Whereby he intimates that then would be the time of sending this Manna when upon his Ascension he would bestow the Gifts of the Holy Ghost The time was not yet come for these Miracles to be wrought they were not to be wrought at their Demand it was sufficient that they had Intimations given to expect them and in the mean time they ought to have been contented with others CHAP. XXX p. 519. l. 12. after he pleased add But it seems most of all strange that the excellent Emperour M. Antoninus who had so much of the Christian Morality both in the Speculation and in the Practice of it should not also be of the Christian Faich especially if he owned that a signal Miracle was by the Prayers of the Christians obtained for the deliverance of himself and his whole Army Apol. c. 5. ad Scap. c. 4. as Tertullian who could not be Ignorant of the Truth of it Declares But it should be considered that M. Anteninus was very superstitious in all the Heathen Worship and was so much addicted to the Philostr Vit. Sophist in Herod Hermag Aristid Adrian Sophists of his
in one place rather than in another or why it should think when it is moved in a Right Line or in a Circle or in any Curve Line rather than when it lies still Again There is no reason why Matter should be able to think or not think according to its Situation or Position why it should think in the Brain rather than upon the Trencher or when it is digested and reduced to Animal Spirits rather than when it is in a more compacted Substance and has a different relation to the parts of Matter about it Lastly If any sort of Figure could produce Thought Stones must certainly think as well as the best of us and so indeed might any thing else for what Body is there that may not subsist under all varieties of Figure Neither can any lucky conjuncture of all these together produce a Power and Faculty of Thinking For imagine what Bulk Rest or Motion Situation and Figure you can to meet together they are all alike uncapable of so much as one Thought since there is nothing in the Nature of any of these Accidents or Modifications of Matter but it is as far from any Power of thinking as Matter it self is and therefore Thinking can no more arise from a combination of them together than it can proceed from the amassing together of Matter All the Accidents but Motion have nothing Active or Operative in them but are only Matter under different Modes and Relations And Motion whatever the Figure or Bulk and Contexture of any Body may be can be but Motion still and suppose what Contexture or Modifications you will what is Motion under all Determinations Collisions and Combinations but change of Place And how can change of Place produce Thinking under any variety of Contexture in the Particles of Matter Free-will is impossible to be accounted for by Matter and Motion as Epicurus found who was therefore forced to have recourse to his Declinationes Atomorum for which he is so justly exposed by Tully For neither can Matter determine its own Motion nor can Motion determine it self but must be determined by something External whereas all men find it in their power to determine themselves by an Inward and voluntary Principle It is true indeed that the Soul in its Operations depends very much upon the Temperament of the Body yet the Soul even in this state has Thoughts which have no Relation to the Body or any Material Thing as Thoughts of God and Spirits it s own Reflex Thoughts or Consciousness of its own Operations And if it were now capable of no Thoughts but such as have some dependance upon the Body yet this can never prove that the Soul it self is Material or that Matter Thinks A Man writes with his Pen and cannot write without one Is it therefore his Pen properly that writes and not the Man The Body is the Instrument of the Soul in its Operations here and as the Instrument is fit or unfit so must its Operations be more or less perfect But it is strange that the chief part of us should be of such a Nature that we can form no Idaea of it We may form an Idaea of it though but an imperfect one And do we not know that the Eye the noblest part of the Body cannot see it self but imperfectly and by Reflexion And let any Man try whether he can form a better Idea of a Materal Soul than of an Immeterial one But this Writer by Idaea seems to mean a Material Idea or Imagination and we cannot indeed form a material Idea of an Immaterial Spirit Yet after all which he or any Man else has said the Nature of the Soul is as clearly understood as that of the Body and there is nothing encumbred with greater Difficulties than Extension if that be the Essence of Matter and if that be not it is as hard still to know what the Essence of Matter is The Instance which he brings of Brutes is easily answered Whether they can think or not If they cannnot the Objection falls of it self If they can I should rather suppose that their Souls may be annihilated or may transmigrate and pass from one Brute to another than that the Souls of Men must be Material that the Souls of Brutes may be Material too Another Gentleman of late has asserted (u) Mr. Locke 's Hâ—mane Vnderstanding l. 4. c. 3. §. 6. That it is impossible for us by the Contemplation of our own Idea's without Revelation to discover whether Omnipotency hath not given to some Systems of Matter fitly disposed a Power to Perceive or Think Letter to the Bishop of Bercrâ—â— p. 65. and That there is a Possibility that God may if he pleases super-add to Matter a Faculty of Thinking which is what he likewise calls a Modification of Thinking or Power of Thinking But it seems not intelligible how God should super-add to Matter this Faculty or Power or Modification of Thinking unless he change the Nature of Matter and make it to be quite another thing than it is or join a Substance of another Nature to it But the Question is Whether a Faculty of Thinking can be produced out of the Powers and various Modifications of Matter And we can have no more conception how any Modification of Matter can produce Thinking than we can how any Modification of Sound should produce Seeing all Modifications of Matter are the same as to this Point and Matter may as well be made Matter by Modifying as be made to Think bâ— it This is just as if a Man should maintain That though all Immaterial Substances are not extended and divisible yet some of them may possibly be or Omnipotence may super-add to them a Faculty of Extension and Divisibility for Immeterial Substances may become Divisible and Material by the same Philosophy by which we may conclude that Matter may Think which is the same thing as to become Immaterial and to surpass all the Powers and Capacities of Matter But though I have upon this occasion mention'd this Gentleman here yet it would be a great Injury done him to rank him with the Authors of The Oracles of Reason There is prefix'd to the Pieces an Account of the Life and Death of that unhappy Gentleman Mr. Blount with a pretence to vindicate his Murther of himself because his deceased Wife's Sister refused to be marry'd to him by all the Topicks and Arguments of Reason and Philosophy Which is such an Vndertaking as I am confident was never heard of before to prove that a Man may very gravely and Philosophically kill himself if a Woman whom he ought not to marry will not be his Wife It is strange to see that Men should think it fit to vent such things as these in the Face of the World but this discovers the Reason and Philosophy of these Men and is a fit Preface to such a Book This Wisdom descendeth not from Above Behold the Men in their Principles and Practices the
