is their Knowledge the same there is nothing in their common Nature to determine them that they should be born or die together or that there should be any mutual communication of the Thoughts and Operations of their Minds much less that their Life and Death and Operations should be all the very same So that this Principle of Individuation whatever be assigned to be it cannot belong to the Divine Nature which is Omnipresent Eternal and Omniscient the Existence Knowledge and Local presence of Men are Personal not Essential but Omnipresence Eternity and Omniscience are Essential Attributes of God and not Personal or do not belong to each Person as they are distinguished from one another but as they are united in the same Essence for they are predicated of the Father as God of the Son as God and of the Holy Ghost as God and not of each severally as Father as Son and as Holy Ghost Every of these Essential Attributes therefore cannot be numbred with the Persons in the Deity but can be but One as the Essence itself of the Deity is and tho' the Father be Eternal the Son Eternal and the Holy Ghost Eternal yet they are not Three Eternals or Three Individual Beings of Eternal Existence as Three Humane Persons are Three Men of a Finite Existence It is a Contradiction that there should be Three separate Infinite Persons for their being separate must suppose them to be Finite or to have a limited and confined Subsistence and therefore Three Infinite Persons can be but One God or One Being which has all the perfections of Personal Distinction without the imperfection of the Division of Persons 3. From hence appears the Difference between the Divine Persons and Humane Persons The Persons of Men are distinct Men as well as distinct Persons but this is no ground for us to affirm that the Persons in the Divine Nature are distinct Gods because the Divine Nature is acknowledged to be Infinite and Incomprehensible and when we speak of Three Persons in it we do not mean such Three Persons as Three several Men are But we read of the Person of the Father Hebr. i. 3. and of Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One 1 Joh. v. 7. and when we speak of Three Intelligent Beings we can have no Conception of them but under the Notion of Persons We learn from the Scriptures that there are Three Persons in the Deity which bear that Relation to each other which is best express'd by the Terms of Father Son and Holy Spirit but the Terms of Father Son and Spirit are not therefore so to be understood as they are in Humane Relations and the word Person is not to be understood as it is of Humane Persons and therefore whereas we use the word Person the Greeks call them Subsistencies but acknowledge that they mean the same thing under that difference of words And yet this is all the foundation of any pretence of contradiction in the Notion of the Blessed Trinity that Men will needs understand the Terms of Person and of Father Son and Spirit when they are applied to God as they do when we speak of Men and from thence they conclude that Three Persons in the Divine Nature must be Three Gods as Three Persons amongst Men are Three Men and that the Father must be Superiour and Elder than the Son as it is in Humane Generations But this is all Mistake Adam is stiled the Son of God in a sense of the word peculiar to himself Luke iii. 38. God is in one sense the Father of all Mankind and in another sense he is the Father of the Regenerate only and when in either sense we call him our Father we take not the Word Father in the same sense that we take it in when we apply it to Men and when we say he is the Father of his only begotten Son this is another sense of the word Father very different from all the former The Relation between the Father and Son is not the same in the Nature of God that it is amongst Men nor are the Divine Persons such as the Persons of Men are but these are the fittest and the most proper and significant Terms to express the Nature of God to us that Humane Language and Humane Understandings are capable of We must acknowledge that there is a vast disproportion and impropriety in these expressions and that they give us but a very imperfect conception of the Divine Nature but it is the most perfect that we are able to have of it or that it is necessary for us to have of it in this Mortal state and if we will but allow for the incompetency of our own Faculties to have Words and Notions adequate to the Divine Nature and will remember that God is God and that we are but Men there will appear to be no contradiction in the Notion of the Trinity The Divine Nature is such that it has Three distinct Principles of Operation and Subsistency which are so described and represented in the Scriptures by Personal Acts and Properties that we know them to be as really distinct as Humane Persons are which yet being but One God cannot in this respect be like Humane Persons And whoever will oppose this Doctrine of the Holy Trinity must prove that the Three Persons of the Trinity cannot be as really distinct as the Persons of Three Men are tho' they are not such Persons as the Persons of Men. And to prove this he must understand the Nature of God as well as he understands the Nature of Man for otherwise he can never be able to prove that Three Divine Persons may not be One God tho' Three Humane Persons cannot be One Man That they are distinct Persons is revealed and that