not opposed to Evangelical but to Thetical or Positive But to give some further light to this business we may consider these two things 1. That the sincere Practice of Morality is a part of the Condition required of us under the Gospel in order to our Justification For unless the Practice of Moral Virtue be no part of the Divine Will revealed to Us in the Gospel it must necessarily follow that so far as it is made a Condition of the Covenant of the Gospel so far it is required in order to the Justification and Acceptation of our Persons before God For though we are said in Scripture to be justified by Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ yet we are not to understand by this an empty bare and naked Faith but such a Faith as is perfected and consummated by Love which the Apostle Saint James expresses by Works that is such a Faith as is not meerly Notional and inactive but productive in the Soul of a New and sincere Obedience And what more frequent Instances does the Scripture bring of our Faithful Conformity to the Will of God than in our Constant Exercise and Practice of Moral Virtue Insomuch that Saint Paul sayes that those who neglect the sincere observance of Morality and Virtue will easily be induced to turn Hereticks and deny the Faith Holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack So indispensably necessary is a Virtuous Conversation to our Participation of the Blessed Life and Nature of GOD that no Man can be understood to be a Partaker of the Divine Nature who does not live soberly righteously and godly in the World For what sign does he give of a Spirit renewed and changed into the Compassionate Nature of the Lord Jesus who can willingly pain and grieve and afflict his Brother What Specimen does he produce of a sincere Conformity to the Eternal Laws of Justice and Righteousness who can knowingly and wittingly over-reach and defraud his Neighbour Or what Evidence does he offer of a Mind desirous to be renewed into a state of Angelical Purity and Holiness who makes it his business and seeks for all Occasions to gratifie his Carnal Appetite in the full enjoyment of all Sensual Pleasures that may be had without manifest Diseases Or is it possible to conceive the Life and Nature of GOD that Life of Universal Holiness and Purity Justice and Goodness without the Exercise of these and such like Virtues 2. That the Maturity and Ripeness of Religion consists in having a sensible Discernment of Good and Evil in a Moral sense The full knowledge of the Mysteries of Christianity as the Author to the Hebrews tells Us belongs to them that are of full age that is such as are arrived to the Perfection and Maturity of Religion and these Persons he describes in the next words to be such as have a Vital relish and sensible Discernment of good and evil Who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil That there are Natural Differences between good and evil is as evident and apparent as the Difference between health and sickness For as health is nothing but the right and Natural Constitution of all the Parts of the Body and Sickness the Oppression Distortion and Deviation from it So is it in the Soul of Man It s true and proper Nature is that healthful Temper and Constitution wherein God at first Created it But now Sin and Evil is a forcing it into a Preternatural State the driving it into a Disease and Distemper and the putting its Powers and Faculties into Jarring and Discord And that these Differences are nothing but the Vital relishes and sensations of the Soul of Man in that double Capacity and Resolution of Rational and Animal or in the Sacred Dialect of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inward and outward Man or the Flesh and Spirit I think is as evident to any Considering and Judicious Person Now this Maturity and Ripeness of Religion discovers it self 1. In a particular knowledge of the Difference between Good and Evil so as to be able to distinguish what is from the Flesh and Animal and what from the Spirit and Rational Life 2. In a ready Application of this to all the Passages of our Lives For that Blindness of mind the Apostle speaks of to which the Gentiles as a just Punishment of their former carelesness were given up does fully express the Necessity of this Discriminative Sense and Discerning between Good and Evil. For when once the Criterion or Perceptive Faculty has lost its Tenderness and Sensibility and the Mind becomes Reprobate then Darkness and Light Good and Evil Bitter and Sweet are all one Then it is as in the above mentioned place Men are dedolent and past feeling and having no other Law but that of the Corporeal Life become insatiable in Impiety and work Wickedness with greediness which surely as it is the most deplorable condition the Soul of Man can fall into so ought most carefully to be avoided by endeavouring after a particular Distinction and clear knowledge of the Notices Emanations and Suggestions of the Flesh and Spirit And as this inward Sense is not to be stifled so neither to remain useless and idle but to extend it self and have an Influence upon all our Actions It must be fanned and kept alive by sincere Devotion and a constant and Habitual Practice of Virtue by which at length it will become a Powerful and Vital Principle begetting in us a true relish of Righteousness and Holiness that