and of seducing and Apostate Spirits without any sufficient Means afforded them to undeceive and rescue themselves Can we suppose that God of Infinite Majesty and Power and who is a Jealous God and will not give his Honour to another should suffer the World to be guilty of Idolatry to make themselves Gods of Wood and Stone Nay to offer their Sons and their Daughters unto Devils and to commit all manner of Wickedness in the Worship of their False Gods and make Murther and Adultery and the worst of Vices not only their Practice but their Religion Can we imagine that the True God would behold all this for so many Ages among so many People and yet not concern himself to put a stop to so much Wickedness and to vindicate his own Honour and restore the Sense and Practice of Vertue upon Earth I shall in due place prove at large That Mankind have in all Ages had the greatest necessity for a Revelation to direct and reform them and That the Philosophers themselves taught abominably wicked Doctrines who yet were the best Teachers and Instructors of the Heathen World And we have no true Notion of God if we do not believe him to be a God of Infinite Power and Knowledge and Holiness and Mercy and Truth and yet we may as well believe there is no God at all as imagine that the God of Infinite Knowledge should take no notice of what is done here below that Infinite Power should suffer it self to be affronted and despised without requiring any Satisfaction that Infinite Holiness should behold the whole World lie in Wickedness and find out no way to remedy it and that Superstition and Idolatry and all the Tyranny of Sin and Satan for so long a time should enslave and torment the Bodies and Souls of Men and there should be no Compassion in Infinite Mercy nor any Care over an erroneous and deluded World in the God of Truth Would a wise and good Father see his Children run on in all manner of Folly and Extravagancy and take no care to reclaim them nor give them any Advice but leave them wholly to themselves to pursue their own Ruine And if this be unworthy to suppose of Natural Parents how much more unreasonable is it to imagine this of God himself whom we cannot but represent to our selves with all the Compassions of the tenderest Father or Mother without the Weakness and Infirmities that accompany them in Humane Parents How unreasonable is it to entertain such a Thought of Almighty God infinite in Goodness and Mercy as to suspect that he would suffer Mankind to make themselves as miserable as they can both in this World and the next without putting a Stop to so fatal a Course of Sin and Misery or interposing any thing for their Direction to shew them the Way to escape Destruction and to obtain Happiness The Fall of our First Parents is known to us only by Revelation and therefore is not to be taken into Consideration when we argue upon the meer Principles of Reason But I consider Mankind as we find it in Fact setting aside the Advantages of Revelation Wicked and abandoned to Wickedness in the Snares of the Devil taken captive by him at his will unable to work out their own Salvation lost and undone without Power or Strength without any Help or Remedy And in this State of the World however it came to pass is there no Reason to believe that infinite Goodness should take some Course and not disregard all Mankind lying in this Condition The great Argument of the Scoffers of the last Days St. Peter tells us would be this That all things go on in their constant Course and that God doth not meddle or concern himself with them Where is the Promise of his Coming For since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the Creation 2 Pet. iii. 4. And if no Promise had ever been made they would have had some Reason in their Arguing For that which rendred the Heathen without Excuse was That they did not make use of the Natural Knowledge that they had of God to lead them to the Knowledge of his Revealed Will which they had frequent Opportunity of becoming acquainted withal and had many Memorials of it amongst them in every Nation but they did not like to retain God in their Knowledge And this is the Force of St. Paul's Argument Act. xvii Rom. i. unless this latter Chapter were to be understood as Dr. Hammond interprets it of the Gnostick Hereticks That the Gentiles ought not to pervert and stifle those Natural Notions which God had implanted in their Minds but from the Law of Nature to proceed to find out the Written Law and for this Reason the Bounds of the Habitation of other Nations were determin'd and appointed by God according to the Number of the Children of Israel that they might seek the Lord and might be able to find and discover the True Religion and Way of Worship among that People to whom he had reveal'd himself Deut. xxxii 8. Act. xvii 26 27. They might have been less vicious than they were without the Knowledge of a Revelation and therein they were inexcusable that though they could not free themselves from the Power of Sin yet they might not have given themselves so wholly up to it as to become excluded from the Grace and Salvation to be obtained by the Revealed Will of God And when God has revealed himself all who will not use the Means and by a due Improvement of their Reason endeavour from Natural Religion to arrive at Revealed become inexcusable for their Negligence and Contempt of God and the Abuse of those Talents and Endowments which God has bestowed upon them For when God has once given Men warning and directed them in the way of Salvation and they will not regard it they must be wilfully ignorant if they will not consider that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day and it is Argument of his Patience and Long-suffering that he doth not bring speedy Vengeance upon a disobedient and rebellious World The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night Now this is very well consistent and exceedingly agreeable with all the Divine Perfections that he should give Men Warning of the Evil and Danger of Sin and afterwards leave them to their own Choice whether they will be Righteous and Happy or Wicked and Miserable and then that he should not take the first Opportunity to punish them nor lay hold of any Advantage against them but give them time for second Thoughts and space for Consideration and Repentance but if they abuse so much Patience and Loving-kindness that he should at last come
they had been never so vicious and profligate before The Christians are represented as an innocent devout and charitable sort of men by Pliny Lucian and Julian the Apostate himself Plin. Epist ad Trajan lib. 10. Epist 97. Lucian de Morte Peregrini Julian Epist 44. by those who had most narrowly enquired into their Doctrines and Practices and were worst affected to them And by these means the Christians became as so many Lights in the world to guide and direct others in the ways of Vertue for by their example and doctrine they soon reformed even the Heathen world to a great degree Morality was taught by the Philosophers in much greater perfection than ever it had been before and they became so much ashamed of the grossness of their Idolatrous worship that they sought out all arts to refine and excuse it And those vices which made up so great a part of their Idolatrous Mysteries appeared too abominable to pass any longer for Religion The Oracles soon ceased and the seducing Spirits confessed that they were hindred from giving out their Answers by the Power of Christ and all that Julian the Apostate could do was ineffectual to bring the Heathen Oracles into reputation again These are things before insisted upon and so notorious in History that they cannot be denied to be solely owing to the Power and Influence of the Christian Religion I shall mention but one instance more and that is the barbarous cruelty of the Heathen Religions which the Gospel has delivered the world from For they were wont to offer up innocent Men and Children in sacrifice to their false Gods and that frequently and in some places daily and in times of great danger and upon extraordinary occasions they sacrificed so great numbers of men at once that it would be incredible if we had not the Authority of the best Historians for the truth of it And this custom of sacrificing men to their Gods prevailed not only here in Britain and in other Countrys which were accounted barbarous but all over Greece and in Rome it self It may well seem strange to us now that such a practice should so generally prevail in the world yet nothing is more certain from all History than that it did prevail and that men were with difficulty brought off from it For when Mankind was thus cruelly tyrannized over by bloody Daemons nothing but the omnipotent mercy of God could rescue them And for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John iii. 8. which he soon did Beasts and Idols were no longer worshipped and men were no longer made Sacrifices when once Christianity began to appear in its full power and efficacy in the