these Three distinct Persons are but one God is revealed but wherein the Distinction and the Unity of these Three Persons consists is not revealed nor is it possible for us to understand it at least without a Revelation The Distinction of the Persons of Men is founded in a separate and divided Subsistence but this cannot be the foundation of the Distinction of the Divine Persons because Separation and Division cannot belong to an Infinite Nature There is then not Repugnancy in saying that there are Three Subsistencies or Three distinct Principles of Personal Acts and Properties in one undivided Infinite Nature or that the Persons in the Trinity act as distinctly and personally as Persons do amongst Men but are united in one Infinite Nature which is uncapable of existing in separate Subsistencies tho' not of acting and subsisting in Three distinct Persons or as distinctly from each other as the Persons among Men do act and subsist The Summ is that in the most perfect Unity of the Divine Nature do subsist the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost between whom is a real Distinction which tho' not the same yet is
these Five Books of Moses must be Genuine and of Divine Authority being written by him who had so many ways given Evidence of his Divine Commission CHAP. V. Of the Predictions or Prophecies Contain'd in the Books of Moses IT was foretold by God himself upon the Fall of our First Parents That the seed of the woman should bruise the serpem's head Gen. iii. 15. Maimonides is observ'd to take particular Notice That it was the Seed of the Woman and not of the Man and the Jews in their Targum's are observ'd to apply this Text to the Messias which was fulfill'd in our Saviour Christ who was born of a Woman that was a Virgin and had no Man to his Father And therefore this Prediction express'd thus precisely concerning the Seed of the Woman could be fulfill'd in no other Person and no other Person ever gain'd such Victories over the Enemy of Mankind who had so long tyranniz'd over the Sons of Men. God reveal'd the precise Time of the Flood to Noah who thereupon built an Ark and foretold the Destruction of the World to that wicked Generation and was a Preacher of Righteousness and Repentance to them Gen. vi 3. After the Flood Noah by a Prophetick Spirit foretold the Fate and Condition of the Posterity of his three Sons Gen. ix 25. That Canaan should be Servant to Shem which was accomplished when the Children of Israel the Posterity of Shem subdued the Canaanites and possessed their Land about Eight hundred Years after this Prophecy That Japhet should dwell in the Tents of Shem which was fulfilled in the Greeks and Romans descended from Japhet when they conquer'd Asia That Canaan should likewise be the Servant of Japhet as well as of Shem. Upon which Mr. Mede observes (n) Mede Book 1. Disc 28. that the Posterity Cham never subdued the Children either of Japhet or of Shem though Shem hath subdued Japhet and Japhet hath conquer'd Shem which made (o) Liv. l. 27. Hannibal descended from Canaan cry out with amazement of Soul Agnosco fatum Carthaginis God promiseth Abraham a Son in his old Age by Sarah his Wife who was likewise of a great Age and declares that his Posterity by this Son should be exceeding numerous that they should inherit the Land of Canaan after they had been afflicted in a strange Land Four hundred Years Gen. XV. 13. and that then they should come out of that Land with great substance but that God would judge the Nation that had oppressed them or that he would procure their Deliverance by signal Judgments upon their Oppressors and that in the fourth generation they should be brought back again to the Land of Promise ver 16. which agrees exactly with the Deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt computing the Years from the time that the Promise was made to Abraham Exod. xii 40. Gal. iii. 17. and reckoning the Four Generations to be betwixt Isaac the Son promised to Abraham and Moses in whom the Prediction was fulfilled This Promise made to Abraham and his Seed was renewed several times and repeated again to Him and to Isaac and Jacob Gen. xxvi 3. xxviii 14. and was all along depended upon by the Israelites God foretold of Abraham That all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him Gen. xviii 18. which was fulfilled in that God made Abraham ' Posterity his Messengers to communicate his Will to the rest of Mankind and more especially in that Blessing which all Nations received in the Birth of Christ This is a remarkable Prophecy concerning the greatest of Blessings and is often repeated The Prophecy of Isaac concerning Esau and Jacob Gen. xxvii 40. first That the Posterity of Esau should serve Jacob's Posterity was fulfilled in David's Victories over the Edomites 2 Sam. viii 14. 1 King xi 15. 1 Chron. xviii 13. and by Amaziah 2 King xiv 7. and then that part of it That the Edomites should break the yoke from off their neck was accomplish'd 2 King viii 20. 