we may not only talk and maintain an Artificial and Mechanical Religion consisting of Words or the running the same Circle of outward Performances and Duties but may be really regenerated and formed into a new Nature and act out of choice and from the innate Loveliness and Beautifulness of Virtue For by bringing our Actions to this Test and Rule and applying them to the Natural Difference and Distinction of Good and Evil it will keep us from all deliberate Violations of the Laws and Prescriptions of Holiness By this Wickedness and Sin will appear in its Natural Dress and Genuine Colours and its Ugliness and Deformity be rendred so manifest that our Wills and Affections will not easily be drawn into a Compliance with it and the various Passages of our Lives freed and discharged from the least Appearance of Evil. FINIS BOOKS Printed for and sold by Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in S. Paul's Churchyard DR More 's Reply to a late Answer to his Antidote against Idolatry with the Appendix 8 o. H. Mori Opera Theologica Fol. Spenceri dissertatio de Vrim Thummim 8 o. Frederici Lossii Observationes Medicae Octavo Speed's Epigrammata Juvenilia in 4 Partes divisa Encomia Seria Satyras Jocosa Octavo Doctor William Smith's Unjust Man's Doom Octavo Two Sermons at the Assizes in Suffolk Oct. Two Sermons at Norwich May 3. and May 29. 1676. Quarto Mr. Hallywell's Discourse of the Excellency of Christianity Oct. Account of Familism as it is revived and propagated by the Quakers Oct. Some Opinions of Mr. Hobbes considered in a second Dialogue between Philautus and Timothy Oct. Breerwood's Enquiries into the Diversities of Languages Oct. Mr. Allen's Mystery of Iniquity unfolded or the false Apostles and Authors of Popery compared c. Oct. Animadversions on Mr. Ferguson about Justification Oct. Friendly Address to the Nonconformists beginning with the Anabaptists 8 o. Mr. Lamb's stop to the course of Separation Oct. Sherlock's Discourse of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Octavo Defence and Continuation of the Discourse c. Octavo Answer to a scandalous Pamphlet entituled a Dialogue between Satan and Sherlock Quarto Dr. Worthington's Great Duty of Self-resignation to the Divine Will Oct. Mr. Hotchkis Discourse of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to Us and our Sins to Him Oct. Gage's Survey of the West Indies 8 o. Dr. Goodall's Vindication of the Colledge of Physicians Oct. Smith's Pourtract of old Age. Oct. Webster's History of Metals Quar. Dr. More 's Remarques upon two late Ingenious Discourses the one an Essay of the Gravitation and Non-gravitation of fluid Bodies the other Observations touching the Torricellian experiment 8 o. Sydenham's Observationes Medicae 8 o. An Account of Mr. Ferguson's Common-Place-Book in two Letters between Mr. Sherlock and Mr. Glanvil Quar. Dr. Grew's Comparative Anatomy of Trunks together with an Account of their Vegetation grounded thereupon Octavo THE END Rev. 3.14 Jam. 3.14 15. 1 Tim. 3.16 Col. 1.26 1 Cor. 2.7 1 Joh. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.2 4. Joh. 11.52 Joh. 3.16 1 Joh. 4.10 Gen. 22.12 1 Cor. 1.24 1 Cor. 2.7 1 Cor. 2.6 1 Cor. 2.14 1 Pet. 1.12 Isai 63.15 * Sine hoc holocausto poterat Deus tantum condonasse peccatum sed facilitas veniae laxaret habenas peccatis effrenibus quae etiam Christi vix cohibent passiones quae vix sceleratos animos à voluptatum faece avellunt Cyprian sive Author libri de Cardinal Christi Oper. Serm. 14. Sic Zanch. lib. 2 de Incarnat c. 3. q. 1. Etsi verò Deus servare nos poterat solo suo Imperio peccata simpliciter ex suâ misericordiâ condonando noluit tamen Phil. 2.6 7 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 2.23 Mar. 14.33 Mat. 26.38 Luk. 9.51 Joh. 18.5 Mat. 11.28 1 Joh. 5.3 Princ. of Nat. Rel. lib. 1. c. 3. Ezek. 33.11 Mr. Mede 2 Cor. 5.19 Luk. 1.74 1 Tim. 4.10 1 Tim. 2.4 Heb. 2.9 Joh. 3.17 lib. 6. contr Cels p. 315 lib. 4. c. 76. Luk. 24.47 Act. 3.19 1 Joh. 2.1 1 Cor. 1.21 Exod. 20.19 1 Joh. 3.16 Gen. 3.15 Heb. 4.15 Heb 2.16 17 18. Gen. 21.17 Vid. Deut. 4.33.36 Dr. Lightfoot 2 Pet. 1.16 17. Joh. 3.2 Mat. 11.21 Acts 17. Joh. 4.18 v. 42. Joh 15.22 24. Joh. 20.29 Rom. 1.4 Ch. 2.3 4. Joh. 16.8 9 10. Luk. 24.25 Act. 10.43 See Dr. More 's Enchiridion Ethicum Eph. 1.11 Hos 11.4 Luk. 7.30 Joh. 12.37 Joh. 6.66 Mat. 23 37 Ezek. 24.13 vid. Isai 65.12 Mar. 6.5 6. Act. 7.51 Phil. 2.12 13. 2 Cor. 6.1 1 Cor. 3.9 Rom. 1.4 Eph. 1.20 Lib. 4. Epist 43. Joh. 5.29 Dr. Hammond 1 Tim. 1.19 Heb. 5.14 Eph. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.19
