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
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
Son are Thoughts which must create a new Heaven as it were in Heaven it self I mean they will enlarge our Souls to the utmost Capacities of our Natures and fill and actuate them with such Divine Ardors of Love as if we had been kept necessarily from all Sin seem impossible to have been raised in us The Angels themselves rejoyce over one Sinner that repenteth and that Joy must have been wanting to them who are of so much higher and more excellent a Nature than we are of if there had been no Possibility either of Sin or of Repentance And the wonderful Dispensation of the Gospel is an eternal Subject of Praise and Adoration an eternal Fountain of Love and Joy and Happiness to all the Blessed Spirits in Heaven The more the Divine Attributes are displayed the more Adorable the Majesty of God will appear and will become the greater Object of our Praise and Veneration those that are wise and good will be made the wiser and better by it and the happier in the Contemplation of the Divine Perfections Now a Governour in his Laws and in the Method and Order of his Government has regard chiefly to the Good and Obedient and has little Concern for the rest And we must consider God not only as the Father but as the Governour of Mankind and tho' an earthly Father perhaps would by all means possible preserve his â—on from incurring Punishment yet a good Governour when the Ends of his Government can be better obtain'd by leaving him to his Liberty would not restrain him by any Force or Violence Therefore if the Liberty of Choice in Men and the Possibility of their Sin and Damnation be for the Glory of God and for the Benefit of good Men and be no Injury to the Bad this is a sufficient Account why man was not necessarily restrained from Sinning tho' Damnation be the consequence of it CHAP. XIII Of the Fall of the Angels and of our First Parents IN the Beginning God created every thing perfect in its kind and endned the Angels and Man with all intellectual and Moral Perfections suitable to their respective Natures but so as to leave them capable of sinning For it pleased the infinite Wisdom of God for the Reasons already alledg'd and for many more and greater Reasons perhaps than any man is able to imagine to place them in a State of Tryal and to put it to their own Choice whether they would stand in their present Condition of Innocence and Happiness in which they were created or fall into Sin and Misery We have little or no Account in the Scriptures of the Cause or Temptation which occasioned the Fall of Angels because it doth not concern us to be acquainted with it and therefore it little becomes us to be inquisitive about it Indeed it is very difficult to conceive how Beings of so Great Knowledge and Purity as the Fall'n Angels once were of should fall into Sin But it must be considered that nothing is more unaccountable than the Motives and Causes of Action in Free Agents when any Being is at Liberty to do as it will no other Reason besides its own Will need be enquir'd for of its Actings What is liable to Sin may sin whatever the Motive be and to enquire after the Motive is to enquire what Motives may determine a Free Agent that is an Agent which may determine it self upon any Ground or Motive But how perfect and excellent soever any Creature is unless it be so confirmed and established in a State of Purity and Holiness as to be secured from all possibility of Sinning it may be supposed to admire it self and dote upon its own Perfections and Excellencies and by degrees to neglect and not acknowledge God the Author of them but to sin and rebell against Him And it is most agreeable both to Scripture and Reason that Pride was the cause of the Fall of Angels For those Excellencies which might secure them from any other Sin proved a Temptation to this and the greater their Perfections were the greater was the Temptation as in a Man who is guilty of Spiritual and Pharisaical Pride all that is good and commendable in him affords him only matter for his Sin So that where there is a freedom of Will and a possibility of Sinning the very Perfection of Nature in a Creature may be made an Occasion to sin and that which excludes other sins may prove a Motive and Temptation to Pride which therefore we have reason to conclude was the Sin of the Fall'n Angels As to the Fall of Man however the Thing may be disputed the Effects of it are visible in the strange Proneness of Humane Nature to act against Reason and Conscience that is to act in plain contradiction to it self and its own Principles This is a State in which it cannot be supposed that Mankind was at first created by the infinitely Good and Holy God And the most plausible Opinion and that which has most generally obtained among the Heathens is that the Souls of Men had a Being before they came into this World and were sent into Human Bodies in Punishment for what they had done amiss in a precedent State But this is mere suspicion and Conjecture without any possibility of Proof and there is this plain Reason against it that â—o man can be punished for his Amendment who knows nothing of it For it is inconsistent with the Nature and end of Punishment that the Offender should not be made sensible of his Fault especially when the Punishment is designed for his Amendment as it is said to be in the present Case If it can be supposed that Men may possibly retain no Remembrance of what they did in another State yet if their Faults were not kept in Memory they should be brought to their Remembrance if this Life were designed as a State of Punishment in order to Amendment But the State of this Life is so far from being thought a Punishment that Men naturally are of nothing more fond nor dread any thing more than to leave it And tho' Men meet with great Afflictions here yet those do not befall those only or chiefly who by their Proneness to Evil in this Life might be supposed to have been the greatest Offenders in a former State and every Calamity has not the Nature of Punishment The Sufferings and Miseries which we endure by reason of Adam's Transgression are not so properly Punishments as the Effects and Consequences of his sin But Personal Faults such as are supposed to have been committed in a State of pre-existence require a proper Punishment and if the Punishment be for Amendment as it is supposed to be in this present State both the Fault and the Punishment must be known with the Cause and End of its being inflicted and the greatest Offenders must undergo the severest Punishment The Account which the Scripture gives us of the Fall of our First Parents may be considered either 1.