2 Chron. xxi 8. Joseph's own Dream and his Interpretation of the Dream of Pharaoh when none of the Magicians or Wise-men of Aegypt were able to interpret it had remarkable and publick Circumstances that could neither be mistaken nor forgotten in the accomplishment Jacob describes the Borders of their several Possessions in the Land of Canaan though it were so many years after divided among the Tribes by Lot Gen. xlix 13. He foretold the different state and condition of the rest of his Sons and particularly prophesied That the scepter should not depart from Judah until Shiloh came And upon the fulfilling of this and other Prophecies in the Pentateuch not only the Jews but the Samaritans who received no other Prophecies as they did these expected the Messias at the time in which our Saviour appeared in the world and believed on him because they saw the Prophecies fulfilled in Him Joh. iv 25 29 39 42. Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones from hence Gen. l. 25. which they did accordingly Exod. xiii 19. Jacob had desired to be buried in the Land of Canaan insomuch that he caused Joseph to swear to him that he would bury him there and not in Aegypt and Joseph and his Brethren went into Canaan to bury their Father because that was the Land where Abraham and Isaac had been buried and the Land which their Posterity was afterwards to Possess but Joseph as a further token of Assurance to the Israelites that they should inherit that Land would not have his own Corps carried thither at his death but ordered his Bones to be kept and carried up by their Posterity at their leaving Aegypt and in the mean time they were a perpetual Monument and Representation to them of the Promise made to their Fore-fathers and a Ground and Motive for their Trust and Confidence in God for the Accomplishment of it The Remembrance of Balaam's Prophecy was preserved in the East and the Wisemen upon the appearance of the Star knowing it to be fulfilled came to Jerusalem to enquire where they might find the King of the Jews then newly born Num. xxiv 15. Mat. ii 2. He prophesied likewise of Agag by Name saying of Israel And his king shall be higher than Agag and his kingdom shall be exalted Num. xxiv 7. thereby foretelling the Destruction of Agag by Saul who being the first King that ever Israel had overcame Agag King of the Amalekites 1 Sam. xv 8. The same Balaam foretold the Conquests of Alexander in these words And ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Ashur Num. xxiv 24. By the Coasts of Chittim are to be understood the Coasts of Greece from whence Alexander's Army was transported into Asia for Alexander came out of the Land of Chettim or Chittim 1 Mac. i. 1. and Perseus was King of the Citims or Macedonians chap. viii 5. These
to concern himself in it And yet he cannot but know every thing being Omniscient and he cannot but concur in every Operation of natural Causes being Omnipresent and wherever he is he Acts. It is the Perfection of the Eye to see all that is within View how small and inconsiderable soever it be nay the smaller the Object discerned is the more perfect it proves the sight to be And if a Man could do every little thing at the same time that he does things of Importance and with no trouble to himself it would be surely more perfection in him than to do these only But a Variety of business is troublesome to Men and small Affairs hinder and call them off from those of moment Tho' with God it is quite otherwise he acts with the same Ease wherewith he sees or knows or exists he knows all things with one Omniscient Thought and he does all things by one omnipotent Act nothing can be in the least difficult to him and nothing can be done without him In Him we live and move and have our Being Act. xvii 28. And what the Scripture delivers relating to the Creation and Preservation of the World may in strictness of Philosophy be taken in a proper and litteral Sense But do Men indeed consider what it is to make and preserve a World when they pretend to shew by what steps God proceeds in it and to explain the whole Process as it were of the Operation Is there not infinite Wisdom required to know what infinite Power only can effect And after all it is very probable both from Scripture and from Reason that the invisible and immaterial part of the Creation has a greater Share in the guidance and conduct of the visible and material part of it than is commonly supposed For since the wonderful improvement of experimental Philosophy and the various Hypotheses which have been raised upon it Men have been apt to look upon natural Philosophy not only as a distinct Science but as wholly separate from the rest as if there were no subordination and dependance between the visible and invisible World whereas it is reasonable to believe that there is a continued Connexion and Chain of Causes in the Operations and Productions of things and a constant influence and intercourse between the Superior and Inferior Created Beings It is certain that God useth the Ministry of Angels in the Government of the World but how far and to what particular purposes and upon what occasions no Man is able to determine However those who have been the most curious inquirers into Nature daily meet with so many new and strange Discoveries that they have been forced to complain that the contrivers of Hypotheses have been too hasty in framing them without a sufficient number of Experiments from whence we may conclude that if Men will first content themselves to make Experiments in order to give a true History of the Phaenomena of Nature before they attempt to solve them upon their own Principles the World will have an end before any compleat System can be contrived to give any tolerable Account of them I will conclude this Chapter in the Words with which M. Huygens concludes his Conjectures