THE SACRED METHOD OF Saving Humane Souls BY JESUS CHRIST By Henry Hallywell Minister of the Gospel at Ifeild in Sussex 1 Cor. II. vii But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdome which God ordained before the World unto our Glory LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1677. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Reader THere are very few Books of what quality soever though it be but an ordinary Pamphlet that passes the Press without some fair bespeaking the Reader wherefore in conformity to the Custome I am to advertise Thee that the Design of these following Papers is to shew the excellency of the frame and constitution of the Gospel or that Sacred Method by which God brings Men to Heaven by his Son Jesus Christ which very thing to the considering and judicious is a testimony sufficient of the Divinity of it there being such abundant evidence of the choicest Attributes of the Deity his Goodness Wisdome and Power in the contexture of it For when I consider who is the Author of the Evangelical Oeconomy namely the Blessed Son of God that Eternal Logos who has expressed such an Infinite Wisdome in the frame of Heaven and Earth I cannot but think that what is there so largely diffused and spread abroad is as it were summ'd up and contracted into a living Image and beautiful Representation in the frame of the Gospel And certainly the Introduction of the Christian Religion and the regenerating the World by it being set off in the Scriptures by the glorious Appellative of Creation and Jesus the Blessed Author and Finisher of it stiling himself the beginning of the Creation of God i. e. of the Evangelical Dispensation the spirit of God does clearly intimate to us that the Goodness Wisdome and Power of the Divinity are more eminently and transcendently displayed in the Recovery of Mankind by the Gospel than in their first Production So that if it be a Piece of our Duty as certainly it is to think the most honourably and magnificently of the works of God's hands it were a sinful debasing that sacred Project and Contrivance which was laid before the Foundation of the World to let our conceptions of it dwindle into some poor and trifling Design and make such a pitiful Representation of it as shall be unworthy that Eternal Wisdome the Creatress of all things to interess it self withal For nothing is more sure than that the Gospel is so contrived as may most of all do honour to God and promote the welfare and happiness of Mankind And upon this Ground and Foundation I have built the following Discourse which whoever will take the pains to peruse I desire him to lay aside his Prejudices and not to charge every thing that he shall find disagreeing with his present sentiments and perswasions with the opprobrious and invidious term of Heresie For by this means it comes to pass that Religion is made only to serve an Interest and wait upon a Faction and the grand Interest of Christianity is indeed hugely disserved by such oblique Arts and unwarrantable Insinuations It shews Men indeed to be affected with a mighty Zeal but it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that bitter zeal which the Apostle tells us is an effect of that wisdome that descends not from above but is earthly sensual devilish But I am very incurious of the censures of angry and peevish Men being secure in the sense of having endeavoured to do honour to God by begetting in Men right Apprehensions of his Nature and according to my mean Ability promoted the Offices and Duties of a Virtuous life by shewing the necessity of them in order to our everlasting Happiness And with this Advertisement I remit the Reader to the Discourse it self Farewell IMPRIMATUR Hic Liber cui Titulus The Sacred Method of c. GEO. HOOPER R mo D no Arch. Cant. à Sac. Dom. 21. Nov. 1676. THE SACRED METHOD OF Saving Humane Souls BY JESUS CHRIST THE Christian Religion is frequently called by Saint Paul a Mystery wherein it is very probable he might allude to the Mysterious Rites of the Gentile Superstition as the Eleusynia or some such secret and mysterious Actions of the Pagan Religion And in opposition to these the Apostle declares to the World a higher Mystery and teaches us that Christianity in all respects exceeds the most sacred and venerable Actions of Paganisme For although the Heathen Mystagogi pretended a high and noble design and boasted the end of their Sacred Mysteries to be the leading and conducting the Initiati to the Presence and Fruition of the worshipped Deity or in plainer terms the everlasting Blessedness of Mens Immortal Souls the sole priviledge and prerogative of the Christian Mystery the Gospel of the Son of God yet they failed infinitely in the way and means of accomplishing this so excellent a purpose the whole procedure being bottom'd upon an uncertain Foundation and doubtful evidence and no better than an Histrionical Representation brought on by those delusive Spirits who affected a Divine Honour whereby instead of perfecting and bettering they really vitiated and debauched the minds of Men and made their most recondite and sacred Rites little better than practices of Filthiness and Uncleanness In which regard the Christian Oeconomy is justly stiled by the Apostle a Mystery of Godliness whose end is not only the highest perfection of Humane Souls but every where in all its parts breathes the exactest holiness and purity of Body and Soul as the only way to attain an Immortal Blessedness and Felicity By this Mystery then of the Gospel we are not to understand a dark and intricate Riddle contrived only to amuze and dazle the minds of Men and which when explicated and unfolded has no greater likelihood of benefiting the knower than Samson's Riddle of feeding the Philistines but we are to conceive by it a sacred and recondite Method of saving Humane Souls that is of purifying their minds to such degrees and measures as may render them capable of an entrance into the highest Heavens Great is the Mystery of Godliness i. e. the Way and Method of saving Mankind by the Gospel is indeed wonderful and admirable For the sacred plot of the Gospel was not then framed or laid when it was promulgated and manifested to the World but lay hid in the bosome of an Infinite Understanding from ages and generations and is expresly called by the same Apostle the mysterious and recondite wisdome of God which he ordained before the World whose projection and contrivance was from the out-goings of Eternity So that in this Affair of the Gospel we are not to look for any thing mean low and shallow but for something which may be worthy of God an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a design which may evidently and clearly display the highest Perfections of God its Author For the better illustration of which we may