world The plain and humble Doctrine of him that was laid in a Manger and died upon a Cross was in a short time more effectual to reform Mankind than all the Precepts of Philosophers and the Wisdom and Power of Lawgivers had ever been Those Enemies to their own Souls who are so fond of little cavils against the Gospel as if they were resolved not to be saved by it yet owe the happiness of this present Life in great measure to its influence they would not have been so safe in their Bodies and Estates nay perhaps they might have been sacrificed to some cruel Daemon long before this if that Religion which they resolve to despise but will not be at the pains to understand had not been believed by wiser and better men Of so great advantage has the Gospel been to those who will not be reclaimed and converted by it it has destroyed the works of the Devil and has dispossest him of that Tyranny which he held over mankind it has made the unconverted world less vicious and has banished all the profess'd Patrons and Deities of wickedness from amongst men it has made Idolatry less practised and reduced it to narrower bounds confining it to the remoter parts of the Earth and every where upon the first approach of the Gospel the evil Spirits are disarmed of their power and flee away before it as we learn from the History of Lapland and other Countries So general a Blessing is the Gospel of Christ that even unbelievers are the better for it in this world tho they exclude themselves from the benefit of it in the next And the Christian is the only Religion against which the common objection concerning the prejudices of Education in favour of it cannot be urged for as it first prevailed in the world by conquering all the prejudices of Education so it still maintains it self against all the opposition that corrupt nature and a vicious Education can make to it Indeed it may seem a needless thing to have been thus large in the proof the excelleney of the practical Doctrine contained in the Scriptures when God knows this is the greatest exception that most men have against them and if the precepts were not so strict and holy but they might be allowed to live in their sins half the evidence we have for the Authority of the Scriptures would satisfy them VII The highest Mysteries of the Christian Religion are not merely speculative but have a necessary relation to practice for the advancement of Piety and Vertue amongst men As there is nothing in the practical Duties taught and enjoyned by the Scriptures but what is most excellent and worthy of God and which has raised and improved the Nature of man beyond what could have been attained to without it so the speculative Doctrines have as evident Characters of the Wisdom and Goodness of God They all tend to the advancement of our Nature to make us better more wise and more happy and are not designed to gratify a vain and useless curiosity but to excite in us the Love of God and a care and concernment for our own happiness They set before us the Original and Creation of all things the innocence in which man was first created and God's love and compassion to him after his Fall how the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are concerned in our Redemption that the Father sent his Son that the Son was born that he lived a despised and persecuted Life and at last underwent for us a most shameful and grievous death that he rose again and ascended into Heaven and there continually interceeds for us and that he sent the Holy Ghost the Comforter who supports and assists us under all temptations and dangers in our way thither and will if we be not wanting to our selves safely conduct us to Heaven there to reign with Christ in Eternal Bliss and Glory both of Body and Soul but if we will be disobedient and obstinate to our own ruine we must be eternally tormented with the Devil and his Angels The Apostles who without Learning or Philosophy taught the most sublime and useful Truths more plainly than the wisest Philosophers ever had done must derive their knowledge from
a higher Principle than they did It is impossible for the wit of man to contrive any thing so admirably fitted to procure the happiness of Mankind as their Doctrines are no precepts can be more righteous and holy no rewards more excellent nor punishments more formidable than those of the Gospel and which is above all no Religion besides ever afforded nor could all the reason of Mankind ever have found out such powerful Motives to the Love of God which is the only true principle of Obedience Our Religion contains no dry and empty speculations but all its Mysteries are Mysteries of Love and Mercy Others may fear God but it is the Christian only that can truly love him and trust in him and in all conditions in Life and in death look up to him as his Father his Saviour and Comforter This Religion places men in the presence of God and entitles them to his peculiar favour and care it declares God to be their Friend and Protector here and their everlasting Rewarder after Death it promises and assures us of all the happiness both in Body and Soul that we are capable of which is the utmost that can be expected or wished for from any Revelation and the proper and peculiar reason why God should establish Religion in the World It appears from this whole discourse that nothing is wanting in the Books of the Old and New Testament which can be expected in any Revelation They are of the greatest Antiquity and have been Preached throughout the World and have abundant evidence both by Prophecies and Miracles of their Divine Authority and the Doctrine contained in them is such as God must be supposed to reveal Mankind having visible Characters in it of the Divine Goodness and Holiness and having exceedingly conduced to the reformation of the world THE Reasonableness and Certainty OF THE Christian Religion PART III. That there is no other Divine Revelation but that contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament THat there is no other institution of Religion besides that delivered in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament which has all things necessary to a Divine Revelation may be shewn in the several Particulars necessary to a Divine Revelation as that no other Religion ever was of like Antiquity or had equal Promulgation that no other had sufficient evidence of Miracles and Prophecies in proof of it and lastly that there never was any other which did not teach many Doctrines that are unworthy of God and contrary to the Divine Attributes and therefore impossible to come from Heaven This I shall prove first of the Religions of the Heathens secondly of the Mahometan Religion CHAP. I. The Novelty of the Heathen Religions THE Novelty of the Religions amongst the Heathens whom we have any certain account of from their Writings in respect of the Scriptures is so notorious having been so often proved by learned men and is so generally acknowledged that it is needless to insist much upon it The Heathens generally were strangers to every thing of Antiquity and therefore must be unable to give any proof of the Antiquity of their Religions The pretences which the Egyptians made to Antiquity so much beyond the times recorded in the Scriptures proceeded from their reckoning by Lunar years or (a) Diodor Sic. lib. i. Plutarch in Numa Var. apud Lactant. de Orig. Error lib. ii c. 12. months but they had so different accounts however of Chronology that as Diodorus Siculus says some of them computed thirteen thousand years more than others from the Original of their Dynasties to the time of Alexander the Great And the Solar year in use among the Egyptians who were most samous for Astronomy was so imperfect that they said the Sun had several times changed (b) Herod Euterpâ— his Course since the beginning of their Dynasties imputing the defect of their own computation for want of intercalary days to the Sun's variation or else affecting to speak something wonderful and extravagant The earliest Astronomical observations to be met with which were made in Egypt are those performed by the Greeks of Alexandria less than CCC years before Christ as (c) Mr. Wotton's Reflections upon ancient and modern Leâ—râ—ing c. 23. Mr. Halley has observed (d) Vitru◠〈…〉 4. The Chaldaeans supposed the Moon to be a luminons Body and therefore could have no great skill in Astronomy besides they wanted Instruments to make exact observations ' All we have of them says the same learned (e) Iâ— Mr. 