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
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
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
might not suffer a Book written by his own Appointment and Authority to be encumbred thro' length of Time and the frailty and negligence of Men with insuperable Difficulties if it be supposed still to retain the visible Marks and Characters of a Divine Original in all the Evidence necessary to prove it from Matter of Fact and in the Doctrines delivered by it For as long as these two things are secured all the rest tho' it be of never so great Use and Excellency yet cannot be necessary in order to the ends of a Divine Revelation And therefore a Book of Divine Revelation might be permitted by God for the Sins and by the Fault and Ignorance of Men to become perplext with abundance of divers Readings and even with Contradictions in the Chronological and less material Points of it For so long as it cannot be proved Defective as to the ends and purposes of a Divine Revelation either for want of evidence to make it appear to be such or thro' defect of the Matter and Doctrine contained in it all other Difficulties will never prove it not to be of Divine Authority because so long as there is no Defect but what might be in any Book tho' we suppose it to be of Divine Authority CHAP. IX Of the Creation of the World and the Preservation of it BY Creation in the Book of Genesis is understood not only the Production of the World out of Nothing but the Formation and Disposal of the several Parts of the Universe But there has an Opinion of late years prevailed very injurious to Religion and repugnant to Reason and the Judgment of former Ages That God only created Matter and gave it Motion to be performed under certain Laws by which all the Phaenomena of Nature both in the Creation and Preservation of Things are brought about without any farther immediate Divine Power or Concourse than what is just necessary to continue this Matter and Motion in Being that is God created Matter and put it into Motion and then Matter and Motion do all the rest in a settled Course and by established Laws without any need of the Divine Aid or Direction This Notion indeed can never be reconciled to the Scriptures but then it is as little befriended by Reason and Natural Religion In proof of which I shall consider I. The Creation of the World II. The Preservation of it and shall shew that neither of them could be performed in this way I. As to the Creation we may consider both the Time and the Manner of it And by the Time of the Creation we may understand either the Time when the Creation of the World began or the Time which was taken up in the Creation of it But this latter sense will come under what is to be said of the Manner of the Creation 1. The Time of the Creation of the World as that signifies the Beginning of Time or of the Worlds Duration must be wholly Arbitrary and absolutely at God's Sovereign Pleasure and Disposal For there could be nothing in eternal Duration to fix the Creation of the World more to one Time than another or to determin why it should begin sooner or later And since it is impossible that the world should be eternal it is evident that the Time of the Creation whenever it was can be no good Objection because tho' the World had been created never so long before there must necessarily have been as much a Pretence for such an Objection For there must have been some Period of Time when the World had existed no longer than it has done now and no beginning of the World can be supposed so long ago but still it might with the same Reason be ask'd why it was not created sooner 2. In considering the Manner of the Worlds Creation I shall prove 1. That there is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at the first made by Mechanical Laws tho' it were preserv'd according to such Laws 2. That there are sufficient Reasons to be given for its Creation in that Manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis 1. There is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at first made by Mechanichal Laws tho' it were preserved according to such Laws whereas I shall afterwards prove that it is not preserved according to them There is no Reason that the World should be first framed according to the Laws of Motion which are established for its Preservation and Government in its fixt and settled State The Origin of the Universe was by the immediate hand of God before the Appointment of the several Laws which afterwards were to take place and we may as well endeavour to reduce the working of Miracles to the standing Laws of Nature as the Creation of the World For certainly of all Miracles the Creation of the World must be the greatest not only as it signifies the Production of Matter and Motion out of Nothing but as it was the putting things into such Order as to make them capable of the Laws of Motion ordained for them It is not yet agreed nor is it ever like to be what these Laws of Motion are which the Philosophers so much talk of and there being such a mutual Connexion and Combination of Bodies and such a Dependance of every Body upon so many others in every Motion it is impossible to know how any two Bodies would act upon each other if they were separate from all Bodies besides or were out of that State which they now are in It is reasonable therefore to imagine that the several Parts of the World must be ranged and settled before these Laws could take place and to reduce the Creation of the World to the Laws of Motion which now prevail in it is to suppose a Creation antecedent to that by which the World was made This is as if an Indian should attempt to give an Account of the making of a Watch by the several Motions which he sees performed in it after it is made and should imagine that the Materials moving in such a manner at last arrived to the exact frame of a Watch. 