claps of Thunder together with the prodigious sound of a Trumpet rending and tearing the Heavens so that Moses himself exceedingly fear'd and trembled But the Gospel being wholly a design of Mercy and Love carries with it no terrors and affrightments but is composed of the kind invitations of Peace and comfort the Mount Sion wherein the resplendent glory of the first-born is displayed shining only with the gentle beams of an attractive and pleasing light and Jesus the blessed Mediator of this New Covenant with his extended Arms proclames his willingness to embrace and receive the World which he has reconciled to God with his own blood This is that Oeconomy which the Apostle calls the foolishness of preaching not as if it were so in it self but because 't is a way of condescending wisdome wherein God stoops down to our apprehensions and frames things so as we may understand them and receive an infinite benefit by them For Man partly from the frame and constitution of his Nature consisting of Body as well as Soul but much more from his fall and descent into this lower life becomes wonderfully affected with gross Phantasms and Exterior Representations Whence it comes to pass that we do more easily and frequently conceive of things as they appear to sense than as they are in themselves when apprehended by a more discerning Principle Wherefore the Infinite Wisdome of God that makes not its Operations in a way of Absolute soveraignty and immensity of Power forcing the Creatures against those inbred Principles she hath placed in them but sweetly and powerfully directs them in a steady way of congruity and proportionateness to the natures of things being to work out Man from this low contracted state the sad Region of sin and Death to a participation of Immortality and more free emanations of Divine life contrived a way most sutable and agreeable to the shallow capacities and faculties of Humane Souls God would not appear to us in a flame of fire nor speak by an Angel in a body of pure Air but in the Form of a Servant clothed with our Humane Flesh and subject to all the harmless Passions of our Nature that he might more kindly disenslave us from the cruel Tyranny of sin and Satan For let us but consult with our own Reasons whether this be not a greater Incitation and more powerful inducement to Men to believe and obey the Declarations of the Divine Will to exhibit to them some extraordinary and remarkable Person that should by the fullest demonstrations and sensible signs prove himself to be the Eternal Son of God and by sweetly compulsive Motives even to the suffering a barbarous and shameful Death attract Humane Minds to the Imitation of his Virtues and following his steps than that God should by any of those forementioned ways manifest himself in effects of Benignity or Displeasure The whole Nation of the Jews discover the sense of Mankind in such a case when being affrighted with the terrors accompanying the descent of God upon the Mount they said unto Moses speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye For 1. Considering the world partly from themselves and partly from the cunning of Satan so much addicted and given over to the belief of sense had not Christ visibly appeared and conversed with Men the Gospel could never have captivated Humane Understandings with such irresistible evidence or wrought in them such a full perswasion of the things it taught as we see it hath done Should the great Pillars of the Christian Faith I mean the Apostles and Disciples of the Holy Jesus have laid its first ground-work upon the hearing of some voice or perswaded their Auditors as Numa Pompilius and some other Heathen Law-givers from the converse they had with some Angel that their Doctrine was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered to them from Heaven and had God for its Author yet how hardly would Men have embraced it upon these accounts especially considering those imminent and apparent Dangers they were likely to incur upon the profession of it How ill resented is that great Doctrine of our Blessed Saviour Self-denyal and Resignation among vulgar spirits and how difficult a thing is it to bring off degenerated Hearts from the Interests of the World and is it likely then that Men should be so prodigal of their dearest Blood as to sacrifice it to an uncertain Rumour and Report which every Impostor is able to pretend But to see the meek Lamb of God made in our own likeness having left the sacred Mansions of Light and Glory and clothed himself with our frail Mortality to behold him I say testifying by many Miracles and irrefragable Arguments through the whole course of his abode on Earth and at last taking it upon