concerning the Planetary Worlds For my part says he I shall be very well contented and shall count I have done a great matter if I can but come to any knowledge of the Nature of things as they now are never troubling my Head about their Beginning or how they were made knowing That to be out of the reach of Humane Knowledge or even Conjecture CHAP. X. Of other Habitable Worlds besides this Earth THose who think that there must be other World 's inhabited besides this Earth where we dwell or that else the Planets would be useless and the Stars which are like so many Suns would shine to little purpose do not consider that I. It is as easy for Omnipotence to make a Planet or Star as it is to make the least thing in Nature II. The Glory of God Almighty in manifesting his Power and Wisdom by making and preserving such vast Bodies in their several Orbs and Motions may be a sufficient Reason for their Creation tho' his Wisdom should see it fit not to have them inhabited For tho' every thing be equally easy for God to perform yet men are apt to admire the Works of this kind most They employ the Wits of many Men in all Ages to consider their End and Nature and to calculate their Distances and Motions whose Curiosity might otherwise be very ill employed there are some Genius's design'd as it were for these Studies and they would want Matter to work upon without such Objects III. As the Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn and many of the fixt Stats were not discovered till the Invention of Telescopes so there are admirable Marks of Wisdom in many other Parts of Nature which were never known till of late and never could have been discovered but by the help of Mycroscopes But Men are not the only Creatures which are capable of praising and magnifying God for his wonderful Works Angels who know them more perfectly do it much more and they have need of no Artificial Instruments to make Discoveries of the Divine Wisdom and Power IV. The Stars may be of great Benefit and Usefulness in the World tho' they neither have that Influence which Astrologers vainly suppose nor are as Suns to other Earths For they serve to keep the circumjacent Air or Aether in Motion which otherwise would congeal or stagnate and to maintain that perpetual Circulation or Fluid Matter which passes from Orb to Orb through the Universe and gives Life to all Things V. Tho' this Earth be but small in comparison of the Ambient Heavens yet the Inhabitants of it from the Beginning of the World to this time have been exceeding numerous and may be still vastly more numerous before the end of it And we must consider the Earth not as it is at one particular Time but as it is the Seat of Mankind and the Habitation of all Generations for all Successions of Ages And under this Notion the Earth is no such contemptible Place tho' it be very small in respect of the Heavens that surround it Nor is it strange that the Material World how capacious soever it be should be made for Mankind to whom the Angels are Ministring Spirits and for whom the Son of God himself was pleased to die VI. There are few or none of the Planets but what by reason of their too near or too remote Distance from the Sun seem incapable of being inhabited M. Huygens in his Conjectures concerning the Planetary Worlds says that this (x) Lib. 1. Water of our Earth would in Saturn and Jupiter be frozen up immediately and in Venus and Mercury it would be evaporated and he concludes that every Planet must have its Waters of such a Temper as to be proportioned to its Heat Jupiter's and Saturn's must
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
to consider then that the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh did more powerfully and effectually take away Sin than any other way or means of Salvation could have done I. The Doctrine and Preaching of the Son of God had more Power and Authority with it than the Preaching and Doctrine of a Man or Angel could have had God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Hebr. i. 1 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience receiv'd a just recompence of reward 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 Heb. ii 1 2 3. This being the last Message which God had resolv'd to send to Mankind a Person of the greatest Dignity and Authority was to bring it But last of all he sent unto them his Son saying they will reverence my Son Matt. xxi 37. It is the last expedient and the very utmost that could be done to reduce Sinners to Obedience and if this will have no effect upon them they must be lest without all excuse This is the heaviest aggravation of Sin and that which renders Men utterly inexcusable he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. i. 10 11. If the only begotten Son of God had not come and manifested himself in so wonderful a manner to the World something of a Plea might have been pretended but to reject the Son of God was an evident despight done to the Father and even hating of the Father who had sent him as our Saviour declares Joh. xv 22 23 24. And the Blaspheming of the Holy Ghost in those who vilified the Miracles of Christ and ascribed them to Beelzebub was therefore without forgiveness because it was a rejecting of Christ not as the Son of Man but as God blessed for-ever and a despising and vilifying that which is the last means that can be used to reclaim the World and that means whereby he