2. There are sufficient Reasons to be given for the Creation of the World in that manner which we find related in the Book of Genesis It is great Presumption in Men to be too curious and inquisitive about the Reasons of God's Actions for whatever he delivers of himself we ought entirely to believe both the Thing it self and the manner and Circumstances of it Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast Vnderstanding Job xxxviii 4. But this must be said to the Glory of God and to the Shame of all such as Censure and Cavil at his Word that even by Men such Reasons may be given of his Actions as all his Adversaries shall not be able to gain-say God hath ordered all things in Measure and Number and Weight Wisd xi 20. And as to
those Parts of the World for the explication of divers places of Scripture which depend upon the knowledge of those Countries Now the whole Jewish Law may be divided into the Moral the Political or Judicial and the Ceremonial Law The Moral Part of Moses's Law which is contain'd in the Ten Commandments and enjoyns our Duty towards God and towards our Neighbour is just and holy beyond all Controversy or Exception And the Political or Judicial Part with the Ceremonial was adapted to the Circumstances and Necessities of those Ages and that Nation And if the Moral Part be absolutely most Divine and Holy and the Positive Institutions both Political and Ritual were the most fit and proper for that Time and Government that is if they were the best that could be for those Ages and that People then the whole Body of the Mosaick Law is without all just Exception And that this is so it will be evident if we observe the Reasons upon which the Positive Laws amongst the Jews were instituted 1. The Judicial Laws relating to the Administration of Justice in the Jewish Government are so reasonable that they have been transcrib'd into the Laws of the wisest Heathen Nations as hath been particularly shewn by Learned Men. There are but few of the Judicial Laws which have been objected against and these have been often and effectually vindicated The Law which seems most harsh and rigorous is that of Retaliation which yet was the most antient way of Punishment in most Nations and was not unjust for the Laws to inflict tho' it was sinful in the Persons injured to require it out of a Desire of Revenge and with a Delight to gratify themselves in their Enemies Sufferings For if it be just to punish the taking away of a little Money with Death how can it be unjust to inflict the same Punishment for the depriving a Man of his Eye And if it be not unjust to make Death the Punishment of striking out an Eye and what Nation doth not punish much less Injuries with Death How can it be unjust to punish the Offender with the Loss of his own Eye One of the severest Laws that ever was known amongst a civilised People was that of the Twelve Tables which gave leave to (a) Sunt enimquaedam non â—audabilia Natura sed jure concessa ut in xii Tabulis Debitoris Corpus inter Creditores dividi licuit quam legem mos ' Publicus repudiavit Quintil. Institut lib. iii. cap. 6. the Creditors among the Romans to divide the Debtor's Body between them if he were insolvent This was one of those things which are not commendable in their own Nature but yet are allow'd and permitted as Quintilian has observ'd upon particular Reasons but this Law was laid aside by a general Disuse and (b) Lighf Hor. Hebraic ad Mat. v. 38. that of Retaliation among the Jews was interpreted by them according to an Antient Tradition to be meant not of strict Retaliation but of a Compensation to be made in Money to the Person maimed 2. Many of those Rites which may seem strange to us were so far from being esteem'd absurd that they became common in those Countries as Circumcision was antiently and is to this day practised in many Parts of the World (c) Grot. ad Lev. xi Act. x. 15. the Aegyptiaus and many other Nations abstain'd from Swines Flesh and the Aethiopians from most of the Meats which were forbidden the Jews such Abstinencies being necessary for Health in those Countries Frequent Washings likewise are requisite in hot Countries for Health and Refreshment Religion prescrib'd only the Time and Manner and particular Occasion of it the Thing it self is Natural And when we see such a Body of Laws of so great Antiquity well contriv'd and wisely instituted for the Substance of them if there be in some of them any thing peculiar and singular tho' they were but the Laws of a Man yet common Modesty and Candor might make us conclude that so wise a Lawgiver must have