his Death that he was the Son of the ever-living God and came down from Heaven to make known to Men that God was reconciled to the World through him this must needs strike our Imaginations more forcibly than whatever else the wit of Man could possibly conceive 2. The Gospel was intended to transform and work our Natures into that which is the flower and perfection of the Divine life that is an universal love to call off our minds from those little Interests they are apt to espouse by looking upon themselves as so many particular Beings divided and separated from the rest of the World and created only for themselves and their Private concernments and to beget in them an universally extensive charity by widening their Capacities to the Dimensions of the whole Creation By which we are taught not to think it enough that our love ascend in copious flames to Heaven unless it likewise descend in due measures and degrees upon all Mankind And indeed it is impossible for a Man that is throughly baptized into this spirit of Universal love to have any self designs in opposition to the general good of the whole World but he must needs be infinitely desirous and pleased to see the life and nature of God communicated to all Beings capable of receiving of it And this love is so strong and vigorous that it firmly unites it self to all in whom it finds any true likeness and resemblance of the Divine Image and so far endears them to it self as to constrain us to lay down our lives for the Brethren But certainly this Flame could never have burnt so bright if it had not been raised and quickned by that sensible demonstration of inimitable affection in the Death of the Holy Jesus For what greater incouragement could there be to oblige and unite Mens souls to one another than that their love should first be kindled from Heaven by that great and unparallel'd Exemplar of noble Charity who laid down his life to expiate the crimes of his own and his Fathers Enemies 2. Of a congruity and complyance with the state and condition of Mankind both in respect of 1. Moral
2. Natural Evils First in respect of Moral Evils The degeneracy and fall of Mankind from God made them Slaves and Vassals to sin and Satan for the busie Tempter being not able to work upon them by external force and violence drew their wills into consent by craft and specious solicitations till at last he had so far enlarged his Kingdom as to bring the whole Race of Mankind under his Dominion Wherefore the Gospel being designed to free Men from that unnatural Bondage and to restore them to their true liberty it does in all points confront the ways and methods by which their Captivity was compassed and effected It had been a small matter by a high hand and by an Infinite Power at large to have destroyed the Devils Kingdom but herein appeared an excellent Wisdome so to lay the Ground and Foundation of this glorious purpose of the salvation of the World that the Politick Prince of Darkness might be taken in his own craftiness and lose this his Empire and Dominion by the same methods by which he at first obtained it The Woman being first in the Transgression and bringing sin and Death upon all her Off-spring that Divine Wisdome that draws light out of darkness and Order out of Confusion decreed that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head that is that Christ who is the Seed of the Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Nature and his Members who are so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by spiritual engraftment into him should dispossess the Devil of that Power Soveraignty and Principality which he holds over the World by sin According to this early Declaration of Men's Recovery Jesus Christ the true Seed of the Woman comes into the World and by walking exactly contrary to his Enemy restores to the World what they lost by the first Adam And whereas the Devil managed his Kingdom of sin and Death with all imaginable Tyranny and Insultation over poor Mortals our Blessed Jesus was so far from requiring Humane Blood to be sacrificed to him that out of a deep sense of our Calamity he parted with his own Blood for the life of the World A more effectual and agreeable course could never have been taken than this that the Captain of our salvation should visibly appear and conquer the Kingdom and Powers of Darkness in that Nature which the first Adam ruin'd and destroyed Secondly in respect of Natural Evils Though it be no disgrace nor shame to be made a Man yet he that deeply reflects upon Humane life shall find it at the best very calamitous and standing in need of much Pity and Compassion We are born into the World helpless and weak and as if we did presage our own future miseries the first actions of our life are spent in crying and tears Our very Bodies are a sad load and burden upon our Spirits inclining them to many foolish lusts and passions subject to many Pains Diseases and Death insomuch that many good and holy Men have in passionate streins bewailed their stay and continuance here on Earth Woe is me that I sojourn in Meseck and have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar and O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death Now none can so affectionately pity nor so intimately resent the distress of another as he that hath smarted and suffered under the same calamity