〈◊〉 Reflect ib. Astronomer is only seven Eclipses of the Moon and even those but very coursely set down and the oldest not much above DCC years before Christ so that after all the fame of these Chaldaeans we may be sure they had not gone far in this Science and though Calisthenes be said by Porphyry to have brought from Babylon to Greece observations above MDCCCC years older than Alexander yet the proper Authors making no mention or use of any such renders it justly suspected for a Fable So little ground is there for us to depend upon the Accounts of Time and the vain boasts of Antiquity which these Nations have made He farther observes that the Greeks were the first Practical Astronomers who endeavoured in earnest to make themselves Masters of the Science and that Thales was the first who could predict an Eclipse in Greece not DC years before Christ and that Hipparchus made the first Catalogue of the fixt Stars not above CL. years before Christ According to that known observation (f) Censorin de Die Natali c. 21. of Varro there was nothing that can deserve the name of History to be found among the Greeks before the Olympiads which were but about twenty years before the building of Rome And whatever Learning or Knowledge of ancient times the Romans had they borrowed it from the Greeks For they were so little capable of transmitting their own affairs down to Posterity with any exactness in point of time that for (g) Id. c. 23. some Ages they had neither Dials nor Hour-glasses to measure their days and nights for by common use and for three hundred years they knew no such things as hours or the like distinctions but computed their time only from Noon to Noon so that it is no wonder that their Calendar was in such confusion till Caesar regulated it The pretensions of the Chineses to Antiquity appear equally vain and upon the same grounds For they understood little or nothing of Astronomy or else the Missionaries by their Skill in that Art would not have been able so much to insinuate themselves with the Emperors of China Indeed the Chineses themselves (h) Martin Hist Sin lib. i. ii Atl. Sinic Praef. Philip Couplet in Confuc Proen Declar. Praef. ad Fab. Chronol Sinicae Monarchiae Le Compt's Memoirs p. 64. 71. 464. confess that their Antiquities are in great part fabulous and they acknowledge
Watches for Animals and could not imagine how men could hold correspondence at a distance by a little piece of Paper What man is there among the Vulgar that can conceive how the dimensions and distances of the Sun and Stars can be taken and how the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and of the Satellites of Jupiter can be calculated And is not the knowledge of the wisest man upon earth infinitely more surpass'd by the Divine Wisdom than his Knowledge can excel that of the greatest Idiot III. Those who disbelieve and reject the Mysteries of Religion must believe things much more incredible I. He that will not believe the Being of an Eternal God must believe Matter to be eternal for it is certain something must be eternal because nothing could produce nothing and unless there always had been something there never could have been any thing But this Eternal Matter must either have been once without Motion or always with it if it were once without Motion then Matter must move itself that is Motion must be produced without any thing to produce it If it were always in Motion then there must have been an eternal Succession since Motion cannot be all at once for the very nature of Motion supposes Progression and no Body can move in this space and the next at the same instant for then it must be in two places at once But all Succession of Duration is gradual and the Degrees of it are capable of being numbred and to suppose an Eternal Succession is to suppose an Infinite Number that is a Number to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be substracted or a Number which is no Number Motion therefore could not be Eternal and consequently the World could not exist from Eternity But since there must be something Eternal there must be something the duration whereof is indivisible or which has all its existence together so as to have existed now no longer than it had done before the Beginning of the World For this is the notion of Eternity that it has neither Beginning nor End and therefore things eternal never had a less or shorter duration than they now have and can never have a longer after millions of Ages than they had the first year or day from whence we may be supposed to begin the computation of those Ages For a longer or shorter Duration must suppose a Beginning from whence the computation is made and therefore that which is eternal and had no Beginning can have neither a longer nor a shorter Duration but always the same and by consequence Time can bear no proportion to Eternity because that which had a Beginning can bear no proportion to that which had none Yet Eternity must coexist with Time in all the differences and successions of it and must be present with every part of it that is the Eternal Being exists the space suppose of a thousand years and a Temporal or Created Being exists at the same time as long and the Temporal Being becomes a thousand years older than it was but the Eternal no older than it was before because tho it coexist with Time yet it has no respect to the division of it into Past Present and Future There is no Mystery in Religion more difficult and perplexing than this and yet this is no more than what every one tho he be a Deist or an Atheist must acknowledge to believe if he will but consider it 2. Whoever believes that there is a God and yet believes no Revelation or that the Scriptures are not by Revelation from him must believe a God and yet deny the Divine Attributes he must believe that there is a God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Alex. contr Julian lib. 8. who is not essentially just and good and holy which is in effect to believe no God at all as I have proved at large in the former Book Much more might be said upon so copious a subject but this is enough to make us more humble and modest in judging of the Divine Mysteries For shall poor Mortals who know so little and that little so imperfectly presume to censure the Holy Scriptures because they contain things which they cannot understand Shall he that cannot fully explain the Nature of the vilest Infect reject what God hath delivered concerning himself because he doth not comprehend it The thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are but uncertain For the corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out Wisd 13 14 15 16. But * Ld Bacon ' s Advancement of Learning B. 3. c. 2. out of the contemplation of Nature and out of the Principles of humane Reason to discourse or earnestly to urge a point touching the mysteries or Faith and again to be curiously speculative into those secrets to ventilate them and to be inquisitive into the manner of the mystery is in my judgment not safe Da fidei quae fidei sunt For the Heathens themselves conclude as much in the excellent and divine Fable of the Golden Chain that Men and Gods were not able to draw Jupiter down to the Earth but contrarywise Jupiter was able to draw them up to Heaven Wherefore he laboureth in vain who shall attempt to draw down Heavenly mysteries to our Reason it rather becomes us to raise and advance our Reason to the adored Throne of Divine Truth CHAP. II. Of Inspiration ALl the Motion of Material things is derived from God and the best account which those who have the most studied the nature of Motion have been able to give of it is only this that it is an effect of the Divine Power manifesting itself according to certain Laws or Rules which God has been pleased to prescribe for the communication of Motion from one Body to another And it is at least as conceivable by us that God doth act upon the Immaterial as that he acts upon the material part of the World and highly reasonable to suppose that he concerns himself with our Souls much more than with our Bodies There is no doubt to be made but that separate and unbodied spirits have ways of of conversing or communicating their thoughts to one another indeed all the communication and discourse that is among men in this world is properly between their Souls which use their Bodies as instruments for the conveyance of their Thoughts and Notions from one to anoand as their Bodies are more or less fit and serviceable to this end so their discourse is more or less easily convey'd and therefore Souls when they are at Liberty from these Bodies must have a Power to communicate their