some good Reason for those particular Laws which at this distance of Time and Place cannot be so obvious to us but it would be Rashness to suspect that he had no sufficient Reason for those who appears to have enacted the rest with so great Wisdom Thus it would be natural for a Man of tolerable Modesty to conclude even concerning a System of Humane Laws tho' no probable Account could be given of many of them But when God is the Lawgiver this ought to silence all Disputes that they are his Laws and therefore must be wise and good for that People at that Time and in their Condition and Circumstances The Will and Authority of God without any other Reason is sufficient of it self in any Case to be alledg'd and it may be fit in some Cases that we should have no other Reason to produce It is a rash and dangerous thing to conclude that God did not command this or that because we do not see why it should be commanded this is to say that we will not believe God to be the Author of any thing which we do not like or would not have to be His. Are we wont to argue thus about Humane Laws Would it be any Excuse for a disobedient Subject to say that in his Opinion such Laws were not fit to be made and that therefore he would not believe his Prince had made such Laws when he had all due notice and full evidence that he had appointed them but was resolved to reject the whole Body of Laws upon the account of some which he did not fancy which yet were obsolete and out of Date Do we not allow that Reasons of State and of Government may require many things to be done and many Laws to be made which it doth not belong to private Men to be curious about and which the greatest Part of the Subjects are not able to comprehend And are not God's Thoughts infinitely above the Thoughts of the wisest Men and infinitely farther out of our Reach than the Counsels of the most Prudent and Politick Prince can be above the Understanding of his meanest and most ignorant Subjects How shall we dare then to reject any Divine Revelation because it is not agreeable in every particular to our Thoughts and Notions of things But I shall enquire however into the Reasons and Grounds which appear to us at this distance of Time for the Ceremonial Laws and I doubt not but these will be sufficient to justify them to all impartial Men. 1. The Ceremonial Laws were given the Jews to prevent them from falling into Idolatry For they were design'd to distinguish the Jews in many things from the Neighbouring Nations and to hinder them from following their Idolatrous Customs And the Customs of the (d) Summa vero rei haec eft quemadmodum in praecedentibus tibi dixi dogmata ritus Zabiorum hodie nobis esse incognitos ita
Doctrine of the Resurrection would be very credible and certain too whatever other Objections might be urged against it which yet are not in themselves so formidable as they may be imagined to be All the Objections against the Resurrection of the Dead are either against the Resurrection of Bodies after their Corruption and Dissolution or against the Resurrection of the same Bodies of Men which they had before their Death because the parts of our Bodies are in a perpetual Change and Flux here and after Death by several Accidents as by the devouring of Humane Bodies by Men or by Fish or other Creatures which are afterwards eaten by Men it may come to pass that the same parts which Compounded one Man's Body shall afterwards belong to anothers and yet in the Resurrection they can belong but to one of these Bodies But 1. Bodies after their Corruption and the Dissolution of the Parts which compose them may be restored to Life by the Re-union of these Parts again We have several Instances of this in Natural Philosophy that Bodies divided into never so minute Parts tho' these Parts be mix'd and confounded with the Parts of other Bodies may by Chymical Operations be reduced to their former State and Condition and which is of nearer affinity to the Subject in hand after the Ashes of a Plant have been sown in a Garden fairer and larger Plants have sprung up than had been known of that kind in the place where the Experiment was made And (l) Mr. Boyle 's Consideration about the Possibility of the Resurrection Mr. Boyle thinks it scarce to be imagined what Expedients to reproduce Bodies a further Discovery of the Mysteries of Art and Nature may lead us Mortals to And much less says he can our dim and narrow Knowledge determine what means even Physical ones the most wise Author of Nature and absolute Governour of the World is able to employ to bring the Resurrection to pass And where the powers of Nature fail we know that God is Infinite and can want no means to effect whatever he pleases 2. We may rise with the same Bodies which we have here notwithstanding any Change or Flux of the parts of our Bodies while we live or any Accidents after Death It is agreeable to Reason and to the Observations of Philosophers and Physicians to believe that the Bones and Muscles and Nerves and all the Essential constituent Parts of Humane Bodies are of so firm and solid a substance as to suffer little Alteration during our Lives when once they are come to their full growth and proportion but to continue the same till we die and the Alterations which