Therefore says the Apostle We have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities by reason of the great distance disproportion and sublimity of his Nature but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin that is manifested and declared himself to be a true Man by being subject to all the harmless affections and infirmities of humane flesh and blood forasmuch therefore as he became our Brother by taking upon him the same Natural condition he must needs be throughly apprehensive and sensible of our state and so the more apt to sympathize with and commiserate poor Mortals and by that powerful soveraignty to which he is exalted act for us and send down relief from Heaven to us For though the Infinite Essence of God pervade the whole World and all the Creatures live within it and therefore must needs feel and know the inmost Energies Motions and stillest Actings of all Beings yet it affords not such a sensible comfort to Humane minds as to behold the Son of God taking upon him our Nature and by that Union and Proximity assuring us of his Tenderness and Compassion towards us For he took not on him the nature of Angels being unwilling to be so far removed from us but took on him the Seed of Abraham Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted 3. A third thing which demonstrates the excellency of Divine Wisdome in the dispensation of the Gospel consists in the fitness and sutableness of it to the end for which it was designed For things are so much the more excellent by how much the congruity and fitness is greater for the accomplishing their end and purpose Now the great intent and design of God in the Gospel being as I have said the everlasting blessedness of Humane Souls the more congruously and fitly disposed it shall be found to be for the obtaining this effect the greater is the glory of the Divine Wisdome interessing and concerning it self about it This aptness and sutableness is seen 1. In that the Gospel is furnished with all those Arguments that are requisite to approve it self worthy of Belief to all Rational Persons To this two things are necessary 1. The attestation of God himself 2. Rational evidence and conviction For whatever is attested of God and hath his Seal affixed to it is by the general consent of all Men to be looked upon and entertained as infallibly true Veracity being an Essential Attribute and Perfection of the Divine Nature St. Paul discoursing of the mystery of Godliness tells us that Christ and Christianity was justified by the spirit i. e. owned approved and recommended to the World by the spirit of God And this God's recommendation of our blessed Saviour to the World as a Person commissioned and invested with full Authority to declare his will unto Mankind was done at several Times and in divers manners 1. At the Baptism of our Saviour Mat. 3.16 17. when the Heavens were opened and the spirit of God descended upon him and a Voice from Heaven proclaiming him the beloved Son of God in whom he was well pleased And this manner of Divine Revelation by a Voice from Heaven as it was the most ancient so the most honourable way of God's communicating his will to Mankind Exod. 20.22 Ye have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven For what
the Jews relate of the Bath-kol are for the most part fabulous or else Magical and Satanical Delusions Certain it is as a very learned Author observes there is not the least mention in the Holy Scriptures of a Voice speaking from Heaven between the giving of the Law and the Baptism of our Saviour And it were very strange if God withdrawing those ordinary ways of revealing his Will under the second Temple should yet continue the most noble of all by speaking to Men from Heaven And that we may not think there was any plot or combination between John the Baptist and our Saviour Christ it is said Joh. 1.33 that John knew him not but had this sign given him that upon whom he should see the spirit descending and remaining on him that same was the true Messias and Saviour of the World And to this Voice our Lord himself appeals Joh. 6.27 Him hath God the Father sealed i. e. visibly approved and owned Christ from Heaven to the end that he having this wonderful attestation of God himself might be believed on in the World and his Doctrine as unquestionably received as the Letters of a King when his Seal is affixed to them 2. Another confirmation of Christ and his Doctrine was at his Transfiguration Mat. 17.5 A Voice comes out of the cloud which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him And this St. Peter brings as a Demonstration of the Truth of the Gospel For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ q. d. We have not imposed upon the Minds and Spirits of Men as the manner of cheaters and deceivers is but have delivered to you such things as we have seen and heard being eye-witnesses of his Majesty For he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount 3. God approved our Lord Jesus by inabling him to work Miracles which is such a clear Testimony of the Divine Mission of our Saviour that both Jews and Gentiles ought to be convinced by it To the Jews it ought to be Convictive from their own Law Deut. 18.22 When a Prophet speaks in the Name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken Which Rule was given them to discern true Prophets