be of such a Nature as not to be liable to Frost and Venus's and Mercuries of such as not to be easily evaporated by the Sun He says (xx) Lib. 2. That the Heat of the Sun is nine times greater in Mercury than with us in Venus it is twice as hot as with us the Light and Heat in Mars is twice and sometimes threefold less than ours If there were any Inhabitants in Jupiter they would have but the five and twentieth Part of the Light and Heat that we receive from the Sun and those in Saturn but the hundreth Part. Upon which account he is very hard put to it to furnish out Inhabitants for the rest of the Planets but as for the Moon and the Satellites's moving about Saturn and Jupiter he does as good as give up the Cause by reason that they are neither Seas nor Rivers nor Clouds nor Atmosphere or Vapours nor any kind of Water Besides that the time of Light and Darkness in the Moon being equal to fifteen of our Days if the Bodies of the Inhabitants were such as ours are he observes that those who had the Sun pretty high in their Horizon must be like to be burnt up in such long days and those that liv'd under the Poles of the Moon would be as much pinch'd with Cold as our Whale fishers are about Ice-Land and Nova Zembla in the Summer-time And the Summer and Winter in the Moons or Satellites of Saturn are fifteen Years long and therefore they may well be concluded to be unhabitable But because it may be alledg'd that the same thing was believed of the Frigid and Torrid Zones before Experience convinced Men of their Mistake and that however there may be other Planets or Earths yet undiscovered at convenient Distances from some of the fixt Stars I observe that tho it should be granted that some Planets be habitable it doth not therefore follow that they must be actually inhabited or that ever they have been For they might be design'd if Mankind had continued in Innocency as Places for Colonies to remove Men to as the World should have encreased either in Reward to those that had excell'd in Vertue and Piety to entertain them with the Prospect of New and Better Worlds and so by degrees to advance them in proportion to their Deserts to the Heigth of Bliss and Glory in Heaven Or as a necessary Reception for Men who would then have been immortal after the Earth had been full of Inhabitants And since the Fall and Mortality of Mankind they may be either for Mansions of the Righteous or Places of Punishment for the wicked after the Resurrection according as it shall please God at the End of this World to new modify and transform them And in the mean time being placed at their respective Distances they do by their several Motions contribute to keep the World at a Poise and the several Parts of it at an Aequilibrium in their Gravitation upon each other by Mr. Newton's Principles VII It has been suggested by (x) Campanella Bp. Wilkins c. Huygens c. Learned Men that the Planets may possibly be inhabited by Rational Creatures of a different Nature from Mankind their Souls may be of an inferior or superior Order to ours and their Bodies of a different Form and Composition and there may be different Laws of Union and Communication between the Operations of their Souls and the Motions of their Bodies For there is no necessity to believe that there can be no sort of Rational Animals but Mankind But I offer most of what I have said on this Subject only as Conjectures which have at least so much Probability in them as to silence the Objections brought against the Scriptures on these Accounts For unless a Man can prove these or the like Conjectures false which I am perswaded no man can ever do he must forbear urging Objections that will be insignificant if these Conjectures or such as these should be true It is hard to assign every particular End and Use of many other wonderful Things in Nature but lately discovered by Microscopes as of any thing observable in the Heavens either by the naked Eye or by Telescopes And when the Scriptures mention those Uses of the Heavenly Bodies which more immediately concern our Earth this doth not deny or exclude any other Uses for which they may be design'd CHAP. XI That there is nothing in the Scriptures which contradicts the late Discoveries in Natural Philosophy I. IT has been well observed by divers Writers upon this Subject that the Scriptures were written with no design of Teaching us Natural Philosophy but to instruct us in the Knowledge of God and of our selves to teach us our Duty and shew us the way to live and die well and therefore they might make use of Popular Expressions and Forms of Speech neither affirming nor denying the Philosophical Truth of them but intending them only in that Sense and Meaning which was their sole Design in using them All proverbial Sayings and Metaphorical Expressions by way of Illustration or Ornament must be taken from received Notions but they are not therefore asserted in the Philosophical Sense by him who useth them any more than the Historical Truth of Parables and Similitudes is supposed to be asserted And to have made use only of Philosophical Terms and Notions and have rectified the Vulgar Conceptions of Men concerning all the Phaenomena which upon occasion are made mention of in the Scriptures would have required a large System of Philosophy which had made the Scriptures a Book unfit for Vulgar Capacities and for the use of the greatest part of those for whom they are designed This Theory of Nature would besides have seemed as strange and incredible to most Men even as Miracles can do For there is hardly any thing that Men unacquainted with Philosophy are more startled at than Philosophical Discoveries How incredible doth the Motion of the Earth and the rest of the Sun seem to all Men but Philosophers Who are generally now agreed in it whilst the Rising and Setting of the Sun are Expressions now as much in use with such as hold the Earth's Motion as with others And indeed they must speak so if they will be understood and excepting this one Instance which is and ever will be in use according to the vulgar Conception in all Countries and Languages not withstanding any Philosophical Discoveries I know nothing in the Scriptures which is not consistent with the present Notions of Philosophy II. And yet that place of Scripture which is most objected on this Occasion is so exprest as that no Advantage can be taken aâ—einst it Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajalon Josh x. 12. Stand thou still or as we read in the Margin Be thou silent be still do not interrupt our Victories and take part with the Enemy by withdrawing thy Light and favouring his escape And again