they undergo before Men come to their full Stature is by Addition of parts not by the diminution of those wherewith we are born It appears from a late Discourse of a (m) Dr. Haver's Osteolog 2d Discourse of Accretion and Nutrition Learned Physician that Nutrition is a supply of the Fluid Parts and that the proper Substance of the Solid Parts suffers no Diminution but in some extraordinary Cases and therefore can stand in no need of Reparation but in such a Case For the whole Body is Vascular or made up of Vessels and Pipes replenished with their several Substances so that in an Atrophy the Fibres become dry and the Nerves and Vessels are contracted and shrunk for want of the Spirits and Juices and Liquors which before filled and distended them But the Solid Parts are of so durable a Substance that they can suffer no Diminution but by such Corrosives to dissolve them as must produce Ulcers and such as would affect the Fibres with so intolerable Pains that the Torments of the Stone and Gout would be moderate and easie to them which in a Consumption would be Universal in all parts of the Body whereas there is no such Symptom in any Part and in the greatest Consumptions the Bones are found to retain their entire Bigness tho' a piece of Bone is sooner Dissolved by a Corrosive Liquor such as Aqua-Fortis than Muscular Fibres of equal quantity or weight It is wont to be observ'd upon this Subject that when the Change of Parts is gradual and in the course of some Years the Body may still be the same as it could not be if the Change were made all at once A Ship or House remains the same tho' it be never so often repaired and tho' the Materials in Succession of Time be all or most of them renewed whereas if it should be taken to pieces all at once and all the Materials should be changed and new Materials of the same Figure and Dimensions should be exactly in the same manner framed and built up together in their stead these would make another House or Ship and not the same that was before But when the Parts which constitute the Humane Body and give it the Denomination of the Body of this or that individual Man continue the same the same Person has the same Body in his Old Age that he had in his Youth as truly as he has the same Body in Sickness which he had in Health and the same under the Languishings of a Consumption which he had in his greatest Vigour and Strength For the Change is only in the variable and accidental Parts which are not necessary to constitute the Body of such a Man and the necessary constituent Parts tho' they were changed or altered as in some very rare cases they may be being so few in Comparison of the rest which make up the Bulk of a Man's Body can hardly be supposed by the devouring of Canibals or by any other Accident to become the constituent Parts of any other Man's Body (n) Sanctor De staticâ Medicinà Sect. 1. Aph. vi lix lx Sect. iii. Aph. x. Sanctorius from his Statick Experiments has Observed that a very inconsiderable part of what we eat is turned to Nourishment and from the small proportion which the Necessary constituent Parts bear to the rest and the unfitness of them as of Bones c. to nourish it may be concluded that little or nothing of that which turns to Nourishment can be supposed to be of those constituent Parts and considering further the great Changes which happen in our Bodies in the continual Flux of Parts and the small Proportion again which the constituent or necessary essential Parts have to the rest we may conclude supposing those parts as well as others to suffer Alteration that it is the greatest odds that the constituent Parts which turn to Nourishment do not by that Nourishment happen to belong to the constituent Parts of the Mans Body who is nourished by them when he comes to die So that if a Man should live wholly upon Humane Flesh which it is not to be believed that ever any Man did yet it would perhaps be above an Hundred to one whether any constituent Part of his Body were made up when he died of the constituent Parts of any
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
own thoughts in a way much more free and unconfin'd than in this Life as they have more knowledge in a separate state so they must have fitter means to communicate it And since the happiness of Heaven consists in the Vision of God that is in the communications of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness God certainly can as well act upon the minds of Men in this mortal state tho we be less capable of receiving or observing the influences of his Spirit Since finite Spirits can act one upon another it is reasonable to believe that the Spirit of God the God of the Spirits of all flesh doth move and work upon the Spirits of Men that he enlightens their understandings and inclines their Wills by a secret Power and Influence in the methods of his ordinary Grace And he can likewise act upon the Wills and the understandings of some men with a clearer and more powerful Light and Force than he is pleased to do upon others in such a manner as to render them infallible in receiving and delivering his Pleasure and Commandments to the World He can so reveal himself to them by the Operations of his Holy Spirit as that they shall be infallibly