from false for if the Prophet brought to them a New Doctrine and confirmed it by supernatural and miraculous Operations though he commanded them something contrary to the Law yet if he perswaded nothing but the worship of the One true God of Israel they ought to obey him forasmuch as there could be no greater Evidence of the Divine Testimony and Approbation than by inabling such a Man to work Miracles And though this General Rule might be applyed to all the Jewish Prophets yet did it more particularly respect the coming of the Messias there being none more conspicuous and illustrious for all those signs by which God would have the Prophet that speaks in his Name to be known than Jesus Christ Nor is it of less moment and argument to the Gentiles for Miracles being such unquestionable evidences of the Interposition of a Divine Power it follows that whoever shall lead a sincere and unblameable life and teach nothing but the worship of the true God and the conscientious practice of Virtue and for the confirmation of this his Doctrine shall work Miracles we ought to believe him sent from God This was it which convinced Nicodemus We know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do these Miracles that thou doest except God be with him He saw that Jesus Christ professed and commanded only the worship of the true God and that he exhorted only to the practice of real Righteousness and Holiness and therefore that those great Miracles which he wrought exceeding the power of evil spirits were a sensible Demonstration that he was sent from God It may now not improperly be inquired Whether Miracles are always necessary to beget belief of the Divine Authority of a Doctrine and how far they are so To this I answer that Miracles to some Persons and in some Circumstances are proper means to beget assent for that they are not always convictive appears from the Incredulity of the Jews whom neither the frequent and stupendious Miracles of our Saviour nor of his Apostles could perswade but notwithstanding this powerful way of conviction they put the Master to death as a Malefactor and murder his Servants I say therefore that to some Persons and in some circumstances Miracles are proper means to beget Faith 1. They are necessary means to them who have been constantly used and trained up by Miracles Such were the Jewes who received their Law in a miraculous manner the Divinity of which was frequently afterwards attested by Miracles and upon any great and notable defection of the People to Idolatry God was pleased to reduce them by sending and inabling a Prophet to work Miracles Now it is very unreasonable to think that the Gospel which should introduce and make so mighty a change in the Judaical Oeconomy should gain belief of them unassisted of miraculous evidence and testimony who were already in possession of a Law which God himself had so often owned and set his Seal to by Miracles and supernatural Operations Hence it came to pass that the Jews demanded of Christ a sign Joh. 2.18 forasmuch as he called God his Father and carried himself in the way of a Prophet they require him to evidence this his Authority by some miraculous Actions which our blessed Saviour both promises and fulfils by raising himself from the Dead 2. Miracles do more powerfully strike the senses and so are more apt to beget belief in them who are not capable of a rational apprehension and dijudication of Truth Hitherto we may refer Christ's upbraiding Chorazin and Bethsaida If the mighty works which were done in them had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes that is they would very probably have done so for they lying under a great and inveterate Ignorance and being so perfectly enslaved to sense were more likely to have been rouzed out of their blockishness and stupidity by miracles which so forcibly strike the imagination than by the most Rational Discourse to which they had so little vital congruity and agreeableness And it is very observable that the Apostles never wrought a Miracle but upon an urgent occasion and great necessity where they found their Auditors capable and apprehensive When the great Apostle of the Gentiles S. Paul came to Athens a place long famous for all Polite Learning
he makes an excellent Metaphysical Discourse and proves the Unnaturalness and Unreasonableness of Idolatry by such Principles as were common to and Universally received by the Intellectual nature of Man And indeed a Rational conviction seems more clear and evident than a miraculous One by how much the Innate Idea's and Dictates of the Understanding are more sure and constant than the perplexed motions of a Versatile Imagination And we find that the Jews evaded the force of our Saviour's Miracles by saying they were done by the power of the Devil and though Lazarus come to them from the Dead yet they did not believe but sought to murder him and a perverse spirit will find various Artifices to elude the Assent which a Miracle commands from us But now Humane Reason being in all Men one and the same it is more likely to prevail when advantageously propounded from that antecedent sutableness and Harmony there is between it and all Truth And without doubt our blessed Saviour himself seems to intimate that the Assent which is extorted upon the working of Miracles is much less generous and Noble than that which