impossible to conceive The Immortal and ever-blessed God can be subject to nothing of passion or frailty The Godhead is uncapable of any imperfection and therefore uncapable of receiving any impressions of Sufferings from the Humane Nature as the Soul doth from the Body of Man So that tho' the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ be fitly explain'd by that between the Soul and the Body in Man yet the manner of acting is very different For Finite Beings can mutually act and be acted upon by each other in their several actions and passions but the Divine Nature of Christ being impassible could suffer nothing by all that was inflicted on the Humane but remain'd infinitely Happy and Glorious under all the Torments and Agonies endur'd by our Saviour both in his Soul and Body As God is pleas'd to aid and assist and support innocent and good Men in their sufferings and to direct and conduct them thro' the course of their Lives So God was not only present with the Humane Nature of Christ but was so united to it as to become one Person with it which since the Godhead could suffer nothing from it is no more unworthy of God than if he had only guided him with his Spirit as he did the Prophets without any personal Union There is no inconvenience or absurdity in believing that God should by the most intimate and personal Union become united to a Man who did weep and bleed and die For as God by this Union did not change the Nature he had assumed or prevent the Sufferings of it so he did not partake in them No Man can deny â—upon Principles of Philosophy but that it is very reasonable to believe that God may afford a more peculiar presence to one Man than to another and that this Man may yet be subject to Afflictions and therefore the Son of God might become united to the Soul and Body of Christ in as intimate a manner as the Soul and Body are united to each other in us and yet this union of the Divine Nature might not preserve the Humane from the Sufferings incident to the rest of Mankind but must leave it to submit to them tho' they were never so grievous when this was the very End and Design of the Union It was not below the Majesty of God to be Personally united to a most Innocent and Sinless and Holy Man tho' he was a Suffering and Afflicted Man and it is not the Personal Union as some are apt to conceive which could be any diminution to God's Glory but their own error and mistake in what they surmise would be the consequence of such an Union II. The Humiliation of the Son of God in assuming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd It was the greatest condescension and humiliation in the Son of God to take upon him our Nature For it is a gracious and merciful condescension for him to take care of us by his Providence God humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Ps cxiii 6. But some times and in some places he is in a more peculiar manner present upon Earth and that is an extraordinary condescension tho' he is always the same in himself and never the less present or the less happy in Heaven But it was the most wonderful condescension in God to unite himself to our Humane Nature and to become one Person with it and so to die for us tho' his Divine Nature did not and could not suffer but only the Humane Nature to which it is united He was not ashamed to call Men his Brethren and in all things to be made like unto his Brethren Hebr. ii 11 17. but vouchsafed to assume our Nature in its lowest Condition and to be so strictly and personally united to the most afflicted of all the Sons of Men as to ascribe all his Sufferings to himself for the benefit of all Mankind It is the Infinite Mercy of God to vouchsafe us the comfort of his presence in any way or measure but it is the most astonishing and adorable act of his goodness that he would be pleas'd so far to condescend as to take our very Nature upon him that he might be born and might die for our sakes And that which magnifies his mercy and goodness in the highest measure is certainly most worthy of the good and merciful God III. The satisfaction of Christ by dying for our Sins may be explain'd without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd The Christian Faith is That as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ and that this Person consisting both of God and Man united suffer'd for our Salvation But that all the Sufferings were inflicted on the Humane Nature and terminated in it But by vertue of the Personal Union of his Divine with his Humane Nature all Christ's Sufferings receiv'd an infinite value and merit and became entituled and ascrib'd to God himself because they were undergone by that Person who is God as well as Man tho' they were not undergone by him in his Divine but only in his Humane Nature Thus God is said to have purchas'd his Church with his own blood Acts xx 28. For Actions and Passions in any person are Personal and are attributed to the whole person and sometimes those Actions and Passions which can be perform'd in one of those Natures only which constitute a person are yet attributed to the other Nature which is uncapable of them otherwise than by that relation which results from the union of both Natures whereby all things that befall the person may be affirmed of it as such and therefore have respect to both the Natures of which it consists and may be apply'd to it under the denomination of either of them All the Souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy Souls Exod. i. 5. If a Soul touch any unclean thing Lev. v. 2. And the Soul that eateth of it shall bear his Iniquity Lev. vii 18 20. In these and many other places of Scripture Actions and Passions peculiar to the Body are by reason of the union of the Soul and Body attributed to the Soul Nay both in the Hebrew and the Greek Text the Soul is sometimes put for the Body even of a dead Man Lev. xxi 11. xxii 4. in which sense (x) On the Creed Art v. Bishop Pearson explains Acts ii 27. Ps xvi 10. And in other places the Body or Flesh is often taken for the whole Man and that is attributed to it which the Flesh is of it self uncapable of The Flesh distinctly considered and apart from the Soul can neither Sin nor Pray nor Understand nor Worship nor partake of the Spirit nor be Justified and yet all these things are ascribed to the Flesh without any mention made of the Soul All Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth Gen. vi 12. O thou
that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all Flesh come Ps lxv 2. And all Flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob Isa xlix 26. All Flesh shall come to worship before me saith the Lord Isa lxvi 23. And all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke iii. 6. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh Acts ii 17. Joel ii 28. By the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Galat. ii 16. And we say in our own Language any Body thinks or any Body understands tho' we all know it is the Soul and not the Body which thinks and understands It is very usual in other Books and very agreeable to the stile of Scripture and to the common speech and sense of Men for those Actions of a Person to be attributed to one of the united Natures which could be perform'd only in the other And the Union between the Godhead and the Manhood being like that which is between the Soul and the Body the Son of God is said to have Suffered and the Son of Man to have come down from Heaven not that the Godhead Suffered or that the Humane Nature of Christ was in Heaven before his Incarnation but according to the usual stile of Scripture the Union between the Divine and Humane Natures entitles the Person consisting of them both under the denomination of either Nature to that which was done in the other tho' as the Humane Nature did not partake of the perfections of the Divine so neither did the Divine Nature partake of the sufferings of the Humane But both Natures being personally united the person is sometimes denoted by one and sometimes by the other Nature All the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God proceed upon the like mistake with theirs who are apt to imagine that it is unworthy of God to be every where and in all places to behold and be present at the worst of Actions as if the Sun's brightness would not be the more resplendent and glorious if it could penetrate into the obscurest corners and recesses of the Earth or as if his Rays could be sullied and defiled by the foulness of any Object which they shine upon And if it be no diminution to God's Infinite Glory and Majesty to be Omnipresent it can be none to be more nearly and even Personally united to some part of the Creation and therefore it cannot be unworthy of God to be so united to the Humane Nature to manifest his love and favour and extend his goodness to Mankind As God is every where present so he is in a more especial manner present in some places than in others by the acts of his Power or of his Grace and Favour and he has vouchsafed a more especial presence to some Persons than to others and thus he was present with his Prophets who were sent to prepare for and foretell Christ's coming But he was personally united to the Humane Nature of Christ And this is the highest Honour and Advancement to our Nature for God thus to assume it but it can be no diminution to the Divine Majesty because God continues as he was from all Eternity without any alteration only by his personal Presence