manifested himself to be the Son of God To reject Christ was to reject the whole Trinity which was jointly concern'd in this wonderful dispensation The Dignity of Christ's Person adds all the force and efficacy to his Doctrine that is possible and therefore it was requisite that the Son of God should become incarnate God had before spoken from Heaven but that was too terrible and full of Majesty to be born by Mortals and they that heard the voice entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more for they could not endure that which was Commanded and so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. xii 19 20 21. But now God was pleas'd to converse with Man in a more familiar and humble manner and our Blessed Saviour came to live amongst Men with all the gentleness and meekness of the Humane Nature and all the Authority of the Divine For in him dwelleth all the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily Colos ii 9. The Godhead dwelt here in him under our Humane Nature laying aside that awful Majesty which no Man can approach unto II. We have a greater Example of all perfection and Holiness set before us by the Son of God Incarnate than we could otherwise have had It has been the general complaint made of other Teachers and Lawgivers that they seldom observe their own Rules or live themselves according to what they require of others But our Saviour has given us an Example if it be possible even beyond his own Doctrine For tho' he be no rigorous Lawgiver but a most indulgent and gracious Master to us yet he was pleas'd to excuse himself from no Duty or Instance of Obedience but fulfilled both the Moral and the Ceremonial Law there is nothing so mean nor so difficult and painful but he perform'd it to set us an absolute Pattern of Obedience to the Whole Duty of Man in all that ever God requir'd of Mankind It became him to fulfill all Righteousness this was the end and intention of his coming into the World and he fulfilled it in the most absolute and perfect manner in all particulars And to give such an Example is of unspeakable use and benefit for Men are more easily led by Example than by Precept and it is commonly observ'd that it is Example for the most part which governs the World Men will follow the Vices of those whose Vertues they never imitate and the Faults of Wise and Great Men have too sure and too fatal an effect upon such as their Excellencies never reach It was necessary that an Example of absolute perfection should be given to the World and this Example must be given by one of the same nature with our selves or else it might have been an Example for Angels and Spirits but not for Men and therefore such an Example the Son of God Incarnate only could give because it was impossible for any created Being under all the Infirmities and Temptations incident to Humane Nature to live up to such a Divine Height and Excellency of all perfection as our Saviour did and to leave such an Example to the World He came not to teach us the wisdom of this World how to get Riches and Honours in this Mankind was well enough instructed before and it could not but be unworthy of the Son of God to be Born into the World with a design to enjoy the pleasures and the profits and the honours of it this was beneath the Majesty of Heaven and the Insinite Perfection and Essential Bliss and Happiness of the Divine Nature But to manifest himself to shew the mean and worthless Vanity of those things of which Men are so fond to give an Example of Contentment in a low Condition of Victory under Temptations and of Patience and Meekness under the severest Afflictions and Torments to discover to Men the way to Happiness in the worst Circumstances of this World to teach those who enjoy this World's goods not to be proud of them nor despise others and those who want them to be contented and happy without them to lead Men in the way to happiness thro' all Conditions thro' all the Miseries and Calamities which must befall many of us in this Mortal State this is a Glorious and Godlike Design it is such as none but the Son of God could perform and such as we may in reason believe he would undertake and for which he might vouchsafe to live a Humane Life upon Earth III. The
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
regard as to Strangers against whom they had not that unjust and foolish Prejudice For we never read that the Apostles did any where forbear to work Miracles because of Unbelief but in all Places and among all Persons they shewed forth the wonderful Works of God But when the Works of Christ which were so wonderful and so well known in all Parts of Galilee had so ill effect upon those of his own Country St. Mark says That he could there do no mighty Work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them and he marvelled because of their Unbelief Mark vi 5 6. He wrought such Miracles as his infinite Goodness meerly drew from him and then wondred at the Obstinacy of their Unbelief which hindred him from working any more For there are some things which God himself cannot do not for want of Power but because it would imply an Imperfection in him a Defect of Power and a Contradiction to his Divine Nature to do them God cannot lye he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. ii 13. Tit. i. 2. He can act nothing unbecoming his own Wisdom and Goodness he cannot do Miracles when he sees they will be to