is gained from the Understanding by the Native evidence and beauty of Truth Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe whereas the Facility of the Samaritanes is commended who believed on Jesus upon his own Discourse though he did no Miracle among them And besides all this Christ says expresly that the very Nature and frame the Sanctity and Majesty of the Doctrine he propounded was alike sufficient to render the Jews inexcusable as the unparallel'd Works he performed in their Presence If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin Again If I had not done amongst them the works which none other man did they had not had sin Wherefore to us who have Moses and the Prophets the Discourses of our Blessed Saviour and the Writings of his Apostles transmitted if we shall yet be incredulous it is as likely and probable we shall still continue so though one come to Us from the Dead For 1. We have already all things pertaining to life and godliness perspicuously delivered in the Holy Scriptures and this Doctrine at the first delivery of it was sufficiently confirmed and attested by Miracles and Supernatural Actions the History of which is made as credible to us as any Records of things can be which we our selves were not Spectators of Now if we can believe any Histories of former Ages any Records of Times past we have the same Reason to believe the History of the Gospel and he that sincerely credits that will be as much confirmed in the Religion he professes by those Miracles he finds long ago wrought to evidence its Divine Authority as if they were done now at this present before his eyes Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed 2. To desire new Miracles for the begetting of Faith is to question the Wisdome of God in the Contrivance of the Gospel For either the Scriptures are sufficiently confirmed and attested by the Miracles wrought by Christ and his Apostles to beget Faith and Credence in any unprejudiced and disinteressed Person or they are not If they are it is in vain to require the Reproduction of Miracles in its behalf If they are not we then call in question the wisdome of God as if he either knew not the Natures and Constitutions of Men or did not foresee what was sufficient to work belief in them 3. The perpetuating Miracles for every Man's Conviction would destroy and make useless their Rational Faculties For the Christian Religion is a manifestation of the highest Reason that ever the World had any cognizance of and all its Parts and Doctrines are every way fitted to Rational Capacities But now Miracles being only Convictive to sense if for the confirmation of every Article of Religion there must be the concurrent Testimony of a Miracle all Appeal to our Reason and Intellectual Faculties were useless and supervacaneous 4. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead was a notable suffrage and testimony of his Divine Mission It is the highest instance of Divine Providence watching over and carefully superintending the Person of our Holy Lord and Master which though it permitted Him to fall into the Hands of wicked and cruel Men who bereaved him of his Innocent Life yet forsook him not in Death and the Grave but justified and approved the Design and Cause he managed in the World by dismantling those Infernal Prisons and bringing Him up to life again And this the Apostle takes as an eminent Declaration of the Divinity of Jesus who though according to that mortal and frail state he took upon him in the World became a Man of the Seed of David yet in regard of that Spiritual and Celestial condition which he obtained by the Resurrection from the Dead was manifestly declared the glorious and powerful Son of God For we cannot think that God would do so much for an Impostor or that the Divine Power would so highly concern it self in raising him from the Dead and thereby owning him in so singular and eminent a manner if he had not spoken in his Name and done all things by his Authority and Commission 5. Another Instance of the Divine Approbation of the Doctrine of our Saviour appears in sending down the Holy Ghost after his Ascension into Heaven This Mission of the Holy Spirit Christ promised his Disciples before he left the World and signally performs it upon the Day of Pentecost And this very thing is brought by the Author to the Hebrews as an Indubitable Confirmation of the Gospel How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness approving and owning the Doctrine of his Son Jesus both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will God is brought in here as a Witness to the Truth of the Gospel and his Testimony is the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whom the Apostles were inabled and furnished with divers gifts and miraculous Powers for the conviction of the World that Jesus was the beloved Son of God and Saviour of Mankind And this Redargution of the World was made a part of the Advocateship of the Holy Spirit by our Lord When he is come he will reprove the World of sin because they believe not on me that is he shall take upon him the defence of my cause and convince the World of their great sin in slaying me a true Prophet who came to declare the will of God unto them Of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more that is he should make it appear that I was just and innocent