and Union with our Humane Nature he causes all the performances and sufferings of it to be meritorious for the Salvation of Mankind The Son of God did not so come down from Heaven as to be no longer there but to forsake his Father's Kingdom He still continued in Heaven in the same Bliss and Glory that he enjoy'd with his Father from all Eternity tho' he so manifested himself to the World as to come and abide in it by assuming our Humane Nature Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Joh. iii. 13. No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven He who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence was still in Heaven as much as ever with respect to his Godhead tho' he made a more peculiar residence than he had before done on Earth by dwelling in our Nature here The Son of God who is at all times every where present is yet in a peculiar manner present where ever he is pleas'd to manifest himself by peculiar acts of his goodness and power as he was pleas'd to do in a most stupendous manner in that Flesh which he took upon him of the Blessed Virgin And it cannot be thought inconsistent with the Majesty of God to actuate the Humane Nature and to be joyned in the most strict and vital union with it supposing God only to act upon it and not to be acted upon by it nor to suffer the miseries and feel the pains which the Humane Nature endures which would be Blasphemy to assert of the Divine Nature of Christ but to be in Heaven still in his sull Power and Majesty But some Man will say how is this Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ made or wherein doth it consist To whom we may reply as our Saviour sometimes did to the Scribes and Pharisees by asking another Question and enquiring how the Body and Soul in Man are united or how God is present in all places and how in him we live and move and have our Being And if no Man can tell how these things are tho' no Man can deny the truth and reality of them then it is not to be expected that we should be able to tell how the union between the Divine and the Humane Nature in Christ is made or in what it consists We must acknowledge it a Mystery which it is above any Man's capacity to explain but that there is such an union we learn from the Scriptures and thither we appeal for the truth of it And the putting such Questions argues either a great mind to cavil or great inconsideration and shortness of thought For what Man is there pretending to Reason and Argument of so little observation as not to take notice that of all the things which we daily see and perceive to be in the World the nature and manner of existence of very few or rather of none of them is fully understood by us It is sufficient for us to know that great Reasons may be given for this dispensation of the Son of God Incarnate and that no Material Objection can be framed against it Secondly No other way as far as we can apprehend could have been so proper and expedient as the Incarnation of the Son of God to procure the Salvation of Mankind and therefore none could so well become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness The proof of this must depend upon the Reasons for Christ's coming into the World and they are all comprehended in this one thing the abolishing or taking away of Sin And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin 1 Joh. iii. 5. We are
their Carnal Appetites have concluded that the Body was made not by God but by a wicked Being and that the Soul only was from God Since therefore God is pleased to regard our Bodies as Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost it was requisite that in contradiction to these and such like Errors they should by some Rite or Sign be devoted to him by which it might be declared that Christ is the Saviour of the Body Ephes v. 23. and by which such Grace might be communicated as to render it the Temple and place of Residence of the Holy Ghost set apart and dedicated to him and inhabited by him that the whole Spirit and Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes v. 23. It is the great and gracious Design of God to sanctifie the whole Man and therefore Christ took not only an Humane Soul but Humane Flesh likewise to dignifie it in the Assumption and offer it upon the Cross and translate it into Glory And as his Incarnation shews the particular Regard he has for the Body as well as for the Soul of Man so the whole Institution of the Gospel hath relation to both 4. Lastly The Sacraments are Foederal Rites of our Admission into the Church as into a visible Society and of our Union with it as such For we cannot be admitted into a visible Society nor communicate with it but by visible and outward Acts which must be performed in the Body So that whatever way we consider the Sacraments either in respect of God or of our selves or of others there is a necessary use and benefit from them and evident Reason for their Institution They are requisite as Symbols of our entrance into Covenant with God or of the Renewing and Confirmation of it and of Dedicating both our Bodies and Souls to his Honour and Service they are Instruments of his Graces and Pledges of his Promises made to us by Covenant and of the Reward and Happiness both of our Bodies and Souls at the Resurrection and are visible Marks and Evidences of our Profession as Members of the Church of our Admission into it and our Communion with it II. The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper fully answer the End and Design of the Institution of Sacraments After the coming of Christ and the fulfilling of the Ceremonial Law by him it was of no longer use or continuance the Gospel being to introduce a Spiritual Service by teaching Men to worship God in Spirit and in Truth Yet there was need of some external Ordinances or Sacraments the Nature of Man and the State of this World requiring them but that they might be as few as possible Christ has appointed but two Sacraments as generally necessary to Salvation and these the fittest and most expedient for the benefit and wants of Men. 1. As to Baptism the Reasons and Designs in the Institution of Sacraments are all visible in it It is a very significant and apt Representation of the cleansing and purifying the Soul from Sin and in this Men of all Nations and of all Religions seem to have been agreed For nothing was more frequent among the Heathens than their Washings and Purifications and tho' they attributed a great deal too much to them yet the superstitious Opinion which they had of these outward Cleansings could never have so universally prevail'd if there had not been some Foundation for the use of them in the Nature of Things and that is the great fitness which is in these outward Washings to excite us to purity of Mind and to represent the great Duty which lies upon us to keep our Consciences undefiled which only can render us accepted with God And as these Washings and Purifications were common in other Religions so the Jewish Church was wont to receive Proselytes or Converts by Baptism for which Custom they alledge the command of God to Moses Exod. xix 10. but (i) Hebr. Talmud Exercit. on Matt. iii. 6. Dr. Lightfoot sets it higher and thinks it was begun by Jacob Gen. xxxv 2. And our Saviour who both in his Words and Actions throughout the whole Gospel condescended to a compliance with the Customs in use among the Jews so far as they might be serviceable to the ends of the Gospel was pleased to make choice of Baptism for the Admission of Persons to the Profession of his Religion as the Jews used it for the Admission of their Proselytes Baptism is very agreeable to the Nature of the Christian Religion being a plain and easie Rite and having a Natural significancy of that Purity of Heart which it is the design of the Gospel to promote and establish in the World and it is fitted to represent to us the cleansing of our Souls by the Blood of Christ and the Grace of Purity and Holiness which is conveyed in this Sacrament and the Spirit of Regeneration which is conferred by it John iii. 5. Tit. iii. 5. And it being in use both amongst Jews and Gentiles it was so much the more proper because both had already an Opinion of the expediency of it Christ came to abolish the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law and the vain and