no good purpose but will be abused to a very ill one Yet to shew his Compassion and to manifest that his Power was not restrained in it self but that their Unbelief had restrained it from them he laid his Hands upon the Sick and healed them but did no more for he can do nothing improper and unfit to be done The requiring of more Miracles when sufficient had been wrought already was a Tempting and Provoking of God it was impiously to bid Defiance to his Power and to Challenge him to do whatever they durst demand of him Our Saviour therefore rebukes the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees for Seeking after a Sign Matth. xii 39. xvi 2. But the first time he had wrought a Miracle just before in the Cure of the Man whose Hand was withered and of the blind and dumb Man who was possest with a Devil and when they still required farther Signs and being unmoved with what had been already done they had now charged him with casting out Devils by Belzebub our Lord had great Reason to refuse to work any more Miracles before such obstinate and ungrateful Men which he saw were so far lost upon them that that served only to render them altogether unpardonable in Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and therefore he tells them That there was no other Sign left for them who had not yet incurred that Sin which was never to be forgiven but the Resurrection of the Son of Man This was a Sign which might convince the most Incredulous and which denied to none but was reserved as the last means And several things which were done and said by Christ in private were not to be divulged till after his Resurrection because before they might fall under Suspicion but that and the Miracles wrought by vertue of it would sufficiently prove whatsoever his Disciples should say of him When they again demanded a Sign he had a little before healed great Multitudes and had fed several Thousands by Miracle in the Wilderness and therefore he again refers this wicked and adulterous Generation of Men to the Sign of the Prophet Jonas We have as little Reason to imagine that our Saviour should work Miracles to gratifie the Curiosity of Herod Luke xxiii 8. who hoped to have seen some Miracle done by him or that he should expose his Divine Power to Herod's Contempt and Mockery when he had so lately wrought a Miracle in curing the Ear of Malchus who was so far from believing in him that he was one of them who came to apprehend him It was an Act of Mercy to Cure this Man but to work Miracles only to give Men an occasion to vilifie that Power by which they were done could be neither worthy of God nor any Charity to Men but it would have been unsuitable to the Character and Authority of Christ to debase himself to a compliance with them who used him with such Scorn and Derision and only reviled and tempted him Herod was disappointed in his hope and expectation of seeing a Miracle and was not denied it for want of Faith For he believed that Christ had wrought Miracles and supposed that John the Baptist whom he had Beheaded was risen from the dead and that therefore mighty Works did shew forth themselves in him Matth. xiv 2. But perceiving him not to be John the Baptist he set him at naught 2. In the case of those who came to desire his help for the Cure of themselves and others though they had not seen any Miracle wrought by him before yet it was reasonable that Christ should work no Miracle for them if they wanted Faith in what he had already wrought and did not believe him able to perform what they would seem to expect and desire him to do When he had given so many Demonstrations of a Divine Power he might justly expect an Acknowledgment and Belief of it in all that came to him and would receive any Benefit from it He might surely bestow his Favours and Benefits upon his own Terms and no Terms could be more reasonable than that those who came to ask them should really believe that he was able to bestow them and should apply themselves to him with an expectation to receive what they asked of him Otherwise to come to him for Cure was no better than to Tempt to Mock and Deride him it was to ask what they did not believe he could bestow but they resolv'd only to try what he could do supposing that if they received no good yet however there could be no hurt in the Experiment Now can any Man think that the Miracles which Christ wrought were to be bestowed upon no better Considerations than these Or that those were in any measure worthy to be Cured who came with so indifferent an Opinion of him and with so little expectation of Relief Christ wanted no opportunities of shewing his Power he had shewn it in many and wonderful Instances and would do it again as often as he saw occasion upon fit and proper Objects But if they so little regarded what he had already done as not to believe that he had done it and could again perform the same they but ill deserved what they came for the Divine Power and Goodness was not thus to be debased and exposed as to be employed in the Cure of Men who asked what they did not believe he could perform but only thought it would cost them nothing to make the Tryal and for that Reason made Application to him Our Saviour therefore says to the Father who came to him in behalf of his Deaf and Dumb Son If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth and upon that humble and passionate Declaration Lord I believe help thou my