assur'd of what is revealed to them and as infallibly assure others of it Which kind of Revelation is styl'd Inspiration because God doth not only move and actuate the minds of such men but vouchsafes to 'em the extraordinary Communications of his Spirit the Spirit then more especially may be liken'd to the Winds to which it is compared in Scripture for by strong convictions and forcible but gracious Impressious he breaths upon their Souls and infuses his Divine Truths into them But upon those to whom God did thus reveal himself by inward light and knowledge he did moreover bestow a power of giving external evidence by miraculous works that their pretences were real and that what they spoke was not of them but was reveal'd to them from God This inspiration the Apostles profest to have both in their Preaching and Writings and this evidence they gave of it In speaking of the Inspiration by which the Scriptures were written I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended II. I shall from thence make such inferences as may afford a sufficient answer to the objections alledged upon this subject I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended And here we must consider both the Matter and the Words of Scripture The Matter is either concerning things reveal'd and which could not be known but by Revelation or it is something which was the object of Sense and Matter of Fact as when the Apostles testify that our Saviour was crucify'd and rose again or lastly it is matter of Reason as discourses upon Moral subjects and inferences made from things reveal'd or from matter of Fact God who is a Spirit can speak as intelligibly to the spirits and minds of Men as Men can speak to the ear and in things which could not be known but by Revelation the notions were suggested and infused into the minds of the Apostles and Prophets by the Holy Ghost but they might be left to put them into their ow 〈◊〉 * Praeterea scito unumquemque Prophetam pecuâ—iare quid habere ea lingua eaque loquendi ratione quae ipsi est familiaris consueta ipsum impelli à Prophetia sua ad loquendum ei qui intelligit ipsum Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 29. Words being so directed in the use of them as to give infallibly the sense and full importance of the Revelation In matters of Fact their Memories were according to our Saviours promise assisted and confirm'd In matters of Discourse or Reasoning either from their own natural Notions or from things Reveal'd or from matters of Fact their understandings were enlightned and their Judgments strengthned And still in all cases their natural Faculties were so supported and guided both in their Notions and Words as that nothing should come into their Writings but what is infallibly true They had always the use of their Faculties tho under the infallible Direction and Conduct of the Holy Ghost and in things that were the proper objects of their faculties the Holy Ghost might only support and guide them as in matters of sense and natural Reason and Memory and in their Words and Style to express all these But in things of an higher Nature which were above their faculties and which they could have no knowledge of but from Revelation the things themselves were infused tho the words in most cases might be their own but they were preserv'd from error in the use of them by that Spirit who was to guide them into all Truth For tho the several Writers of the Scriptures might be allowed to use their own Words and Style yet it was under the infallible guidance and influence of the Spirit as when a man is left to the use of his own Hand or manner of Writing but is directed in the Sense and Orthography by one who dictates to him or assists him with his help where it is needful Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 The Holy Ghost saith by the Psalmist to day if ye will hear his Voice Hebr. 3.7 David saith of himself the Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my Tongue 2 Sam. 23.2 And God is said to speak by the hand of Moses his servant and by the hand of his servant Ahijah the Prophet 1 Kings 8.53.14.18 By which it appears that he used the Prophets as his Instruments in revealing his Will For as Miracles were by the immediate power of God though wrought by the hands of men so the Revelations were of God though spoken or written by the Prophets and Apostles But though God used them as his Instruments yet not as mechanical but as rational Instruments and as in working their Miracles they were not always necessarily determined to the place or to the persons on whom they were wrought but in general were guided to work them when they were proper and seasonable and the Actions by which they wrought them were their own though the power that accompanied them was of God so in their Doctrines they might be permitted to use their own Words and Phrases and to be guided by prudential Motives as to time and place and persons with a directive power only over them to speak and write nothing but infallible truth upon such occasions and in such circumstances as might answer the end of their Mission with which they were entrusted God promised Moses when he sent him to Pharaoh that he would be with his mouth and with Aaron's mouth and would