idolatrous superstitions of the Heathen Worship and yet some outward Rite of Worship was necessary to be made use of to dedicate the Body as well as the Soul to God's Honour and Service to be a Pledge of the Resurrection of the Body as well as of the Immortality of the Soul to put Men in mind of that Integrity and Purity of Life which the Gospel requires and to be a means of conveying it and to admit them as visible Members into the Church And as Baptism was very expedient to be Instituted upon all these Accounts so it had this peculiar advantage beyond any other Rite that it was already in great use and esteem and could seem strange neither to Jews nor Gentiles but it had been a very strange thing to both and very unsuitable to the Nature of Man if the most Spiritual and Heavenly Religion that can be on this side Heaven had been instituted without any external Rite for the Admission into it this had been to suppose the Church to consist of Angels and not of Men who have need of Assistance from outward Objects in their highest Acts of Religion it had been to make Men to suspect that the Body as some Hereticks imagined was little regarded of God if no notice had been taken of it at our Reception into Covenant with him and it besides had been to contradict the Notion which Mankind have ever had of Religion and to give the highest scandal both to Jews and Gentiles 2. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is so often the subject of Sermons and of every good Christians Meditation that very little needs to be here said of it For it is evident that the Elements of Bread and Wine have a peculiar suitableness to
unbelief the evil Spirit was cast out of his Son Mark ix 23.24 The End and Design of Christ's Miracles required that those who were Cured by him should believe in him For they were wrought with a design to convince Men that he was the Son of God and that he was come not so much to Cure their Bodies as to save their Souls and he forgave their Sins at the same time that he healed them of their Diseases Mark ii 5. And since Faith is so necessary a Doctrine of the Gospel it was as requisite that Christ should teach this as any other Doctrine But how could he do it more properly and more effectually than by requiring Faith in those who came to be healed If they would partake of his Mercy they must qualifie themselves for it by believing that he was the great Prophet and Messias who was then so much expected and of whom it was foretold that he should make the Blind to see and the Lame to walk and the Deaf to hear c. Luke vii 22. Isa xxxv 5. And unless their Bodily Cure did conduce to the Cure of their Souls by Faith and Repentance it would be but ill bestowed upon them and therefore with great Reason might be denied them And upon this Account we find our Blessed Saviour both requiring Faith in some and rewarding it in others to whom his miraculous Power was extended Luke viii 48. xviii 42. And St. Paul perceiving that the Cripple at Lystra had Faith to be healed immediately healed him without being ask'd to do it Acts xiv 9. 2. Faith in the Miracles of Christ is required of Men in all Ages of the World though Miracles are ceased and if this be Reasonable now it could not but be fitting then that those who came to Christ should believe in him for the sake of the Miracles which they had been certified that he had done upon others For Miracles when they are fully attested are as sufficient a Ground of Faith as if we had seen them done and to manifest that they are so our Saviour might require Belief in his former Miracles of those who expected any Advantage from such as they desired him to do If they would give no Credit to the Miracles which were so notorious and so abundantly testified by Multitudes who saw them done how should others believe in Times to come when no more Miracles should be wrought for the Conviction of Unbelievers Might no Man be required to believe unless he saw the Miracles himself Then how should the the Church subsist in future Ages when Miracles would be no longer wrought but were for great Reasons to be with-held We must now believe upon the Account of the Miracles which were then done and why therefore should they not be required to believe upon the Account of them who lived at the very Time and in the same Country where they were wrought though they had never seen them Our Saviour in these Instances might introduce that Method and establish the Evidence and Certainty of those Means and Motives whereby Faith was to be produced in Men of all succeeding Ages and might hereby signifie and declare that he requires the same Faith of us from the Testimony of others that he would do if we had seen and experienced his miraculous Power our selves CHAP. XXIX Of the Ceasing of Prophecies and Miracles PRophecies are generally of more Concernment and afford greater Evidence and Conviction in future Ages than when they were first delivered For it is not the Delivery but the Accomplishment of Prophecies which gives Evidence to the Truth of any Doctrin The Events of Things in the Accomplishment of Prophecies are a standing Argument to all Ages and the length of Time adds to its Force and Efficacy and therefore when all that God saw requisite to be foretold is deliver'd to us in the Scriptures there can no longer be any need of New Prophecies which would be of less Authority than the ancient ones inasmuch as their Antiquity is the thing chiefly to be regarded in Prophecies For if to foretel Things to come be an Argument of a Divine Prescience the longer Things are foretold before they come to pass the better must the Argument needs be He therefore that requires New Prophecies to confirm the Old little considers the Nature of Prophecies and wherein the Evidence and Use of them lies but in great Wisdom and Caution will give no Credit to the best Evidence unless there were something less evident to prove it by The chief Enquiry then seems to be concerning the Cessation of Miracles but from what has been elsewhere said the Reason may appear why the miraculous Power which the Apostles received by the descent of the Holy Ghost was not to be of perpetual continuance in the Church but was to cease in future Ages For the Cause and End of the Gift of Miracles bestowed upon the Apostles was to make them capable of being Witnesses to Christ and when the Gospel of Christ was sufficiently testified there could be no longer need of such a Power which was given to enable Men to bear Testimony to it For what is once effectually proved by sufficient Witnesses is for ever proved and needs no after Evidence if this Proof be preserved and transmitted down to Posterity The Power of Miracles continued till the Gospel had been Preached not only in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria but unto the utmost Parts of the Earth which was the declared Intention of our Saviour in bestowing it Acts i. 8. And when the Gospel had stood at the Tryals and conquered all the Opposition that could be made against it by Jews and Heathens and Apostates themselves when Miracles had been wrought for several Ages before all sorts of Men upon all Occasions and had extorted a Confession from the Devils themselves of the Divine Power by which they were wrought when the Books of the Apostles and Evangelists in which these Miracles are Recorded had been dispersed in all Nations and Languages so that it was impossible that the Memory of them should be lost whence once the Gospel was thus divulged and attested to the World it could not be necessary that this miraculous Power should be any longer continued Because this is the only Reason and Design why Miracles should be wrought to awaken Mens Attention and prepare them for the Reception of the Doctrin which is revealed and convince them of the Truth of it If then it be enquired Why the miraculous Gifts which were at first bestow'd upon the Church were not continued to it in all succeeding Ages The plain Answer is Because this Power was bestowed for the Establishment of the Christian Religion in the World by convincing Men of its Truth and Authority and therefore when a sufficient Evidence had been given in all Parts of the World of the Divine Authority of that Religion upon the Account whereof these Gifts were bestowed the Reason for the bestowing